# Warning, Its all gonna end!!



## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Ok, So over the last few days we have all seen a major upset here on HT. This is not a thread to rehash the issues, so please do not, plenty of other threads for that right now. How many of you thought "Oh no, I hope XXX don't leave" or "Is this the end of HT?" , "But I never got to ask about XXX" or "How will I get in touch with XXX, I don't even know their real name or where they live?"

This should serve as a warning to all of us, there is a real possibility in a SHTF scenario we will lose this place, we will lose the daily internet communication! Are we all prepared for that? Are there questions we keep meaning to ask, but just never did? Now is the time, do not wait until it is too late. What about an alternative communication system? CB radio, HAM ? Give it some serious thought. 

I know during ,I for one kept thinking what if this place really was gone? Where would I get my information? Who would I ask questions? Fortunately this was just a small speed bump and we can now start getting back to visiting, so I would just urge everyone to take this as a small warning of what is a real future possibility and take this time to ask the questions NOW, make personal connections with those close to you NOW, before something like this happens for real!


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Books


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## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

A good perspective muleman. Consider this a trial run for a server crash or mini grid failure.
Interesting thought.

Matt


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## Solar Geek (Mar 14, 2014)

*Muleman you are 100% right on how fast it can change* and if you value someone on here, find another way of getting hold of them. Lost in the 1000s of posts was my post on how to avert loss of friends and what happened to us at Survival Topics.com. Here it is again if it can be of any help. SG

_I was part of survivaltopics.com when the owner, Ron Fontaine, took it down with no notice to mods or admins. About 4000 of us were left scratching our heads. Luckily, I and a few others had saved a really old (and unfortunately out of date) email list for at least those members who chose to participate in it. We contacted a few, others found us and a small but really great group is still together on Proboards. 

Having been through this mess about 2 years ago my advice is

1. go back and copy and save as documents in Word or just print out any valuable posts you or others have made that are important to you.

2. get your friends' here email addresses. That was the single saving grace for ST.

3. ask your buddies on here to let you know other forums they are on in case you can't find them. 

EVEN WITH VICKER GIVING HIS COMPLETE NAME, FB gave me a real hard time finding him. 
And, when 'pretty paisley' was banned here and I did try to find her on other boards as I liked her info and point of view. This is terribly time consuming and since we now know we could be banned or sent out into the dark----PREPARE._

So I took my own advice and started printing out and saving very valuable posts by many of the great members here. Went to the oldest (459 "pages" back) posts of the poultry forum to start and began to assemble my WORD doc with the posts that will help me next year when we start chickens.

I think this is a great site and that it will continue to be of great value to all. But having been through the complete MESS of ST.com, I urge all to follow your advice.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Cheers for code
Radio. 

Here we have local and state radio
Some people and we have a code system in place.

It is called the...JOHN HAS A NICE BEARD...Slide that into conversation is the alert but not the message of code

Just the phone ringer alert

Another set of words mean a message is comming 

Since some know that John has a nice beard they think in saying it a group of folks are told to head to their metting place. They think it is silly. But we have had test runs and it works.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

My response was to start checking out links or at least book marking them for later check out. Much of the same info is available elsewhere - but not so conveniently as here. 
If you know a ham radio operator, that is a good source as is having a contact in strategic places. Heck, even a post office or grocery store can lead to sharing.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

I for one would not be communicating to anyone in a shtf scenario. Got all I need right here. I would monitor the airwaves and do have a cb and ham radio if needed. But would mostly just monitor the happenings. And from my mountaintop vantage point I can see most of the valley from a spot just above me. So me and the family will hunker down to whatever may come.


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## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

k9 said:


> Books



x10...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


over the weekend i found part of a set time life hardback spiral bound type books about building and such...one on electrical,kitchen,etc etc type stuff.i seen some decent stuff thumbing through so i bought all of them they had at $1 each...there were 10. i was thinking this is off grid internet right here in my hands...fast forward to tuesday...i was in middle of minor electrical work...had a question about it...instant answer in book when i opened it...half hour later....my "meat locker" for hanging goods was up and running.its nice to look at hardcopy when you wanna double check yaself about a project.

these books are very basic...but i have already learned two separate things from them helping me along on my daily quest of homestead survival needs.


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## spacecase0 (Jul 12, 2012)

I had no idea this forum was in trouble, I guess I need to pay more attention 
I play with the radio, but finding people like are here is nearly not possible on the radio, 
40 meters gets across the USA pretty good in the day, and I have talked to some farmers out there, 
found nothing like there is here. 
but maybe I just need to bring up the right topics more 

the only other forum I have found that is even close to this one is silentcountry.com 
it is the leftovers from the life after the oil crash forum, many people there found homesteading out of worry that our modern world was just not sustainable, and it turned out to be a fantastic life choice for other reasons, but it is a tiny web forum, 
if homesteadingtoday.com vanishes, then I doubt anything will properly replace it


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

I view this as a kind of test run. SG, obviously you have seen it happen for real. A person does not really comprehend how much they use something or depend on something or someone until it/they are gone. We did a unofficial test of 30 days without the grocery store a while back. We still bought what we needed but made a list. At the end of the month it was very helpful to look back and see what we were really lacking or if it was gone what we would really miss and how we would make up for it in another way. How would we fill that need IF and when that source was unavailable.

Internets going to be the same way. Doing a test now is a good way to prepare. Log out for a few days or simply do not ask questions for a few days and see what you find yourself searching for answers for. I agree that books will be valuable and provide much needed information, building a library now while they are available is important. Keep in mind if you are good hunter or fisherman or whatever, even though that is you main reading interest you will probably be better served to buy books on topics you are not so familiar with, like gardening or medical issues. Buy reference books in areas you are weak in, not areas that interest you necessarily. I also know some have made plans to help out others who may live close by, or be helped by them. I have seen many here extend a warm welcome to other members and offer to work together on things. 26,000 members here, some of us live by each other more than likely. Without this board how will you contact them? Make a plan now. I am not saying everyone on here has to publish their name and address for the world to see. I am saying if there are those you live close to, or feel you have a connection with other than a passing conversation on the net, now is the time to insure you would be able to continue to be able to contact them should a real SHTF scenario happen. As many have said even with the net and the various search features it can be hard to locate someone (even if as mentioned, you have their full name) now imagine how hard it will be without their full name or even without the net.

This is just another example of one of those things that people WILL be sitting around saying "I WISH I HAD". So go ahead and do it now, so you are not one of them. Think of the different scenarios and plan accordingly. Think of who your real friends are on here, build some closer relationships with people who live close or you share common interest with.

I am not talking about touchy feely, we are all the same, lets hug kinda things. I am talking about practical you have x, I have z, and we live close enough we could help each other. I live in the city, you live in the country, we could make some plans should something happen to either one of us.

Digging a hole and hiding by yourself inside would be an awful boring way to live, having some connections to other like minded folks who will be there for you and you for them in a bad situation just makes good practical sense. The best friend in the world will not be of much good to you or me however if we have no clue as to how to find them or make contact with them.

best case: This site goes down but the net is up along with other sites, how do you make contact, get information?
worse case: This site goes down along with the entire net, how do you make contact, get information?

*To the person who thinks the end of the world can't happen, the end of the world will be the end. To the person who thinks the end of the world is a possibility and prepares for it, it will just be the beginning.* Me


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Do to where I live and car issues

Nov 10, 2010 to April maybe the 4-6 

I never left home

I knew it can happen so Aug thru October stock up.

The car was not safe to drive.

Bills paid online

I did not have cash enough on hand


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## Karen (Apr 17, 2002)

This really is a good point. IMHO, when things like this happen, they are always "dress rehearsals" for coming possible future events. Everyone makes fun of Y2K and how it never happened and how nuts it was; but I've always viewed it as the best dress rehearsal the world has had yet. But it's smaller things like this can hit home to find the holes in our preps.

Keeping our eyes open and in survival mode to all possibilities is what will see us through.


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## ronron (Feb 4, 2009)

It's grandma Moses birthday today, I was Looking through Google images of Grandma Moses prints I love her work and Imagine that kind of future best case scenario for us.. (A girl can dream).. I also read an article Mark Zuckerberg posted about an hour ago.. I have a feeling we won't be without internet for long after SHTF as long as we can provide private power... Here is what he had to say today... Thoughts? 
As part of our Internet.org effort to connect the world, we've designed unmanned aircraft that can beam internet access down to people from the 
sky.
Today, I'm excited to share that we've successfully completed our first test flight of these aircraft in the UK. 
The final design will have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car. It will be powered by solar panels on its wings and it will be able to stay at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for mon...ths at a time. 
Aircraft like these will help connect the whole world because they can affordably serve the 10% of the world's population that live in remote communities without existing internet infrastructure. 
We'll talk about this more in a keynote at F8 that starts at 10am Pacific.


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## ronron (Feb 4, 2009)

The above post was supposed to be a separate thread, but I guess it kind of works here... Sorry.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

Can someone pm me and give me the nutshell version of what happened? I am busy doing spring things around here and only caught a mention or two of trouble, never did figure out whether someone got banned or a thread got wiped or what actually happened.

I live at the end of a very long electric line and have a very slow internet connection speed, so I have always operated as if my access could be permanently gone in the blink of an eye. IMO it is like any utility. It is unwise to depend on the presence of something that others control, whether it is city/county water, natural gas piped in, electricity wired in, phone connection via wire or towers, etc. If someone else can intentionally or accidentally cut off access to something you consider important, then I would think it prudent to have 1 or more backup systems in place. Isn't that what this site is about?

Regarding the flying internet plane, I sure hope they park it in a really big Faraday cage!


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

spacecase0 said:


> I had no idea this forum was in trouble, I guess I need to pay more attention
> I play with the radio, but finding people like are here is nearly not possible on the radio,
> 40 meters gets across the USA pretty good in the day, and I have talked to some farmers out there,
> found nothing like there is here.
> ...


Don't feel bad. I found out by accident. I was scrolling down to the gardening forum and my phone decided that I really wanted to click on the horse forum and I ended up on that thread. I had no idea as there wasn't anything on this forum.


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

Me too as to what ovsfarm said!!! An amen to Muleman! And books, lots of books.
I try not to get in the drama of stuff but this sounds like a core issue! I am late to chores vand this is going to bothet me as there is lots of time to think when one is mindlessly shoveling pooh!


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## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

Tab and ovsfarm...go down a bit to announcements and support, and the top sticky for the long version.
Short version; seems someone from Carbon Media, who owns HT, was experimenting with an RSS feed (yeah, some tech thingy), and posts were pulled from HT to different forums outside HT and attributed to someone different. The dust and fists were flying, general anger and mayhem ensued for two days.
Looks like things are calming down.
The posts did not come from S&EP, and I have been searching the web to make sure our stuff stay here...Carbon Media admitted it was a bad experiment, and have been working with HT membership to repair the damage and betrayal...

Hang in there...while your shoveling poo, I am splitting firewood. Great exercise and stress reducer.

Matt


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

Matt, thanks for the explanation. Not that I am God's gift to the writing world or anything, but I am a professional writer and I have occasionally posted things here that I wrote for other purposes and vice versa. It could potentially be a significant problem if my material was stolen from this site and placed elsewhere without my knowledge.

I realize the burden is on me, for not having read all the fine print when I clicked to check the Use Agreement for the site, but really, who does? *Will Carbon Media continue to claim full ownership of everything we post here, to use whenever, wherever, however they see fit, all profits generated going to them, of course?*

If so, what recourse do we have to request that all our previous posts be deleted?

Thanks.


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## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

They have re-written the TOS (Terms of service), and from my understanding (I'm no lawyer), they realize they got their hand slapped and have limited it to HT use and bolstering HT, and making sure credit is given to the poster. 

Please see the last 2 or three pages in CMG_CEO sticky in announcements... that's where I am getting my info from.

It seems, according to them, that one of their employees tried an experiment without their knowledge...it got discovered and the poo storm exploded.

there is an article out now about the situation that has been posted elsewhere... not the publicity Carbon Media wanted, I'm sure...
http://www.managingcommunities.com/...ly-turn-your-community-against-you/#more-6189

Matt

PS, they will not delete previous posts.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Through PMs, many members here that I "talk" to on a regular basis here on HT have sent me alternative ways to stay in touch should any of us decide to leave the site. I've exchanged emails, snail mails, fb, and names on other forums with them. It won't keep me in touch with everyone, and as some of them are across the country from me, I probably wouldn't be able to keep in touch if the end of the world really did hit, but for times when the forum is down or folks have moved on, it's nice to have a way to contact them.


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## Astrid (Nov 13, 2010)

From what I've noticed this type of thing is common practice. I have written things on other blogs and forums and when I google the titles, find them on other blogs and forums. Copy/paste without any credit seems to be the thing to do these days. I'm sad that this has happened here.


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

Thanks, I read the short announcement, will have to read the longer version. I gotta check out Angie's thread as it still concerns me greatly that she's not a mod. 
Matt, are you still heating? We are supposed to go into the teens tonight, again, the firewood is still getting used heavily.


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## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

Fire in the fireplace as youngest and I returned from our Pine Wood Derby. 20 tonight, 30 tomorrow...and oldest is camping tonight and hiking tomorrow... I prefer the fireplace.

A few more days/weeks needed with the wood.

Matt


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

Whoa Nelly! What a mess! I did not realize ht had been sold, AGAIN! Just reading thru a little bit of what has happened has given me a real bad feeling. Wonder what Chuck would think.

Muleman, your title is really appropriate.


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## michael ark (Dec 11, 2013)

Well if it does happen i will be on channel 19 (over). The other thing i will take to memory if it all going to end is this.

Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


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## CMG_CEO (Mar 24, 2015)

We will make amends - the forum is not going to suddenly go away due to us. . . But in a real SHTF scenario, not much we can do about that


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

CMG, never doubted for a minute ya'll would get things worked out and we would not lose this place from this one incident, but it serve as a wakeup call to any who believe our day to day way of life as we know it now is sustainable in any way. The voices kept telling me it was all going to work out, and I put a lot of faith in the voices I hear.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

CMG_CEO said:


> We will make amends - the forum is not going to suddenly go away due to us. . . But in a real SHTF scenario, not much we can do about that


As I often tell my teenaged daughter, actions speak louder than words. Looking forward to seeing promises kept and positive actions taken.


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## RoseW (Apr 19, 2015)

Web spiders are said to do a decent job... Another words, if you post something here or elsewhere, you could put HST in the post, particularly if you can add a meta or keyword to the page?

If they want to be a pain, decide on what will be an alternate "finder"? Sell on Ebay, drop it in. How about, NHST?

OW, I'd love to see Mother Earth News go back to what it used to be - the original egg. I think they have some sort of classified.

Any way, last time I checked, running a forum online didn't cost much. Chump change. The major peeps 'orta be able to pick this up without too many issues. 

IMO, hit ur friends here, network ASAP. Get collective, branch out now. We can talk, anywhere we choose. We just need to know where we're going - WITHOUT BOUNTY ADS!

I'm gonna get in troub-le...... I is so sorry..... The nature of homesteading is not to take dictatorial - or something like thant....... I is a bad toad.


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## Muskrat (Sep 4, 2005)

RoseW said:


> Web spiders are said to do a decent job... Another words, if you post something here or elsewhere, you could put HST in the post, particularly if you can add a meta or keyword to the page?
> 
> If they want to be a pain, decide on what will be an alternate "finder"? Sell on Ebay, drop it in. How about, NHST?
> 
> ...


What??


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## carellama (Nov 12, 2007)

I was away for quite some time and then decided to revisit again when the ebola outbreak happened. Since then I have felt a change but did not know what really happened. IT feels cold and shallow. This is just my perspective. I was chalking it up to the times but glad to know what really happened. Thanks for this thread I really miss Ernie If anyone know his whereabouts please message me  thanks


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## Martlet (Apr 20, 2015)

I'm a ham operator (how's that for a first post). For VERY little money and a home made antenna, I can reach almost anywhere in the world during the day, and a good distance at night. 

There are a few on another forum that do weekly/monthly check-ins. No reason you couldn't set that up here.


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

We have always thought that if there is a really serious disruption to our world one of the first things that will be gone will be the use of computers and internet. So we have planned for it. Ham radio for communications and books for information and entertainment. 

I used to bookmark a lot of survivalist and emergency prep sites and their interesting information (with back-ups) but then realized that this was probably not going to be available to us. So now I print out the interesting things and file them in a binder.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

If you have the memory room and a fairly fast internet connection, the first 5 Firefox books have lots of good info. 

http://nagual.yuku.com/topic/1770/The-Foxfire-Series-Of-Survival-Books#.VT5dcJPRXQO

Ht was down all saturday from my computer. Does make you realise what it would be like without the internet.


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