[214] attack of the hosting hobgoblins

console

< Piro >

"falling down"

Monday - January 21, 2002

Hi folks, we're back. Sort of. ^^;;

It's late, it's been a long week (and a long weekend) so i have to keep this rant a little short - no time to write a long explanation of what's been up since we went down ten days ago. It's not ENTIRELY over yet, either - there might be a glitch or two this week, but hopefully everything should be smooth sailing from here on out.

In short, we had to change our hosting much sooner than we expected and were caught off guard. We were able to move the server fairly easily, but the server needed some repair, on both the hardware and software ends. I spent nine days working hard to reduce the bandwidth of all the elements on the site, catching as many errors and whatnot as i could. Largo busted his ass to get the forums upgraded and online (we will be adjusting the color scheme in the future to match other site revisions), and right now we are watching our bandwidth use with total horror - even after all the work i put into it (reducing most of the site by more than 1/2, 2/3 in most cases) the bandwidth we have been using since the archives went back up is... far more than we thought it would be. ugh.

With our hosting change, our hosting expenses have also gone up dramatically. We don't really know where it will settle out at, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. Before people start asking, we will NOT be asking for donations or having a paypal donation button - MT will survive like any other good property, based on it's ability to sell a reasonable amount of merchandise. If you would like to support MT, please visit our store and buy some swag :)

Oh, and if you are interested in advertizing on Megatokyo, please contact us.

As far as the comic itself goes - we felt that today's little gag was a good way to get back into the swing of things. Yes, we really did have a bad RAID controller. It's gone now. It won't hurt the server anymore. I have also taken the downtime to get ahead a tad, so you can look forward to the next installment of Chapter 2 to show up on Wednesday.

as always, thanks for all your support, patience, and kind emails regarding our recent downtime. Megatokyo is still strong as ever - and hey, these little blips are part of what makes MT real. It's flawed, it's not perfect, and neither are we.

but that's part of what makes us Piro and Largo. Unfortunately. :)

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< Largo >

"New Year Plug-atage"

Tuesday - January 1, 2002

[Largo] - 00:00:01 - [link here]

Happy New Year or something!

You ever wonder what they do with the old years when they get the new ones? I have to wonder if it's like computer hardware. New Year comes in and the old ones get donated to some under funded universe or school system, or there is the Steven King version where they get eaten by flying pac-man like things... I dunno. moving on now...

Resolutions, simple - I resolve to drink more, and rant less. -- or was it the other way round? Rubiko seems to want to resolve to eat more pie. (rubiko like pie)

Well it’s been awhile, but I’m back in the rant-seat and kicking it old school… er, okay, screw that. I’ve got some things I’d like to plug, and whether or not you continue reading will determine if I’ve inflicted my shameless plugging upon your person.

First up, conventions.

Piro and I generally only attend conventions that can pay our way (hotel/travel), it makes it easier on our tiny mt-budget, the time we have to take away from both our day jobs and the website, etc. As such, we don’t attend very many anime conventions.

However, some exceptions have popped up in the next few weeks for those interested.

I will be attending Ohayocon in lovely smog filled Cleveland, OH on January 11th-13th.

Also, I’ll be displaying some Texas pride that I picked up recently by attending one of the state’s local conventions - Ushicon on February 1st-3rd.

The only convention to book both Piro and I for 2002 so far is the ancient tradition known as A-Kon in Dallas, TX on May 31st-June 2nd.

For randomness we plan to be lurking around E3 again this year, hopefully run into some other of the website crews that seem to flock to that tradeshow like flies to a very bright light.

Ahhh.. E3 goodness… Nothing like wall to wall jumbotrons blasting you from every direction with video game sweetness. It’s akin to my religious pilgrimidge now, but like any good holy-type quest, only the truly divine can survive the trials such as the line of hell. Last year I had to save Piro from the Minotaur in the center of the maze-like main ballroom. I dunno why, but Minotaurs like webcomic artists, especially on toasted bread with honey mustard.

And Finally, before I get slapped. Rubiko is holding a fanart contest with the prize being some of her cool stuff(tm). The cool stuff being her own personal collection of Asuka, Ribbon & LaLa compilation manga. Information is located here on her forum.