Joe Santulli Erases 25-Year Digital Press Forum Over $42 Monthly Hosting Bill
Updated
Updated · Time Extension · May 11
Joe Santulli Erases 25-Year Digital Press Forum Over $42 Monthly Hosting Bill
1 articles · Updated · Time Extension · May 11
Digital Press’s 25-year-old forum was intentionally taken offline in early April, wiping more than two decades of gaming-history posts and losing all data created after March 22.
Joe Santulli told webmaster Sean Robinson on April 2 he planned to destroy the server to save $42 a month—about $1.40 a day—and proceeded before getting any confirmation.
Robinson said he did not see the warning until April 10 because of ongoing computer and health problems, by which point the DigitalOcean-hosted virtual server had already been destroyed.
The forum, founded under the Digital Press banner created in 1991, had survived years of cost and technical pressures because fans and volunteers kept it running.
Robinson said options are now being explored to revive the community or at least restore an archived, mirrored version of the forum.
A 20-year gaming archive was deleted over $42. How can we stop our digital history from vanishing overnight?
A priceless fan community was lost for a pittance. What are the real economics of preserving digital fandom?