Hey all,

So as you may have noticed the site went down and came back up not 100%. I'm going to be getting deep into the technical weeds here, but the TLDR is:

TLDR; Domain expired and we didn't have any notification it was expiring because of how the site has changed hands over the years. We tried setting up a secondary domain, and the administrative tool... helpfully removed the old site contents, and we had to dig up an 11 year old backup because the backups we *thought* were happening, weren't.

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Now that we have the TLDR out of the way, you'll have noticed you started getting the NXDOMAIN error as DNS servers started clearing the domain out their cache. This basically stands for "Non-existant domain". The domain expired, was removed, and DNS servers started removing the domain. Sometimes it may work, other times fail. All luck of the draw generally.

So, once we figured out it was the domain expiring, we started looking into getting it back and that was and exercise in frustration. So, we grabbed the secondary domain "dokuga.org" and started looking at putting it in place.

I added that domain as a virtual host through the Web host administrative tools, but how it set it up was... really bad. So it was deleted, and was just going to be setup by hand instead of doing the "right" way. That deletion had the side effect of deleting the web root from the *other* virtual host we weren't touching.

So, great, the web root was deleted. They've been doing weekly backups of the web root, so at most a week of Art would be lost. I go to grab a backup, and find nothing. So I stare at this empty space... and keep staring. At this point, brick walls were searched for as a good place to slam heads into.

There's a stack of DVD's behind me. A moon or two ago I pulled an old backup off. This being a last ditch effort to salvage anything from the site. The backup was from a web root from Feb 13, 2010 (backup made May 26, 2010).

This is a slightly older structure, but it _seems_ to be able to read the *current* stories from the database okay, and the forum. Art was stored in the webroot, Spark archive is a sliver of its former self.

And this is where we find our self right now. :/

-M

Thank you for doing everything you have - I’m just grateful it’s not a complete poof of the entire community.

Are you looking for people with backups of stories/art? Some of spark was crossposted to ff.net and ao3 and could be retrieved that way.

Thank you so much for all your work trying to save the great works on this site. I feel the frustration you are dealing with and appreciate the fact that you have the knowledge to deal with these problems. I wouldn’t know what to do after staring into the blank space that should not have been blank.

At least we have something. Thank you for your hard work. We can rebuild together

Thank you so much for all your hard work. I know I and many others very much appreciate what you are doing to save the site and get it back up to the best of your ability. I’m so glad you have the necessary knowledge to know what to do about this daunting situation. Thank you, thank you, thank you! *massive teddy bear hug*

I was really worried for awhile there. Thanks so much for getting thing back up and running.

Thank you for all your efforts! Yes, we will rebuild together! We all love this site and will do whatever it takes to restore it to its former glory.

Echoing what the others have said: Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are amazing, and I really appreciate what you have done for Dokuga!

Silinara wrote:
Some of spark was crossposted to ff.net and ao3 and could be retrieved that way.

We wouldn't pull from other sites without the Authors okay, which in some cases is impossible to get and some works are probably orphaned now, or I have no idea where the rights to them would sit.

We had the Spark archive from when they posted to A Single Spark and Spark had the explicit okay to host the post.

Thank you for all your crazy hard work running this wonderful site!!! Like seriously - this place is such a fantastic place and I have been so grateful for it! Thank you thank you thank you! Whatever you need, happy to help!!
Are you collecting donations or anything along those lines to help build up the site or purchase domain names? Totally willing to contribute!!

We are always willing to accept donations toward running the site. The domains are secure for some years to come now. Between Mith and I, we have the .org for 10 years and the .com for the next 4 years. The .com is now safely in our hands, with our information registered with the domain company, and won't be a mess to renew next time!

Anyone wishing to donate can use the

nkrempa@comcast.net

email on PayPal to send donations. I haven't managed to get Patreon or Venmo together yet, but will do so as soon as I'm able.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding while we recover however much we can from this debacle. You folks are simply the GREATEST community, in the GREATEST fandom, that I can imagine!!

~~Wiccan~~

Wiccan, would a straight e-tranfer work instead of going through PayPal? While I do have PayPal, this is the only thing I've used it for in more than a decade, so e-transfer is just easier.

Nicole wrote:
Wiccan, would a straight e-tranfer work instead of going through PayPal? While I do have PayPal, this is the only thing I've used it for in more than a decade, so e-transfer is just easier.

Well, I think I'd have to give you my bank account number. I've never set up anything specifically for Dokuga (although I probably should), and I'm kinda iffy about handing out that info, if you know what I mean?

Otherwise, being ancient of years and wary of tech, I'm open to suggestions and any assistance you can think of!

~~me~~

I did find a slightly newer backup (October 2011) on a Hard Drive lying around, but this one should have been much closer to what the site was actually running than what I put in place.

It *does* appear to have a full Spark backup in it though. Sadly still loosing a ton of Art to the Void.

Uploading this new backup to put it in place.

Ouch, though this reminded me to check my backups as well. Good thing since it turns out my computer hasn't backed up in almost 3 months due to a full drive. Glad to see that the site is mostly back up and running.

Mitharus wrote:
Uploading this new backup to put it in place.

New web root in place. Site should be a bit saner.

-M

Adrian wrote:
Thank you for doing everything you have - I’m just grateful it’s not a complete poof of the entire community.

WiccanMethuselah wrote:
Nicole wrote:
Wiccan, would a straight e-tranfer work instead of going through PayPal? While I do have PayPal, this is the only thing I've used it for in more than a decade, so e-transfer is just easier.

Well, I think I'd have to give you my bank account number.

Not unless it'd really different with your banks. I do my rent via e-transfer and I just have my landlord's email address. I've done car repair bills and things that way too. I guess it depends on whether you're paying dokuga's bills out if the current PayPal account, or if that money just goes into a regular bank account.

You all are amazing! Thanks for all your hard work on this!

Nicole wrote:
WiccanMethuselah wrote:


Well, I think I'd have to give you my bank account number.

Not unless it'd really different with your banks. I do my rent via e-transfer and I just have my landlord's email address. I've done car repair bills and things that way too. I guess it depends on whether you're paying dokuga's bills out if the current PayPal account, or if that money just goes into a regular bank account.

Huh. Well, if you know a way to do an e-transfer to the PayPal account, I'm all for it! I mean, yes, that's how I pay the site hosting, and will probably pay the domain the next time it rolls around (in about 4 years, lol).

I'm game to try it anyway.

See? I knew you folks were way ahead of me, lol!

~~me~~

Nicole wrote:
You all are amazing! Thanks for all your hard work on this!

Mith. Mitharus is amazing. I'm just along for the ride!

All credit for getting any of this back goes to him, srsly.

~~me~~

All I can say is you guys do an amazing job keeping this site up, running and an amazing and welcoming place to be. Thank you for all you do around here and not just for getting everything up again so fast.

thank you for all your hard work getting this site back up. i know its not 100 percent,but i''l take what i can get. i've been with this site a long time and i was worried it wouldn't come back. i'm a sess/kags fan to the max and i love reading the stories here. thanks again Wiccan and crew for the work you did getting it back. c'ya

When you get it back up, I can store a backup for you. No problem there. Depending on the size, I can do both cloud and on flash as well as computer. Just let me know! Not like i would touch it or know what to do with it