Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

3 Nov 00

Architosh.com sends 'SOS' out to Mac news community

Architosh.com—the site devoted to all things Mac CAD/3D/AEC—is in desperate need of aid from those willing in the Mac community. The problems, however, are not of a financial nature.

"Technically our site has been tops in performance and reliability", says site founder and editor, Anthony Frausto-Robledo, "however, in this last year our Web site host provider has had numerous technical problems, and they seem to be rapidly increasing."

"The straw that finally broke the camel's back for us was the disappearing act of the staff at our Web host. We have no idea where they are." Says Mr. Frausto. "They have yet to return any calls or answer any emails over the last few weeks."

Architosh is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. However the site is hosted in Los Angeles by a well regarded Mac OS-based Web hosting company. "That makes it very difficult to find out answers", says Mr. Frausto-Robledo, who is also a busy practicing architect, as Director of Computing at a prominent design firm in Lexington.

"If I wasn't doing so much right now it would be different, but thousands of loyal Mac architects and other Mac CAD pros count on Architosh daily. Plus we are growing and it's silly that we have to be going through this painful ordeal at this particular moment."

SOS: What we need

Digital Forest in Washington State has already been contacted as a potential next Web host. A decision about going with a Mac OS-based Web server or a Pentium-based UNIX Web server has not been made. "We would like to use a Mac OS X Server running Apache but our online forums work with Websiphon", says Mr. Frausto. "And the forums are important to our many readers and to some ISV's."

We need the following Technical Assistance & Advice:

1. What advice would you give us as a Web server environment? What OS?

2. What advice would you give us for a Web host? Why?

3. What advice would you give us for online forums? What do you recommend?

Contracting Out for Technical Services

1. We are seeking experienced CGI and online Forums setup experts. (let's talk$)

2. We are seeking experienced Web publication technical strategy experts. (Let's talk$)

Even if you are not a programmer but have executed solutions and can help us in any way (and want to help us out) we are interested in talking to you. If you want to volunteer we would be honored and can buff you like a new car for the remainder of Architosh's life. However, if you have the right experience we can pay for it too.

Making the transition

We will be transitioning to a different Web host at any point in the immediate future. This will likely take at least four (business) days from today's date. If at any time we disappear off the online radar don't be too alarmed (we certainly would not be surprised), we'll be back!

For contacting purposes please use these safe email addresses and phone numbers. We thank you in advance for all the support.: