Emptybottle.org: Going Dark?

Shelley's mentioned that she's not going to be able to renew her lease with her webhost after the end of this month, so I guess it's time I talked about it too.

Over the last year and more, even with all the financial chaos and stress she's been experiencing, the Burningbird's also been generously hosting the Empty Bottle, and when her weblog goes dark, that means mine will too.

I've only thanked Shelley indirectly in the past, because I believed that was what she'd prefer, but I'd like to very publicly offer a heartfelt thank you to her now, for her help, her encouragement, and her friendship.

Thanks, Shell, for everything. If you hadn't noticed me a few years ago and been possibly the first to *gasp* actually blogroll me (I remember that cherry-poppin' thrill, I do) and unexpectedly sing my praises (back when I had no idea that there were actually other people out there doing this stuff, before I knew that these random Neato Sites I kept running across were run by people who knew each other, personally or virtually, some of whom were allegedly part of cliques and denied it and some of whom weren't and claimed they were, and that the web was primarily a social place, and that this was all going to explode into something miraculous and unexpectedly important to me) I might not be the Master of Time, Space and Dimension I am today. Or something like that, anyway.

Thank you.

And now, if the ranting is to continue, it's hat-in-hand-time for me again, I guess.

Grateful as I am to be gainfully employed when so many are not, the unimpressive take-home salary of a 'visiting professor' in Korea just doesn't leave enough room after bills to pay for webhosting, unfortunately, which is why Shelley offered to host me in the first place last year.

My needs (if you can dignify them that way) are pretty modest - the domain is paid until next year, at least. I have about 5 blogs on my MT installation, and all them except this one are private and essentially receive zero traffic. I don't know how much data the 'bottle moves monthly, but I've averaged about 7000 visits/14000 page views a month on this blog for the last year or so (about 10000 visits a month since my return to blogging in January), including a couple of months on hiatus, according to site meter.

If anyone has some bandwidth to spare and would be able to offer me somewhere to host my own install of Moveable Type, I would certainly offer them ~~sexual favors~~ ~~my first born son~~ eternal thanks and a beer or 20 if we ever were to end up on the same continent. I'm toying with the idea of chucking it all and starting anew at blogspot under a new pseudonym to see if I can build a readership again ('Is that you, wonderchicken?'), but I think I'd prefer, if I were able, to continue the Assault of Miraculous Poultry on the world at large, because ~~that's the right thing to do~~ I'm a stubborn old bastard.

A decade ago, I was wandering the planet and crashing on people's floors. Today, I'm surfing around, bum firmly socketed into office chair, and looking for a server to flake out on. Some things never change.

If you can help, and would like to, and it would absolutely be no burden, drop me an email at savethewonderchicken AT serendipity.mailshell.com, and thanks, friends.

About This Post

What is this? Why am I here? What does it mean? Where should I go now?

Well, this is a post to the personal website Emptybottle.org. It was posted by your genial host stavrosthewonderchicken on April 18, 2003, and is titled Going Dark?. It was published to the categories: Metablogging. In any of those places you might well find other similar things that will bring you Super Double Happiness.

Note: Super Double Happiness is not guaranteed. Void where prohibited by local regulation.

If you feel like it, why not join the personal publishing revolution and leave a comment

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The previous entry on the site is Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue, and the next one is I AM THE GREATEST!.

Enjoy your stay, and please indulge sensibly.

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Comments: You got fingers, right?

16 Comments |

1
ashes said

Damnit mr bosco t aka stavros aka Christobal aka drinking buddy... you probably have the bandwidth hehe just set up a lil server yourself ;-) nudge, nudge. Sigh, I just bought the last 175 of your blogshares too!

April 18, 2003 4:04 AM
2
stavrosthewonderchicken said

That'd be OK, if I were allowed with my ISP contract to run a server from my ADSL connection (which I'm not), and if my very old and tired PC were turned on 24 hours a day (which it isn't, and would die all the sooner if it were). Even if I could leave it turned on 24 hours a day, it would cost me more in electricity here in Korea than it would for a dirt-cheap webhost with MySQL in America or somewhere. So that's not really viable, unfortunately.

April 18, 2003 4:13 AM
3
Rory said

Are you sure you can't afford the hosting on that sort of traffic, Chris? That's probably no more than a gig or two a month - try hostingshop.com.au, which gives you 125MB storage/2GB transfer per month for only A$125 (pitiful Aussie dollars are the foreigner's friend!). If that's still too much, maybe it's time to set up a ...shudder... tip jar?

April 18, 2003 5:11 AM
4
stavrosthewonderchicken said

Well, what I can afford is somewhere in that grey zone between bugger-all, jack-shit, and diddley-squat. Pitiful Aussie dollars are still more powerful than the less-than-mighty Korean won, unfortunately... So probably not. /grin

April 18, 2003 5:20 AM
5
jonner said

Stavros, check into webstrikesolutions (another austratlian host). Seriously. It's a $30US setup fee, but they give you a year free up front after the setup. That's where I'm hosted, and it's been perfectly acceptable for my personal site, and there's no conditions on early termination or anything like that.

April 18, 2003 6:55 AM
6
eyeballkid said

I'm going through hostcentric (US$18/mo. if you're using a flat db in MT, US$23/mo. if you use my SQL for 5GB a month of transfer.) I don't know if their prices fall between diddly and squat. Dreamhost has good prices, but I've heard things, bad things, about service. And if all else fails, maybe a tip jar?

April 18, 2003 7:09 AM
7
Mitch said

Set up the tip jar. Given the number of folks on your blogroll we can probably each come up with a couple of Yankee bux to keep you going.

April 18, 2003 7:55 AM
8
Vidiot said

Hey stav -- for my forthcoming blog, I'm using logjamming.com -- US$60/year. Recommended to me by a friend. They also host Wil Wheaton's site (content aside, they seem to do a pretty good job of that..occasionally their servers will take a hit when Wil gets Slashdotted, but they seem like good guys.)

April 18, 2003 9:52 AM
9
ruzz said

I'm working a deal with another candian guy to handle blog hosting for bigblogtool, I should find out what he would charge you, hes a smaller host and its canadian dollars.. if you want, throw me an email with your bandwidth and space requirements.

April 18, 2003 11:49 AM
10
Andrew said

Well, you could give up drinking and redeploy the money saved towards hosting the blog... Except for two reasons: firstly, if you're anything like me, you'd unhesitatingly choose to spend your last few shekels on a decent bottle of red instead of food or shelter; secondly, I _have_ given up the booze for a little while now (for reasons unknown even to me) and it's left me bereft of motivation, imagination, creativity -- I couldn't write anything clever or coherent right now to save myself. Anyway, if you set up the tip jar, I'm good for a small contribution.

April 18, 2003 4:53 PM
11
same said

I'm going through hostcentric (US$18/mo. if you're using a flat db in MT, US$23/mo. if you use my SQL for 5GB a month of transfer.) I don't know if their prices fall between diddly and squat. Dreamhost has good prices, but I've heard things, bad things, about service. I was with hostcentric and had horrible service. I've had great service with dreamhost. I guess there are horror stories everywhere, but dreamhost works fine for the mirror project, littleyellowdifferent, cockybastard, and many other high profile high traffic sites. That pretty much speaks for itself. But dreamhost seems to work for

April 19, 2003 3:03 PM
12
same said

And no, I don't work for them.

April 19, 2003 3:04 PM
13
adampsyche said

Did you get my e-mail, dude?

April 20, 2003 9:52 AM
14
xian said

just emailed you, then read full post. i'm an idiot about calculating bandwidth, but it seems as though my dinky little linux box hanging off a T1 in new york could handle your additional traffic just fine. if you're still looking for a host, let's talk.

April 20, 2003 5:26 PM
15
stavrosthewonderchicken said

xian - I didn't actually get the email (and I did get yours, Adam), but it looks like I've found a new home, anyway. Thanks to everyone here and via email who offered help and advice. With luck, the 'bottle will continue to pour its hopefully unique libations uninterrupted....

April 20, 2003 8:32 PM
16
xian said

glad you're settled, also glad i didn't rely on my email guess (i assumed anything @emptybottle.org would find its way to you). now i guess burningbird needs the support. i'm afraid i couldn't handle her bandwidth but maybe passing the hat will do the trick.

April 24, 2003 3:10 PM