Monday, September 1, 2008

Evanesco! Harry Potter Lexicon Disappears!


Went to look up a fact at the HP Lexicon and what do I find?

IT'S GONE!

After I shook myself out of a moment of shock - who knew I cared so much? - I went looking for it. Finally, went over to Wiki to see if anything had developed of late and sure enough, Wiki explains, "The Lexicon was suddenly unavailable for a few days beginning August 30th, 2008, after a technical error with the domain. The site was still accessible via the IP address 69.61.53.28 however."

We did go to the IP address and found it (whew!), but today the actually url is still down and some of the Lexicon links don't work. Our first thought was that the domain expired - and someone snatched it up (happened to my home parish and then the domain is held for ransom).

Still, the HP Lexicon page is up but it doesn't work, it looks like it was wiped. It's all rather strange. Wonder what the "technical error with the domain" means? An unpaid bill - or a legal problem?

Steve, where are you?

The corporations that have been pursuing fair use on the internet have been threatening to go after the domain hosts. So it's hard not to wonder if the "technical error" is a mechancial, financial, or legal one? The fact that the page is sitting there with missing information is strange, but the IP address is up and running, so perhaps it is a programing SNAFU. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. It's a geek's primordial sin. It's how we learn.

Of course, we're still waiting for a court ruling on the book-version of the Lexicon and Warner Brothers appears to be a foul mood (there is still no credible explanation why they pulled the sixth film in November to wait basically another year before release - to make more money is a public relations disaster and we still guess that the lawyers had something to do with it).

The Lexicon site is not yet restored, but many/most of the pages are available for viewing at the IP address here.

And so we continue to wait - and see.

3 comments:

Steve Vander Ark said...

I am so sorry about the outage. It could be a few more days before the site is available at www.hp-lexicon.info again.

Why did it happen? Just a simple mistake. In the process of transferring the domain, the original account was closed before it should have been, and the nameserver settings were lost. Transfers take about five days and it takes a further two days for DNS settings to propagate, so it could be a week before things are fixed.

The original main page at www.hp-lexicon.org is currently on hold because of the legal dispute, which is why it looks so weird. I don't have access to that page so I can't edit it. I hope to get THAT part sorted out soon as well.

It's extremely frustrating, but hopefully the problems will be short-lived.

Steve

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for your post, Steve. Wish we could just all swish and flick and make it all well! Very glad to know it's fixable! Very good news, indeed! Hanging in there with you.

-Mary

Steve Vander Ark said...

The Lexicon is now accessible at the following URLs:

www.hplex.info
www.hplex.org

Thanks!