A word about Squidge.org

[squidgestatus]

All,

You may know, you may not - humor me.

Squidge.org started back in 1994 as an X-Files/David Duchovny mailing list. From day one of Squidge, I have done this as a passion; as something that I love to do. Now fifteen years later, we are still going strong. It's still just me, with my beautiful husband thrown into the mix on occasion when I'm on the road (which is a lot of the time).

Squidge.org is a series of 4 servers (web server, mailing list server, database server, and firewall server) and supporting hardware that's in our garage on a business FIOS line. Sometimes things go awry. I try to keep up with the regular maintenance and keep on top of things, but we all know how life can get. Sometimes you're buried and just can't get to it. I've got some preventative measures that I put into place, but they are often not enough because as soon as you fix one thing, you go away and then see something else occur from afar. Fun, eh?

I'm not a professional hosting company; never have claimed to be, and never will be. I'm NOT going to charge anyone a dime for the hosting that I do. At the same time, I hope that people understand that doing this as a passionate hobby does mean it has to take a backseat to some things. Thus the backlog on getting the new remote boot put into place, etc. Sometimes I end up snuggled with my hubby on the couch instead of ass-deep in a server backup solution, etc. It happens.

All in all, I think that in the fifteen years that I've been doing this, I have gotten one piece of hate email for downtime - and that was probably five years ago. I don't expect, nor have I gotten any more. I am simply writing this so I can let people know I'm human, there will be failures, and that though I am trying to make them less and less common, they will happen.

Be well.

Walter, Owner
Squidge.org

Comments

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Walter, I've had nothing but thankfulness that you've been providing this resource to the community for so many years. I may not have said it to you often, but I'm very grateful for your presence and all your efforts. Trust me -- not complaining about anything!

[murgy31.livejournal.com]

I just found these archives about 2 years ago, and I adore the story resource. You will hear no complaints from me. Thank you so much for all you and your hubby do...

[squidgestatus.livejournal.com]

BTW, I'm not posting this to get sympathy or kudos or anything. There're new people on the Internet every day, and new people inducted into fandoms every day. They just need to know the history so they can appreciate it.

Things have changed. Back in 1994 we were on a dialup that was $20/month. Then we moved to a 768/768 DSL line that was $295/month. Then when Patrick and I moved to Oregon, we were in a datacenter for a few months at $100/month. Then we were effectively kicked out - but at the same time (2002) we got 1Mb/1Mb DSL line for $150/month. After two years, Patrick and I found our dream home out in the boonies and we ended up with a 768k/384k DSL line to run Squidge.org for $150/month. That HURT - going WAY down in speed after a 1Mb SDSL line! Well now we just got FIOS in December 2008, and have been on a 20Mb/5Mb FIOS line ever since for $150/month. I just added it up - it comes out to more than $16,000 just for data connections over the last 15 years. Add in the servers that we have, electricity, software, etc, etc... It's actually not a bad hobby at just over $1000/year. :)

The *one* time that I did complain about Squidge was the friggin' DAY AFTER I have my tonsils out, a SCSI board went out. There I was at Frys, drooling on everything and doped up on Vicodin, trying to find a new SCSI board. That day sucked. But hell, one bad day in 15 years ain't so bad. *KNOCK WOOD*

[porridgebird.livejournal.com]

I can't thank you enough for everything you do, and I can't believe you do it all for free. How could anyone complain? *enormous grateful hugs*

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Walter, you are made of human awesome, and I've had a home on squidge for--what, ten years? 11? 12?--and the Due South Archive is here and happy too. If you ever need anything, you call me, and no joke. I love squidge and I appreciate it EVERY DAY and I'm sorry I don't write every day to tell you so.

[perclexed.livejournal.com]

I have been talking to my favorite internet people for 10 years on the irc server, and I can't tell you how incredibly awesome that is and YOU and your hub are. <3 and many, many thanks.

[sallye.livejournal.com]

and I can't thank you enough for all the pleasure you've given me in my Sentinel fandom that I've been in for over 12 years. thank you!

[i-want-2.livejournal.com]

Bravo! You have done excellent work.

[dhae_knight_1]

I'm not saying it's not annoying when Squidge goes down in the middle of me reading a 25-chapter story - but I can't tell you how happy I am to know that it's going to come back.

So many archives have gone missing - just in the 15 years I've been active in fandom - and it's a tragedy every time. I don't mind waiting until you have time to get to it, because I know you'll get to it.

I guess what I'm just trying to say here is that you're doing fantastic work, keeping squidge running. Thank you. :-)

[lil-jei.livejournal.com]

I know that I love and appreciate all the hard work you do.

And I thank you for the continual awesome service of fan ficcers everywhere :)

You rock.

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

You won't remember me but I used to be on the Duchovnik list eons ago. I remember what a welcoming and fun place it was and that was in no small part because of who was behind it and the people you attracted to your group. I regret being too shy to have met you and a couple of others when I had the chance. Thank you for the many years of giving so much to this community. I definitely appreciate it.

[rose-gialle.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful that you keep everything available for the benefit of the community.

Thank you so very much.

For the ten or so years I've been on the net, you've been a reliable and stable presence and source of joy. I've had countless hours of reading and fannish pleasure directly attributable to the service you provide, and I really appreciate it. ♥

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Just want to add my thanks to everyone else's. Squidge was the first source of fanfic I discovered many years ago, and it's probably the most reliable service I've ever used - you never fail to let us know when something goes wonky, and I know that you'll always do your best to fix it as soon as you can. You're a real star, and what you do for us all is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[tommyboybbi.livejournal.com]

Walter you house my litle bloc of fan fic (really need o updae it but that's a later issue)

you ask nothing and don't hold us to censor our work. You host many archives.

You are admit to say hello, remember, I do this out of love. If someone complains that your are not quick enough, you can give them hell. ;)

[china_shop]

*appreciates very much*

[amazonx.livejournal.com]

Look, I chat on your server every night. If it goes down, oh well. Hey, I'm thankful to have somewhere free to congregate with my friends! You're awesome, we love you, and you know it! Hey, any word on whether you can help Sheltie fix her problem? She can't get on squidge to chat, and it's gotta be a clash between firewalls, I can feel it in my bones. Other than that, you're made of awesome!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hi Walter, just a note to let you know that I think you're awesome for doing this, and I really appreciate that you're always quick to let people know about any problems. Thank you again for hosting my site, and rock on!