NOTICE: HFC Site Migration and Impact

[hikarateboy]

Hi Folks, 

First off this is not a plea for money, I appreciate all the support that people send, and I plan to keep the HFC going until it doesnt makes sense. Feel free to read as much or as little of this as you like but I wanted to be transparent on whats going on.

As many of you may be aware we have been struggling over recent months.  Our hosting company was sold last year and things continual are getting worse.  The service being the most obvious as you may have noticed frequent 503 errors due to them reducing the amount of resources available.

They have also increased our hosting prices by over 300%. furthermore, the plan we are on no longer works for us due to the resource demands from the board and the only option for staying is Virtal Private Server which cost exponentially more than of a traditional shared hosting account or offloading the board to invision cloud hosting but that alone is over $1000 per year and I dont want to lose the other pages. 

This really maked me miss the old days when I hosted the HFC on a throw away 386 running linux and apache in the basement of my inlaws office. 

Anyway, over the last few months I have been trying to find a situation that was reasonably affordable. I am planning to move hosts and am close to narrowing down my choice.  The initial costs are reasonable as they give you a deal for a year then increase your monthly the next year. 

One of the issues is the size of the database as I have been retaining ALL posts from when we first moved to invision 20 years ago.  I like the idea of having them available to search and revisit.  However, I might need to drop quite a few or them. If I do, I will keep a copy and maybe bring it back up under an archive site.  We'll see.  I am working on keeping the recent stuff going first. 

What you need to know is this migration is going to happen soon, likely in the next two weeks.  The site may be down or unavailable for a while as I migrate data. maybe days but I am hoping to avoid that.  Please give me some grace on that as I do have a real job as well which has been very heavy.  

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you for being here.  YOU are the HFC not that site and I am going to do my best to keep this clubhouse going as long as I can. 

your friend

Ted Martin 

[G Man]

You rock Ted, thank you so much for all you do to keep this place running, there really is nowhere else on the interwebs quite like it.

[cornjulio]

Thanks for the update, all the best for the move! The hfc is quite fabulous. The only forum I activley follow. Cheers!

C.

[cmatthes]

Thanks for EVERYTHING you do behind the scenes and right out in the open here for the HFC!   I can’t believe that I’ve been on this board for close to half my life, but it’s all because of you taking the plunge and making it happen.   
 

I think most of us here have made great friends, bandmates and even adopted siblings.   It truly is (and has always been) the best hangout on the dubayew dubayew dubayew.

You rock, Ted!  
 

[Dutchman]

Thanks Ted!

[mudshark]

thanks 

 

[hamerhead]

Down for a few days?? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*****!!!!!! 

Seriously though, THANK YOU, TED! I have no idea what it takes to run one of these things but I appreciate all your work. It's been a great place to hang!

[specialk]

[ArnieZ]

Thank You!

[scottcald]

Thank you, Ted.  

[tomteriffic]

Thanks for all you do to keep this dandy little corner of wonderfulness going, Ted.  Best one on the TripDub!  I'm sure we all stand ready to help if needed!

[hikarateboy]

Good News!  I have a reasonable host and am in the process of setting things up.  Fingers crossed it goes well.  I'll keep you posted.  So far, its been a grind, but so good.  Cant wait to ditch this crappy host

 

[kizanski]

[bcsride]

Wow, I haven't been here in ages. And, I come back to this! Thanks Ted. Some posts from leaders in the field (HFC) already here! I guess it is time for me to visit more often again. 

[boundandcrowned]

Thank you very much for your work and your perseverance, Ted. I will try to contribute more to this wonderful place again in the near future.

[bry4321]

As long as I don’t lose access to the @hamerhead girlie content 😱

[kizanski]

10 minutes ago, bry4321 said:

As long as I don’t lose access to the @hamerhead girlie content 😱

Indeed.

Guitars are great and all that, but come on...

[alantig]

Thanks for all your work, Ted.  Good luck on the transfer, and I'm happy to help if I can be of assistance.

 

[gatorbyte007]

Thanks Ted. For all your hard work.

[specialk]

I guess I lucked out and snuck in. 

This new site looks great guys!  Easier to navigate than the old one and the Standard on the front page, WOW! Huge congrats to all, seriously. 

[Cary]

On 4/27/2026 at 8:14 PM, cmatthes said:

Thanks for EVERYTHING you do behind the scenes and right out in the open here for the HFC!   I can’t believe that I’ve been on this board for close to half my life, but it’s all because of you taking the plunge and making it happen.   
 

I think most of us here have made great friends, bandmates and even adopted siblings.   It truly is (and has always been) the best hangout on the dubayew dubayew dubayew.

You rock, Ted!  
 

I second that.  Hard to believe it’s been nearly thirty years!  I’ve made some lifelong friends here (as well as a couple of enemies LOL), and it’s been a blast!  In fact, Chris and Steve Matthes were a couple of the earliest members I got to know, I think.  Good times!

[Dave Scepter]

Great job!.. It was less than a day and I can't believe that I actually missed you fuckers! 🤣

[bry4321]

[duncans]

I appreciate you and everything that you do!

I've been here for awhile, have met a few of the HFCers'. have been to a Hamer Jam AND the 4321 club!!

I've been enjoying all things Hamer!

I can't imagine being anywhere else!

[gtone]

Thanks Ted! We're grateful for your efforts slogging through this migration process and all the effort you put into keeping this whole crazy (but fun) train rollin'. Cheers mate.