Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bye-bye revolutionhosting.net

Before anyone starts to panic, yes wishluv.revolutionhosting.net is down, forever, it seems. I have gratefully had free webhosting thanks to Bilal from revolutionhosting.net for 7 years, since 2003. Unfortunately, revolutionhosting.net has closed down. I was ready to continue working on the next chapter of New Trials, when I checked the site and it was gone without a trace, though it was up this morning. Since I have not received any sort of notice it was closing down, I am not even sure if I have all the website information saved, but I'm pretty sure I have all the chapters at least.

Even more unfortunately, the backup location, wishluv.geocities.com is also down because Geocities officially closed down earlier this year. At this point, I am too tired to think of how much work there is to be done trying to find a new server. I have mentioned numerous times I am very computer-illiterate, and it's amazing to me that I've been managing a website for a good ten years (Geocities since 2000-ish, wishluv.revolutionhosting.net since 2003-ish). Anyhow, many thanks to Bilal-san for introducing me to revolutionhosting.net and providing me with such wonderful (free) webhosting service for these past 7 years. I probably have not expressed that gratitude enough but I, also unfortunately, lost all my hotmail emails circa 2007 when hotmail decided to dump all my emails (yes, I hold a 3-year grudge).


Currently, (well, it's been less than an hour since I have found out about the *destruction* of revolutionhosting.net) I am searching for a new webhosting site. Please feel free to give me suggestions for the new home of "New Trials of Card Captor Sakura." The face of the internet seems to have changed greatly over the years, and I would like to find hosting that is reliable, without advertising, hopefully free (do they even have those anymore?) and can survive the next 10 years or so. And really, I do want everyone's input because I want to put reader-priority foremost, and I don't want to go through this kind of fiasco again, where both my websites are down without any notice.


Ah, the impermanence of websites. Somehow, it seems like New Trials has just disappeared without a trace off the internet. It's a bittersweet feeling; I feel like I am parting with a long-time friend, but at the same time, here heralds the mark of a new decade of an updated *Wish For A Star: The New Trials.* 

Many apologies for the inconvenience, but on a brighter note, you can still read "The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura" as always at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/197453/1/The_New_Trials_of_Card_Captor_Sakura_and_Friends

I will continue to communicate through this blog (I guess it was a good idea to make one, after all ^_^), and most of my recent artwork is up at http://wishluv.deviantart.com and I will continue to communicate through http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newtrialsring/messages

Update: Kirei Blossom from the Yahoo Group has informed me that a Geocities back-up can be found here: http://oocities.com/wishluv It has my old website and chapters till mid-Arc three posted up there. So, between that and ff.net, you can still read New Trials till Chapter 67 comes out. ^_^

Update 2: The amazing Selenityshiroi-sama from the Yahoo Group has kindly posted up a backup for most of the New Trials chapters till Arc 3 here: http://newtrials.dreamwidth.org/


RIP wishluv.revolutionhosting.net 2003-2010.




22 comments:

  1. Hmm, free web hosting has pretty much disappeared.

    Livejournal is a popular way of sharing fanfic (dreamwidth is also popular, since it's adfree for free). Although you can't create a general website, you can create a fic journal pretty easily (and, of course, there is the benefit of comments from readers).

    You can also leave livejournal comments using openID, facebook and twitter IDs, so it's pretty accessible to fans.

    Of course, I've been pretty much living on Livejournal for several years, so I'm pretty used to the site and assume that everything ends up there eventually!

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  2. @selenityshiroi

    I think I've always lived in slight fear that this would happen for the past couple years, every time there was downtime at revolutionhosting.net. I have to admit I've been spoiled for the past 7 years. Sighs... Making a switch-over is hard to deal with after getting used to one thing. I explored Livejournal some years ago and got overwhelmed. Lol. Either way, I hope to find a long-time solution somehow, though by this time, I should know nothing on the net is permanent. I swear, I'm just going to have to self-publish New Trials for myself someday as evidence I wrote it for all these years, for nothing beats a hard copy.

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  3. Well, if it makes you feel better, it was the first thing I imported into my new Kindle!

    If you want, I can upload the chapters on the NTring comm I created on LJ when we were joking on the yahoogroup about other sites. As a backup until you get a new site or solution.

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  4. Well if you don't mind having to do coding and stuff or someone that you trust really well and that could do coding, you can try Webs. (it was known as FreeWebs a few years ago). I had an account a few years ago but I don't know how much has changed since I left. Figured it would be worth the try though. Hope this helps!

    -Emiifire.

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  5. I found a list of free webhosting sites that don't feature ads. Not sure what else you're looking for specifically. But http://0000free.com/ sounds promising.
    http://www.free-webhosts.com/no-forced-ads.php

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  6. aw.... darn. I had all of your New Trials stuff saved on my comp as txt files to be read without internet... started redownloading them as html (cause the way you have it set up is much cooler to read than in txt format) format, but haven't done that for the fourth arc yet...

    Oh, and Hello wishluv. I haven't introduced myself yet. My nickname is bangdosa (last name and then a change of my name as made up by my tae kwon do instructor ablmost 8 years ago). I saw your story about the start of this year, but started reading at the end of summer. Probably should have waited until school started cause I was way behind in my summer reading stuff. I haven't said anything until now cause I'm really shy. I really like your story =) It's fun to read. I really hope you get a place to host your site =)

    good luck! and keep on writing! =)
    - 방도사 =)

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  7. Just dropping by to give some encouragement - I think it might only hit me tomorrow that the New Trials site is *gone*.. But you mustn't be discouraged - I checked the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine http://www.archive.org/web/web.php where you can type in "www.wishluv.revolutionhosting.net" and get quite a lot of your backups with coding and stuff intact, I'm hoping. I see that the NT page is showing till May 2008, and up till Chapter 55 plus the second version of the Li Hierarchy is up there. Maybe I should just post this into the yahoo groups.. um, but I already signed off my mail and I really need to go sleep now if I want to face the week half-decently, lol. Hmm.. I think I had all the pictures from NT saved on my old computer, but that's in another continent, so no good... >.< Oh well, it'll work out!

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  8. Satire V: Holding a Mirror to the TruthOctober 17, 2010 at 11:25 PM

    Torturing Syaoran! That would be your favorite hobby!!! Grawr... haha, I'm glad all the chapters have been saved by other people, and hopefully you can find a new host server as soon as possible! Maybe you can make it even better than revolutoinhosting!

    Best of Luck writing the next chapter, I'm looking forward to it!

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  9. hey wish-chan......i hope you r diong ok!!!! i wud hav gone crazy if i were in your place...

    i'm looking for it, my brother says its an easy tsk & dat he'd help me (ie. you).....he's quite *literate* on dis sector..... i'll let u kno through e-mail or comments...

    i wish i cud be of sum help to you.......

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  10. I'm letting you kno through e-mail.....for sum reason my brother cudnt post a comment on your blog....
    i hope u read it soon and let me kno if it helped you or not....

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  11. Thanks everyone for all your support and helpful input.

    @Rafia I'm jealous you have a computer "literate" brother.

    As a quick update, I've currently gotten in touch with an admin from revolutionhosting.net who has started a new webhosting service and it seems like one of the options I have is to keep my address and transfer the server to the new server, which I am figuring out the logistics of this; if it works out, that will be the most hassle free solution for all of us.

    The other option is registering a domain and finding a new hosting and starting from scratch, which I have gotten help offers from kind individuals, but could cost a lot of $$ in the long run.

    In the meanwhile, Selenityshiroi has been uploading backup files for the New Trials Chapters.

    I'm very touched by everyone's concern and support. Getting moved to a new, free webserver could be quite simple, but I just want to look into the best long-term solution, so please hang on a bit longer! Hontou-ni arigatou!

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  12. @Satire V
    Yup, torturing Syaoran is my favorite hobby. ^_^ I think I'm having a competition with CLAMP to see who can torture him more. I don't think anyone can beat Ohkawa-sensei in torturing and mutilating her characters, though.

    @Bangdosa,
    Welcome, and I am grateful you decided to drop a note. ^_^ I tried a stint at taekwondo and gave up because I was so bad at it. My instructor was like "You're flexible, you can kick up higher" and proceeded to yank my leg up higher. Ah the ripping pain. Another time, our instructor told paired up the guys and girls to simulate an attack, and I swear, my partner was so scary, it was a "simulation" but I thought he was out to get me. It was a grim realization for me that if I were ever to be attacked IRL, I wouldn't be able to defend myself. Took up fencing after that, which was useless. Lol.

    Hence if anybody gets anything out of New Trials, it's "Learn self-defense!" ^o^

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  13. wish-chan, did u check my e-mail???? can ask u to reply to it? abt wat u think abt it & all.....

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  14. Wow, there is an option to just switch over to a new server from revolutionhosting? That would be the best IMO. I hope it works out. Keep us updated. Lol, this feels like a soap drama... no offence.. lol... NT is kicked out of its home and with nowhere to go - lets see where it finds its next home. ^_^;;

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  15. Oh, I checked on the site o Sunday afternoon and I swear my heat stopped for a minute. I can't believe they just vanished/were deconstructed so quickly. And without any warning? Ugh... I wish I knew of a free hosting server you could use.

    Ah! I'm not sure if it's free, but I used to go to this great fanart website, Kumo no Su: Spiderwebs. http://grey-space.net/kns/ The artist uses Grey-Space as a mini-host. Maybe you could check them out (I remember seeing the tab, Geocities-style ads on there a few times, but that was years ago).

    Oh~ *sniffles nostalgically* That Boys II Men video takes me back to 2000 when you wrote about the Star-Crossed tryouts and Syao-chan sang his heart out in an apology to Sakura. That feels like so long ago (both in real life and in terms of the story). You've come so far since then. It's almost surreal... *sad Hayaan*

    Well, I hope everything else is going well for you. *gives you a cookie* Good luck with both finding a reputable host and with the next couple of chapters. Stay positive? Yeah. ^^;;

    ~Animefreak242
    aka
    Kawaii Girl

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  16. Hi! I'm a long time follower, first time commenter! :P

    If you want a solution that works like Geocities (WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get), but looks more "professional", I suggest Google Sites.

    They own Blogger (so if you found creating this blog not so hard, it should be about the same for a Web Site).

    I think you can also import Web sites to their servers, but I'm not sure. If you want to start from scratch, they provide beautiful and easy-to-use templates. :)

    Hope you find a solution that suits your needs!

    - Crunchy

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  17. Howdy,
    just wanted to tell everyone that the site is currently back for someone reason. Though I have no clue when it might go back down.

    Did someone manage to ask the hosters or something?

    - bangdosa

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  18. OMG! Yay it's back!!

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  19. Tis back; though for how long I know naught

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  20. Oh my god! Quick! Everyone save the chapters before something else happens!! DX

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