You can treat this information as more or less set in stone.
Please excuse the caps in the title. I want to make sure as many people as possible read this because this is extremely important.
Very soon, YWS will transition onto an updated site and a better server. After much development, you can finally check out the New YWS at:
new
Please note the database on it is old (dated from July 15) so anything you have done since July 15 will not show up on the New YWS. That includes everything from password changes to stories.
I encourage you to visit the New YWS. Just note that it's still quite buggy.
Transition Dates
August 17, 2009: YWS will shut down.
August 24, 2009: YWS Re-opens on new server with updated site.
The transition will take one week. During this time, the backup site will be available at:
http://yws.nathancaldwell.com
The YWS Chat Room will remain open. However, beginning August 17, 2009, you will need to register on the Backup Site before using it.
Also, since so many have registered on the backup site only to change their username later, I have made it such that you can change your username to whatever you want on the backup site without asking an administrator.
If you have any questions, please ask me here.
FAQ
Will everything I did on YWS be deleted?
No. In fact, the primary reason why YWS will be down for a week is to make sure that everything you have done here gets moved onto the New YWS. Blog posts, stories, reviews, etc. will all transfer over.
The one possible exception is with avatars. For some reason, whenever we do this, 1 out of every 100 avatars go missing. So save your avatar!
Why are we doing this?
The underlying code of YWS is getting old. It's running off a program that was written in 2002, and support for that program has ended. Thus, that opens YWS up significantly to the risk of hackers. YWS gets attacked by hackers about once a week, so this is a serious risk.
So to improve security, it's vital I update at least the underlying code. About a year ago, I figured that as long as I'm updating the underlying code, why not give YWS a facelift as well?
Of course, the facelift is more important than just a mere afterthought. Over the years, YWS has had add-ons here and there with no logical cohesion. The facelift is meant to tie everything together nicely.
Will it really take a week to transition?
Probably, but it certainly will not take longer. If anything, it'll be shorter than a week (but definitely no less than 5 days).
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