The Announcement

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The Announcement

Post by TFArchive »

Ok, I'm sure everyone is interested to hear what this bad news is that I have for you. Here it is:

As of next weekend, the weekly episodes, japanese eps and TF:TM will be removed from the servers.

Now for a little background on why, when I started the site back in April 97 I signed up with a company called Simplenet, which offered unlimited space/bandwidth for a low fee. So I started the site small, with only one server, brendanr.simplenet.com and it had movie clips, sounds, TF:TM soundtrack and lots of images. Shortly after the site took off, in 98, I registered the domain tfarchive.com, I hosted this with Simplenet as well. So I had two accounts, then as things started to progress I needed more connections (simplenet limits the number of connections an account could have) so I started buying other accounts (movies.tfarchive.com, episodes.....), the most servers I had with them was 12. So everything was going great, I was posting episodes and everyone was getting them, with relative ease.

Well in '99 Simplenet was bought by the corporate entity known as Yahoo (I'm sure you've heard of them). And of course Yahoo didn't want to offer unlimited accounts, because it can end up costing more than what you bring in. But at the time they said they would honor all Simplenet accounts' unlimited space/bandwidth. Then in 2000 they said that they will no longer support accounts with a Simplenet sub-domain, at the time I only had one, brendanr.simplenet.com, but it was also one of the main episodes servers. They were trying to force me to switch that account from a Simplenet account to a Yahoo account, I didn't switch because it wouldn't allow me to host episodes anymore, so I just let it get cancelled and the site recovered from it’s loss fairly quickly.

Now in 2002, I get an e-mail from Yahoo saying that all former Simplenet accounts are going to be converted to Yahoo accounts by the end of this month, and they are actually converted now. So that means I will be losing quite a bit of space/bandwidth.

Now there is an upside to this situation, in late December last year I bought a dedicated server through [url=http://www.rackshack.net,]www.rackshack.net,[/url] it comes with lots of space and 300GB/month of bandwidth. This server wasn't going to be used for episode downloads, because it doesn't have enough bandwidth to support it (episodes do about 800GB a month in transfers). My original plan for the server was to move all the movie clips, comics, and the discussion boards to it to free up more Simplenet accounts for episodes/TF:TM downloads, but now that won't happend Image. The server has been serving the movies and comics for about a week now and it seems to be rock solid, I don't know if anyone noticed that you could actually download during peak hours now?

Skywarp and I are also working on moving the discussion board over, we are testing new board software now and hope to transfer it sometime next week or later on this month. I think you will like the new software, it's called vBulletin, I'm sure you've seen other boards use it. It is similar to UBB but a little more powerful and faster. We will posting more details on the transition soon, you won't really have to do much, other than backup your private messages (vBulletin doesn't import from hacked UBB addons Image ) But all the profiles and messages will be imported fine. We have done a test import and it looks great so far. Skywarp has even made a kick-ass new graphic for the board, you will drool when you see it Image

Now back to episodes, the Past Episodes will remain online, those aren't hosted by Yahoo so won't be affected by the closing of those accounts.

I don't know when episode downloads will be back, but it could be as early as next month, Rackshack was thinking about releasing unlimited transfer boxes and if that happens and the price is right I will definitely grab one. And we will be back up and running like before, I will warn you the connection won't be as fast as Simplenets, Rackshack's system is supposed to be capped at 10Mb/s which isn't too fast (works out to be about 1.25 Megabytes/second) but should be enough to satisfy our needs. If and when that comes about I will make another announcement to tell you my plans.

So that's the long and the short of it Image Not good news but hopefully it will all work out in the end. I thank you for making this site such a success.


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Brendan Reilly
The Transformers Archive
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Post by Bombshell »

Sorry to hear that, Brendan. Hope everything works out.

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Post by Houbatron »

Originally posted by Bombshell:
Sorry to hear that, Brendan. Hope everything works out.

I second that... Your site was the only constant supplier of Transformer Episodes, would be a shame if that's over now... Image

On the other hand, I know vBulletin software, it is brilliant! Image
Great software, about 10 ten times better than what we have now. At least we'll have something else to look forward to.

And still Brendan, if you need any donations, just say the word...
ThunderCracker84

Post by ThunderCracker84 »

This is very bad news Brendan. I hope that you will be able to get things set right with the site. As always, your site is my favorite of all the TF sites Ive found. I agree w/ Houbatron about the donations, I will help if I can

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Post by TFArchive »

also we want to expand the board, we want to cater to non-tf fans as well, we are thinking about an anime and other sections as well Image

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Post by Sades »

Well... Nice idea. Wish I could be around to watch the changes happen...

Good luck with the change. Image
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Post by Ravage »

Bad news but could be good news in the end Image

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Post by Grimlock »

Even though this is bad news, I still think eveyone who downloads the episodes such as me, owe you a big thanks for the amount you have provided. So Brednan, thanks for all you have done with the site to provide for others and goodluck on finding a good new server. I mean we still have Kazaa for awhile, I'v had a little bit more luck with it lately, but it's been damn impossible for me to find City Of Steel, also are there any other ways to get the headmasters eps(other than buyin gon eBay)? Cause I havn't seen them on Kazaa, ever.

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Post by Plasmodium »

NOOOOOOO! I can't believe it, I just found this site like 5 days ago and I was overjoyed to find a supplier of TF episodes, but now this happens? Damn Yahoo, screwed over again, it is indeed bad news but hopefully for everyones sake, not just mine that everything works out fine in the end, and better than ever!
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Post by Jonnybot »

What more can I say than what's already been said? It is indeed sad news, but there seems to be plenty of light at the end of the tunnel. I draw a lot of hope from your optimism about this, since I've been at sites where it seemed the moderators were fighting a losing battle against internet entropy.
I've only discovered this site recently, and I've been psyched since I found out that episodes were available for download, and I'm very happy to hear that the past episodes will still be up. grimlock is right on about thanks; I think it's an indescribably good thing you've done with this site and all it's features. I haven't been in a TF community since the Axalon Underground and the Dominion of Monkeys, both of which I remember with both great joy and boredom. I already feel at home here. Many thanks for everything.

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Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

Originally posted by Jonnybot:
I already feel at home here. Many thanks for everything.
You do? Aw nuts, gotta change that Image

tis a great shame about the episodes, as much of a shock as this may be to some people, I have never actually downloaded a cartoon from this site once.

I just run this here little message board.

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Post by Reflector »

Originally posted by Skywarp:
as much of a shock as this may be to some people, I have never actually downloaded a cartoon from this site once.
Makes two admins...

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Post by sprites touch »

It is a shame, I will miss the japanies eps, but we all ow a great debt to this site, and I just like to thank for all the episodes that I got from here.
Brendon sounds optimistic, and I'll keep that tone in mind, and hope for the better Image

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Post by Brawn »

Believe me when I say...
We owe you a heck of a lot more than you gave us..

Times change, and sometimes change is good, sometimes bad, but a blessing in disguise.

Their will be a day when all the board will be at our feet!

Good luck


[This message has been edited by Brawn (edited 01-13-2002).]
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Post by Denyer »

Originally posted by Brawn:
We owe you a heck of a lot more than you gave us.
Yup. Image

Being a board follower myself; great news on that front, and hopefully things'll make an upswing on others in time!



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Post by Jim »

Originally posted by TFArchive:
also we want to expand the board, we want to cater to non-tf fans as well, we are thinking about an anime and other sections as well Image

Did somebody say Anime section? Image

Best of luck on the furture server! Image

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Post by Jetfire »

Originally posted by Reflector:
Makes two admins...

....and a mod Image

Sad news Am looking foward to the new board expansion though.

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Post by Quarnzimus Prime »

I'm a newby here, and i'm gonna hate seeing the movies go. I dont think im the first one to say that this site is great. Expecialy because of the episodes. It will be like disabiling a the site, but i'll be checkin back everyday until I find some news on what will happen with the episodes. It looks like my only hope left will be to get the eps of Kazaa or somthing like that. Great work on the site, and good luck for the episodes.

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Post by Risk »

Sorry to hear about the eps TFArchive, I only just registered on this board because of the announcement, but have been dloading eps for several months now. I think I am not the only one who owes this site a big thank you and round of applause for allowing fans like me to get hold of episodes. I agree this is the only site that had differnt eps constantly available to download, well except one which i found two weeks ago but hasn't been updated since June. It only has Headmaster eps at the moment which is a good thing seeing as I dont have them all the URL is http://ftp.crazyace.net/

Also for p2p programs try Direct Connect. Its where I get most of my eps from that are not from websites or here in particular. I think all the stuff Brendan has put on here has probably found its way there. If you use Direct Connect go to Iacon hub - address - rattrap.memphis.edu:411

Good luck with the upgrade of the board.
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Post by Halfshell »

Originally posted by Reflector:
Makes two admins...
Three.


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