HI everyone,
Below is an extract from the message we sent to the web designer this morning.

We will do our best to ensure that you are given some warning of any 'downtime' on "Gente" before he starts working on it.

So it's now 'fingers crossed' for a rapid solution to these problems. We woould both like to apologise to you all for any disruptions and ask you, most sincerely, to be just a little more patient and to stick with us 'til it's sorted and we once more have a strong, reliable site for your research!

IN THE MEANTIME PLEASE DO NOT TRY AND ACCESS THE OLD "GENTE" SITE

Our very best regards and thank you SO much for all your patience

Nuccia and Carole

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
To: The designer
Thank you for your quick reply, I appreciate that.

I/we would like you to carry out the work that is necessary as quickly as possible. I understand that this may involve from 6-8 hours work, and maybe a bit more, .................................

It would be necessary (out of courtesy) for us to advise our membership of any pending 'down time' for the site, and to this end could you PLEASE notify Nuccia and I via e-mail of when you will be working on the site. She is able to receive messages on another PC.

If there are any problems with this, please let me/her know ASAP....

Thank you for your continued co-operation.

We are looking forward to a rapid solution to this long (and at times painful) debacle.

Well..

I'm back. I have nothing left on my computer but I guess as Liz says an empty computer is better then no computer at all. My only regret is that I managed to lose almost three years of research and pictures..much of which I can't get back. I didn't properly back them up because the burner apparently was not functioning and the guy who sold it to me was away for the last month and he didn't leave me a new one. The bottom line is that its gone..time to move on and start again. I can blame whoever I want for everything but the real blame is mine. I wasn't careful..

We've picked a new server for the forum and website. It seems the current one does not have the capability to handle the forum. It has updated itself in over a year which was the cause for all the problems..it kept losing files and it took my personal files with it. You all wouldn't have been able to see it but it did become noticeable one night when Liz and I both saw a file just "disappear". At the time, we weren't sure what happened, we just knew it was there one minute and gone the next. I was feeling pretty guilty thinking I accidentally deleted info and files but the designer had a look and noticed it as well.

So much for that..we will re install with a new server thanks, once again to Carole. She has come to my rescue (like she has been for the last two years) and took care of everything. She has called me three to four times daily to check up on me and offer words of encouragement...

So there it is in a nut shell. This will straighten itself out soon, we promise. And thanks for everything everyone...we'll get there yet!

3 years of research gone?!!!!!!! Oh, no!!! Poor Nuccia. If there is anything I can do let me know. You know I have some stuff you sent me in a folder on my hard drive with you name on it. Let me know when you are ready for it. If there is anything I can do let me know. Now I'm off to copy my own files on CD's!!

For sure Cathy..email me what you have and then back up your files on CDS, flash drives and email them to yourself. Luckily I can get some of them back because some are on CDS some are on email. But some are gone forever..lots of pictures are gone..for this I feel bad.

Thanks to Carole we finally got the new domain registered and with any luck, Devon will be able to begin work on later tonight or tomorrow.

After spending almost three hours on the phone with dot5hosting (see jokes section for one of my conversations with one of their live chat operators..its too funny) I was able to hopefully, finally cancel the old hosting service. If the site goes down, you'll know why..but rest assured it will be back before you know it.

Dot5 is going through some changes. It has been bought out by another server and so it is having problems which they hope to correct within the next 60 days. They were hoping it would be done sooner...thats why all the problems. The last customer service representative I spoke to was absolutely wonderful..it's too bad I didn't get the chance to speak with him in the first place..

Anyway, just wanted to fill you all in.

Nuccia,
I feel so sorry that you have lost all your information and files, from all the way in England a Big Hug from me.
Not being ok with computors, it's something I never thought of, I have now bought my self an external hard drive and put all my photo's and family history onto that, I must admit with the help of a younger friend who showed me how to do it.
I know it doesn't ease how you feel, but I'm sure that I can say on behalf of all the other members, don't be too down hearted as we all LOVE YOU.
Mike. xxx

Thanks Carnie..Its been an interesting two weeks. I was able to recover many of my files..somehow I had the good sense (rare how it is) to email a lot of the info to myself so I found a lot of it. I reinstalled several programs but am still until to get some to work..I'm sure this is a computer configuration problem though now since I have always had someone else do things like this for me. This time I did much of it myself and its not TOO bad..

The external hard drive is a great idea. My son is looking into buying one as well. I can't do it at the moment for obvious reasons..

Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words too..I love you all too. This has been a real experience for me and one I'm glad to have had the chance to be part of in spite of the issues I faced with my PC..I was able to make many new friends which I can now proudly call friends.

Hey..this is almost getting mushy..better quit before you all think I'm soft or something!

Because of the many problems our members have had over time, I finally purchased an external hard drive this last spring. I find it is such a life saver. I not only backup my genealogy information but everything. I also back up to CDs as well. Too much time with what I have to lose it.

Many years ago, ancient days before PCs, I worked on a typewriter that had memory for documents. Well I learned early on that it wasn't very reliable and could lose things in a flash. Many hours of typing wasted. I am almost paranoid about backing up my system. I have been reading about the Cloud sites which looks interesting. But, again, worried about "what if those servers crash". Then I would have nothing. So still using my external hard drive.

lilbees

lilbees wrote:

Because of the many problems our members have had over time, I finally purchased an external hard drive this last spring. I find it is such a life saver. I not only backup my genealogy information but everything. I also back up to CDs as well. Too much time with what I have to lose it. Many years ago, ancient days before PCs, I worked on a typewriter that had memory for documents. Well I learned early on that it wasn't very reliable and could lose things in a flash. Many hours of typing wasted. I am almost paranoid about backing up my system. I have been reading about the Cloud sites which looks interesting. But, again, worried about "what if those servers crash". Then I would have nothing. So still using my external hard drive. lilbees

Me too lilbees.
Better safe that sorry, right?

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

lilbees

ACCOUNT SUSPENDED