As many of you are aware, you have been receiving error messages with your shoutbox. This is due to the database receiving too much activity, and it throwing us over our limit, this has resulted in the database being taken OFFLINE.

What does it mean for me?
Well, you don't have a shoutbox at the moment. As far as I know Charles is working to transfer the paid shoutboxes over to a different server, as there are fewer of those, it shouldn't knock that server out either. The unpaid accounts, will remain offline. Considering it's being hosted for free, and you're not paying, this is, I do believe, acceptable.

Will it be fixed?
Well, I've been looking at the price of fixing it. It's about $60 a month to get a dedicated server up and running for the script. What does this mean? It means we need 4 paid subscriptions to the shoutbox EVERY month to pay for that. That's a lot of money when you consider that 40% of every payment we have received so far only funds a month of hosting at the current price. We're reaching the end of that. Meaning I'll have to go back to paying for the hosting.
Charles is working on altering much of the coding to make it work in a different way, meaning that it will instead run off many databases, instead of one. Also, it will use many 'tables'. This means that the shoutbox's load will be spread over more databases, stopping ONE from being overused and being removed. However, the estimate on when this will be complete, I do not know of at the moment. Charles will have to give some sort of info on that.

Can I upgrade now & get my shoutbox back online?
Yes! I'm not sure how Charles is doing the transfer, but any payments that are made, will be accepted and will hopefully be transferred to the paid server. Meaning that you get your shoutbox back online. Remember, more of you that pay, the quicker we can get people online. So why not upgrade now to the ad-free, auto refreshing version? It's $15 for a YEAR!

Can I host my own shoutbox?
Yes you can. If you have your own MYSQL enabled host, you can host your own shoutbox's database. We will however, remain to be the hosts of the script itself. As far as I know, it doesn't cost much to let us do this. Just a little bit of configuration your side, and it should be ready to roll. If you're interested, please open a new topic stating that you're interested. Remember though: We will not be able to backup your data. You will have complete control of your data.

Have I lost any of my shouts?
Short answer: No.
I have just been revoked access to the database, they should (I have requested this) be returning access to it shortly. However, if you have anything of value in the shout (which I doubt) let me know so that I can save it. All shouts NOT within the last 1 month WILL be deleted as soon as I have access... I will NOT be backing up before the delete.

I have another question!
Post it in this topic. I'll make sure to clear it up!