The DSPsrv Saga, or, Dude, Where's my mailing list?

[waider at dspsrv.com]

Hi there.

You're receiving this message because you're subscribed to one of the
lists on dspsrv.com. If you're on multiple lists, you may have
received multiple copies, because frankly I am having a hard time
persuading the list software to let me send this message. Sorry.

You may have noticed that the mailing list(s) stopped working around
the end of April. The reason for this is that the server died, and
recovering it has been... complicated. If your only interaction with
this server is through the mailing lists, all you need to know is that
the server should soon be back online and whatever previously
approached normal service should resume. Replying to this mail may or
may not get to me, so check that whatever reply you wish to send is
addressed to waider at waider.ie before you hit Send.

=== end of message for people who only use the server for lists ===

If you use the server for a bit more than that - such as having a
mailbox there - there's good news and bad news. The good news is that
while the server experienced catastrophic disk failure, I had some
backups. The bad news is that anything that was in your INBOX is
irrecoverably lost from the server's point of view; anything you'd
moved into separate folders as of about April 26th should be intact.

So... AS A PRECAUTION I AM LOCKING ALL ACCOUNTS ON THE SERVER.

Why?

Firstly, and primarily, Because I don't know what your mail client
will do if you start it up and it has 300 messages in DSPsrv/INBOX,
while the server has none. It may do something clever. It may not, and
you may lose your 300 local messages. So, accounts locked.

Secondly, since I don't know who has access to the server any more, I
need to take stock.

What you need to do: check your mail client. See if there's a way to
save a copy of anything in DSPsrv/INBOX in the absence of the server -
it might be possible to save them to a local mailbox, or onto another
mail server. It might be sufficient simply to back up the whole
thing. Once you're happy that you've got it saved somewhere, ping me
via this email address and I'll restore your account's existing
password.

The server should be back on line in the next week to fortnight; it's
complicated by logistics that I am handwaving for now, but suffice to
say I'm on it. If you've got questions that aren't covered by this
email, please shoot me an email at waider at waider.ie and I'll answer as
best I can.

We Apologise, As Ever, For The Inconvenience.

Cheers,
Waider / DSPsrv Admin