TypePad was the victim of a DDoS attack last weekend (maybe perpetrated by the mother of all those chocolate Easter bunnies) and ended up being down for about six days. If you tried to visit here and got an "unknown domain" message, that was why. It was certainly frustrating, and a bit scary, for those of us who use this blogging platform. On the other hand, I've been using their service for eleven years and have never had a problem before, so I'm not about to jump ship. There are some questions about how long Typepad will remain as a viable platform; this is the bigger "if" for me, but the work involved in switching to WordPress is pretty daunting for someone like me who has such an extensive archive. For the time being, I'll sit tight, but consider the options.
Meanwhile, back to posting -- coming soon, photos of Easter at the cathedral, and spring valiantly trying to arrive.
It really was strange, wasn't it? I was surprised to discover just how discombobulating I found it, not being able to access my own blog or the many conversations it has hosted. (Or yours, for that matter.)
I'm grateful for the hard work which I know must have gone into restoring everything. Ethan tells me that this sort of attack is likely to be more common everywhere, in years to come, which makes me frustrated and sad. So I'm trying to focus instead on how lovely it is to have our blogs back!
Posted by: Rachel Barenblat | April 23, 2014 at 03:45 PM
I was a little worried. Glad you are back!
Posted by: andrea m. | April 24, 2014 at 01:05 AM
My first reaction was that your purdah was intentional. Stupid, I know. What next? Suttee? It took some time before I concluded you were the victim of force majeure, probably because I imagine you to be invested with the power to rise above such piffling techie matters.
Given the physical demands on you leading up to Easter I decided to drop out for a while, let you recover. But I wondered whether you might subsequently talk about the personal aftermath of Easter - spiritually and physically. But perhaps a blog isn't the ideal vehicle.
I've always said you have a talent for taking your readers behind the musical stage. In the following post, you have exceeded my expectations. Dossing down in the organ loft - there's devotion for you. Anway, welcome back.
Posted by: Roderick Robinson | April 24, 2014 at 04:03 AM
Rachel: yes, it was weird and unsettling, but somehow I just figured it would come back up eventually. Probably the prospect of losing everything was just too scary to contemplate. I do have a back-up (incomplete) at WP, and keep all the photos in separate folders for each year, on my computer, but...yeah.
Thanks, Andrea! I'm glad you noticed and cared! One always worries about disappearing silently, into some sort of internet void.
Well, Robbie, I had to look up "dossing down." We were really just waiting during some readings during the Easter Vigil service, and it's such a long service that we all wanted to sit down whenever we could. No chairs up there! A lot of whispering and bad behavior, but that's par for the course (and half the fun) in any choir when behind-the-scenes! If I can find time, I'll try to put something together about the week -- thanks for asking -- but I have a lot of demands on me at the moment so we'll have to see. That would take some concentration and emotional investment, and I'm not sure I have the energy!
Posted by: Beth | April 24, 2014 at 01:30 PM