samwise wrote:
Jonathan,
It's unusual that someone replies-to-all when they meant to reply to one person, so I'm assuming this wasn't only for Noodles.
[...]
I also fully appreciate that you were the only one willing to step up and do /anything/ at all to my pleas for something we could all get involved with at the time.
Or rather, the first one who did what samwise wanted? Look back to http://lists.alug.org.uk/pipermail/main/2007-February/020224.html and we can see that all offers to help with the website were conditional on it being done the way samwise wanted, on pain of ALUG having a lump carved out of its east coast, demanding things we didn't have like root access.
As far as I can tell, as a result of that pressure, ALUG moved from a conservative but working and recreatable website to a volatile wiki which might have all been lost now. Which was better? Slower updates or no data?
I also don't have any expectations that anyone with access to the site should necessarily have been taking regular backups.
I do. I was taking backups during my time caring for the site. But it's no use crying over spilt data.
My complaint is purely and simply about the choice of hosting provider. Companies don't do stuff for free. If an "arrangement" is made between an ALUGer and someone at the company, that's fine.
It used to be hosted with Darren Casey at PHP4Hosting - a company run by an ALUG member, like several are. Our companies often do what we tell them, even for free.
[...]
Looking to the future, I would ask whether putting the new site on a member's server is really learning the lesson. If something were to happen to Jonathan (sincerely hope not), there is a danger I assume of the same thing happening again. Unlikely, but there it is. Why not sign up for something like lug.org.uk third party hosting, which isn't tied to one ALUG member?
Why not? Because lug.org.uk messed us about when we formed (hence the domain duality), their hosting has performed worse than ALUG hosting historically, and it's tied to one lug.org.uk member (check whois: Registrant type is UK Individual) who we have a lot less connection to than past ALUGgers like Martyn Drake.
On the hosting side of things, I'd suggest someone takes over either hosting or DNS from Jonathan to avoid too many eggs in one basket. Not that I mean to suggest Noodles is a basket! ;-)
Regards,