First of all, don’t worry. This site is not going anywhere. At least, not immediately.

That said, there will need to be changes.

As you noticed we were recently unable to “like” posts. I was able to work around that problem by using an old version of the commenting software, but the longer we do that, the more of a security problem that old version becomes. At some point, we may be forced to either “abandon likes” or “abandon the commenting software” – and go back to vanilla WordPress commenting.

While I don’t want to abandon our commenting system, that software may actually be the source of another security problem – and if so, then we may be forced to abandon it anyway – and soon.

You see, something has introduced a security problem, which I tolerated for a long time, but ultimately complained about to our hosting site (because it could be something else at their end, up to and including government or agency access to and control of our site). The complaint is generating a certain amount of discomfort, vague and apparently nonsensical answers – and (perhaps connected) a mention of the fact that we are very close to our storage limits. You can see how that works. “Leverage.”

And it gets worse. Way worse. The hosting company may have figuratively handed the keys to the site to certain black hats. I kid you not. I’m basically SMDH.

Add in the fact that I will be very busy in April and May. I have a lot of work to do, other than dealing with the site.

SO – a lot of things are coming to a head at once. Excitement! Here are some possibilities….

• I may need to pay more for more space (have to look at the numbers)
• I may need to move the site, where move could be many, many things, including a completely new site
• I may need to abandon or move some of the data and images
• I may need to remove “likes”
• I may need to move back to vanilla WordPress

I will probably have a good idea how to proceed by June or July. Until then, I am asking the following, particularly of authors….

• Please refrain from uploading new images for posts, or at least keep it minimal. In particular, don’t upload duplicate images. We need to conserve space to buy time.
• Please refrain from uploading large amounts of text data in spoilers. Links are better.
• Tweet URLs and YouTube URLs are great, because most of the data is loaded from elsewhere, and not stored on our site.
• I have a few non-placeholder posts for the next 2 weeks, but after that, I’m just leaving them as placeholders until July, at which time there should be a solution.
• Please think about what is important for you on this site. Is discussion of current events more important than retaining old posts? Think about how you want to use this site going forward for the next few years (as we approach our 10th anniversary in late 2028).

As Wheatie used to say, we WILL get through this, but the times will be interesting.

I will try to keep people informed about what is going on. However, you will be seeing less of me commenting on the site, as I begin working on the site, and trying to solve the security and space issues, as well as doing all the work I need to at home.

If you need me, especially after next week, please use PMTW to get my attention, and please let me know if a simple public comment in response is OK (because that is easier) – otherwise I will respond on Gab by private message.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

W