The Great Crash of 2007

I guess this week was an eye-opener for many of us addicts. Disturbing, really.

I add my thanks for your dedication and all the hard work.

I never thought for a moment HPCFactor would be gone for good. (Kinda like my J720... it may hiccup once in a while, but mostly it's like the Energizer Bunny...it keeps going and going and going...)

Welcome back. Thanks for the hard work!

Welcome Back !!!
Thank you all for the hard work you have put in to restore the site.
C:momex please don't leave us. Your attitude is so refreshing in
the current world of "Health & Safety" .
I believe you have still a great amount you can teach us.
airhook

cmonex: your decision to leave hit me harder than the downtime. As others have stated, your knowledge has been indispensable - I'd know very little today about the workings of the H/PC had it not been for you. But, more than that, we've talked with one another so many times both on and off this site that I've come to consider you a friend even though we have never met in person. I truly hope you'll reconsider - your absence would leave a huge void here. I know that a lot of people here have felt a lot of frustration over the past several days - administators facing the daunting task of reconstructing this site, and members who have drawn great benefit and enjoyment from this site and couldn't stand the thought of it not being there - and in that frustration, I'm sure a lot of things have been said out of that frustration that were stronger than intended. And some folks thought they had heard statements suggesting that the site might not come back, and communicated this elsewhere to others, leading to a lot of misunderstandings.

Let's please not judge one another on the basis of the emotions coming out of this - let's try to understand those emotions and forgive one another - and ourselves - for what was said out of frustration, and go on with the business of keeping this the great site that it is.

Ditto to everything CEGeek said. cmonex has been invaluable. Her knowledge about handhelds is quite extensive and it would be a real loss if she no longer posted here.

And to add to that, I gotta say that the more women we have here, the happier I'll be. It's nice to hear a woman's perspective on things H/PC and things non-H/PC. I'm glad that you're here, quiche (and Desertway and chasmanor and all the other female members) as well. Needless to say, cmonex has also shared a lot from a woman's perspective that has been refreshing and enlightening to us men.

C:Amie: Yes, I know what FEMA stands for. That's what I meant in my first post in this thread.

Edited by CE Geek 2007-02-19 6:39 PM

Hey guys. Glad to see the site up and running again. Here's to more years of HPC fandom

-raven from irc

It's sad to see you go. Thanks for your help. You are one of the most active, resourceful, and knowledgeable member in this commuity. I'll be one of many members who miss you. Adieu!

C:Amie, you've obviously worked your tail off, and now have a functional site again. Congratulations. We all know that you must be absolutely exhausted from all this. And to keep your sense of 'humour' in the midst of this crisis with the 'FEMA' joke shows real class as well, and grace under pressure.

Once you've had a good night's rest and have hopefully at least somewhat recuperated, there are many of us out here who are hoping you will display more of that same classy behavior with regards to cmonex. Yes, we (okay, I) am asking you to be the 'Big Man' here and pubicly ask her to return, regardless of whatever words might have been exchanged during the stressful crisis now (hopefully) passing.

You're the man with the power here. Power and responsibility go hand in hand. After 10,000+ posts on these boards, I am sure cmonex's true personality has shown through to everyone. If she made a mistake under the pressure of crisis, or if there was simply a miscommunication, or even if you two are having longer-term personal difficulties, is this truly justified grounds for our losing the most prolific member on these boards? She is also amongst the most helpful and considerate, along with yourself, the moderators, and several others. You know this to be true.

Chiark mentioned that we Americans have mere 'humor', and lack your Brits superior sense of 'humour'. Granting this, for sake of smooth relations, I am also given to understand that you good Brits are each photographed in excess of 300 times per day by your government, on average, and have further essentially lost the right to bear arms. Now, it seems, Freedom Of Speech is becoming rather out of 'favour' (favor) as well.

One almost begins to wonder what there is to be so 'humourous' about.

This post is meant to calm troubled waters. Please read it with that in mind - we don't have an emoticon that suits that

Blimey, look at all the jumping up and down going on here! This was once a thread about the crash, and now it's the cmonex appreciation society.

People are incredibly quick to draw their own conclusions as to what has happened despite not knowing the situation which seems to be:
- hpcfactor had a disastrous cascade failure which lost shedloads of data over in the USA. The backup is in the UK.
- Team investigated, found the scale was bordering on catastrophic.
- Chris starts restoration
- Rumours surface - goodness only knows why - that hpcfactor might not be coming back.
- Chris receives seriously nasty mail. Not run of the mill "you're an idiot if you don't bring it back" stuff, but nasty.
- Chris gives up days of work (he's a consultant, so that costs him) and gets the site back up
- Chris posts saying "we're back - so the haters can really get off my back"
- cmonex says "I'm off"
- world descends into "cmonex don't go!"

First off: cmonex, I doubt it was you that sent the pretty poisonous hate mail that Chris has mentioned people should be ashamed of - and yes, he really did get true hate mail, not just "I can't believe hpcfactor's not coming back!" or some other expression of surprise. I don't know what you said, but I doubt that you went to the extremes of malice that was received!

Chess, after Chris has spent the last week getting this thing back on line, I think he's more than acutely aware that "he's the man with the power" and "power and responsibility go hand in hand". The provision of HPCfactor is largely down to him with support from Clint, Johns and the rest of the team. You're asking him to be the big man: he already has gone above and beyond in getting this site back up! It's pretty obvious that he's not going to comment on the situation, so leave it be. cmonex decided to leave: it's not down to Chris to say stay or otherwise, so it's hardly fair to put the responsibility for losing or keeping cmonex on his head. That's her decision, prompted by whatever she feels. For what it's worth, I do think she's an asset to the boards but it's her decision as to what to do, and whatever she does I'll respect it.

Edited by chiark 2007-02-20 4:46 AM

Hold your horses! (or whatever you are being powered by)
I'm kinda back on the scene (finally getting back a HPC) and what do I found?
The forum is back! GREAT... REALLY good job Chris (and the rest of the team involved)

but ... cmonex leaving?! COME ON! This MUST BE a joke right?

Whatever was said... it's SAID. I'm pretty sure Chris received nasty emails during the downtime, that's for sure, and cmonex: I'm also sure that this is far from being your fault, so no guilty thoughts here. I really DOUBT you could EVER write something offensive. Words can sound pretty different when read under different moods, and whatever was written surely wasn't intended to "sound" like you think it did.

We all know (as the rest of the community may also agree) that if cmonex leaves this forum would have lost WAY more than a month of posts. WAY WAY more. It's a "Data loss" that no one could ever be able to restore/fix/replace.

Now, let's have a party everyone because the forum is back, and THAT IS the ONLY thing that matters! ANYTHING that could possibly happen in between is PAST....

P.A.S.T.... make it throught your HPC' spellchecker and fully understand its meaning

But our British humour always includes 'u' (bad pun)



Yup - we never had the right to bear arms in the first place, but now our Police are big time - how did we let that happen?

Continuing the police state / transatlantic spelling tip, a police Stormtrooper was in court yesterday explaining why he repeatedly punched a suspect who was being tazered and held at gunpoint in the face. "It's a taught manoeuvre (maneuver)" He replied. That's OK then....

I believe we do however have the right to arm bears