Update Number 1: From Texas to Germany to Korea to Germany
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BoyChat History Update #1:
From Texas to Germany to Korea to Germany (7/25/97-8/10/97)
On 7/23/97, Jimf3 received a peremptory letter from the XtatiX sysadmin: within 48 hours, all ivan.net and fpc.net related pages had to be removed from the server. XtatiX was committed to freedom of expression, said the sysadmin, but he had come under so much pressure that he had been forced to choose between his family's safety or continuing to host our sites.
This time, the committee mobilized more rapidly than after the Digiweb expulsion. Calls were made to various hosts, and a post was put up on BC. Bernd Reinecke, owner of a small ISP in Germany, wrote Jim to say that he was happy to host BoyChat and its related sites, and the laborious process of file transfer and script reconfiguring began.
It turned out that Reinecke did not offer the necessary telnet and file- type support to maintain the chat boards. Camper meanwhile had heard from a friend in Korea that his ns.withnet ISP would be willing to host BoyChat. The committee moved the files over to the Korean server, and the board was shortly up and running.
Korea lasted for about one week before phone calls and harassment from America caused the owner to suspend service, citing Korean law. We were in no position to complain, since the service had been free. Once more the committee searched around for a new site that offered both freedom of expression and telnet access.
On 8/8, we located an FTP client that allowed us to set access permissions to the various directories -- a function usually achieved through a telnet client -- so we moved BoyChat back to Reinecke, where it is operating currently.
In light of the various problems with harassment and technical support, the committee is pursuing fallback options such as mirror sites and co-locating a virtual server. Updates on the current state of affairs can be found on the Free Spirits home page.
BOYLINKS, reborn as BoyLinks, made a triumphant return at the same time. Under the careful ministrations of Sensitive Stephen and GB, all links were updated, new sections were added on Boys' Viewpoints, Anti-Boylove Sites and Cool Activities to Share with Boys, and the whole page given a fresh appearance and attitude.
Alexis, 8/12/97
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