The Splosh UK Forum

As you may have noticed, ECGunge has vanished from the internet, this is the result of hackers infecting the site. The advice from our hosts "support" team seems to be to delete everything and start again. Of course, all that needs to be deleted is the stuff the hacker put there, unfortunately I haven't a clue what is genuine bits of the forum and what isn't... If anyone has knowledge of MySQL databases and IPBoard forums and is willing to have a look at it please get in touch. I 'm not holding much hope for the site returning, rebuilding from scratch just doesn't strike as worthwhile and besides I wouldn't know where to begin or what to do. It's a shame to see something that's been around in one form or another for over ten years and seven years as a forum come to an end. I have all the stories from the days before they moved to the forum so they could go up somewhere else, not so sure what to do with the clips - I know many are already shared through other sites, but if ECGunge can't be saved I'd like them to be available somewhere.

Iain
himoff the space where ECGunge used to be

Oh Iain I am sorry to hear this. I know exactly how frustrating this can be - but one thing, if you dont have a backup of it all, surely your hosts have a a relatively recent one that can be utilised?

Hi Iain,

Sorry to hear about the attack. I'm surprised that the host recommended you just start again - I would have thought they would have some sort of backup available.

ECG was my introduction to the online mess community and was where I found the first audience for my stories, and I think I actually signed up almost exactly 10 years ago - it's survived a lot and it would be a shame to see it suddenly disappear! I run a few sites and boards myself - malicious code put there by spammers can be difficult to remove, but if you'd be willing to let me in to have a look, I would be glad to see what I could salvage. You can get in touch with me at ironironk@gmail.com .

Iron-K

Really really sad news. Do you have the enthusiasm to start a new project if the site can't be rescued?

Very sad and frustrating news, Iain. Coming across WamMonkey and EC Gunge in 2005 was a life-changing experience for me. I was reacquainted with many classic TV gungings I thought I'd never see again, read some fantastic stories, and most importantly, discovered many people who felt the same way as me. WamMonkey met its demise not long after, but ECG has continued through all these years to be a great place for intelligent, civilised and friendly discussion. The WAM community will be permanently poorer if the site can't be salvaged.

If the worst come to be, I'd be willing to provide a new home for the stories. There are some real gems there that cannot be allowed to disappear. I only bothered to save a couple of my very favourite favourites, because I assumed ECG would be around forever.

Obviously if EC Gunge's site cannot be salvaged, we would be happy to provide a home for it as well. But let's not be totally pessimistic.

As Bill said we will help any way we can, whether that is providing a temporary or more permanent home for some of the stories or if you need some technical help I'll do what I can. Sounds like you have plenty of offers but if you want anything drop me a PM.

Sorry to hear about the site Iain, I wasn't a regular visitor but the story archive was great.

If you or the hosting service don't have a usable backup, hopefully some of the authors are still around to post them again, if they are lost - or the wayback machine (http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http:/ ... gunge.net/) can help.

TellyGunge wrote:If the worst come to be, I'd be willing to provide a new home for the stories. There are some real gems there that cannot be allowed to disappear. I only bothered to save a couple of my very favourite favourites, because I assumed ECG would be around forever.

I don't wish to be a spoilsport here, but I should point out that Iain doesn't have the right to confer any stories to anyone else, other than the stories he wrote himself. Even though people sent their stories to us at ECG, it is up to the original authors to determine where their stories are hosted. Which is a little unfortunate, to put it simply.

Jessie_P wrote:I don't wish to be a spoilsport here, but I should point out that Iain doesn't have the right to confer any stories to anyone else, other than the stories he wrote himself. Even though people sent their stories to us at ECG, it is up to the original authors to determine where their stories are hosted. Which is a little unfortunate, to put it simply.

Unfortunate indeed, given that some of these brilliant authors haven't been seen on the WAM scene for ten years or so. Under copyright law as it stands, a story cannot be reproduced without the author's consent for the rest of his/her life and 70 years following his/her death. That's a long time to wait just because you can't get in touch with the author to check it's ok. (It's why I've gone to trouble of putting my stories in the "Creative Commons", so people know it's ok to repost them.)

But as Bill says, let's not get ahead of ourselves. EC Gunge may live yet.