Author Topic: What happened? (Read 16046 times)

Bateleur · « **on:** February 06, 2008, 04:27 »

Was it just me ... or was it general?

Yesterday, when I tried to access the site, all I got was a message which looked like it came from the host server, saying the site was unavailable.

Then, earlier this morning when I tried again, I got a directory listing.

What happened?

Anyway ... you're back now. Phew!

leaf · « **Reply #1 on:** February 06, 2008, 04:33 »

Yeah, sorry

Apparently the site went over it's CPU usage quota and the plug was pulled. Seems a little unprofessional to just pull the plug without warning

if you ask me.

The hosting company said I had to upgrade to an virtual private server (VPS) to continue hosting the site...

with means high hosting fees.

Nonetheless I have taken the bait and upgraded to the VPS. Not sure if it was REALLY neccesary but I will live it like this for now. Perhaps I will consider moving the site to a new hosting agency in the future, but if I just end up with the same problem there, then I may as well just stay with my current hosting company.

In any case, sorry for the down time - things should be back to normal now!

Eco · « **Reply #2 on:** February 06, 2008, 04:58 »

Well, we are just glad the site is back again.

Thank you Leaf. We really appreciate your efforts to make Microstockgroup such a valuable resource.

northflyboy · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2008, 05:32 »

Thanks Leaf for keeping this site running.
I was away for 4 days and when I came back and could not acces the site, I was a bit lost....
Maybe it's time for some therapy

Pierre

Bateleur · « **Reply #4 on:** February 06, 2008, 05:48 »

Quote from: leaf on February 06, 2008, 04:33

Yeah, sorry ...

... In any case, sorry for the down time - things should be back to normal now!

Don't apologise, Tyler.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we're all grateful that the best microstock forum on the Web is still going strong.

I just thought I wasn't going to see it again, and started to get withdrawal symptoms.

Glad you're back. Thanks a million.

dbvirago · « **Reply #5 on:** February 06, 2008, 06:01 »

Thanks for all you do and glad you are back. Personally, if they had pulled the plug on me, I would have gone somewhere else regardless. Too much competition out there.

At least we all saw their splash page and know who not to use for hosting.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #6 on:** February 06, 2008, 06:11 »

So when you go over the traffic limit their incentive is to shut your site down? Unless there's a real good reason to stick with them, I would switch hosts. Thanks for keeping this site going.

stokfoto · « **Reply #7 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:00 »

So glad to see the site back

Thank you leaf for all your efforts.

anonymous · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:03 »

Quote from: stokfoto on February 06, 2008, 09:00

So glad to see the site back
Thank you leaf for all your efforts.

ditto sir

gbcimages · « **Reply #9 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:29 »

yes, thanks Leaf.

GeoPappas · « **Reply #10 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:33 »

Please don't let that happen again.

I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms...

Smiling Jack · « **Reply #11 on:** February 06, 2008, 10:56 »

Glad you are back! For a newbie like me this site is invaluable. Thanks

digiology · « **Reply #12 on:** February 06, 2008, 11:20 »

yeah that was harsh...I was feeling very lost also

I agree with Nazdravie and would fire your ISP!

madelaide · « **Reply #13 on:** February 06, 2008, 11:56 »

It's a relief to see the site back. Thank you, Leaf!

If costs are high, I propose a voluntary donation to keep the site running.

Regards,
Adelaide

ludesal · « **Reply #14 on:** February 06, 2008, 12:07 »

Quote from: madelaide on February 06, 2008, 11:56

If costs are high, I propose a voluntary donation to keep the site running.

I think this is a good idea!
Thank you for everything, leaf

Anyka · « **Reply #15 on:** February 06, 2008, 12:15 »

I agree. I'm sure most of us value this site enough to be willing to do a donation or even pay a membership fee. So if the old or new host is asking for more, just give us a button "donate" to click on!

null · « **Reply #16 on:** February 06, 2008, 13:06 »

Leaf, thank you for your efforts. This site has been really a great help to me in terms of more $$$. I wouldn't mind to make a small donation if the ads are not enough. I bet the monthly hosting fee is 40-50$ or so. 100 people Paypaling 5$ should be enough.

I'm very happy with hostgator.com, and they never pulled the plug - even when they were without payment 2 months because of a credit card problem.

I really missed browsing MSG yesterday while waiting for my uploads ;-)

strikerx98 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 06, 2008, 13:31 »

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

I too must have tried a dozen times to get on each time needing to calm myself knowing it just couldn't be gone forever. This group and you Leaf have been a blessing to me and my beginning with stock.

Happy to see you all again!
Connie

Smithore · « **Reply #18 on:** February 06, 2008, 14:24 »

Ouf, very happy to read you again!

lumina · « **Reply #19 on:** February 06, 2008, 14:30 »

Thanks for your effort, Leaf.

mwp1969 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 06, 2008, 14:42 »

I was sooooooooooo lost w/o Microstockgroup.com for a day ...

But I am very happy to see it here today !

Mark

leaf · « **Reply #21 on:** February 06, 2008, 14:49 »

well i am glad you are all enjoying it here. I am too. The atmosphere and info / ideas / knowledge exchange is only thanks to all the members. This place serves as my water cooler (as mentioned in another thread) and I missed it yesterday.

As far as paid memberships - this is nothing i dislike more than free forum all of a sudden deciding that their content should require a paid subscription. Microstockgroup will always be free - that's the way forums should be.

Hosting fees are currently $90/month at siteground. It is a little chunk of change, but to displace the fee, as some of you may have noticed there is a 'site sponsers' area on the bottom right of the site (visible to everyone), and an 'ads' area for people who are not logged in in the left bar. I had once thought that it would be nice to keep this site ad free as well, but with the higher hosting fees, perhaps it is an ok tradeoff.

Currently Mostphotos is the main sponser, so you can thank them for that. Hopefully the site can still stay completely unbiased even if a microstock site has advertising here. Ideally it would be nice to have a general sponser, like Sandisk, or canon but I haven't had any ad requests from them yet!

Another thought could be to have a voluntary donation.. with perhaps a little 'perk' for 'paid members' like a 'members lounge' area of the forum.. for uhhh... members only discussion

... things we only wanted to discuss amoungst ouselves!

... or perhaps have a perk as only paid members are allowed to have a forum signature (and thus referral links)... anyhow for the time being things will remain the same.

ideas and thoughts on all this are welcome!?

PenelopeB · « **Reply #22 on:** February 06, 2008, 15:00 »

Well... I sure missed this place! Felt like one of my hands had been removed.

Thanks and note that you are greatly appreciated.

Regards
Penny

fotografer · « **Reply #23 on:** February 06, 2008, 15:53 »

Quote from: leaf on February 06, 2008, 14:49

or perhaps have a perk as only paid members are allowed to have a forum signature (and thus referral links)... anyhow for the time being things will remain the same.

ideas and thoughts on all this are welcome!?

I think that you should be the only one allowed to benefit from referral links as a bonus for running and financing this site. I will probably join 123rf soon and would like you to be my referral (assuming that I haven't already clicked on someone elses link without knowing it) but have no idea how to do that. Maybe you could put some links in an obvious place on the site asking people to click on them if they want you to be their referral.

ErickN · « **Reply #24 on:** February 06, 2008, 16:11 »

Leaf,

Already joined you by PM, but once again, thanks for keeping such a nice and informative forum alive.

I'm in for a donation if ever needed.

Erick

le_cyclope · « **Reply #25 on:** February 06, 2008, 18:46 »

ahhhh, you're back!

Leaf, I thought yesterday that something terrible might happened to you, like being «arrested» for taking photos of a public building, or using a tripod in London, or anything that terrible!

Glad to see that it is not the case!

Quote from: leaf on February 06, 2008, 14:49

Another thought could be to have a voluntary donation.. with perhaps a little 'perk' for 'paid members' like a 'members lounge' area of the forum.. for uhhh... members only discussion ... things we only wanted to discuss amoungst ouselves! ... or perhaps have a perk as only paid members are allowed to have a forum signature (and thus referral links)... anyhow for the time being things will remain the same.

Just a «Voluntary donation» button is perfect for me (with a Paypal link), no need to have anything special for now!

Thanx
Claude

Bateleur · « **Reply #26 on:** February 07, 2008, 01:32 »

Quote from: le_cyclope on February 06, 2008, 18:46

Leaf, I thought yesterday that something terrible might happened to you, like being «arrested» for taking photos of a public building, or using a tripod in London,

Yeah. Just be careful if you're doing serious photography in London. The police are a little twitchy ... and not too bright with it.

I put the story on my blog yesterday.

leaf · « **Reply #27 on:** February 07, 2008, 15:07 »

OK.. for an update here.

I have added a 'support the site' link on the top. It is not really much new at all, but there will be a 'paid members' area of the forum... for I am not sure what type of discussion, but perhaps it will be useful... i had to think of some sort of perk to give.

One of the better ideas however, is that I have decided that every 'membership' fee that is paid will first go to support a kiva loan. If you don't know what that is, check it out here
http://www.kiva.org
Once the kiva loan has been repaid - the funds will be withdrawn and used to support microstockgroup. I have wanted to find a way to support a number of kiva loans and perhaps this is one way. I have set the membership fee to $25 /year - since that is the amount a kiva loan costs - I hope that is not too much. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Otherwise there is the regular referral links, and advertising info on that page... i guess you can see it for yourselves.

But as I stated earlier.. The site is going to remain free. The membership is purely voluntary - there may be features in the future for paid members but the information, forums and regular site will always be free.

and lastly.
You can check out the microstockgroup kiva page
HERE

madelaide · « **Reply #28 on:** February 07, 2008, 15:56 »

Leaf,

That's a really cool idea. Last time I checked Kiva, they were not needing contributors - go figure! That was due to the huge advertisement they had received, which brought many helpers in a short time. I checked and they are open for contribution now.

Regards,
Adelaide

leaf · « **Reply #29 on:** February 07, 2008, 16:05 »

Quote from: madelaide on February 07, 2008, 15:56

Leaf,

That's a really cool idea. Last time I checked Kiva, they were not needing contributors - go figure! That was due to the huge advertisement they had received, which brought many helpers in a short time. I checked and they are open for contribution now.

Regards,
Adelaide

yeah they were featured on Oprah, and Bill Clinton also gave them a few promo's .. immediatly after that they had more lenders than people needing a loan. They limited the amount people could loan for a while (to try and catch up).. and now seem to be back to 'normal'

ludesal · « **Reply #30 on:** February 07, 2008, 16:24 »

I think this is a very good idea, leaf.
$25 is nothing compared with what we have been learning here. I will do the payment as soon I have money on my PP account!

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #31 on:** February 07, 2008, 17:43 »

Leaf, I don't use paypal, I still collect by check...... I suppose that it is inevitable that I must get a paypal account up and running and as soon as I do, I will gladly kick in $25.

MSG has been invaluable to me in my entrance into the microstock world. This is the ONLY forum that I belong to. It is the only one I've ever found worthwhile.

Thanks for your efforts, sir!! And thanks to all of you that have helped me!!

=tom

madelaide · « **Reply #32 on:** February 07, 2008, 17:48 »

And you know, that gave me an idea. I have a bit over US$50 in CanStockPhoto after two years, and it's likely that I won't achieve the US$100 for a MB payout in a decent time frame, so I should grab that money into PP and use it to finance two persons in Kiva!

Regards,
Adelaide

leaf · « **Reply #33 on:** February 07, 2008, 17:55 »

I think idea of microstock funding microloans is a pretty cool idea.

mwp1969 · « **Reply #34 on:** February 07, 2008, 18:15 »

Leaf,

I signed up to Mostphotos.com a few days ago and gave your name

I hope you get credit for the referral.

I am not familiar with the "kiva" loan so I will have to educate myself about it when I get a chance, but will be more than happy to contribute to help support this site.

Mark

Pywrit · « **Reply #35 on:** February 07, 2008, 19:53 »

Leaf,

I learned about this site from a posting by Flemish on the GS forums. I've been here every since. I've found it a valuable resource not only about the artistry of microstock, which I am still learning, but also about the eccentricities of the various sites. I've also read much from the other folks around here that is just plain interesting. The conversations are often spirited, but rarely turn obnoxious. It is refreshing to be amongst a group people who can have different opinions but do not generally flame one another. And now we find that you have a big heart, too. The site just keeps getting better and more comfortable, kind of like a nice warm pair of slippers on a cold morning.

Thanks a bunch for all your efforts. They are appreciated.

le_cyclope · « **Reply #36 on:** February 07, 2008, 20:25 »

Wow, I really like this idea!

Claude

digiology · « **Reply #37 on:** February 07, 2008, 22:11 »

Thanks Leaf. I really like the Kiva idea. I just donated

null · « **Reply #38 on:** February 08, 2008, 14:05 »

Quote from: Pywrit on February 07, 2008, 19:53

I learned about this site from a posting by Flemish on the GS forums.

Ah, I finally did something right ;-)

I did another thing right I guess, when I uploaded about 600 shots to MostPhotos last weekend by FTP. No pain at all since they are all IPTC-ed. I got a private chat from the manager and he asked me where I knew about MP and I said the MSG. Always cherish your sponsor!

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Author Topic: What happened? (Read 16046 times)

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