Late last Friday morning, I tried accessing the site and got a Network Solutions message that turcopolier.com had expired and is pending renewal or deletion. Oops. I looked up the domain and found it did expire only hours before I tried accessing it. Surprised I never noticed this before. I emailed Colonel Lang’s old tech guy and he responded back in half an hour informing me he just put in a renewal order. He saved the domain from being sold at auction. He’s not getting paid to do this. He’s solved several site problems in the past out of the goodness in his heart and respect for his old friend, Colonel Lang. We all owe him a special thanks.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. The domain is registered through Network Solutions and they apparently don’t work on weekends… at least on this kind of problem. I wasn’t worried since Network Solutions has a reputation of being slow on this sort of thing. I had plenty to keep me occupied over the weekend. However, I’m sorry the rest of this committee was left hanging without explanation. I hope you all had a pleasant and productive weekend even though Turcopolier was off line.
TTG
Glad to hear it was something so simple.
Thanks for dealing with it, and thanks also to “Tech Guy”!
I wondered what had happened and thanks for the explanation. I was busy with a pool renovation project, so I had plenty to do. But the site still loads very slow, especially the comments. Can we send some WD-40 to the Tech Guy?
I hope all this is backed up somewhere so it could in principle be reconstituted in the worst case.
I’m glad to see it back. Thanks (to you and the Tech Guy).
Peter Hug,
It’s not as backed up as I’d like it to be. Colonel Lang went out of his way to make the site as secure and remote as he could and I still don’t have full access to it. It’s not like I can go into a data center and put hands on the server. That would be ideal. But we’ll figure something out.
TTG – I hope the Colonel’s work is preserved somewhere on paper as well. I reckon there are articles there that are important historical documents. Your own work on the Syrian war – it’d be a pity if that disappeared too.
Most of the sites I noted so confidently from 2014 on are dead. I thought they’d be a permanent historical record and now all I have are bits and pieces I copied out at the time and what I can recollect of them. I do hope the Colonel’s site doesn’t go the same way. What with sites disappearing and documentaries too – the BBC are devils for that – the internet is such a fragile medium when it comes to the preservation of records.
EO,
His other sites are preserved along with all comments. They go back far beyond 2014. They’re well worth reviewing. And there are his books.
https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/
https://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/
I do note that, at one point back then, I predicted that Russia would sweep into all of Ukraine. Ukraine’s military was flat on its back and I thought Russia’s military was far more competent that it turned out to be in 2022.
TTG, I noticed the domain was up for renewal, while not quite of offer yet. Was it Sunday?
Colonel Lang went out of his way to make the site as secure and remote as he could and I still don’t have full access to it.
…”secure and remote”, yes, I vaguely recall. His actions seriously puzzled me at a time. … Relocating to a server in ??? Iceland??? Ironically speaking: How to put it? Precautions given the takeover of the authoritarian communist/antifa left? Who had just stolen the election? … May he rest in peace.
Conversely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBz68F1vTlw&t=1946s
LeaNder,
The domain expired and was put up for renewal last Friday. Luckily we were able to renew it before it was auctioned off.
Given Colonel Lang’s beliefs at the time, he made a prudent move. None of his fears came close to fruition, but it was better to be prepared. Now we will soon have a president bent on vengeance against anyone who has slighted him. Will he go after this website? I seriously doubt it. If I thought it was truly possible, I’d be looking to register the domain somewhere other than the US-based Network Solutions. Instead, my faith in the US and the US people remains strong.
that’s what I figured.
as opposed to a long standing / slow acting Y2000 bug. or some cranky basement-dweller’s cyber attack. or some punk Russian info-warrior trying to make a career move (staving off transfer to lead a N Korean infantry company into combat). or any of many hilarious signs of the End Times.
TTG, you do great, remarkably patient & semi-thankless duty keeping this show going. Col Lang would be impressed, though not surprised. cheers,