Minor issues at the other site.

[Dena]

For those of you who still visit the other site, the latest word is all is well however the internet service is out as the result of the tornados that went through the area. No word on how long the repairs will take as there is a large amount of damage in the area so that could limit access for the workers. The site will be up again when it is possible

[Iztaccihuatl]

That is odd, the tornados ripped through between midnight and 1:00am on Tuesday morning, but I was on that site periodically during the entire day on Tuesday...


Are we talking about the same tornados? I am referring to the ones ripping through Tennessee, most notably Nashville.


Heidemarie

[MadameDuFromage]

And here I was singing ding dong the witch is dead...     (the site, not the owner)

[Dena]

I don't have any information about it but the telephone/communications system uses a mixture of battery backup and a diesel/natural gas backup generators to provide power when the mains go down. Sometimes the generator fails to turn on when the batteries are low or the diesel tank runs dry. With the storm damage, the roads could have become impassable and if so, it might not have been possible to service the generators. Fiber optic tends to be run underground so it's unlikely that that was damaged. We probably won't learn any more unless something is covered in the news.

This can also be an issue with cell towers. When New Oleans had the hurricane blow through, the cell towers operated for a few days before they ran out of fuel. That hampered rescue operations and often cell bandwidth was so limited, the best you could do would be a text message.

[Dena]

For those who are interested, this is the substation that my connection runs through. Before they cleaned it up there was a exhaust stack about where the rain drain pipe is. The place is completely unattended without a single car parked there. However there are security cameras all around and you would probably have to blast if you wanted to get through the doors. The doors also have warning sign that indicate they won't be overjoyed if you attempt to enter one.

[Dena]

We have an air force base close enough that we were a cold war target. The air force base had SAGE so that would make it more desirable as a target. Probably when the place was built, they weren't sure just how well the Russians could target the base so they built it to handle a near miss. A secondary consideration is we have the largest nuclear power plant just 30 miles away and that could also be a target. Isn't it grand having several nuclear weapons with your name written on them? A little city miles away from the ocean not harming anybody and everybody wants to get us.

[MadameDuFromage]

And just down I-10 there was Tucson with Hughes Aircraft, Davis-Monthan AFB, a bunch of Titan ICBM silos, and more.  Poor old Arizona would have been hosed if the cold war ever came to a nuclear slugfest.

[Dena]

The site is down again however this time it's because of a cut in the fiber optic cable in Texas. The cable was cut during a construction project during the afternoon resulting in loss of internet, phone and texting service. AT&T responded to repair the damage however repairing fiberoptic is sometimes difficult. There is some internet access at the site so some people may be able to get in but the cut has knocked out a fair portion of the United States.

[Maddie]

Didn't really know about all this, but figured there had to be a reason why so many people disappeared around the same time.

What I do know is that Dena once sent me a PM because she was concerned about me.  I didn't know her, and it was the first message I received back in my first 3 years there, other than donation ones.  Thanks for all you do Dena! I'm still at this, girl.

[Dena]

Unlike most of you I didn't have a need for site as my transition was long over by the time I discovered the site. I found it doing research for voice surgery. I already knew that surgery was possible in Korea but I wanted an option closer to home. In addition, I took information on modern HRT. Donna had passed away about a year and a half ago so I was over most of the grief at that point but I was still watching far too much television. The site provided something far better to do with my time and I felt that I was making a difference in at least a few lives.

Almost from the start, I contributed to the site as I felt that if I burned resources such as site hosting and staff to review my posts, I should provide something to help insure the sites survival. It wasn't much compared to what some contributed but it was regular and it was what I could afford. I didn't turn my donations off until Susan indicated she had turned my donations on her side and suggested I turn off my PayPal account.

Cindy was probably one of the best if not the best boss I have worked under and we shared many good and bad times together. She had my back from the start and had it not been for her, I would probably have had the shortest time as a moderator in site history. We still stay in touch and I enjoy it when our schedules sync up so we can chat a little. What she posted is the truth and many of you owe her a good deal to her for keeping the site up so it was there for your transition.

There is much criticism of Susan as the result of her hiding a good deal of herself from the public and the staff. Still, when you look close and don't allow your personal views to cloud your judgement, some of the truth does leak out. In the time I have been on the site, I have never found Susan to tell a lie. What she has released to the staff and the public has always been the truth at least as far as it went.

I have many ideas for improving the site by making some of the guests members and thus improving the revenue to the site. One of these ideas which I have had for a while was more transparency over the cash flow as that was the biggest source of distrust on the site. I had no idea how much was in reserve or if there even was a reserve account. Indirectly I can now see that there was a reserve account that was quite sizable as it has kept the site running for at least 6 months while donations were low. How much is left in the reserve account? I don't know but I don't think it's very much.

There are now cheaper options for hosting a site and we are taking advantage of that. These have just recently become available and they weren't available when Susan started or for a long time after that. The biggest problem has been the size of her data base as by now, it's well over 2TB and options for something that big are just now becoming available. The secondary consideration is that the data base is in her direct control instead of a hosting company. A court order could still obtain it however not without her knowledge.

Is there a better option for running the site? Hindsight is always 100% but given the options available at the time, I think the decisions that were made were the best that could be made.

I  never got to know Susan personally. My direct contact with her was limited to a relatively short Skype call and the remainder of my contact was through her posting. My staff badge was pulled and I have been banned from the site. The physical barriers wouldn't stop me from rejoining the site but the fact that I am not welcome does. I will not return until I can post under my own account. It was my actions that resulted in this happening and if I had the same decision to make again, my actions would still be the same.

Do I feel anger for Susan? No, instead I feel pity. Susan has made a personal decision in which she will experience much hardship. I can sleep at night because I know that I did everything in my power to help her avoid it but the final decision wasn't mine to make. I still question if there was more I could have done to help her but I have found nothing more I could have done.

My advice to you is look at Susan's life as a whole. For nearly 20 years she put her money into the site rather than into her transition. By doing so, she helped many accomplish what she was unable to. This was a truth that I saw early on and I found rather disturbing. I did what I could through my donations and contributing my time to help run the site.  Her remarks about becoming homeless are very real and I see difficult times ahead for her. If you're unable to feel the pity towards her that I do, at least understand that she is human and as a human is prone to error from time to time as we all are.