BCW Project and Wiki

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Those of you who have tried to visit either the BCW Project or Regimental Wiki will notice that it is 'down'.

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Update 6th December 2023:

All of the data appears to be safe! The BCW Project and Wiki will be returning in 2024.

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Update late November 2023: 

Contact has been made with Dave's family, and I am sorry to share the sad news that Dave has passed away. 

There are a number of people (but mostly Tim) working quietly in the background at getting the BCW Project and Wiki back up and running again. It will return, but in what timescale nobody currently knows; other than, it will return.

Eventually. 

One thing that we do know is that somebody has hoovered up the URL for the site, so unless the original URL can be resecured, it might have to return with a slightly different domain name.

One thing that is certain is that the site will almost certainly need some financial support when it gets up and running. So if you are currently lamenting the demise of the site, please remember how easy it is to 'loose' such a valuable resource. 

I'm sure that when the site is closer to being relaunched, Tim will publicise what assistance is needed - be it money, or even website expertise. 

I will of course share those details here, now that I have a regular readership of nearly 20!

Just a thought, as we all owe Dave a debt of gratitude for bringing the BCW Project into the world - perhaps we could all buy a virtual pint to toast Dave's memory, and keep the site that he was proud to have created, running for many years to come?

In the meantime a good chunk of the old site is archived on the Wayback Machine (linky further down the page).

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Update from Tim, 10/10/23:

As you might know, the BCW Project and BCW Regimental Wiki have gone down. Although you can still view many of the pages at the Wayback Machine.

As admin of the wiki, I've been in contact with the webhosts, Krystal, trying to find out if anything can be done to revive the sites.

After much discussion, we've established that they still hold the data but cannot do anything with it until they get authorisation from the site owner, David (Dave) Plant.

I can't get in touch with Dave by any emails, facebook etc and I'm worried he might have some major health issues or even have passed away. If anyone can get in touch with or knows what has happened to Dave, please let me know.

I've tried tracking him down on 192.com etc but with no luck either – too many David Plants! If anyone has experience with this sort of thing I can supply you with the few details I know about him by email.

If we can't contact Dave then the webhosts will wipe their data for the sites in early November. I've tried to persuade them otherwise, even offered funding, but all to no avail. I don't have recent backups of the wiki.

In that case, the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine will be the only way to access the BCW sites. I would hope to try and rebuild the wiki sometime in the future, but do not currently have the skills or the time.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on all this, the only way we can get it going again is if someone can find Dave Plant

Tim


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Original post 14th September 

Fingers crossed that this is a short lived temporary situation. 🤞🤞🤞

KeepYourPowderDry staff team consoling one another that the BCW site is down
Image Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

However, myself and Tim (admin for the Wiki) have been trying to contact Dave Plant the original creator of the Project for some time.

Dave generously set up the funding of the site to be self-sustaining by a donations link. Unfortunately it appears that the money has run out, because as d_guy (see comments below) points out, the domain has expired and is 'for sale'.

Both Tim and myself have been unable to make contact with Dave. Messages via the FB page, email and contact form all go unanswered.

So if anyone knows Dave or his family, please ask him to make contact with either myself (here at KeepYourPowderDry) or, better still directly with Tim.

In the meantime, if you are in need of information from the Wiki most of it is archived on the Wayback Machine (but typically not the pages I'm interested in!).

Tim also has some records of the Regimental Wiki, so worst case scenario it can be reborn. 

Thanks 

Comments

  1. d_guy15 September 2023 at 20:10

    I noticed this morning that the URL now redirects (in the US) to GoDaddy and reports that the domain has expired (and available for purchase). The only contact I had for David was through his project BCW email.

    Hopefully you have made contact?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar16 September 2023 at 08:21

      Thanks for the information, showing a different message in the UK.

      Still not managed to make contact.

      Delete
  2. PDL17 September 2023 at 08:52

    Good luck, I hope he is OK and the site can be saved. It is a fantastic resource. I must confess I have taken it for granted for years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar17 September 2023 at 08:56

      Agreed and thank you.

      I must confess that, even knowing of the communication vacuum, I too took the website for granted. Kicking myself for not using the Wayback Machine for more of the site.

      Delete
    2. PDL17 September 2023 at 11:57

      Thanks for letting me know about the Wayback Machine site..

      Delete

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