Thank you to everyone who has watched the journey this project took and offered support, advice, criticism and what have you. It was a hard decision to make to hand over the site but in the end I didn't feel I could provide the level of service I felt you the users deserved so I handed the site over. I wish Kit good luck with continuing on in the project and hope that you will support him as much as you have supported me.

Thank you again everyone, I could not have gotten as far as I did without you.

Hi Everyone! I have a big announcement to make.

Due to personal issues as well as a waning interest in maintaining this site, I am handing over the project to my lovely SysOp, Kit. There is one exception to this - the name will be changed.

My main reasons for doing this have to do with the stress involved. I was feeling overwhelmed with everything and felt that I could not provide the level of service that I wanted to and thought you all deserved. After consulting with Kit he agreed to take over the site with the above exception.

The service will remain the same but it will have a new name and theme. Everyone who donated to have an account will remain early account holders. Everyone who is a beta tester retain their account status. The service itself will remain the same other than having a new name.

Kit's interest and desire to provide a good service rivals that of my own excitement earlier on in the project and I know he will do a good job.

Thank you everyone for your support for the past .... year almost and I hope you will continue to support Kit in getting the site off the ground!

Please watch scribblit as Kit will be making a post of his own.

First off, please make sure that your journals are backed up - here I am referring to SI Main. We are going to be working on the switcheroo over the next couple of days and hopefully we will be up and running again soon!

Secondly and perhaps most importantly DO NOT GIVE OUT INVITATION CODES. The site is not open to the public. Just because you have access to the invitation page does not mean you are allowed to use it. Once again, the site is not open to the public so invitation codes should not have been sent out. If you have sent out invitation codes you can inform those people that their accounts will be deleted and purged and they can recreate them when the site is live. And sadly, we will be revoking access to the invitation page so that this does not happen again.

[edit 2:42pm]
Apparently I was not clear enough and for that I apologize.

We will be doing an investigation into accounts that have been created without permission. One user has admitted already that they have been sending out invitations and this is unacceptable.

I realize that some people may find this rule to be a bit of overkill however with all of the problems we have been having and in an effort to keep things simple while we resolve the problems, the site was to remain closed. The site is closed. What this means is that people should NOT have been sending out invitations. Do not continue to send out invitations.

Should the invitation page be removed? Yes however in the process of updating and moving servers we needed the page to get everyone back up and running.

The fact of the matter is, those that have been created in March will be removed. Anything before that will be investigated.

If you have any concerns please email me at scribblit @ yahoo.ca.

Hi everyone!

I realize you haven't had an update in a while and that things are wonky all around. For both of those things I apologize.

We have had very little luck with our hosting company resolving the problem with the server and getting the code up and running so we are moving to a new company. The server should be set up later today and we will then work on getting the code installed there.

What does this mean for you? It means you need to back up you journals again! Please make sure you back up at both SI:Main and SI:Beta just to be on the safe side. At the moment I do not have a timeframe for when the other server will be taken down but it will not be before a week from now (March 12 - good grief it's March already?).

All of that being said, I really appreciate your patience and I am looking forward to the site opening soon!

I'm sorry again for the inconvenience and as soon as I know for sure when the other server will be taken down I will update again!

Also, please make sure to spread the word so that everyone who has an account knows! Link to this post if you must!

I have gotten a couple of reports from people (as well as trying it out for myself) that the various parts of beta.scribblit.com that were not working are now working.

I tried for myself with a couple of accounts and was able to successfully update my profile and access the update page.

Could those of you who were having problems please try accessing the various parts of the site and let me know if you are still having problems? There are a number of pages that are not up yet (paidaccounts/ support/ etc) and they will give you 404 errors and that's fine. I'm referring to pages that were taking a very long time to load.

Please leave a comment here with your operating system and browser and whether or not it is now working for you. Also, please leave any problems you're having with SI Main as well.

Thanks guys!

Just a reminder to everyone to make sure they have backed up everything from their accounts on scribblit.com. You can use a tool like ljarchive to accomplish this.

Please make sure you have it done by 10pm EST tonight as tomorrow I will be starting the reinstall on scribblit.com in an effort to discover what the problem(s) is/are on the beta site.

Please feel free to link to this post or cross-post this information. The more people who know, the happier we'll be as we can all get our journals backed up. :)

In an effort to figure out what is wrong with beta.scribblit.com we are going to attempt to install the Livejournal Code that is currently on beta.scribblit.com on the original server where www.scribblit.com currently is.

What this means is that the current installation found at www.scribblit.com will be wiped clean and replaced with the version that is currently running on beta.scribblit.com. We are doing this in an effort to see if the problem really is with the code or with something on the server itself.

All of that being said, you will need to back up all of your entries. We will have a backup of the site as well but you need to make sure that anything you want saved is saved. We will be doing this wipe next weekend, Feb 2-3 so you have a week to get everything saved.

I will be posting this in various places to make sure that everyone finds out. Please spread the word as well so that anyone who has an account there can save their data.

Thanks guys!

[edit]
More information can be found here

I believe I have now sent out invitations to everyone who donated who should have received one.

If you didn't please comment here with a link to your original comment or your name, email address and amount you donated.

If you know someone who donated and doesn't have their account send them here so I can hook them up properly.

As far as the site opening, we are still working as hard as we can to get it up and running. We are running into some speed problems in a few places and are looking into ways to get those resolved and it is my hope that once those are fixed up we can start inviting the public to join.

At any rate, the goal is still January so just keep an eye out for news here.

I have sent out invitations to a few people for their accounts (I apologize for the delay) and want to make sure that I have got all the accounts created that need to be.

If you are supposed to have an account because you donated, please leave a comment here with a link to your original donation comment and I will get an invitation out to you so you can finish the setup process.

Please make sure that @scribblit.com is on your safelist so your invitation doesn't get sent to the trash or junk folders.

Thanks again everyone!

I have had a couple of questions about accounts that have been suspended and I will address them now.

While working on getting moved over to our permanent home, account creation had been turned on to allow the beta testers to recreate their accounts on the new machine. During this time approximately 100 accounts were created and linked to only 4 email addresses.

My ever diligent SysOp noticed this and flagged these accounts as spam accounts and suspended them. Account creation was not turned on for the general public it was intended to be for beta users only. At any rate, these accounts will be deleted and purged and should you wish to use the service you will need to recreate them when the site is open.

Account creation is currently set to invitation only and invitations at this time are only being extended to beta testers and those who donated during the fundraiser.

Do not post asking for an invitation, you will not get one. Do not hound beta-testers for an invitation, you will not get one.

I know all of you are excited and we are too. We're working as hard as we can to get everything ready to open up and all we ask for is some patience.

My apologies to those who are still waiting for their accounts.

Because of the latest ... choices made by Livejournal we have been attempting to get the site ready to open up and accept free accounts. During some of this we have experienced some problems (which you can see if you try to visit scribblit.com heh) and are currently working to get them resolved.

As soon as they are resolved I will make another post to let y'all know and get those accounts set up.

I apologize again and appreciate your patience.

I apologize to those waiting for an invoice from me for your donation. I have run into a bit of a snag with 2Checkout and have some documentation that I have to provide in order to get the system up and running.

You have not been forgotten and you will get your accounts. I apologize again for the delay!

For those of you who can't see my comments what I suggest going to Scribblit.com and click on Forgot Password and you should be able to have your password sent to you.

I apologize that you're not able to see the comments after I left them - you should be able to see the comments and I don't know why. :(

Let me know if you continue to have problems!

A number of people have replied to me that they can't see the reply to their comment with their password - this is very unusual as you should still be able to see it. I also want to ask, are you not receiving the comment notifications either?

Please let me know if you can't see my reply with your password and I'll email it to you instead.

I am finishing up the creation of accounts and have created all of the accounts I have so far whose payments have cleared.

If I have missed you somewhere along the way PLEASE leave your information as a comment to this post so I can get your account set up for you as quickly as possible. I know I have missed perhaps 2 people because I have dangling comments and lone entries with no matching comments that I can find so please let me know! I appreciate everyone's patience while we get these accounts setup.

For those of you who were looking for an alternative to paypal, I have setup an account with 2Checkout and you will be able to make your donation through them.

Please leave a comment here with the amount you wish to donate as well as your name, email address and desired username and I will send out an invoice to you. Once the amount has cleared your account will be set up!

Thanks again everyone and if you have any questions please feel free to ask! One last thing, if you are unsure whether or not you received your comment (if you didn't get the comment notification for example) check out your comment on whichever post you originally replied to and you should see a reply if I have in fact replied to you!

If you posted your information on the first fundraiser post and have not received a comment from me with your temporary password can you please repost your information on this post as the original post is getting to be a bit of a mess to traverse for me!

Thank you very much for your patience everyone and your donations!

No no, I'm not asking for more money. ;)

I would just like all new donation comments to be made to this post. For the Terms of Service, see this post.

Here are some important notes about this fundraiser: (copied and pasted from the previous post)

Starting [November 8, 2007] and running until Sunday November 18, 2007, anyone who donates $30CAD or more will get an early contributor account. This means you will be able to use the site NOW while still in beta and you will get the following features:

-All features of a paid account
-email forwarder when it is set up
-customizable styles
-polls
-300 userpics
-text messaging
-maximum friends of 3000
-create moodthemes
-create syndicated accounts
-friendsfriends view
-friends popular with friends
-access to all s2 styles
-yourname.scribblit.com
-100 links for your link list
-1 free rename at any time

SOME IMPORTANT NOTES
-My staff journal is staff_lyn - please friend this journal so that you can keep on top of the goings on and updates on the site itself. The other staff journals are staff_aydin and staff_kit and they occasionally make informative posts so you are free to friend them as well.

-The site is still in beta and you will run into bugs. There is a community dedicated to reporting and fixing the bugs (sibugs) so check that out to see if what you're experiencing is a known bug (Note: you are not required to help with fixing things but you are more than welcome to help if you wish!)

-Community creation is turned off for the time being. There is a post here requesting ideas for communities you'd like to see OMGRIGHTNOW! and this post will be a compilation of all communities that exist on the site before the site goes live. (Makes it easier to find and join them that way)

-Once you have made your donation or are planning on donating, leave your Name, Email Address, amount you donated and how you donated in a comment here along with the the user name you wish to have. All comments are screened and you will receive an email when your account is set up. Please make sure you include ALL the information here - don't just leave your name and the amount you donated. If you don't want to leave your full name leave your first name and last initial and your email address so I can find your donation. Also, if the email address you want registered with Scribblit is different than the address your donation is coming from, include BOTH so I can find your information.

-I am replying to comments with account creation details as the accounts are created. As there have been a number of donations (a very large number), it does take me quite a while to get all the accounts set up (with the help of my ever helpful partner, tiogardubh - staff_aydin over there) so assume that if you haven't gotten a reply yet it is simply because I haven't created your account yet. If there is a problem you'll be notified as well.

Once again the donation methods:

If you want to mail a donation please make it payable to COWS! PRESTO! to the address below:

COWS! PRESTO!
PO Box 39024
London, ON
N5Y 5L1
Canada

If you are within Canada you can send a cheque or money order - please note that if you do send a cheque your account won't be created until the cheque clears - and just make sure it is postmarked before the 18th. If you are outside Canada please use an international money order. Do not send cash!

One final note: I am currently working on another way to accept payments online for those that do not wish to use PayPal. It will likely be a shopping cart at COWS! PRESTO!.com and when that is set up I will let you all know! :)

Thank you everyone for your support, it is really encouraging to know that all of you are as excited as I am to get this project off the ground!

[edit 11:31pm]
Just once I'd like to remember everything the first time around. ;)

When you submit your payment through paypal you may receive an email from my paypal address asking you to confirm your address. This is not a phishing email, this is part of the spam protection that is set up on the account. I just thought I would let you know as a number of people have brought it up and it's important enough to include here. :D

Hi all! It's been a while since I've posted and I've got some good news for you! I have compiled a Terms of Service and it will be edited before the site goes live for some language (ie in some places it says "accounts will be" and that sort of thing) but these are the ToS.

I also want to point out that there are places where there exists a link or there should be a link and those are not yet working, just for your information.

( click to read )

Now that I've given you the TOS I am starting a fundraiser. Starting today and running until Sunday November 18, 2007, anyone who donates $30CAD or more will get an early contributor account. This means you will be able to use the site NOW while still in beta and you will get the following features:

-All features of a paid account
-email forwarder when it is set up
-customizable styles
-polls
-300 userpics
-text messaging
-maximum friends of 3000
-create moodthemes
-create syndicated accounts
-friendsfriends view
-friends popular with friends
-access to all s2 styles
-yourname.scribblit.com
-100 links for your link list
-1 free rename at any time

I would like to provide the following caveat: The site is still in beta and there are still bugs we are working on. You are under no obligation to help with fixing bugs or act as a beta-tester, however you do need to be aware that the bugs exist and we are working as quickly as we can to get them fixed as well.

One other note: Community creation is turned off at the moment - as is account creation - I will be creating the accounts manually. I will be posting to my staff journal there a post with what currently exists as far as feeds and communities so that if you want to join them you are free to do so. I also ask that for the time being you friend staff_lyn there so that you can keep up to date with the latest changes to the site.

Once you have made your donation or are planning on donating, leave your Name, Email Address, amount you donated and how you donated in a comment here along with the the user name you wish to have. All comments are screened and you will receive an email when your account is set up.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask.

The email address, if you don't have a paypal account, is paypal @ cowspresto.com.

If you want to mail a donation please make it payable to COWS! PRESTO! to the address below:

COWS! PRESTO!
PO Box 39024
London, ON
N5Y 5L1
Canada

If you are within Canada you can send a cheque or money order - please note that if you do send a cheque your account won't be created until the cheque clears - and just make sure it is postmarked before the 18th. If you are outside Canada please use an international money order. Do not send cash!

[edit Nov 9, 7:33pm]
NOTE: Please note the following things:
-Please include at least your first name in your comment. It makes finding your information within Paypal much easier
-If the email address you want registered with Scribblit is different than the address your donation is coming from, include BOTH so I can find your information.

And if you want to pimp this out, by all means do so! :)

[edit Nov 10, 5:40pm]
NOTE:
I am not replying to comments (unless they are questions) until I have set up your account. Accounts are not set up automatically, I am setting them up manually because account creation is turned off (for the general public). If you are wondering why you haven't heard from me, this is why.

[edit Nov 11, 5:27pm]
NOTE:
As I have not yet done the post on Scribblit with the communities that are of interest, I just want to let everyone know there is a bug reporting community, si_bugs, that exists and you'll want to check that out because you will run into bugs.

[edit Nov 13, 12:18am]
NOTE:
Apparently I need to clarify the account setup process.

I am doing the account setups manually. Which means I have to go into paypal, find your payment, match it up with your comment, create your account, edit the type of account it is and then leave you a comment with your password. The whole process takes about 10 minutes per account.

As the comments are screened you can't really get an idea of how many people have donated however if you take into consideration that there are over 500 people watching this journal it's a safe bet that there will be quite a few people who have donated and thus quite a few accounts that need setting up.

Also, please remember, I am doing this on top of what is going on in my life already. I work full time during the day and work on this project in the evenings. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and take a night off. Does that mean I am neglecting you? No, it just means that I need to take a break. Simple as that. If you've made a donation you will get an account.

Until further notice, these are the basic account features for the two account types.

Free Accounts
-100 icons
-polls
-use of s2 styles
-create syndicated accounts
-directory search
-customizable mood themes

Paid Accounts
-all features of free accounts
-250 icons
-creation of theme layers
-email forwarder
-subdomain
-textmessaging
-friendsfriends view
-popular with friends
To come:
-photo/image hosting


I am currently working on setting up a pricing scheme and as soon as that is done I will post it as well. I know a lot of people are still waiting to hear about the ToS and that is something I am still working on. I am still in the process of looking for a lawyer/law firm to solidify that information.

Thank you everyone for your patience and support.

Just a reminder to the following people:

snarky_kat
guardianmars
annephoenix
samuti
princess2000204
dimmie
sephyelysian
takewing
mutantenemy
darkchan
redscorner

You have until 6pm EST tomorrow to contact me and let me know why you haven't used your test account as you agreed to do when signing up for beta testing. If I do not hear from you by that time your account will be forfeited.

If any of you are friends with these people please feel free to tell them to get their butts over here. I am not going to be chasing people down and this is the last post about this I will make.

kaleidoskope, I got your number mixed up with noa_luna's so you have until 6pm EST on Saturday to contact me.