Community Update
Thank you for your patience so far. This community has been through a lot together over these many years, and we’re truly grateful you’re still here.
We finally got a reply from our hosting services regarding our current situation, but it was nothing more than a confirmation of services termination. This decision being reversed is highly unlikely. They did not answer any questions about data recovery and then left for the weekend. Best case scenario is we hear from them again next week about our options to be able to complete a full restoration of iwara.tv on a new hosting service.
At the same time, we’re not sitting idle. We’re actively exploring contingency ideas to bring Iwara back in whatever form possible, should the current situation not improve. We have already started communications with potential new hosting services, but nothing has been agreed on yet. I sincerely apologize but this is not an overnight process and will take some time due to the size of our website and the specific needs that must be met. If not done properly, then Iwara will struggle to be usable once it does return.
Recovery path
The only correct option is to recover as much data as possible.
Ideally, we’ll be granted access to our backups. In case this does not happen, we’re thinking about approaches that could find ways to incorporate older data back into the website. The goal is to save as much of our legacy as we can.
These are still concepts we’re reviewing, and none of them are confirmed viable yet. There are challenges to work through that must be considered before any decisions can be made.
I’ll share more concrete details as soon as we have clarity on what’s actually possible with our older data backups. Starting fresh again is the last thing we want to do.
Current Goals
All hands are on deck, and our team is each working on different tasks:
Data recovery. This is the most important task we are doing. Without essential data, a great deal is lost, and nobody wants to lose out here. We are currently using unconventional methods in case our current hosting is unwilling to provide our data in full. Using these methods, we won’t be able to recover everything but instead will focus on the most critical data: user accounts and video information. While we can’t guarantee anything here, we are doing our best to make sure we can get as much as possible.
Development. Second most important task. If we were to re-launch the website without being prepared, this is only going to happen again. We’ll announce the changes later in a separate community update.
Hosting solutions. We are not only reaching out to potential services but are also listening to offers coming in from other providers. This is a tricky situation due to our circumstances, so we need a service that will listen to what our requirements are, and respect that we will have complaints coming in. We must find out how they handle these kinds of reports and what chances, if any, we are given to make corrects before they turn off access to our website. Every provider is different, and some will tolerate more than others. This process cannot be rushed.
Agreements must be made on both content moderation as well as requirements and pricing for our infrastructure servers. Only then can new web servers be deployed.
Rules and Content updates. Some of this depends on what our final hosting provider tolerates, but we have already drafted up a list of changes that will come starting with the relaunching of the website. These changes will not be announced until they are finalized.
This is a tough moment, but we’ve overcome many challenges before, and we’re not going to give up easily. More updates will come as soon as there is progress. We don’t expect to be able to bring the website back within the next few weeks, but it isn’t impossible.
In the meantime, feel free to check out our ongoing broadcast posts as a bit of entertainment while we continue doing things in the background. Thankfully we just recently had a writer join our team as a volunteer which is why this is possible now. We wanted to wait another few months before introducing the twins, but here we are.
Thank you for being part of this community. We’ll find a way forward.
