BG down - domain expired

Folks: only a handful of people will be able to force their web browsers to look up in a hosts file.  For the relatively un-initiated (like me), a hosts file is located in your operating system.  Specifically for Linux it is the "/etc/hosts" file.  I ignore where it is in other OS's.

Below, I added the line "69.195.142.139 brassgoggles.co.uk" and saved the hosts file (In Linux you need to use the command "sudo gedit" i.e. run the gedit text editor as an administrator).



Further the most popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox, tend to ignore the hosts file alltogether, either by bug or design.  Perhaps Safari looks up the hosts file by default (seems to do that on my iPod), but for Chrome and Mozilla it doesn't work.  This was pointed out last year in the Mozilla forums: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1011327.

There is a quick fix by simply turning off a specific feature of Mozilla

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste keyw and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the keyword.enabled preference to switch it from true to false.

Once you do that, Mozilla will go search for the line you added in the hosts file.

Even then, this is what you get after forcing the browser to use the IP address on the hosts file:



EDIT: The Opera web browser has the same problem.

There's a little voice in the back of my mind that's really starting to give me that sinking feeling, especially now you guys have all arrived. I did wonder how long it would take, and I expect some of the folks from continental Europe will also be here shortly.

Where on Earth is Proteus?

If you can, try using a Webkit based browser (mine is such, and is still connecting to Brassgoggles using the 'hosts' file fix). I think Safari is webkit based (bit I can't be certain that is not my browser).

Yours,
Miranda.

While I find out about other web browsers (though I doubt that is the issue), does anyone have access / right to post onto the Facebook page/profile? Just to let the world know we are here?

Is @brasstech the only linked Twitter account? We should have a Brassgoggles account with trusted members who can access it...

RockyB wrote:Does anyone here know, or have any form of DIRECT contact with Proteus?

Even BrassGogglesTech on Twitter hasn't been active for over a month.

short answer - no. but I do know who is and some other ways to contact him indirectly (facebook etc). Will PM the other mods and try to find out what others know.



I have been trying to set up a temporary DNS nameserver, which would solve the issues of browser / hosts file compatibility. However it is not going well - I really don't have enough knowledge of the DNS records, totally out of my depth here.  Anyone here know how to configure BIND and knows what they are doing with nameservers? If so, PLEASE take over the idea, because I'm giving up.

Argus Fairbrass wrote:There's a little voice in the back of my mind that's really starting to give me that sinking feeling, especially now you guys have all arrived. I did wonder how long it would take, and I expect some of the folks from continental Europe will also be here shortly.

Where on Earth is Proteus?

Sinking feeling about what? Not that big of a deal... There's always a workaround. Perhaps the kick in the posterior we need to overhaul our presence in the web. Unless you think Proteus has been abducted by the evil forces of Dr. Steel.

Siliconous Skumins wrote:

RockyB wrote:Does anyone here know, or have any form of DIRECT contact with Proteus?

Even BrassGogglesTech on Twitter hasn't been active for over a month.

short answer - no. but I do know who is and some other ways to contact him indirectly (facebook etc). Will PM the other mods and try to find out what others know.



I have been trying to set up a temporary DNS nameserver, which would solve the issues of browser / hosts file compatibility. However it is not going well - I really don't have enough knowledge of the DNS records, totally out of my depth here.  Anyone here know how to configure BIND and knows what they are doing with nameservers? If so, PLEASE take over the idea, because I'm giving up.

I'm afraid that goes a bit beyond my abilities. But I'll bump the thread, so the first expert to come along can do it. In the meantime I'd live to have a @Brassgoggles twitter for real time comm.

J. Wilhelm wrote:

Argus Fairbrass wrote:There's a little voice in the back of my mind that's really starting to give me that sinking feeling, especially now you guys have all arrived. I did wonder how long it would take, and I expect some of the folks from continental Europe will also be here shortly.

Where on Earth is Proteus?

Sinking feeling about what?  Not that big of a deal... There's always a workaround.  Perhaps the kick in the posterior we need to overhaul our presence in the web.  Unless you think Proteus has been abducted by the evil forces of Dr. Steel.

I'm a little worried that he hasn't even said anything yet J yeah. This situation has been going on for a couple of days for some of us. He's been tweeted and emailed etc etc, with absolutely no response from him anywhere as far as I can see.

I've now been a member of BG for five years, and it occurs to me I know nothing about the guy that runs it (other than apparently he has a predilection for baked goods hehe). I've never met him, have no idea what he looks like, what his real name or domestic circumstances might be or even what State he lives in.

I would imagine that's the case for the majority of us no? And that in itself is fine, there's no reason why we should know. But this is the man who pretty much holds all the keys to BG. So yes, I hope he's safe and well for one thing because it seems he's being a little silent at the moment. But also please enlighten us if you know, is there some kind of contingency plan in place in the eventuality that (for whatever reason) he should happen to drop those keys?

The contingency plans?  Nuclear war protocol?



No there isn't one.  That I'm aware of (mind you I've never been an administrator at BG).  

My advice is simply to create parallel lines taking advantage that we have this forum and Facebook as well.  Creating a new domain is easy and starting a new forum as well.  It's not like there are too many brassgoggles fora out there.  Our goal is simply to recapture as many members as possible.  To be honest, I'd go to Facebook and post in all the groups I belong to, directing to this forum so I can re-capture as many members as I can, then use Twitter to communicate.  Sadly, I don't control the @brasstech account.

Argus Fairbrass wrote:

I've now been a member of BG for five years, and it occurs to me I know nothing about the guy that runs it (other than apparently he has a predilection for baked goods hehe). I've never met him, have no idea what he looks like, what his real name or domestic circumstances might be or even what State he lives in.

I would imagine that's the case for the majority of us no? And that in itself is fine, there's no reason why we should know. But this is the man who pretty much holds all the keys to BG. So yes, I hope he's safe and well for one thing because it seems he's being a little silent at the moment. But also please enlighten us if you know, is there some kind of contingency plan in place in the eventuality that (for whatever reason) he should happen to drop those keys?

As J. Wilhelm has said, we are pretty much like a dockland hooker with the whole navy in port - well F***ed!

Assuming the worst, and Proteus has been beamed back aboard the mothership, then we have very little we can do to rectify this situation.

The good news is that we can snatch the domain back once it's completed the deletion process and enters the public pool again. I'm willing to foot the costs of that one.

Then we need a server. A dedicated hosting package is not cheap, especially for the data traffic that BG can generate. However I would be willing to supply the server hardware and some form of dedicated internet connection (business broadband with 10 or 20Mb upload - something along those lines), BUT it could only be for as long as I can afford it out of my own pocket. BG *might* have to be self supporting with adverts (something our founder Tinkergirl did not want...) if the cost is too excessive (I'm not made of money). Problem is the advert income form the new forum could also be a HUGE issue for me tax wise - So it may be a show stopper for me to continue on that path. But that is a seperate issue for now.

However I may still have a contact who could provide a cheap hosting solution - but it has been a while since we spoke, so no idea if he's still in the game.

As the current BG server is still actually running the forum software, it may be possible to use a website ripper to scrape as much of the original content as as we can. so we may *possibly* be able to recover 50% or more of the original content. However it would probably not be in a very useable format...

So yeah, we could continue as "Brassgoggles" if Proteus is no longer reachable for some reason, but it would be in a very different state.

SOS message sent to various groups at Facebook.  Please do the same as I'm a member of just a few groups there.  We need to recover our membership ASAP - that is the most important thing.

The obvious way to go is to continue growing in Facebook and here, in this forum for the moment.

I remain at your service,

Admiral J. Wilhelm
United States Airship Orca

EDIT: Apparently we have a second Twitter account - adrift as well:
@BG_couk

Well, I just got lucky. I think Proteus is alive and well - just not aware of the BG issue. At least I *think* the twitter account I just saw is him....

Anyhow, he was posting just an hour ago, so I've tweeted that account to inform him. OR I've just informed some poor random sod minding his own business...

(Urgh - I had to join twitter. Well, at least it wasn't Facefart Facebook!...)

Siliconous Skumins wrote:Well, I just got lucky. I think Proteus is alive and well - just not aware of the BG issue. At least I *think* the twitter account I just saw is him....

Anyhow, he was posting just an hour ago, so I've tweeted that account to inform him. OR I've just informed some poor random sod minding his own business...

(Urgh - I had to join twitter. Well, at least it wasn't Facefart Facebook!...)

Hate to tell 'ya, but Facefart Facebook may be the only real way we may have now to recover any semblance of membership!

J. Wilhelm wrote:

Hate to tell 'ya, but Facefart Facebook may be the only real way we may have now to recover any semblance of membership!

I doubt my account would last long - I refuse to use my real name or details on the internet. Plus I hate all that mark zuckerberg and Facepalm stands for. Really - mark zuckerberg should totally have an accident involving a rabid gorilla overdosed with Viagra...

Siliconous Skumins wrote:

J. Wilhelm wrote:

Hate to tell 'ya, but Facefart Facebook may be the only real way we may have now to recover any semblance of membership!

I doubt my account would last long - I refuse to use my real name or details on the internet. Plus I hate all that mark zuckerberg and Facepalm stands for. Really - mark zuckerberg should totally have an accident involving a rabid gorilla overdosed with Viagra...

I really didn't need to imagine that in my head... In any case the name of the game is contact - I don't like the Facebook format either. Too schizophrenic.

Well yes I'm sure Proteus is fine. It's just when things like this come up, it does rather bring it home how tenuous the whole situation potentially is. If it gets resolved, I'm wondering if there are some safeguards that can be put in place for the future?

Obviously if the domain name comes up for grabs, then technically anyone ginger could grab it.  

And speaking of which how much longer is the domain name on this place going to hold up?

I realise it's a problem as far as notifications go, if Proteus is not actually the copyright holder, and the whereabouts of the lady who currently is remain a mystery. Still It does seem kind of important to keep abreast of these things, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

British Steampunk Community are alerted to this. I think the rest are just waking up to it as the expiration registers in their various countries.

Argus Fairbrass wrote:Well yes I'm sure Proteus is fine. It's just when things like this come up, it does rather bring it home how tenuous the whole situation potentially is. If it gets resolved, I'm wondering if there are some safeguards that can be put in place for the future?

Obviously if the domain name comes up for grabs, then technically anyone ginger could grab it.  

And speaking of which how much longer is the domain name on this place going to hold up?

I realise it's a problem as far as notifications go, if Proteus is not actually the copyright holder, and the whereabouts of the lady who currently is remain a mystery. Still It does seem kind of important to keep abreast of these things, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

British Steampunk Community are alerted to this. I think the rest are just waking up to it as the expiration registers in their various countries.

I've contacted Texas (4 fora/groups in FB), Mexico (Steampunk Mexico, FIUSS), Argentina (FB) and Spain (FB) which is all I can do for the moment. Hopefully it will spread.

Argus Fairbrass wrote:
Obviously if the domain name comes up for grabs, then technically anyone ginger could grab it.  

And speaking of which how much longer is the domain name on this place going to hold up?

well, as near as I can figure, the domain will be deleted around the 3rd of December and will enter the public pool on the 8th of December. At this point it can be got by anyone, which is a slightly worrying thought...

I don't know if I should use one of those domain grabber services that reserve the Domain for you once it expires - though obviously you will probably pay over the odds for the privilage... Still, it would mean the domain is safe, but on the otherhand, it could prevent Proteus from getting it. Hmmm...

Brassgoggles.org is still a valid domain, and owned by Proteus, so in the interum period he could reassign BG to that domain. Interestingly, there is a Brassgoggles.com domain, which is pointed at another USA IP address, but has no running services that I can see, and I have no idea who owns it (registered via a proxy comapny). It was however created a short time after our co.uk domain, and is due to expire in december...

In the meantime..
brassgoggles.net

Hi Folks,

also found my way here. BG worked fine in Germany until late last week.
Would be good to re-activate the old forum (not even worn in...).
The only thing I would not do is F-book. I have never had an account there and (hopefully) never will.

Lesson learned: We need more people in the engine room, not only one.

Perhaps its more nefarious ... perhaps we've been undermined .... perhaps Steels army, or the FB controllers, or the Ginger haired one has reached out with the tenacity of a Kraken and dragged Brass goggles into the depths never to be seen again!!!!!!

I messed up permissions over at Brassgoggles.net and it wasn't allowing anyone to post in The Panic Room. If everyone would like, we can use it as a way to better organize ourselves. Yes, Yes I know. Another website to sign up to. But this site gives me a headache. I'm sure we're missing out on a lot of information. We need to better structure ourselves so we can all get the latest news and information. I have Brassgoggles.net's domain for 1 year. And hosting until the 29th of next month I believe.

J. Willhelm is the only one to join so far. I hope to see more after I get some sleep. Let's get ourselves organized.

EngineerHowlingMadMurdock wrote:In the meantime..
brassgoggles.net

In than case Mr. Murdock, we should thank you for your show of solidarity!  Keep announcing the presence of that space, as I'm certain it will become useful.  I have registered and posted an initial message to the Panic Room (waiting for review and acceptance).  Let's see how it goes.  I have to stop myself and catch some sleep now.

As much as I hate Facebook, it is my only way of contacting other people seeing as so many other groups already operate there.  Alas, only posts by the Facebook administrator can be viewed by the public - only registered members in FB can see the posts I made.

I'm tempted to issue the SOS call to the Tokyo Steampunk Society as well, but their participation in the BG forum was minimal.  I'm not sure it'd make any difference - I can't even send them a direct message in Twitter as they don't follow me.  I can contact the Japanese group Strange Artifact via Twitter though.

PS: Has anybody tried to contact HAC? The email posted here is very old and inactive, I'm afraid.

I pointed Longeye at the DNS server possibility, and he is looking into it as we speak.

EDIT: Appears to be nothing us mere users can do

Yeah, to my knowledge there's no way of setting it up now, unless I basically just put a redirect on my DNS settings. Which would make ANOTHER site to go to, and wouldn't be a good work around. Also God knows what it'll do when things are back o.O