Source

Yes, I know that at best, I'm employing too many cliches and, at worst, mixing metaphors, and I warn you, if you read on, it'll not get any better.

It's not in my nature to air dirty laundry in public. I don't like confrontation, either. However, there are two other things I loathe more: oblique insinuations that only an in-group will get, and which are barbed arrows at some poor unsuspecting individual who has no idea what s/he has done wrong.

There does, however, come a time when it's necessary to both confront and air a little dirty laundry.

While many Steemians have been weighing in on the Tron / SteemISNOTtron issue, with things taking on almost nuclear proportions, other Steemians were just getting on with their lives - on and off Steem.

I have kept an eye on things but, frankly, there's been more than enough going on in my offline life, that I've not really weighed in.

One issue that crosses both my offline and Steem life, is my website.

A little background

A couple of years ago, @fredrikaa and @howo launched the @steempress plugin that enabled WordPress bloggers to post to the blockchain. For folk like me who don't "do" code and the little I know, I've learned by osmosis, this was a godsend. At the time, my WordPress deal didn't allow me to use the plugin: one has to have a self-hosted domain and blog via the WordPress application. To the rescue @vornix who offered what was, effectively, a piggy back service. Just on a year ago, they terminated the service; like all service providers worth their salt, they informed users. In advance.

I have been blogging on WordPress since 2014 and joined Steemit as a way of expanding my audience (as well as because of the potential for monetising my writing). That's not the point. Nor is it about hanging around because of the community - although that is true - it's about a body of work. I'll come back to this, but first:

Steempress and what it did for me

Steempress is brilliant tool. It enables people like me to post seamlessly to the blockchain using an interface that was not just familiar, but very user-friendly. It enabled me to improve the quality of what I was posting because I didn't have to spend most of my time worrying about coding and formatting.

However, what it also meant was that I was actually maintaining two blogging sites. That's not really efficient. It also meant (because it's the nature of things) that the blog getting the most attention was the one that posted to Steem. My "regular" followers dropped off and were getting peeved. One, whom I know in 3D life actually asked me

Are you still blogging?

Cause for pause, right?

Not long after the Vornix announcement, being quite settled on Steemit (my 2 year anniversary was nigh) and as the sunset date approached, users were approached by a number of service providers offering hosting services. Some were quite aggressive and required payment in fiat. Vornix had accepted Steem. One that approached me was very aggressive. Direct messages - on Discord and via my blog's Facebook page.

I don't respond well to hard sells, being nagged or pushed.

Then, as I recall, there was a comment from @gmuxx on one of the Vornix posts reminding users of the imminent sunset: offering a similar service and included an invitation to a new Discord Channel - the Steemblogs Club. He also offered these services in the Steempress Discord.

Cutting a long story short

A year ago, this coincided with happenings in my 3D life, when I was considering not just consolidating blog platforms, but launching a personal website. I needed a space to showcase a few other things not relevant (necessarily) to the blog and/or Steem. I wanted one home on the Interweb. In consultation with @gmuxx I went ahead and bought a domain from a local reseller, canned my WordPress package and paid over SBD for a year's hosting. I can't remember how much, but if you want to find out, you can. Because, as you know, all the transactions on the blockchain are publicly recorded.

At the time, I was more than delighted with the service I received. Not only did @gmuxx offer a hosting service but he also backed up and transitioned all the content from my old blog to the new site. I was more than thrilled. He communicated frequently and allayed all my concerns.

I was comforted that my body of work wouldn't be lost. I went ahead and developed the site, felt in control.

More to the point, I incorporated the economics into a #spud post, and:

I told lots of people

I recommended his services

I added this footer to every single post

A few months ago, I messaged him via Discord about something, and the response was that he'd get back to me - he was busy. It wasn't urgent, so I didn't pay it much mind.

Then

Exactly a week ago, I get a message from @zord189 asking if I could get into WordPress. At the time I could. He couldn't. Nor could he get hold of @gmuxx.

I wasn't having a problem and was even able to share my last post via Steempress.

Actually, I forgot that I had reached out to @gmuxx. Until Zord contacted me and I remembered that he had not got back to me.

However, because I knew that my domain was up for renewal, I had already been planning to reach out and discuss ongoing hosting.

Then, there's more

Three days later (Wednesday), my site is not available. I also start searching for @gmuxx. I hadn't done it sooner because we were back in the throes of loadshedding. I emailed him. No bounce back but also no reply. His own website is gone. He's no longer on Discord. His Steemblogs Club Discord channel has been deleted.

And

In the intervening time, his Steemit blog is updated and his personal URL removed.

Now

My website is down. My domain reseller and various other providers tell me that the domain is "blocked" and that there has to be permission from the host to release it.

How can I even begin to do that if @gmuxx cannot be contacted and all the providers are literally kicking the can up and down the road and between each other?

From insult to injury

I paid for some coverage for our Sunday Supper offering which went live on Friday. With a link to my website.

Having spent two days contacting providers along the value chain to to get access to the domain I purchased independently and where my content should have been safe. I am more than disgruntled. I am livid.

My potential new host confirms that should we be able to get the domain unblocked because the content is on the WordPress platform, it should be safe.

Right now, that seems like a very big but.

I feel completely helpless.

This is not atomic, considering other events on the blockchain and in the world, but it is, to me.

I paid over my SBD in good faith, but feel as though I've been hungout to dry. Zord and I are not the only ones. I know of at least one other - @mountainjewel - who's also trying to recover her site and her content. There may well be others.

So, if anyone has suggestions as to how this can be resolved, please comment below, or tag me in the SteemPress Discord.

Why should we be hung out to dry because @gmuxx has ducked?

Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma

Post Script

In addition to WordPress I blog on a number of platforms:

• Steemit - a crypto, social network and blogging platform, to which I post from WordPress using the SteemPress plugin.
• If you'd also like to use your WordPress blog to earn crypto, join us on SteemPress.

• Should you join the Steem platform, you are welcome to contact me on Discord on be sure to look out for the Steem Terminal - a dynamic team of folk who will happily guide you through the apparent quagmire of blogging on blockchain.
  
• Instagram is a mostly visual platform where I post microblogs about fluff: usually food and the cats as well as posts that sometimes promise hint about future WordPress posts.

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Not Posted from my blog with SteemPress