Hung out to dry, or did @gmuxx just duck?
Source
Yes, I know that at best, I'm employing too many cliches and, at worst, mixing metaphors, and I warn you, if you read on, it'll not get any better.
It's not in my nature to air dirty laundry in public. I don't like confrontation, either. However, there are two other things I loathe more: oblique insinuations that only an in-group will get, and which are barbed arrows at some poor unsuspecting individual who has no idea what s/he has done wrong.
There does, however, come a time when it's necessary to both confront and air a little dirty laundry.
While many Steemians have been weighing in on the Tron / SteemISNOTtron issue, with things taking on almost nuclear proportions, other Steemians were just getting on with their lives - on and off Steem.
I have kept an eye on things but, frankly, there's been more than enough going on in my offline life, that I've not really weighed in.
One issue that crosses both my offline and Steem life, is my website.
A little background
A couple of years ago, @fredrikaa and @howo launched the @steempress plugin that enabled WordPress bloggers to post to the blockchain. For folk like me who don't "do" code and the little I know, I've learned by osmosis, this was a godsend. At the time, my WordPress deal didn't allow me to use the plugin: one has to have a self-hosted domain and blog via the WordPress application. To the rescue @vornix who offered what was, effectively, a piggy back service. Just on a year ago, they terminated the service; like all service providers worth their salt, they informed users. In advance.
I have been blogging on WordPress since 2014 and joined Steemit as a way of expanding my audience (as well as because of the potential for monetising my writing). That's not the point. Nor is it about hanging around because of the community - although that is true - it's about a body of work. I'll come back to this, but first:
Steempress and what it did for me
Steempress is brilliant tool. It enables people like me to post seamlessly to the blockchain using an interface that was not just familiar, but very user-friendly. It enabled me to improve the quality of what I was posting because I didn't have to spend most of my time worrying about coding and formatting.
However, what it also meant was that I was actually maintaining two blogging sites. That's not really efficient. It also meant (because it's the nature of things) that the blog getting the most attention was the one that posted to Steem. My "regular" followers dropped off and were getting peeved. One, whom I know in 3D life actually asked me
Are you still blogging?
Cause for pause, right?
Not long after the Vornix announcement, being quite settled on Steemit (my 2 year anniversary was nigh) and as the sunset date approached, users were approached by a number of service providers offering hosting services. Some were quite aggressive and required payment in fiat. Vornix had accepted Steem. One that approached me was very aggressive. Direct messages - on Discord and via my blog's Facebook page.
I don't respond well to hard sells, being nagged or pushed.
Then, as I recall, there was a comment from @gmuxx on one of the Vornix posts reminding users of the imminent sunset: offering a similar service and included an invitation to a new Discord Channel - the Steemblogs Club. He also offered these services in the Steempress Discord.
Cutting a long story short
A year ago, this coincided with happenings in my 3D life, when I was considering not just consolidating blog platforms, but launching a personal website. I needed a space to showcase a few other things not relevant (necessarily) to the blog and/or Steem. I wanted one home on the Interweb. In consultation with @gmuxx I went ahead and bought a domain from a local reseller, canned my WordPress package and paid over SBD for a year's hosting. I can't remember how much, but if you want to find out, you can. Because, as you know, all the transactions on the blockchain are publicly recorded.
At the time, I was more than delighted with the service I received. Not only did @gmuxx offer a hosting service but he also backed up and transitioned all the content from my old blog to the new site. I was more than thrilled. He communicated frequently and allayed all my concerns.
I was comforted that my body of work wouldn't be lost. I went ahead and developed the site, felt in control.
More to the point, I incorporated the economics into a #spud post, and:
I told lots of people
I recommended his services
I added this footer to every single post
A few months ago, I messaged him via Discord about something, and the response was that he'd get back to me - he was busy. It wasn't urgent, so I didn't pay it much mind.
Then
Exactly a week ago, I get a message from @zord189 asking if I could get into WordPress. At the time I could. He couldn't. Nor could he get hold of @gmuxx.
I wasn't having a problem and was even able to share my last post via Steempress.
Actually, I forgot that I had reached out to @gmuxx. Until Zord contacted me and I remembered that he had not got back to me.
However, because I knew that my domain was up for renewal, I had already been planning to reach out and discuss ongoing hosting.
Then, there's more
Three days later (Wednesday), my site is not available. I also start searching for @gmuxx. I hadn't done it sooner because we were back in the throes of loadshedding. I emailed him. No bounce back but also no reply. His own website is gone. He's no longer on Discord. His Steemblogs Club Discord channel has been deleted.
And
In the intervening time, his Steemit blog is updated and his personal URL removed.
Now
My website is down. My domain reseller and various other providers tell me that the domain is "blocked" and that there has to be permission from the host to release it.
How can I even begin to do that if @gmuxx cannot be contacted and all the providers are literally kicking the can up and down the road and between each other?
From insult to injury
I paid for some coverage for our Sunday Supper offering which went live on Friday. With a link to my website.
Having spent two days contacting providers along the value chain to to get access to the domain I purchased independently and where my content should have been safe. I am more than disgruntled. I am livid.
My potential new host confirms that should we be able to get the domain unblocked because the content is on the WordPress platform, it should be safe.
Right now, that seems like a very big but.
I feel completely helpless.
This is not atomic, considering other events on the blockchain and in the world, but it is, to me.
I paid over my SBD in good faith, but feel as though I've been hungout to dry. Zord and I are not the only ones. I know of at least one other - @mountainjewel - who's also trying to recover her site and her content. There may well be others.
So, if anyone has suggestions as to how this can be resolved, please comment below, or tag me in the SteemPress Discord.
Why should we be hung out to dry because @gmuxx has ducked?
Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa
Photo: Selma
Post Script
In addition to WordPress I blog on a number of platforms:
- Steemit - a crypto, social network and blogging platform, to which I post from WordPress using the SteemPress plugin.
- If you'd also like to use your WordPress blog to earn crypto, join us on SteemPress.
- Should you join the Steem platform, you are welcome to contact me on Discord on be sure to look out for the Steem Terminal - a dynamic team of folk who will happily guide you through the apparent quagmire of blogging on blockchain.
- Instagram is a mostly visual platform where I post microblogs about fluff: usually food and the cats as well as posts that sometimes
promisehint about future WordPress posts.
Not Posted from my blog with SteemPress
Thank you @fionasfavourites, for using the CO2 Compensation Coin (COCO) to reduce your CO2 footprint.
@rhondak knows him pretty well, I think, at least she was hanging out with him a lot at SF3, so she might know what's going on with him,
Best of luck!
I haven't spoken to him in over a year, since he decided my friendship with @michelios only confirmed that I am Satan and ducked out on me and Steemhouse as well. We, too, had a website hosted by him, but since we decided to abandon @steemhousepub in favor of rebranding, it was no loss for us when the site went down. I don't know how to contact him. Admittedly I haven't tried, but if he's not responding to emails from people he had no known beef with, I can't imagine he'd spend any time responding to someone he clearly thinks is the devil.
Oh sorry to hear that, how very strange!
He never made any attempt to explain what sin I had committed that was so great he'd throw away a two-year friendship over it. I finally quit stressing over it, but it took a while.
Oh dear. I am sorry. Thanks to you both for stopping by. Just heard of another in the same predicament - @zaxan. Also left in the lurch.
😩
That is terrible. so sorry to hear that!!
Thanks @mariannewest. I ham hoping that tomorrow brings some positive news. If it does, I'll share... 😀
That's not good, I too recommended his services to others. I hope this all does not cost you too much to get sorted.
Thanks, Paula. I hope that this post alerts folk who don't yet know and perhaps does get some action.
Really sorry to hear this. We put so much work and creativity into building websites and even invest in it in the hopes of future returns. To me, this is supposed to be an area where we help provide something different, where at least the content and engagement are still there. I think it would be useful if we also provided an additional option for people to retrieve all their content stored on Steem with the same formating you had on WordPress. So that if you were to start a new website, you can just bulk post it and have it back up the way it used to be.
As for hosting, I would probably recommend FastComet. Or a serious provider of that standard. If one is already going to pour a lot of time into the site and writing, then that would make sense to me.
I appreciate your comment @fredrikaa.
This would be a fantastic innovation. I think there well may be folk concerned about their work given the current Steem/Tron challenges and what might happen if there's a fork.
Thanks for the hosting recommendation. I have already (happily) committed to hosting with Afrihost through which I purchased the domain. Three reasons: it's local, it's reputable and it's affordable.
I have to say that what has made me even more angry is that I'm an advocate for small businesses. I am/have been a micro business, so I get the challenges. However, it's exactly this kind of behaviour that jaundices people from using small business. Quite understandable.
I am hoping that I'll be up and running again soon.
Thanks again for the support.
Jeez Fiona, sorry to hear about this situation. Sucks when you see and experience such unprofessionalism especially as a website is paramount to bloggers and anyone providing a service... I hope he does the right thing and responds and also hope that your new host provider can get it all back.
Thanks, Nicky. I'm hoping... You know I'm a glass-half-full kinda gal...🥂🙂
Better top it up then 😁
🥂🤣🥂
Really so frustrated for you Fiona! It's bad enough to pay for a service and not receive what you paid for, but even worse to have lost access to YOUR content in the process. I am hopefully that someone will be able to help you resolve this. Resteemed to help try to spread the word in case anyone on Steem can help!
Thanks and much appreciated, Katie.
Sorry to hear about this. I hope you find a path forward.
Thanks, me too. I am hoping I am somewhere today. If so, I will shout from the rooftops (again) and thank those who made it possible. 🙂