Hunting for a new home for the Fellowship

[Primula]

I'm not too tech savvy either - I've never found a good way to do that, so I've always just copied and pasted each comment, one by one, into a single document to preserve a line of conversation. Anyone know of something better out there?

[MiddleEarthMunchkin]

Yeah, usually I just copy and paste every comment, or copy the whole page and paste into a big file, although that can be a bit wonky when viewing it later. Are there any settings here to change how many posts per page we can view? On other sites I've set the settings to the highest in order to keep the number of copy-pastes down. (The NaNoWriMo forums reset every year, so I do this a lot, heh).

I saw that the Wayback Machine has indexed the site, although when I click to view threads it says it's not allowed to display them or something.

[yaralindi]

Sorry I haven't been around much in the past few months. Dee has been very, very sick and currently is relying on me for total support. It is no chore but it does take a lot of my time.

If the primary problem is cost, I volunteer to pay the cost of keeping these servers right where they are, including domain registration. If the problem is software upgrades are going to mess up formatting to the point that the site becomes unusable, not sure how much I can help there.

I do have a website of my own - bag-end.net - that I would be willing to set aside a section inside to hold these pages. The link would simply change to bag-end.net/lotrfanmb. I'm not sure how much hard drive space this place takes but I currently pay for a lot and don't use even a fraction of it. Another advantage of moving there would be I could offer email addresses to everyone at bag-end.net. Just another option to toss into the mix.

[AnnaEstel]

That's a very generous offer Yar. You aren't the only one who would be willing to pick up payment slack if that is what's needed. Ultimately I'll do whatever needs doing to help see that something of this community survives in some form, somehow.

[Strange Elf]

Dear Yar, what a wonderful offer. Like Anna said, there are others here who would be willing to add their dime.

I am so very sorry to hear the Dee is sick, though I am not too sure who Dee is. I will add you and Dee to my prayers. You are a special person. Your words of support were such a lift to me over these past years, if only I could repay, even a little.

Cyber hugs!

[yaralindi]

{{{{{{SE!!!}}}}}} It is always amazing to speak with you. You are one of the most inspirational people on this planet, bar none. Heroes come to us to make us better and you are a hero in every sense of the word because you have enriched so very many lives here and everywhere else, I'm sure.

Dee is my wife Debra. She is not fond of Debra; says it is a little girl's name, so years ago I started calling her just D. Because of the Internet and account minimum letters that single letter often does not work so she expanded it to Dee and I've been using that since the mid-1990s as her name. {{whisper}} There is also the notion she is a bit of a Deemon, but you didn't hear that from me...

We believe she was bitten by some insect we have yet to identify since a little over a year ago her right leg puffed up to horrible size and she ran such a high fever she had to be hospitalized. It has cost her the use of her legs and the problems are slowly spreading. Antibiotics have no effect so we believe it to be a virus from the bite but without knowing which one they tell us anti-viral meds would probably do more harm than good. Cancer has been ruled out as have quite a number of genetic disorders. The doctors put her on steroids for a while to see if it might be an allergic reaction but that only caused problems with her kidneys. She and I are now quite the pair. My stroke has robbed me of most of my right side and her whatever is robbing her of her mobility.

It would be disheartening except for the hope and inspiration folks like you bring to us. You have been a true role model for how to live with these sorts of problems. Giving in is not an option and each day we wake up, hug each other, manage breakfast as best we can and get on with the joy that is life. We Skype with my grandson in France, chat with friends online, look for solutions to our problems, and just generally count the blessing of each and every day. You have brought us that and for that we can never repay you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for just being the wonderful person that you are.

Major hugs and joy that you are progressing along apparently cancer free or at least as close as can be measure.

[Tari]

As I stated previously, I have been very bad about logging in. That being said, I would be delighted to contribute financially to keep this site going. I just don't have the time to copy and save each page of the stories I would like to read.

It's the only place I know of that allows us to "speak" to each other. I'm on FB, but never post anything.

[daughter_of_kings]

Just popping in to say... please don't give up on me yet... at least not entirely. My RW life has gotten entirely out of hand, and I haven't had any more time to explore options... or even really be here. I haven't given up on the idea of finding us a new home that doesn't have the glitches this one does. However, as Prim noted, we have until the end of the year to move if we are going to, and even if we find a new home before that, there's no reason not to leave the door open here at least until the end of the year.

[Tari]

Where else could we have so many forums? I have only been reading stories on SOA and sometimes The Silmarillian site and they don't have the option to do this. What a mess. I just do want to lose the option of reading the stories, etc.

[daughter_of_kings]

Cost per se is not so much the issue. It's more that there are so few now to share the burden. Time was, when Prim would put out the call for sponsorships, if you didn't answer in the first day you were too late. Now we're having to double up or triple up to get the full year sponsored.

Yar, it's wonderful of you to offer to foot the bill, but you have enough burdens on your shoulders that I can't ask you to carry us, too. *hugs* Prayers going up for you and Dee right now.

A larger issue is the technical problems that we are beginning to experience (have been experiencing), and the tech savvy required to deal with them... which has moved beyond my paltry capabilities. I have been discussing the tech end with Firiel. There is a possibility that she may take over the technical end of things... she's much better at it than I am. I had her nearly convinced to agree in talking about starting over with a clean slate at a new (free) site... maybe I can talk her into a major overhaul here.

In the meantime, please go to your profiles and make sure that your email contacts are correct. If we do overhaul here, the boards may be down for a bit, and we'll want to be able to contact everyone when we're back online.

[Linaewen]

In the meantime, please go to your profiles and make sure that your email contacts are correct. If we do overhaul here, the boards may be down for a bit, and we'll want to be able to contact everyone when we're back online.

Thought it was a good idea to check my profile as you suggested, but when I click on profile, I get nothing but a blank screen. It doesn't seem to load. I have tried logging in on different browsers but get the same result. Guess that's one of the technical problems that is surfacing!

I do get notifications for this thread when people post to it, so I am assuming that my email is up to date.

Thanks for all you are doing to make sure we have a place to call home!

ETA: Profile is the only button at the top of the page that when clicked, doesn't go where it is supposed to. All the other buttons (FAQ, Search, etc.) work fine.

[halavana]

same issue with the profile link. get a blank page. curious.

[Tari]

I also got a blank page.

If you give me an address and who to make the check out to, I will send something to help cover the costs.

[Dínelleth]

It's either a blank page or I'm having a raging snow storm in my profile at the moment.

[tinidril]

Well you know how long it's been since I checked back here!

I'm fine with FB, or Dreamwidth. It won't matter that Dreamwidth is another place to check, at least I won't be any more absent than I have been FB would make it a bit easier to check in, the problem is that most people from the boards that I am connected to on FB use their real names and I forget their board names. Maybe if we use Dreamwidth then we'll feel free to append our names with our board names, or just use our board names

I had to move back to my brother-in-law's house last December and whenever I have big changes like that my daily routine gets tossed out the window... now I am settling down in a new city, with my computer actually in the motorhome for the first time. I came to check in on every one and what do I find but more changes. Such is life.