We had a small database problem this morning which has been cleared up. We will be working on a permanent solution to this later this month with adding two more database servers. If you had problems posting this morning it was likely due to the database timing out while trying to update tables.

Let us know via email, PM, or status message if you are still having problems.

Hugs,
Erin

Please, if you can, help us keep BC alive and kicking. All the bills this week added up to about $1400, including internet connectivity, hosting and various software licenses we had to renew. It doesn't have to be a big check or a big gift, every little bit helps.

It's the beginning of a new year and we are still a bit short on our goals. It's always a bit difficult at this time of year since there are so many other things to put money into.

If you can give some though, the links are in the right hand side bar and here: Give through Amazon and Give through P**P**.

Or you can PM me for other ways to donate.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and our friends everywhere.

And many thanks,
Erin, Piper, Cat and the gang

We've gotten a lot of contributions so far this month and thanks to everyone who has chipped in. After paying hundreds in bills this month, we are current on all but one of them. We've got some more bills coming at the end of the week and early next month, and we're a bit short of our goal with less than a week to go, so whatever any one can do will be greatly appreciated.

Someone wanted a breakdown of expenses. I've done this before but it gets complicated and lately I haven't been doing it. But here it is in round numbers.

Since the recent upgrade, the module "Ignore User" has been throwing errors in the logs for the site. It appears that the module was not properly updated for the newest version of the coding language used in the rest of the software; it's out of step. Accordingly, we have turned it off temporarily.

We hope that the maintainer of the IU module will release a new version soon, but if he doesn't, we will step up and hack the code to fix the problem. IU is part of what helps keep the peace around here and gets a lot of use. We will restore it to use as quickly as practicable.

Everything should be working fine now, but we had an issue with our Secondary/Slave MySQL server. I'm currently working on figuring out exactly what the issue was, but things should be back working in the mean time.

-Piper, Erin, Cat and the Various Gremlins

This month is a particularly heavy one for bills. We have over $1000 in bills for hosting due before the end of the month, this is because several annual payment contracts are expiring. Others will expire next month and in November.

Donations are our major way to fund BCTS, not to slight our advertisers who help us out enormously but advertising is less than 25% of our revenue. We've only received about 1/3 of the amount we need for the month, so far.

In memory of Holly Hart, today is a good day to announce the upcoming BigCloset picnic. I will be in New Jersey the weekend of November 1, this year. Piper lives there and Cat will be visiting from Old Blighty. November 1 is a Saturday.

Holly organized the meetings in Northern California two and three years ago and they went very well. I hope we can do as well.

The simple answer is, QnEZ == Quick and Easy :)

Hi Everyone!

As many of you know, we are in the process of starting a few new companies and offering services not only to the T* Community, but expand our services out to the internet as a whole.

One of the services we had the idea of starting, was a "cloud storage" service.

Suddenly we thought: Where better to store your private files, than in Your BigCloset!

Lulu is offering 15% discounts this week through Monday. Use discount code DOGDAYS14 at checkout.

The ad above the quickcuts box is an attempt to find someone of interest to BC readers that would like to help sponsor the site. It's not an attempt to cash in, we really don't need to do that. If you are logged in, you can turn the ad off in your MyAccount settings. Right now, the ad will take you to the Doppler Press page at Lulu where most of the stories in The Hatbox are available, individually priced.

Hugs,
Erin, Piper and Cat

You might be. Find out for sure, soon....

Hugs,
Erin

We have a new story in The Hatbox, btw, by Angela Rasch, author of the "Voices Carry over Water" that is still on the front page for free for another day or so. Angela's new work is called: Sexy, Cute and Popular by Angela Rasch

Here's the blurb:

We've done okay with contributions for this month, but we are still a bit short. If you notice, we've spent $700 on equipment this month which is reported in the Server Fund numbers. Actually, we just spent another $500 but that won't be reported till next time.

I just paid the colo bill for this month and my own ISP bill is due. We are going to continue to need more coming in than before because Piper is putting in some long hours and not taking other work while we get all this set up. She put in about 55 hours last week alone with 40+ from me and about 20 from Cat.

We've got BC up and running on the new server, Buttercup, and it does run faster! We have a few configuration bugs to work out and then we will get one of her sisters up and running to share the load. It's been a long and tiring road and we aren't done yet. UPDATE: As of Sunday mid-morning, we have Buttercup and Bubbles sharing the load! Site seems faster still and appears even more stable. We did lose about 1/2 hour of comments and edits in the changeover, but no stories.