digitalBYOND gaming and hosting

digitalBYOND is dead! Long live digitalBYOND!

Tue, 06 May 2008 05:46:01 GMT

That's right! As of Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 14:30 CET, both digitalbyond.net and digitalbyond2.net were taken offline. I suspect the contents of those two servers will be wiped within the next day or two and recycled to provided services to another customer.

digitalBYOND hosting was probably the longest-running (3+ years), and likely one of the more successful hosting services available to the BYOND community. I've learned a lot, and hopefully will keep that knowledge with me if I ever decide to provide these services again.

My thanks go out to those who contributed to it's untimely death, and for shafting me with about a 400 Euro ($620 USD / 315 GBP) bill which I am unable to pay off at this time. You are truly losers beyond compare.

Friends and colleagues thought it would not be good to post the blacklist at this time, as I have more important things to worry about. But the odds are good that I will change my mind in a few days and post it anyway, so that others may join my in making it known to the community that those slackers listed are not to be trusted.

digitalBYOND account holders need to make backups NOW!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:53:05 GMT

if you have an account at digitalbyond.net or digitalbyond2.net, you need to make a backup now, just in case hosting does not resume before the April 20th deadline.

I will try to make a complete backup, but that requires changing over account permissions so that i can SFTP the data to my local 700 GB storage drive. I hope to start that on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

As per the digitalBYOND Terms-of-Service, it is your responsibility to make backups, not me. I am only doing it because I might be able to resume hosting at a later date, and it could be easier to restore from my backup when I do get back online.

**READ CAREFULLY** If you do NOT make your own backups and later come crying to me about it - tough. It is not my job to keep your data.

BUT, if you cannot make a backup due to bandwidth restrictions or lack of storage space, I will try to save your data. You can even get it on CD/DVD if you pay for postage.

Hopefully I can keep digitalBYOND going with the current provider. In the event that I cannot continue and must start a new contract elsewhere, existing accounts will be re-activated and get their offline time credited for free to their new accounts.

Watch this blog for further announcements!

Oh, and please comment to this post if you have successfully made a backup or would like me to backup your data for you. If you need help getting your data, drop me a line at digitalbyond@gmail.com and I will try to help out.

Good Luck!

digitalBYOND may go down afterall...last chance!

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:11:38 GMT

Ok, here's the deal: there is currently several outstanding bills related to the hosting services.

Invoice #78139 - 74.00 Euros (December server bill) *paid*
Invoice #79543 - 74.00 Euros (January server bill) *paid*
Invoice #81577 - 74.00 Euros (February server bill)
Invoice #83017 - 12.50 Euros (late fees)
Invoice #83244 - 74.00 Euros (March server bill)
Invoice #84719 - 57.53 Euros (late fees) *paid*
Invoice #84954 - 66.27 Euros (April server bill)

The invoices stricken-through have been paid out of my pocket, or via donations.

If the remaining invoices are *not* paid by April 20, 2008 the contract for both servers will be canceled and the servers wiped. I am told they can turn on the access again so that I can make a full backup - but on April 20th, they go off permanently.

Last chance folks! Contact me via digitalbyond@gmail.com if you intend to pay up old accounts or donate.

Almost there...

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:06:14 GMT

Money has been sent to the hosting provider, Manitu. This weekend I'll scribble an email to them asking to unlock the servers, or atleast tell me if anything is missing, payment-wise. With any luck, we are back online sometime during the week of April 7th.

Heartfelt thanks go out to Thorsten Rental of Pedalkraft and owner of the sexy, yet disfunctional Brise velomobile, for his major contribution. And he's not even a BYONDer! I'm just working on a new version of his website and an inventory system.

Thanks also go out to splattergnome, Lufika, and Harry Wagstaff, for their prompt payments.

I'm still posting the slacker list, but will wait until the servers get back online until putting it out for public consumption.

Stay tuned!

Hosting update!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:45:35 GMT

Still offline, *BUT* a local benefactor that I've done some website work for will help to pay off the bills so that we can get up-n-running as fast as possible (he uses some of my website space for his own company site). His plan is to send the money this week.

This does *not* save everyone's bacon, though. Unpaid accounts will still be locked down. Like Santa, I have a list and I'm checking it twice. I have not decided how to distribute the slacker list yet. Probably post a link here for people to visit. It will hopefully be connected to a new accounting system online so that people can see who the slackers are (but no other info available).

Down side is that because of the long Easter Weekend (Danes and Germans typically are off work from Thursday onwards, coming back on Tuesday), we may not see hosting resume until later next week.

See you after the holidays! I'm off the the Danish west coast to the famous town of Ribe for a change of scenery and to do some swimming and spa-lounging.

digitalBYOND offline until further notice

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:36:38 GMT

Yep! That's right! Thanks to a number of people not even contacting me about whether they need to pay or not, or atleast giving me some assurance that they would pay, the hosting service locked the servers until they receive payment. So far I see about 150 Euros missing.

Folks this is not my job, it's my hobby. These servers were supposed to be self-sufficient, requiring me to do little more than make sure the software gets updated regularly. But now you've pushed me to start acting like a business. And you probably won't like the consequences.

Over the next day or two, I will compile and publish a list of those slackers who have not paid and how much they owe. This list will be made publically available on this guild blog for all to see, and to know how untrustworthy you are. You want to get off that list? Then pay up as soon as you see your name appear. Better yet, if you know you are a slacker, pay first *before* your name appears.

Apparently my idea of letting the users pay for the servers, there-by making them self-suporting isn't going to work anymore. My hobbyist attitude is too relaxed for you to be responsible enough on your own to pay on time.

So some things are going to change yet again!

First off: price increase. Not sure how much yet, but it will be enough to insure that servers are no longer underfunded.

Second: signed PDF-format emailed contracts. Not entirely sure how to word the contract, but it will require enough info for me to have legal options if you decide to not pay. Oh and if you are under 18, it will be your parents who co-sign.

Third: an email warning system. One notice sent 1 week prior to payment due date. After that the account gets locked. One or two weeks beyond the due date means your account and all it's files will be deleted. No warning, other than the conditions specified in the contract or Terms of Service document.

My forth idea was regarding some sort of in-game advertising, but I'll hold off and give that more thought.

Stay tuned for the black list!

Attention digitalBYOND slackers: you have 5 days...

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:52:45 GMT

...to get your digitalBYOND accounts paid up-to-date, otherwise they go bye-bye on Friday! I will start shutting games down and deleting unpaid accounts Friday afternoon. That's right! I said 'deleting'. No archiving, no backing-up, no saving.

The hosting people have been lenient, but now they want their money, and so do I!

Currently there are about 6-7 accounts that have failed to pay for the last couple of months. You know who you are, so cough it up. If not, I will post your games and your BYOND keys as a warning to future hosting services to consider you a bad risk. Think of it as a blacklist of BYONDers who can't be trusted to pay for a service.

Cheap bastards!

digitalBYOND hosting update!

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:26:37 GMT

With the new job making me brain-dead staring at spaghetti code, annoyances with my allergies (I just learned I'm now allergic to four things: two kinds of dust mite poop, fungus, and grass), and last weeks visit of my parents (first time in Europe for my father who I haven't seen in person in seven years), I've really had no time to address each and every request for shell accounts.

To my surprise, I get about 1-2 requests per week! Either favorable word about digitalBYOND is getting around the community, or you guys are just desperate for hosting, even if the servers are in Germany! :)

This week, I will go through the finances to see how we are doing, and if there is enough cash on-hand, I will tell the hosting company to go ahead and turn on the digitalBYOND3 and digitalBYOND4 domains so that Alathon, Nadrew, and myself can start setting up accounts either this week or next.

So for those of you who have made requests, we will be sending out an email to each of you asking if you still want the account you requested. We will do the requests in small batches, starting from the oldest to the newest emails. You'll get a about a day to respond, and if not, your 'reserved' slot will go to someone else down the line.

Watch this space - or your INBOX - for more info!

Hosting update, new service, and fixed currency!

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:45:56 GMT

Hosting is a bit delayed for those who have requested an account. Mostly I'm still hunting for a comparable shell host in the US. Nadrew has found a coup0le, but not at the prices that I pay for the German servers digitalBYOND currently uses.

If anyone knows of a shell hosting service for under $50/month (I pay about $40/month for the each of the current servers), please let me know either via the comments to this blog post, or through email at digitalbyond@gmail.com.

If I find nothing suitable this week or next, I'll go ahead and 'un-freeze' the current order for two more servers from my German hosting service. The only real problem is that there will be the occassional un-controllable network lag between the US and Europe. Sorry, but I ain't powerful enough to stop people from downloading p0rn, movies, and music. :)

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PHProjekt and dotProject are installed on digitalbyond.net as project management tools for those wishing to organize their development teams and track the progress of their game projects.

1 Euro per month is the current price for the new service, or 10 Euros/year. This includes basic 'tech-support', software updates, and monthly database backups.

If you purchase/have purchased a hosting account, the project management service is half-price - only .50 Euro-cents a month (no yearly deals).

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Lastly, all prices are now given in Euros. This is the currency of my German bank account and my PayPal account, which is used for paying the monthly server bills (2 x 40 Euros/month). Hopefully I can reduce the loss of money when going between your transfers to my PayPal account and transfers between PayPal and my German bank account. (It turns out I was only getting about 37-38 Euros per month instead of the 40 Euros a month needed for each server).

It will be up to you to send the appropriate amount when paying for a service - for example, currently you will have to send $5.92 USD, or 3.02 British Pounds per month for the 4 Euro green package. Please check the current exchange rates before sending your payment.

When I get a chance, I will update the digitalbyond.net website with an automated currency converter so that you know exactly what each service costs, but consider the change to Euro currency 'in stone' as of this writing.

Nadrew on the case!

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:45:36 GMT

In order to improve performance for U.S. players, I've got Nadrew scouring the net for dedicated shell servers in the U.S. for roughly the same price that I pay for in Germany.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!