If nothing else we would transfer the site over to a cheap crappy host, acknowledge that performance may suck, and let it ride as long as we could in that state, maybe eventually flipping it into read-only mode and putting it on a free host. I don't envision we'd ever actually KILL it.

Indeed. No reason to ever do that, I think.

*wipes the tears away*

I'm so glad that you would keep this thing around. A lot of Ernya members are devastated by this, and not just emotionally. I do not know the reason behind it - I probably never really will - but, I can say that it was not handled properly. We should have been told months ago. It was literally one day I logged on and it was gone. No message, no time to collect our things.
Even a 24 hour notice would have been better than what they did. =/

In my personal experience from past avatar websites that suddenly poofed, or had 404 errors and then totally poofed, it was a ploy to just make a break with whatever money they had. But I wouldn't think Ernya would do that, not unless they just got new management or something.

well, if anyone here recalls didn't eryna try to close a few years ago and the users rallied together to fund the site back up? i could be wrong but i do think it was them

Avatar sites, no matter what looking at Gaia might make you think, are not especially profitable. It's pretty much guaranteed to be a money-losing endeavor, unfortunately.

that is a given XD you start a forun site to make money, you run it out of love

Really, the hope is to at least cover costs, lol.

The reality is...you gonna lose money.

unless you are gaia XD then you roll around in cash and the tears of parents all day

Actually, given how many users they have, and the infrastructure you need for that...Gaia is likely not especially profitable. That's why they have such absurd cash grabs. They'll lose money big time otherwise.

I mean, I'm sure they make money, and they certainly have enough income to have an actual full time staff, but, yeah.

with what they sell in a day(that i can see with my own eyes) and with the crazy ads they do i am sure gaia is doing pretty damn well >x>

Gaia is profitable, but only because of sponsorships. The wellspring of user funds dried up years ago and they had to turn to ads and corporate sponsors to get by, and to whale-milking techniques to maximize revenue from the small percentage of users who DO spend a lot of money.

I don't think people realize how much work it is to keep a site like this going. =/

I have a new found appreciation for you all.

Heh. It's both harder and easier than you might imagine.

The fact that we're still around is a tribute to it being easier than it sounds in some ways -- it's nice to have users who are actually human, because as long as there's a community the site will keep itself going even if it doesn't have enough staffing to keep it going.

On the other hand, creating content is HARD.

People who have watched Galla's stream will have a basic idea, but she's got a lot of experience and doesn't stream the bad parts.

And artwork isn't the only part of the content... getting someone to write code for the site AND stick around for any amount of time AND being willing to work for cheap/free/negative AND have time to do so because they've also got full-time jobs because Trisphee isn't one... it's hard. Toho is the first coder besides me to even TRY to stay active for more than a month after getting the job -- and I got the job in the first place because the ORIGINAL coder bailed out on a half-finished site and didn't even give the passwords to the owner. (I actually had to hack into the site the hard way to recover everything out of it.) And even I'm not innocent there because I haven't had consistent enough free time to get things done for like three years now.

And then there's writers... It's not too terribly hard to find people interested in writing. It's hard to find people who can write in a way that doesn't require heavy editing afterwards. A bad writer can cause a lot of damage. We're lucky to have the ones we have.

Oh, you do? >.> I... kinda didn't want the uploader to be seen by users. ^^() I mean, there's enough security on the page that I'm not TOO worried, but... y'know. Oh well. Too late now.

Well, then, maybe people have a better idea about how hard it is after all, although you do still have a lot of experience.

See, I would guess most people don't even stop to think how many people it takes to keep a place like Gaia and Trisphee alive.

I know I didn't give it a second thought before Ernya shut down. =/

Like I mentioned, my appreciation for your hard work has skyrocketed. You guys do a lot...and put up with a lot.

Thank you for all that you do. I hope you hear that more than I think you do. ^^;

XD Excellent point!

I'm more worried about being able to clobber existing data. I mean, I THINK I've got enough safeguards in there to keep that from happening (enough that you can't update items yourself) but defense in depth is a thing.

I'm sure you guys have it all under control. I'm just hoping to continue living here.

*curls up in corner*

It's totally under control. :) I'm just paranoid because it's my job to be paranoid. :P

See, I'm the "let's do incredible things!" programmer, Coda's the "Hold on now, that's insane" programmer.

You need both for a system to work, really.

You guys make me laugh. XD


I think I'm going to like it here. ^__^;

Don't say that. You will jinx it!

*Slime comes out of nowhere*

YOU DID IT. SEE YOU JINX IT! D:

*runs for my life*

It was a shame - it was an awesome place. =/

I'm a "let's do incredible things!" programmer too! >.> I mean, seriously, I have two threads going on in the staff section right now where I've said "dream big" and my criticism is that people AREN'T DREAMING BIG ENOUGH. XD

Haha, I know. Although, to be fair, "dream big" was said half an hour after my post. :P

Over generalizing is fun.

whoa i saw this earlier on twitter--
i was never really active on it but it's sad to see it go :u

and i am the loser who contributes nothing but has an opinion on eeeeeeeeverything<3 i am single-handedly responsible for that 20 mins of saving turning into two days >D i am the galla's annoying shadow

Everyone seems to have a position here. XD

Let's see where I end up. =P

thank yooouuuu~ though aside from illusion everyone makes cute avis here<3

bigger base certainly are nice<3

Oh Gallager =P
Give me time!

And I don't think I've seen a bad one yet. I really want too many items as well. >___>
After Christmas, I'm sure I'll be donating. ^____^;

Aww, it's nice to see fellow ernyans here.

I haven't been here in over five years. XD

I am also happy that my avi looks semi-decent. I was afraid I was going to walking around in bras and undies for a few days. XD