Hiram is all over Facebook and IW today, he's isn't hiding from anyone and is a straight up dude in my book.

There is no problem, just want to find out if he still wants the boat.There are a lot of guys named Hiram on FB.I only had the first name.

Guys here is the latest...

Alberto my admin who was running the server out of his data center has gone AWOL on me. I am trying to contact him via email, text, phone calls but nothing is being returned. He was going through a divorce and I think the stress got to him. I asked him a few weeks back to update the site. He started to apply a security patch but for some reason the patch did not take and it caused more problems then it did good. He attempted for a week or so to repair the site and get it back up. In the mean time I hired Vbulletin (forum software company) to professionally install the latest software and make it work with our data. Well when they were done I was able to partially use the site. I sent out an admin email to all the users stating were still working on the site and attempting top bring it back up.

Well the reason I did not enable the site at that point in time is the database was nearly a year old. Not sure what was going on but I believe the latest data was not properly backed up PRIOR to attempting to put the first patch on the system. An older copy of the database was installed on the system. Well that is bad but not completely down and out. I started to add the proper banner and things like that when I realized that the copy of the database was one that was still infected from the hacking last year. If I went into the admin control panel there were hidden links to the hacker control panel. I alerted Alberto that we needed the latest copy restored and he said not to worry about it as he had a backup. Since then he became more and more difficult to get in contact with.

So now were at the point where he is AWOL. The passwords have changed and I have zero ability to get into the site. All the data seems to have been removed. I looked through known directories and even non forum files were removed. We are really up the creek without a paddle on this one. My only hope is someone knows Alberto and can contact him down in Florida to see if he will come to his senses and restore the site. I feel terrible in this whole mess as I should have had a backup locally as well. I was making backups but after the hacking Alberto cut off my FTP access for "security" reasons. So the only backup of anything I have is at least a year or more old.

Can we move the site to a new server? Possible. The hardware is ours. We just purchased the rack about a year plus ago and it was in good shape. We also purchased a backup drive and that was supposed to be backing up the site regularly. I trusted Alberto and he really let me down on this. He can still do the right thing but I fear his head is not in the right place with all that is going on with his personal life. So now you know as much as i do with this fiasco.

Dom and I are still trying to text, email and call but it's being ignored. Any help would be appreciated if you know where to contact him.

Oh boy Jim!
Divorces are no fun at all based on my experience with them and having the site crash with that going on must really be taking a toll on Alberto.
vBulletin has had its share of problems for well over a year now. Internet Brands owns vBulletin and also RC Universe. Anyone that's been over there when things got bad know what I'm typing about and many of your issues were mirrored there, problems posting anything including pictures. They finally went to the same picture posting format that you had before going down.

Hi Jim I have talked to some people in key west that know Alberto and they tell me there is nothing wrong in his personal life.Jim if you can call me at 734 464 9560.
Thanks
Steve

Thanks Jim for the up[date. Will be good when this is all behind us and it is up and running again. Just keep up the good work.
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Ron

So is Alberto holding the back files hostage? Can't you find someone else to set the site up? With all the members we have it would seem like someone would know a tech guy.

Well if that is the case why is he not responding to any text, email, or calls? I have to run out right now but I can try calling tomorrow.

it seems like it but I'm not going to go that far until I can talk to him. There may be some perfectly good reason for being out of contact. Just frustrating at this point since the dock is essentially out of service and from my perspective it will take a major effort to resurrect it.

Time to start FRESH Jim.