Hi all, I have some disappointing news to share with you —
On Wednesday morning at around 1am, I was made aware that the server had been down for at least 9 days. This was the result of a suspension at our host, OVH, which for multiple reasons (which would all be excuses anyway, so not really relevant) I did not see. As a result of this, the suspension then turned into an expiry 4 days ago.
When an OVH server 'expires', it is sent into a queue to be refreshed and ready to use for the next person who wishes to use it. This means exactly what it sounds like it means, the data is incredibly likely to have been lost with very slim to no chance of it being recoverable. It goes without saying that this was a total mistake and I am entirely responsible for it. I am very sorry that this has happened and it is deeply regrettable.
Lumboc and I made the decision that it would not be in the interests of us or the collective team to expend energy into rebuilding the server, this is for several reasons:
We've all grown up a lot now and the majority of us have moved on - the community and the team isn't what it used to be and that's a good thing!
The server was down for 9 days and to the best of my knowledge, nobody noticed - or if they did, it wasn't passed on. This means it's likely that the server is barely to never used, which isn't ideal from a cost or purpose standpoint. Lumboc and I have privately funded this server for years and it has always been a labour of love, but at the same time there must come a point where we acknowledge that it has to come to an end and is no longer useful to the people it is designed for.
Whilst this was not planned, it does feel like a natural point to close the chapter on BaldyMC as an aspiring public server. I think all of us here know that goal has been insurmountable for considerable time. Lumboc and I are discussing the possibility of instead having a small, private SMP comprised of staff and active members of the community.
This will be considerably scaled down compared to what we had before, likely vanilla and somewhere you folks can hang out should you choose to. What I think is most important to me is the community that is clearly still around, I want to do right by you and take whatever action you suggest (with the exception of simply restarting BaldyMC - let me be clear that this is not an option we are considering at this time).
It is a bittersweet end to something that has been a part of all of our lives for quite a few years now and I will always look back on this place fondly and with no regrets. It has been a pleasure to be a part of it.
I would like to take the opportunity to separately thank each and every person that has contributed to our community over the years - it wouldn't have been the same without you all! What's more, my thanks and gratitude to everyone that has spent any of their time on the server as staff - your tireless dedication and hard work has been amazing, thank you so much.
— periys, Lumboc, Audi, CraCra, csyre, pizza, Fresh, BatataJoey, zenia
P.S. You can join our Discord server here.