Ethical in Deep Financial DooDoo, Will Keymaker Ben Lose Ability to Use His Tool

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=regic link=topic=2443.msg11001#msg11001 date=1142569061]

I spit Orangina all over my monitor after reading the DSL bit.
[/quote]

Get ready to spit it on the screen again.  Not only were the  :asshat2: s running a server on a DSL line, but their backup power was a UPS (yes, one of these things that only give a few minutes of backup power)  :blinkie:

Waves to our PeSA bird  for getting us the official Ethical Tools explanation for the outage: A Thunderstorm 

scott_honestycomfounder


Due to heavy storms and outages in this area, our server bank has gone
completely offline, including the batteries which only hold a charge for a
short period of time.

We've contacted our power company but there are many areas which take
priority, and we hope to have the servers back online by tomorrow at the
very latest.

My deepest sorrow for this outage. We tried diligently to keep it flying but
sadly, one can't move hardware in a wind/rain storm.

My personal apologies for those who's auctions didn't extend this evening.
Most things we can solve, but situations like this are beyond our means at
this point.

With Respect,

Scott

[amy]

FYI: there are no reported electrical or Internet outages in the area where Ethical's server is located. A tracert shows clear sailing all the way there.  The machine the Ethical server is on is even running (i.e. the power is on)--only the Apache web server on the machine is down.  Mr. "Honesty" founder's story is full of holes

situations like this are beyond our means

Translated: the last remaining employee who knew how to run a web server left.  the server crashed. Mr. "I invented Honesty counters" who has no tech ability (someone else did all the programming for both Honesty and Ethical) is clueless about how to restart Apache and doesn't have the money to hire a webmaster. LSOSB 

[rejoicemusic]

Talk on the PS board is that their phone line is down, or disconnected.  Hhmppphh ....

[bargainbloodhound]

Forum post to PeSA:

scott_honestycomfounder

Hiya,

Here's the story so far. When the storms that struck our area two days ago,
we lost power. At first, we felt it was only the battery, however when we
went to reset, data corruption was evident. Surge protectors were, indeed,
on the machines, but we're unsure if the outage took place as data was being
written to the password file, not to mention, we know that there are two
failed pieces of hardware.

We're working diligently to get the proper hardware drop shipped ASAP.


In the meantime DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE EXTENDER TOOL until notice is
posted here. We hope to be up and running as soon as our equipment is in our
possession..

Again, our apologies, and yes, we will do something for the folks who've
been affected.

Lastly, whereas we've no quarrel with ASage, they are in violation of the
patent on the extender tool. No action has been taken, since we do feel that
competition is healthy, however, on the same note, it's sorta crummy when
someone turns an idea into an actual patentable process and hardware, only
to have another copy it.

Still, again, no quarrel, just an explanation.

With Respect,

Scott

[iron_chick]

Lastly, whereas we've no quarrel with ASage, they are in violation of the
patent on the extender tool. No action has been taken, since we do feel that
competition is healthy, however, on the same note, it's sorta crummy when
someone turns an idea into an actual patentable process and hardware, only
to have another copy it.

Hardware???? 

And, correct me if I am wrong, but aren't the processes different as well?    Doesn't the ET tool use the eBay API?  AS is API less.    So while it may be accomplishing the same goal, it's certainly not going about it in the same way.  It's the same concept, but folks have been doing the same concept manually since before the ET tool.

[xppman]

IT don't matter they are were LSOSB.

[xppman]

BTW
Happy St. Patty's Day to ALL. 

[bargainbloodhound]

Hardware?

If running an auction management service off a couple of servers in your basement that are connected to a DSL line isn't a unique enough idea to be patented I don't know what would be. 

Doesn't the ET tool use the eBay API?

Yep, and rumor has it their tools are still using the old API (not the new free one) which eBay will be retiring in May (?) so they need to rewrite all their code for the new API...soon.

[quote author=xppman link=topic=2443.msg11040#msg11040 date=1142623499]
BTW
Happy St. Patty's Day to ALL.  
[/quote]

That explains the google ads today

Ditto on the happy to all.

[regic]

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE EXTENDER TOOL

He makes a virtual extender tool for members ?  How does that work? :twistedevil:

[Anita]

Xppman,
Do you have any extra socks you could loan to Ben so he can use his tool?