Thursday, February 24, 2011

Disappearing/Re-appearing Dispatch

Passing readers may have noticed that the Astro Dispatch "widget" which carried links to the day's output by astrology bloggers has disappeared from my sidebar and from many other astrology blogs. Elsa, who initiated and has administered the service for four years, now needs to call a halt.

Elsa explains that the amount of traffic currently generated has been crashing the Dispatch site along with her own personal blog - the two share a server. She has tried to work around the problem, but finds there's no solution. "We have simply outgrown our server and so have to pay for a dedicated server in order to keep the widget running - this would cost $150 per month". Elsa tells us that discussions are ongoing to find a solution, but she doesn't seem optimistic.

Elsa's words:
People have suggested I charge people to be on this site because it sends traffic that would be very costly to buy via google but frankly, I don’t want to do it. I won’t want an accounting job, basically.......

Bottom line - I *cannot* check the feeds without crashing the site(s). The upgrade is non-negotiable at this point and I simply can’t afford it. We need $150 a month to run this site - each month every month and there is no one to pay it.

The need for Elsa, and for those helping her, to dedicate time and effort has grown and grown until the thing has become untenable, financially and physically. While we are sorry to see the end of Astro Dispatch we understand and echo her feelings that the situation is unacceptable on all fronts.

All astrology bloggers, myself included, owe a debt of gratitude to Elsa. Her dedication has helped our blogs to become established and to grow. I recall at the outset that she said "a rising tide lifts all boats" - and it did, but now the tide has surged too high.

Thank you Elsa!!!!!

I, and I'm sure the other astrology bloggers in my list of links in the sidebar - under the heading "Trines"- will continue blogging, until we run out of steam. Even so, it still seems like the end of an era.

Uranus, often considered to rule astrology, will shortly move to Aries from Pisces, where it has been transiting since 2004. So an astrological era is ending too. And a new one begins, perhaps bringing in with it some new ideas.

UPDATE ~~~ e-MAIL RECEIVED FROM ELSA THIS MORNING
"We're back up. We found a technical fix. :)the widget is broken though... that is hosted off site."

Not sure about the widget, for now, - but clicking on "Astro Dispatch" in the "Trines" links in the sidebar will lead to a list of today's astrology blog posts.

UPDATE #2
Widget back up - seems to be working!

Uranus = expect the unexpected!!


4 comments:

Astrology Unboxed said...

Hi Twilight:

The latest update on AstroDisptach was that the widget is working. The problem is apparently solved, but Elsa is not taking anything for granted and will keep it monitoring.
As Elsa was working on the problem, the Astrology Bloggers group on Facebook in concert with Elsa came up with several different solutions so as not to have AstroDispacth disappear.
So, we will see what happens next, when Uranus enters Aries, who knows?
In the meantime, I would like to suggest that all readers that enjoy AstroDispatch make a small donation. Even $5, for example, will help Elsa defray her costs of repairing and running AstroDispatch,

Twilight said...

Astrology Unboxed ~~ Thanks Fabienne. I re-did my widget and it is working again! Great!
thanks for letting me know.

Donations to Elsa would be a nice thank you - agreed.

Anon and Ever said...

Fortunately Astrodispatch functioned again for it did not gave me much fortune its stop for strange reasons, I think the Aquarius stellium and the Aquarian Fog - that now is diminishing in the world and anyone can see the disasters that the false Aquarian Fog ideas have generated in this damned old whirled world...

I say this: Has all this right wing wave **resolved any** of your problem or not...
You, **even you** rich people, have you solved any **real** problem and stay **really** better or have instead to face the same steadfast problems in a vastly bigger way...

If you have solved problems then that’s all ok, but if you’ve not solved any that’s all ko...

If you think that **any** - and underlined: ***A-N-Y*** - problem has been solved in these last fifteen years, then you have beef stakes on the eyes...

If you think things have become harder, more difficult, then **one and only** response is possible: Those ideas didn’t work.

Full stop...

Twilight said...

Anon and Ever ~~ We're on the same page, A & E (I think!)

If we stay on the current path we're on the way "to Hell in a handbasket" as the saying goes.

People in all countries are waking up though, at last - that will be our saving grace. :-)