July 27th, 2004

Downtime

Well, the THorum is down. There was a problem with a “malicious script,” and all of us THorumites are homeless for a time.  We wander about, blinking into the sun, wondering how everyone else is doing.  We keep in touch with some of them, but we don’t have contact info for all of them – we didn’t have to!  We met in the THorum!

There are other things to pass the time, I guess – lesser things, fainter things.  While it was briefly up this morning, someone spoke of all the reading they had caught up on.  Others becried their fate, left lonely on the shores of placelessness.  Still others never came back at all, apparently unaware it was even down.

I know it’ll be back – I’ve been in talks with those who are working on it.  They say it could be a week.  It might be less, but it could be a week.  A week!  Who can manage!

Others have offered a temporary gathering spot – JClark has a forum already running; Brian said he’d whip one up – we may gather there, like old men gathered around a flaming oil drum, seeking temporary warmth. 

I find myself wondering what it will look like when we get back.  There had been so many changes already!  The wallpaper was recently taken down, and we all got used to it after a day or so.  We lost a member a while back – we occasionally talk about him, but we mostly moved on.  All the topics got reorganized, but we eventually found them again.  New people showed up, and we tried to patiently teach them the ways of the THorum – some learned more quickly than others.

But what will it be when we get back?  Already there’s a rumor that post counts are lost.  Ponder that for a second: all post counts lost.  Imagine your number.  Now multiply it times three.  That was me.  That was the sum of my THorum existence.  Gone in a flash.  Now imagine all the new guns, the young bloods.  With a zero sum restart, they’ll be after “Highest Count” like vultures on a downed wildebeest.

It won’t matter, of course.  If everyone has the same exact count for three months straight, it won’t matter, because the THorum will be back.  We’ll be able to shed our ragtag wandering clothes and settle back into the Off-Topic Thread couch and grab some food from the Things I’ve Bought Recently fridge.

Sure, it’ll be different.  But it’ll be familiar, and that counts for a lot.

Hurry, O Mighty Warriors of Code and Transfer!  Hasten!  The masses await, ever watchful, ever so slightly fearful. 

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