Web posted on January 28, 2006 at 15:01

In case you were all wondering, the reason why this site was down for so long was a combination of things...

First, it was found that the site was the cause for hackers to get into the server it is hosted on and start doing malicious things with it.   It used a widely available dynamic website portal package called PostNuke, which we later found out tends to have security issues on a regular basis, but only after the fact that we had the issues.

We also found out that the package used a database type called InnoDB (the database is where all the content for heicher.com was stored), which locks its tables when being used.  Well, when we moved them to another server, they became permanently locked, with no way of saving what content we had.

So, that led to a dilemma... what were we going to do with the site?

I wasn't about to try another package, so I actually came up with an idea.

My own site, http://darkside.thrillnetwork.net/,  needed a refresher to be ready for its 10th anniversary of being online (it was launched June of 1996).  Since that was originally intended to be a database-driven personal site package, I decided to adapt the post-redesign version of the site for this.  I also use it to test new website technologies and ideas.  Much of what you see on this site is a direct result of my testing new ideas.

Between work and everything else going on, I managed to get my own site complete.  After a couple of weeks worth of shakedown and bugfixes, I took the package I wrote for my site, made a few slight changes, threw in a couple of new graphics, and then posted it live for everyone to use.

The downside... everyone has to re-register (if they haven't already... many of you have already done so).   

While Melinda and I are constantly busy, we do intend on trying to get much of the stuff back up.  For now though, the forums are available and we can bicker among one another until then.

If you have any questions, please contact us using the contact form.  I recommend against posting email addresses on this site since that encourages more spam in your mailbox.