October 27, 2000
 
Unplanned Outage

As many have probably guessed by now - there are sections of the NE that were hit with an unplanned network outage at approximately 12:44 EDT. Apparently, there was a high-speed cable cut in the NH area - effecting Rennlist and all the websites that we operate including the main site, web boards, e-mail lists, 14 PCA Regional Web Sites, the GAF site, Audi20V, ThaList, Rennlist Member Web sites, along with all the others that sit in our office.

As I write this, these sites are still not up - so my office is eerily quiet

So, now that I have your attention - a couple of housekeeping details….

- As this site has grown over the past month or two (to our best estimate of a combined total of nearly 40,000 folks on both the e-mail lists and web boards), I get a few questions as to why the site is off-line for approximately 15 minutes before 08:00 AM EST each day. For you newcomers, that is when I typically refresh all the databases and pull the log files. These are necessary maintenance cycles - and it has become as much of
my morning routine as my coffee..:-) During the weekend, you may notice that the site is off-line for up to an hour as I drop in new code or optimize/reindex all the databases.

- Within the next month, Rennlist is expecting to make some exciting appearances in the public media that could, quite possibly, more then double it's current subscription base with a few short weeks. That being said, I would more then appreciate your assistance in keeping the lists, and posts - within the community spirit of Rennlist. This "community spirit" *does not include* Flame wars on the list/Boards, impersonation of other members with false e-mail IDs, imposing your personal views on how the lists might be policed to your satisfaction, etc. Rather, please feel free to contact me directly if you believe someone on your list/Board may need some - umm - "redirection". For this anticipated growth, the downside may be that I am somewhat less benevolent to allowing list/Board subscribers to work thing out in a public fashion on the model specific lists.

.- Finally, I still do receive a lot of questions about Rennlist Memberships. There seems to be some confusion (still) regarding this issue… In short - if you are a "Rennlist Member" - then you have applied for, or have - a Rennlist Membership card (along with the benefits of enjoying its much rumored "Magical and Mystical Qualities":-). If you subscribe to a list or a Board - it does not automatically make you a Rennlist Member. For example - if you subscribe to the Racing List - you are not automatically a "Rennlist Racing Member" and entitled to free Rennlist Racing goods, team shirts, etc. It is these memberships that help keep this site alive, growing and expanding. In short - it's the Members that are "Rennlist"…