JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum URGENT! Our Site is being shut down on JAN 31st!

Hi Folk

Okay, this is all I know right now. CDBaby/Hostbaby just sent me a note telling me ALL Hostbaby hosted sites are being shut down tomorrow Jan 31st and transferred to Bandzoogle. Our site is NOT their format, so they just told me this morning via email which I will post below. That means our entire site will be deleted by them unless I can save it today and they are still not in the office on the West Coast. Even if they can copy it there's no place to host it and no money to pay major bucks to do so if needed. Our site has literally over 100 million pages of text on it. It is too large to download in that timeframe and previous attempts timed out so there is no backup copy of it.

I bought a server but without my knowledge they transferred us to the cloud and disposed of our server. So they can't even give it back to me. I am a bit distraught over all this. I will do whatever I can to save 21 years of history.

More details when I know them.

Brian

That's a big shame, Brian.
I hope there's a way out.

Vic

Update: I spoke with someone at Hostbaby who confirmed that they are shutting down all their sites and business tomorrow. I implored them not to delete our site and its 21 years of history. They said they will try to help. At best I am going to get a back up on a hard drive but I have no idea where to go beyond that. Will update as I get info. Please let your friends on here know to check in here!

Also, please send me a friend request at Facebook at facebook.com/Brian.Austin.Whitney and join our pages at facebook.com/justplainfolks and https://www.facebook.com/groups/9040543132/ which is our Group page.

Brian

Bummer Brian! This site will definitely be missed. Not sure who hosts this website. https://www.musicianscollaboration.com/forum/index.php Nick, can't remember his last name, is the owner and a good guy. Maybe he'll give you info on his hosting site. He used to be a regular on "Collaboration Central" before the owner died and the site shutdown. I think he even sang one of my tunes. Good luck!

Best, John

This is terrible news Brian. This site has been so helpful to me I would hate to see it go. I am clueless about facebook and never use it but there is always a first time for everything - I sent a friend request.

Jane

Hi Brian and fellow JPF'rs:

I hope you find a solution or reprieve for us. I don't do Facebook but understand it's benefits (and potential pitfalls) and I wish everyone my very best.

21 years is a super-long run on the Internet! Long live JPF!

----Dave

It was probably a foregone conclusion that the forum would have to go to social media to survive. Im not a fan of social media like Dave.

History is important, but its not your job to save it Brian. Id worry about your health and continue on in some other fashion if thats where your heart is.

I just wonder where ill get my news about Trump from now....

Good Luck to all, keep writing.

I hope this site can be saved it'll be sorely missed by so many
A great worry for you Brian, let's hope it can survive
John

hi Brian,
This would be a disaster for many people like me who have come to love this site over the years. I would love to help but I am tech challenged. I hope you can save it.

To everyone who reads this: I am working on solutions. It isn't going to be cheap though because this site has over 100 million text pages on it.

So if it goes down, don't give up.. we will try to get it back up ASAP. This site has never been "down" more than minutes and not even that for a decade. I am so devastated....

Brian

Well, if this it is, it sure was nice. Here's to the songmakers.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.kaufman.71/videos/10218171785477928/

Brian. This site is powered by UBB Threads. Can anyone there recommend a host that could help migrate such a large site? https://www.ubbcentral.com/ I see that there is a "Hosting Questions" section in the Members Area. I'm not a member, so I don't have access to it. If you want my help, I could sign up and see what can be found there. To be honest, not being familiar with all the details of the site, I might not be best placed to discuss it with folks there, but I'm willing to give it a try if you want to. Or maybe you have someone more familiar with your site who could do that.

I'm not familiar with Bandzoogle, but they seem to be an outfit that shoehorns websites into a fixed format. Easy for musicians to set up a simple website, but not for a forum like this. You would probably be better with a "regular" host. I use Stablepoint https://stablepoint.com/. They are based in the UK and were ridiculously helpful when I had to migrate some sites. I have already contacted them and they told me that they don't think it would be a problem. They would need to know the following:
The disk space
The bandwidth
The current hosting setup

If you let me know this, I'll pass it on to them.

Brian,

This is sad news indeed! I am hoping you are able to save the legacy here! I can't imagine this site not being around. It means so much to so many. I sent over my Friend Request. I will keep checking back. I hope we are able to go on. Thank you for all you do for us here, and above all, keep up your health and spirits!-Dana

Update to my post above. It looks like the Forum software uses a MY SQL database, so it should be possible to move it over. Given the size of it, you would probably need your own server.

As I mentioned above, these guys gave me some of the best customer service I have ever experienced and are pretty good value too.

Nice. You get a better sound on camera than I get with workstation.

Okay guys..

Good news... I have managed to get someone to download our entire site. It seems the info I was getting was a bit off. The site is only a measly 9 GIG. (If we translate that into pages, multiply 700K pages by 9.. so not the 100 million pages I was told, but not too far off. 64 million page off text! whew.. better get started reading!

I am unsure if the site will be unavailable over the weekend. It might due to the timing. I am hoping to find a solution by early next week, but we will have a saved copy of our entire history after all!

Back when I know more!

Brian

Great news, Brian. See my posts above and let me know if I can help.

If this ship sinks and we all die, I want to tell you all what a pleasure it has been.

Good news Brian

Well that sucks! Hope it can be salvaged.

As with your health Brian, in the end it is good news

Glad it's not "so long and thanks for all the fish"

Bad news from your host but I guess &(*& happens with tech.

Good to know there's software and memory out there to help in the transition

bad news is this is costing me over 1K... sigh...and that isn't even the cost of a new host and migrating all my domains elsewhere.. that may cost me 2K by the time it is all added up.

we have about 1K in the JPF account.. I usually consider us broke at 2k but I had to dig into the red alert emergency fund to finish the update and now just to move the site and get it working again, 2k...

Brian, I don't think it should cost you anything to move it to another host. Not so cheap when you get it there though. Stablepoint would charge about $120 a month for hosting on a dedicated server, in case that is any use as a reference point for wherever you decide to go.

Good luck with this.

I don't know if will be any help, I am on a very limited budget, but I'll pledge $10 a month to help. I am sure there are others out there willing to do the same.
Email sent

Brian,

I will pledge $50.00. We are friends on FB. Send me an address to send you a check, I don't feel comfortable donating here with pay pal with this acute problem. Come on folks, let's help Brian--$10-20 or more if you are comfortable with that. Its hard to go out with your wife and eat for less than $50.00! Pledge what you can comfortably to help save secure JPF until he gets another host. Keep news current in FB Brian so some of us can at least perhaps re-connect later if there is no solution for a host that's reasonable etc.

steady-eddie

If the site can be saved, I will kick in something too.

Martin

Same here, I don't have much but I will help best as I can.-Dana

I had to get someone to download the content before it was deleted on short notice (i.e. TODAY) and he charges $125 an hour as his rate with 5 hours of estimated time to get the content, then adjust it so it will work on another platform that is AFFORDABLE. He has one possible option for much less than $120.

I have no software yet on my new laptop I bought after getting hit by a ransomware attack thanks to the Tech Support Department of Dell/Alienware Computers in India. They ruined my nearly new Alienware so I was without a laptop for 6 months. I haven''t invested in software yet because frankly my health has been such that I couldn't have used it and most of the software I am interested in now requires monthly rental now that they basically have monopolies having become the standard bearers in their various platforms (Microsoft, Adobe for example). So I couldn't have downloaded anything without buying software and have no knowledge. I couldn't even make sense of the info they gave me to get the data. He was on it instantly. It's a 9 gig download and he's still at it.

And once we end up on a new site, we will still need to do some work because our current website sucks and is non functioning, so I need to do something about it.

I am SOOOO sad we have to do this. I will be draining the entire remaining JPF treasury, something that has never happened since I started it with T-Shirt sales money in the early days of Pay Pal. I don't know where we go next crises. I am also fearful of change since 21 years is a long time and for a big part of it we had an ally in CD Baby/Hostbaby and sadly those days end tomorrow. I was there for their beginning, and now for their end. CD Baby isn't going anywhere but it also isn't what it once was. This is a reminder how far they have gone. I realize I am the oldest dino in the valley and perhaps someone will dig our bones up in a few million years.

Brian

"And once we end up on a new site, we will still need to do some work because our current website sucks and is non functioning, so I need to do something about it.
I am SOOOO sad we have to do this."

What!?!?

That's good to hear about the cheaper option. Once all this settles down and you have a less stressful moment, I'd be interested to know the details. But that's for another day. In the meantime, if I can help, just let me know. I'm not super expert on these things but I do know a bit about it and I know people who know more.

If you can answer one of theses crazy superbowl prop bets, you might have your solution. put a dollar down on purple gatorade, and there ya go... lol

Never understood who bets this stuff, but people do. Id say flipping a coin and guessing heads has a great probability than some of these...

Will Any Scoring Drive Take Less Time Than It Takes Demi Lovato To Sing The Anthem? (Absolutely could, a long bomb can take 5 seconds, but why would
we do this again...???)
YES (-260)
NO (+175)

The Total Number of Donald Trump Tweets on FEB 2rd? (Doesnt he tweet 14 times on a regular day?)

Odds:

Over 13.5 (+130)
Under 13.5 (-170)

What Color will the Gatorade (or liquid) be that is dumped on the Head Coach of the Winning Super Bowl Team? (A dollar for 1800 is not a bad try, it must be that purple gatorade isnt as readily available as orange or yellow...)

GatoradeOdds:

Orange +400
Clear/Water +300
Yellow +300
Red +150
Blue +750
Purple +1800

I'll pledge when I know what's happening. When the new site is up let me know where to send it.

Vic

DAMN!

DAMN! You might want to give GOFUNDME a try. I've financed my last 2 recordings through it. If I as 1 performer can raise over $2,000 for a CD, surely with all the members we have we can get the treasury back up and healthy.

You likely do not visit our website, just the message board. The website software doesn't work and can't be updated. Moving it will be worsen problems so I will have to rebuild a website from scratch with money we don't have anymore. For the first time in 25 years, JPF will have a zero balance in our account and I have to pay all of it out of pocket and unlike the early years back in the 80's and 90's I don't have a second job and I am no longer playing shows all of which funded JPF in the past. I already put 100% of any money earned by JPF into our account, but due to my health issues I had to discontinue our sponsors. I haven't been touring so T-Shirt and Hats sales haven't happened. The message board has been in the red and eating the greater JPF monies for years, but now it has eaten all that money beyond the board donations which have now exceeded the entirety of monies earned (all accounted for on the donations page though I haven't checked for 2020 donations this money, no point in updating right now as the site has been saved and any posts from today will disappear).

That's the "What?!?"

One issue you aren't thinking about is this board is so large that missing something tiny could bring it all down. PLUS we would have to hire an expert (this guy) to get it working on a new platform as it has specific needs, which he knows already before we choose a site, so it should work once we get it there.

Okay,

My gut tells me the site will be coming down for at least a couple days. It has been frozen in time as of last night so any new posts won't exist on the site once it is turned on including this post.

We WILL still go forward. I have to pay this guy via pay pal so I have to come up with cash to put in there to cover him, though his initial fee is covered by what we had in there. I will have to do a fundraiser of some type once we get up and running because I have to rebuild a site from scratch and likely either pay a site (like one of the mainstream site creators like Wix) or something of that nature, just to have a site as this one is dead as of tonight when it comes down, that is what makes me sad.

The MESSAGE BOARD will go on as it is now, looking and working the same. So we have that and that was my #1 concern. Second was 21 years of photos on the main site that are offline but in the site files. I don't know how I will access them in a workable way yet, as the software it was all created on is long defunct (going back more than a decade) and so who knows what I can salvage, but I needed to get a reliable copy of it all.

So keep checking back. I am unsure about some other things such as will we be HTTPS compliant, which will cost at least another 1K to achieve. Google may start blocking our site if I don't but I need the money to do it.

Back with anymore news til we're temporarily gone.

Brian,

Count me in for contributing--always willing to help support the site. Sorry you have to go through this fire drill, particularly with what you've been battling health-wise. But everything happens for a reason--and it will all be good in the end. As you say, ever forward. Thank you for all you do to keep this site available to us plain folks!

Best regards,

Deej

Hey Brian,
I agree, go fund me sounds like a good way to go if you can get the money out quickly enough to do the things you need, if not, google pay, or straight deposits into an account with a routing # works for me.

This site is worth every penny of a monthly subscription to keep it alive.

Okay gang, GREAT NEWS! We are uploding the site as it stood last night on a new host. The website will sadly be lost, but the message board should come up directly when you com to the site.

Lookin good Bri! Thanks.

WE ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to last minute work by both our Web guy James and the last minute help from Hostbaby guy Arman, we are on a new server and though it is only the message board right now, all files were saved but a few hours and we're good going forward.

It is going to cost us some more but I did it just under the amount we had left give or take a few hundred. The bad news for us is we'll be spending a lot more than we used to so any/all donations are needed like ever before.

I suspect it will cost us another 1500-2000 at least to get back to where we started for a total of about 3k just to recover from from where we were 36 hours ago.

Welcome back everyone!

Brian:

Please post a snail-mail address so we can send checks to you. I don't know if you've changed from the previous street address... and a P. O. Box is a much safer option. Someone mentioned a "Go Fund Me" account and this is a "cause" worth the effort if Bob or anyone else knows how to get one set up. I gave up being a "techie" a long time ago.

Monetary help of any kind will help re-fill the JPF coffers. I don't care if it's Nickels, Dimes or Dollars... Folks, ask your friends, explain our plight to anyone you know that may be able to help Brian in his hour of need. Publicity sure can't hurt. Where is Jeff Bezos when we need him? Maybe someone down Austin way knows Willie Nelson and he might put on a fund raiser for us. (In my dreams!)

Dig deep, guys and girls... the Ox is in the ditch.

----Dave

Great news!!!!!

Yea!

I was surprised the site opened up when I clicked the icon on my desktop. Like Dave said Brian, give us an address please before we get "cold feet!" This is no time to be humble or shy, its a time to celebrate and receive some support that you deserve--this isn't charity. (If the conventional donate button is secure and well, let us know, I would like some reassurance if using that option).

steady-eddie

Well done Brian ! I was having JPF withdrawals.

Donation on the way.

BIG cheers, niteshift

Great!

Is the donations button still working?

Vic

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the silence. This latest crises took a toll on me and I suffered a health set back. I am still here however and the message board (though not the website) still lives.

For anyone willing to donate to help out, I could use it. Our treasury still has $142 dollars in it because a few of you (I will update the list) had donated already unknown to me, some very generously. So instead of being completely in the red, I feel like Jimmy Stewart when he closed the building and loan and still had a few dollars after the bank run that wasn't his fault. This set back via the closing of Hostbaby and my having to hire someone who luckily was available to get right on it saved the site by a hair and some critical issues are unresolved and our site, unlike everyone else's, wasn't part of the Bandzoogle stuff, because we had a custom site. So our domains are all at risk, but I digress. It cost an arm and a leg and there's another $1500 on the horizon to get it up to Google Specifications before Google blocks traffic to our site which is http instead of their newer https. Https is really for sites with financial transactions which we don't have (Paypal handles 100% of everything under the donate button). In addition, we have to pay $360 a year more than we used to per year just to host the site.

I also have to build a new website. It is a LONG time coming and not connected to this. It simply forced me to bite the bullet and toss out the old and broken for hopefully something new. This is where my friends are, where nearly 20K posts I made are (not even counting the 1.5 millions posts and countless pages of text if it were printed out from all of you). (Something like 6.3 million pages of text written by all of you I believe, once we dealt with real numbers and not people's wild estimates). There's about 100,000 photos on the site as well which I haven't even looked at yet. Most are so old they were on floppy disks before shrinking them to post them so when opened in current tech they will be like a postage stamp likely. That will also cost money, likely $500-1500 dollars or more to do what I need it to do, plus the work involved. This is an area where I could use advice/help. I can't use a site like Wix or Square Space etc. because I already had to pay a year's worth of hosting and our message board has to be on it's own space. The good news is we have unlimited traffic/bandwidth and

All that to say, if you want to help, we need it more now than ever. You can donate via paypal it is safe and reliable and many of you have already in the past. You can mail me a check, but John Schick can affirm on average we have difficulty cashing them in a timely manner, we'll try to do better. Our address is Just Plain Folks, 5327 Kit Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46237. If that is okay, every bit helps for sure. If you need some other way, send me a note.

Thanks to all for keeping us going. We may be a dying breed, but we're not dead yet. I think updating things may breath more life into things.