Sinister: Down my dusty bin

[Honey]

Kevan Cooke said 3 times:
> hello folks

Actually he didn't - that was my fault, jumping around maniacally and
throwing the switches too fast in the basement of the Sinister computer,
like some mad evil doctor experimenting on you all.  I suppose now is a
suitable time to say: I'm going to have to move the archives and photos,
and they're going to suffer as a result I'm afraid.  I kept this from you a
week ago as I didn't want to ruin your birthday (you're only 2) but here's
what is likely to happen:

1. They'll be much slower to respond to new messages

2. They'll be in "reverse" order, newest messages at the top

3. The searching isn't going to be what it used to be: it will
   only be able to search for words, not phrases, etc.

This is all very regrettable, to me more than any of you I can assure you
as I spent oodles of time trying to make the archives as fast and flexible
as they could be, and a lot of it's having to be chucked in the bin.  So
please don't give me a hard time over it, as I'm liable to give one of
those little growls you hear bears with migraines give from the back of
caves.  I've been working "really quite" hard over the last week to do the
best I can with a kind and noble body who will host the new archive for us,
to the extent of patching their software for them to improve things a bit
for you all.  They provide a dead good service, for free, for the love of
it, so we don't have to suffer any smarmy adverts, but they do it for
thousands of lists so it has to stay manageable, thus the entirely
honourable compromises.

I haven't found a new home for the photos yet.  Offers of oodles of WWW
space are kind, but don't really solve the problem: the procedures to
produce all this Sinister gumph required "shell access" to an external
account that hosts the WWW pages, and I don't have that anywhere that I can
host.  Shell access because after a while of running this, you have to
automate everything to even half keep up (and I only half keep up).  If you
don't know what shell access means, don't worry, but if you do happen to
run an ISP, and can offer me Unix shell access to a WWW account with 200+MB
of space and a hot net connection, and are happy to install system software
on my behalf, and can guarantee I can keep this space indefinitely, and
with complete independence, it might make me break out in a smile.  If you
could arrange for me to go on a cruise once a year that'd be nice as well.
Yes, I know this is asking a lot so don't offer if you're at all unsure.
:)

Also if anyone knows of the best place on the web which can offer me 100's
of MB of space, with no adverts, and most importantly where I can FTP into
from *any* net connection, I'd be obliged.  I've tried all the UK free ones
and they're mean and stingy because they don't really care about Da Kidz
and only allow ftp's from their own dialups.  hosts.deny be damned.

I do hate adverts so, it's just a foible of mine, because any service
that's supported by advertising always end up to be crap.  I could bore you
all to tears ranting about how the Net should be for free, how it should be
about people creating little worlds for themselves without trying to sell
them anything through the back door, how it was and still can be, and why
it all Actually Matters, but I'm going to stick a handkerchief in my
mouth.  If anyone has the slightest interest in such things, go and read
the most eloquent rant from the heart on the subject I've ever read, from
someone who really really cares, at:

http://www.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=339458840

My eyes actually did prickle a little bit.  Enough.

Mummy Honey xxx
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   +---+  Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list  +---+
  To send to the list mail "sinister at majordomo.net". To unsubscribe
   send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
  "majordomo at majordomo.net".  WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+
 +-+                     "jelly-filled danishes"                   +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+