SITE UPGRADE

[TerryWerm]

ON EDIT: MY POST BELOW WAS A BIT PREMATURE. PLEASE TAKE WHAT I SAID MORE AS SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT, NOT GOSPEL!!
 THANKS!

Good morning, everyone. Please pardon my absence, but I've had a number of very busy weekends as of late.  Go figure, right?

I will give all a quick high altitude view of the situation as it stands right now. It should answer a lot of questions for you guys.

1. The Garage Gazette domain name (garagegazette.com) is locked in until February 24th of 2025.
2. The Garage Gazette domain name is registered on GoDaddy.com, who also is most likely providing the hosting of this site.
3. Hosting is probably also paid for until February of 2025, but there is no guarantee of that.
4. Rusty is the only one that can access the account to pay it up further into the future or to authorize transfer of the domain and forum site to another owner.
5. We cannot salvage old content without that account access. Until the account can be transferred, Rusty is the only one that can access the server where this site resides.
6. There is a way that we can backup part of the forum, but it would be the text only. Without the associated database (directly accessible only on the server) we cannot just plug that data into a new system and expect it to run correctly.
7. Even if we can save text data, there is no way to save the associated photos in a manner where they would be tied to the correct threads, etc.
8. If Rusty has died and we can produce a death certificate, we MIGHT be able to take over the account from GoDaddy, but don't hold your breath!

So, we have two options:
A. Continue to attempt to make contact with Rusty or his family, then pursue taking over this account on GoDaddy.
B. Start from scratch - New forum, new name, everything. Every member would need to register for the new forum.

Both options have their own pros and cons and Uncle Buck and I have discussed some of them, but the situation at MG was far different and our hand was forced. Both options will require a fair bit of work on the backside, but retaining what has existed for the last 14 years is obviously the best option if we can make that happen.

Now, I want to be clear that I do not want to 'run' this forum. It is not my ideal home, as it were. I am willing to offer my technical help in whatever way that I can because I understand the value of a strong online community.

So, at this point I am asking that if anyone has any information about Rusty whether it be a legal name, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing address, other forums he is in, or just some tidbit you remember about his kid sister or brother, please share it with Uncle Buck. Maybe, just maybe, we can find some clue that will help us get in contact with him or his family.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to offer any information you might have. Out of respect for Rusty and his family, please share anything you have privately with UB by way of Private Message.

If we cannot make contact with Rusty or his assigns by November this year, we will start the process of building a new forum from scratch with a target go live date of February 1st, 2025. That may sound like a long way off, but trust me, it is not. The actual building of the new site can be done in a weekend or so, but there are some decisions that will be necessary before then, thus discussions will start in November. Some options may be chosen by Uncle Buck, while he may prefer to leave others up to you, the members. In the event that GG goes dark before then, we do have a list of all of the members email addresses so that we will be able to contact all of you after the site goes dark and we will keep you all in the know.

Once again, thank you one and all.

[oldcarguy]

April 11, 2024 I signed into machinistgazette.com.  Then started a thread on Sioux Valve Grinder. After ten days I started a second thread asking. “Anyone here?” No other posts to date. Now signing into MG.com sends you to “217.7.82.105”. With warnings of danger if you proceed. I did sign in and my computer didn't blow up. Yet  I also noticed that there are 6 to 12 guests lurking each time..

I find this entire internet thing well over my pay grade. And thank for you stepping up to  return the GG and MG back online..

[TerryWerm]

I don't know how you managed to login to MG, I try going there and it is dead. There is a webpage that pops up, but it is not MG. It has three redirects to other subjects and searches, but there is no access to the MG login screen.

[oldcarguy]

in the address bar I typed machinistgazette.com and MG comes up as follows.. With this in the address bar https://207.7.82.105/index.php



then can go here...  Or any other thread..

[Uncle Buck]

Ì have not experienced any problems getting on the MG site

[TerryWerm]

This is weird but I figured out what is happening. I will explain it the easiest way I can.

Think of the internet as being like a big phone system. Every computer on the internet has an IP address. IP addresses are unique identifiers, similar to phone numbers. Computers communicate with each other using those IP addresses.

When you want to go to machinistgazette.com you type in the address using the appropriate domain name and kabang, you end up at the correct site. Behind the scenes here is what happens:
1. We have talked in the past about registering a domain name. Registration links the domain name together with the IP address of the server that is hosting the website. This is done on what is called a DNS (Domain Name Service) server.
2. When you type in a web address, your ISP connects you with their DNS server and queries for the web address. The DNS server returns the IP address and communication takes place between your computer and the web server, even though it shows the domain name address in the address bar of your browser.
3. Some DNS servers on some ISPs will store a cached copy of the IP information for sites that some users call for frequently. Some computers are set to do that also. It is a simple check box in your browser settings where you can tell your computer to always load the newest version of a website. If it is not set that way, it may continue to use a cached copy of the IP address.
4. The fact that it is coming up with an IP address in your address bar tells me that your computer or your ISP is using a cached copy of the domain name, and it is being resolved to the server's IP address even though the DNS server no longer contains a valid registration for machinistgazette.com.

Now, when I type in machinistgazette.com, I get a completely different screen than you do because my computer is requesting the very latest version of the site. This triggers the request for the IP address, and it cannot be completed because it is no longer available on the DNS server.

So far, the files and folders for the MG site still exist on the server where they ran in the past, and that server has the IP address of 207.7.82.105.   If the hosting account where MG ran is still being paid for, the files will remain on the server and will continue to be there until the bill goes unpaid. Once that happens, the hosting company goes in and deletes the files whenever they get around to it. It might be within ten days, it might take six weeks, it might even take several months before it disappears, depending on how much demand the hosting company has for disk space.

I know for fact that the domain name registration is expired, and two things tell me that, based on the two screen shots attached here. One shows what gets returned when I try to go to machinistgazette.com.  The other shows the registration information for machinstgazette.com and it indicates that it expired on March 15th, 2025.

If you look at the MG webpage you will notice that the banner picture with the site's logo is missing. This is because in the server settings, it is directed to a specific folder on the server where that graphic file is stored. Because the server is unable to get the domain name resolved to an IP address, it cannot even find the graphic file stored on itself!!   Sounds strange, but that is how it works. 

Now, I know that the explanation is a little long, but that is the simplest way I could put it. The long story short is that the web forum files you are accessing WILL disappear at some point. Potential new members also cannot find it because there is no domain name associated with the IP address that you are accessing. 

That's all I've got on this one. I could go into greater detail, but it would be rather useless and would involve learning more than you want to know about IP addresses, subnet masks, DNS servers and other things that fail when the magic smoke leaks out. Thanks for bringing to my attention, though, it had me puzzled at first until I had the chance to think it through.

[TerryWerm]

April 11, 2024 I signed into machinistgazette.com.  Then started a thread on Sioux Valve Grinder. After ten days I started a second thread asking. “Anyone here?” No other posts to date. Now signing into MG.com sends you to “217.7.82.105”. With warnings of danger if you proceed. I did sign in and my computer didn't blow up. Yet  I also noticed that there are 6 to 12 guests lurking each time..

I find this entire internet thing well over my pay grade. And thank for you stepping up to  return the GG and MG back online..

I forgot to mention, you got that warning message because it was taking you to a site with "http" at the beginning instead of "https" which is considered to be more secure. Nine times out of ten the warning message is nothing but a scare tactic.