We're shutting down.

That's right, the site is going offline. We're pulling the plug. We're switching the system off. You won't be able to access us.



For about 3 hours.

Don't worry, we're not going anywhere. Long story short, one of the drives on the server we run the site on has failed and needs replacing. I received the alert yesterday that it was offline (the drive, not the site) so contacted tech support. We've confirmed it needs replacing and I've suggested Sunday as that's our quietest day. If you're unaware what a server is, it's essentially a computer without a keyboard, mouse or monitor that you pay a company to rent and allow internet access to. You've seen in movies when they break into a company to steal data and go into a room full of computers all in racks? That's a server room. We rent one of those computers to run the site off.

So why didn't the site disappear when the drive died? We use something called RAID that uses two identical drives and makes a copy of the site on both of them. If one fails, then it simply uses the other one until it's replaced.

On Sunday they're going to unplug us and swap out the faulty drive. It's a minor thing. I'd be surprised if we're down for all of the 3 hours. Once we have a time I'll inform everyone.

See you on the other side.