3.16.7 : is new web
after a couple months of delays due to a wicked annoying hard drive, we're proud to annouce the thirteen site redesign. new fun stuff includes a wiki where we're starting to actually document common questions (a FAQ!) and some of the information only held in a couple minds about what's important and how the system runs. we're also putting up some fun historical and apocryphal information. hopefully this means content updates will be more of a constant process and less of a biannual event.
we've also reinstalled listserv software. there's a couple mailing lists planned to provide updates to shell and web hosting customers, and at least one list dedicated to the original notion that motivated building our own system: keeping in touch with people. more on these projects as they move towards fruition.
so click around the new site, see if you find anything interesting or broken, and if you have comments, bugs, or suggestions, please contact staff.
6.3.6 : we move
we have new internets. we're moving the sexy new server to a colocation facility in waltham, massachusetts. as usual we will try to keep downtime to a minimum (like for example how long it takes to drive from quincy to waltham in the rain), but unlike our last move this change requires new ip addresses for the server and thereby dns may take a few hours to propagate. ssh users please be aware your client will likely complain about this change. if your client gives you trouble, remove thirteen's entry from your known hosts file. that's all; more when we're done. contact staff with questions.
5.17.6 : we need new internets
the new hardware seems to have settled into place. the pop/imap server was upgraded and that solved the authentication problems we were having. viva bleeding edge software.
some folks have reported issues receiving mail from scattered external sites; so far, all of these issues are the result of poorly configured servers on the sender's side. thirteen's new spam filterin g is highly efficient and unforgiving, so if you need help explaining the issue to those trying to contact you feel free to contact staff and we'll do our best to illustrate the issue. none of the major providers are having this issue, thus far it seems limited to small businesses running their own smtp services.
in other news, some of you may have heard about this at the end of last month, but our upstream provider is recently somewhat beset upon with serious business issues that would seem to indicate their days are numbered. we are trying to find a new home for thirteen in the greater boston area. if anyone has a lead or a connection for low-cost colocation please be sure to contact staff. we have some fallback plans in place but we'd much rather not implement them.
also don't forget 2006 invoices will be coming soon; once you receive your invoice please remember to send payment as swiftly as possible. thanks!
3.28.6 : the continuing rollout
everything is going well so far. for those folks who use sftp/scp clients that don't display the server banner (fugu and maybe others) please be aware the server ssh key ("remote host identification") has changed. delete the old key and accept the new one and you'll be all set. if you need help, please contact staff.
the new server is starting to run smoothly, but if you find a bug or something doesn't seem to be behaving the way yr used to it behaving, please contact staff and let us know. there's a lot of moving parts involved and it's easy to forget in many small ways to hook up the doll.
yesterday also saw the launch of thirteen's new webmail client. the new system is based on roundcube and has some great new features for y'all to enjoy. stay tuned to this space as the parade of new features continues with new content and design on the websites and the beta release of the new account and domain management tools.
lastly, heads-up to web hosting customers: 2006 invoices will be going out sometime in april. your dollars keep thirteen running and pay for improvements like our sexy new raided drives and their even sexier warranty. thanks again for all of your support.
3.25.6 : the beast is loose
the new eskimo is up and running! i'll be online for a lot of this weekend checking on different programs and processes; please don't hesitate to contact staff if you find something is out of the ordinary or that i've neglected to install your favorite feature. more changes including a new web design, logo, and management tools coming soon.
3.1.6 : coming soon to an internets near you
most of you are probably aware at this point that a new eskimo.thirteen.net has been under construction since last december. i am pleased to report that the machine is nearly ready, and we hope to be up and running in live service in time for thirteen's eighth anniverary on march 17. this new machine is mighty and powerful, and most importantly, under warranty for three years. watch this space for updates.
1.21.5 : hola amigos, it's been a long time since i rapped atcha...
lots of changes afoot in this corner of the bedroom we like to call the thirteen offices: at long last, users are once again able to change their passwords whenever they like. the people.13 main page has been moved and is now part of thirteen's steadily growing secured resources, mostly due to spammers and scriptkiddies harvesting addresses from that page. coming very soon down the pipe is the return of domain management for all hosting customers, and shortly after said soon a whole stack of new features for users on the secured pages.
meanwhile, once we scratch the appropriate tickets, we will appropriate and build a new thirteen, featuring the magic of disk redundancy, since yet again we find our sexy hardware of a bygone era is getting ready for its closeup. please be sure to keep your own local copies of all critical data, and remember us kindly if the one-armed bandit pays out. thank you all for your continuing support. questions, comments, and any suggestions welcome to staff.
3.18.4 : your account hualglgagh
since spammers are now officially our least favorite people on earth, all mail on thirteen will be run through an attachment sanitizer before reaching your tender inboxes. most of you have probably received at least one email from "the team at THIRTEEN.NET" or some equally clever moniker asking you to download an attached virus in order to keep your account. rest assured this is not our style. we prefer to disseminate viruses by sneezing in public places, and if we disable your account it will be suddenly, without warning, and probably by mistake. questions and comments to staff.
12.23.3 : i want a party
so it's looking like the fantastic shindig we envisioned for the fifth anniversary is likely postponed until someone who shall remain nameless finds himself full time work.
pending the abovementioned cold day in a warm climate, we offer you a night of hollering and song at charlie's kitchen, 10 eliot st in cambridge's scenic yet intellectually pastoral harvard square. messrs. connelly and d'amato will be rocking the mic and spinning on the ones and twos for the weekly karaoke night, which is consistently huge and a rollicking good time for all.
so recognize that this, much like the wednesday before thanksgiving, is a day you can get away with staying out a little late, and come drink and sing with us. bring folks if you like. the fun starts around 10pm and goes until we find ourselves on the sidewalk still singing. we hope to see y'all there.
11.21.3 : the empire strikes back
ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new thirteen. we have installed and customized a sleek and sexy new rackmount server now located in idyllic pastoral quincy, massachusetts at one of the largest peering points for the entire northeast. it's wicked fast and totally awesome.
you will need to reauthenticate your account in order to enjoy the many and wonderful services available. please pay particular attention to the last question of the validation form; your answer will constitute the proof that you are in fact who you say you are. once you receive confirmation via an external email address, your account will once again be active and happy. meanwhile all active accounts have been migrated to the new server, so your email is happily arriving and merely waits the attention of your inquisitive eye.
in other news, all services have been reconfigured and are now restricted to those offering encrypted authentication. if you are in the habit of checking your email via pop3 or imap, you will need to enable SSL encryption in your client of choice, which is a lot simpler than it sounds and can probably be found in your settings along with whereever you put in your password. ditto authentication for SMTP relaying.
if in the process of rebuilding we have forgotten your favorite service or binary, or if you wish to praise the flavor of the fruits of our labor, feel free to contact staff.
10.24.3 : the light at the end of the tunnel
it has been a very busy couple days in thirteen country. we are now running on a brand-new rackmount ups, which should hopefully take care of our power outage problems. in other news, work has begun on a new thirteen server, which once it is ready will handle nearly all the services we provide. watch this space for updates and instructions on reauthenticating your account to access the new server once it is in place.
in financial news, all web hosting customers who have not yet paid their quarterly or annual bills in full have been shut off pending payment. i try not to be a hardass when it comes to thirteen, but it has been more than six months since the initial round of invoices, and shiny new power management hardware doesn't come cheap. please remit via paypal at your earliest convenience. questions and commentary on the server migrations and account status welcome; contact staff.
if anyone local feels like clearing up any of those oft-promised beer debts, tonight's your night. see you at the bar.
9.2.3 : concurrent catastrophes
by now, most shell users have noticed that thirteen recently lost the hard drive that was serving as eskimo's /home. currently, /home is nfs mounted from thirteen's crisis recovery machine.
meanwhile, the crisis recovery machine existed to manage another problem: thirteen was recently one of the victims of a very busy hacker using the suckit rootkit. eskimo has been running "clean" since shortly after the hack was discovered, but it is often said in the world of computer security that the only way to be sure your woods are free of foreign critters is to burn down the forest.
servers are being built, and services reconfigured to move past these unfortunate events. more news to follow as new sciences are made live; please keep an eye here for ongoing updates. questions welcome.
suffice to say, next time i start an isp, it'll be more like fourleafclover.org than the current smashingamirrorwithanopenumbrellaindoors.com.
7.22.3 : forces at work
our office building in hingham was struck by lightning at roughly 9:30 this morning. thirteen was down for just over three hours, before diligent, hung over scienceticians were able to restore service. this is nature's second attempt this month to destroy thirteen and all that for which it stands; last week, in bright daylight and no wind, a tree felled itself onto the power lines outside the building. it is clear that tho we may be on a mission from god, there are other divine forces working to counter our efforts. please be sure to back up important data. and be nice to your mother. it can't hurt.
6.24.3 : spammers fuck houseplants
science is being implemented to further reduce the amount of spam y'all receive in your thirteen mailboxes. as part of this continuing effort, the default threshold score for spam has been reduced to 5. users who were filtering all tagged messages to /dev/null have been reset individually to 10.
if you find many of your legitimate messages are being tagged as spam, use spam filtering to change your settings. it is highly recommended that you whitelist specific addresses rather than raising your threshold score. in counterpoint, if you find the new threshold not sufficiently restrictive, the spam filtering tool now has an option for 'Militant', which sets your threshold score to 3.
3.17.3 : five years
at 3:45pm on march 17, 1998, thirteen received its very first email shortly after going live on TIAC's office network. today marks thirteen's fifth birthday, and in the not-so-distant future, there's gonna be a party. stay tuned for updates on scheduled fun in the boston area.
3.1.3 : hot crypto science
secure.thirteen.net is once again recognized by the powers that be as a trusted purveyor of encrypted interweb. farewell, annoying popups while checking wwwmail. enjoy in good health.
2.12.3 : new wwwmail
thirteen's completely rewritten wwwmail system is now live. click mail to check out the new science. questions, comments, and bug reports to staff. enjoy.
2.8.3 : spam filtering goes live
y'all might notice a new link in the right side menu. click spam filtering to configure spam prevention for your thirteen account. if you have trouble logging in, first log in to wwwmail, then exit and try spam filtering again. this incarnation of the system affects spam tagging; the next addition will filter out tagged messages before they reach your inbox. contact staff with questions, comments, and bug reports. enjoy.
1.24.3 : we go co-op
thank you all for your donations thus far. we have at this point almost completely paid off the legacy bandwith from this fall. sadly however, the bandwidth incident has caused our provider (aka my employer) to notice our presence in an invoicing sort of way, so since the initial appeal we have begun receiving regular monthly bills.
clearly, thirteen is going to have to learn to support itself in the coming months. i have been working whenever possible on upgrading the servers and implementing new toys for everyone on the box. recently, all hosted sites were migrated to a new, larger, sickening and deliciously fast webserver, and soon three new boxes that were donated will be replacing semi-ancient hardware we've been using for the last few years. soon accounts and hosted domains will be administratable through a secured web interface, and we've all noticed the improvement in service since the installation of an offsite backup mail server.
thirteen will soon send out invoices for web hosting service. the exact amount of those invoices will vary greatly based on our outstanding balance here at stowetel. this is the last call for donations before the math gets done and bills go out.
the current plan is to bill quarterly, with an up-front yearly option at a savings to the four-quarter cost. payments will be accepted by check and through paypal. let me reiterate that the hope is to keep the bill amount very low, and the best way to make that possible is by reducing our outstanding balance ahead of time.
exact terms of service will be defined along with the first bills, but the model for thirteen remains that of a community as opposed to a business seeking profit. users without virtual hosts will not be billed in any way.
questions and suggestions entirely welcome. thank you all very much for your support.
12.20.2 : hey! this isn't the page i was looking for!
thirteen is pleased to announce that virtual web hosting has moved to our recently donated server that is sickeningly fast like god's own rollercoaster. dns has just been changed for all sites hosted on thirteen, so it's quite likely you may see this page in place of that which you expected until the new dns information propagates properly. thirteen folks enjoy the new speedy. please report any issues to staff. also please give money. we remain deeply in the hole.
12.12.2 : verizon sucks
in a cabinet in hingham, there is a large beige box that belongs to verizon. said box has a small festival of red light next to words like "critical" and "main". it is fair to say that connectivity will be sporadic this afternoon, possibly through tomorrow.
in other news, we still need more than $1500 to pay our bill in hingham. if anyone's been waiting to donate, please send check or paypal as soon as you can.
10.29.2 : spamassassin
thirteen is pleased to announce we are now running spamassassin on all incoming mail. messages identifed as spam by this software will have "SPAM->" prepended to the subject line. the server is not configured to automatically remove or filter these messages. filtering options will be available for customization soon, including the ability to blacklist and whitelist recipients live via a web interface on secure.13. in addition, users of the wwwmail interface will notice a new button, "delete SPAM!" which will delete every message tagged by spamassassin from your inbox with one click.
meanwhile, thank you all for your continued support and donations. if you have questions about anything you see here, feel free to contact staff.
10.25.2 : save the clocktower update
thank you to everyone who has donated thus far. the effort is going well, with over $700 in donations and over $1000 in geek sweat. a few people have asked about alternate avenues to paypal; checks can be made out to stowe telecom, llc and mailed to:
tj connellythanks very much to everyone for your continuing support.
c/o stowe telecom llc
190 old derby st suite 115
hingham, ma, 02043
10.21.2 : SOS
thirteen's bandwidth bill is huge. if the giant street breakdancing show doesn't work, we're going to need actual cash. operators are standing by.
10.11.2 : secure certificate expired
the certificate for secure.thirteen.net is currently expired. we are working to renew the certificate with thawte. please ignore unpleasant error messages for the time being. we continue to run encrypted services.
9.26.2 : multimedia content off serverwide
until further notice, thirteen will not serve mp3s or movie files. clients requesting these files will receive a permission denied error. we have received a very large bill for bandwidth usage, largely due to traffic directed at hosted video and audio files. apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. if you feel you must make this content available, please contact staff to arrange for payment.
9.18.2 : secure pop3/imap
thirteen now offers secure pop & imap services for your email checking and password encrypting pleasure. secure imap is available at secure.thirteen.net, port 993; secure pop3 is available at secure.thirteen.net, port 995. if you are interested and have no idea what any of this means, contact staff. enjoy.
9.18.2 : mp3 files no longer available on people.13
due to concerns stemming from recent bandwidth use and to avoid having to charge users for their accounts, personal user sites on people.thirteen.net will no longer serve mp3 files. apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. if you are determined to run an mp3 server, please contact staff to arrange for payment.
9.16.2 : thirteen directly targeted by divine rage
the hingham office was struck by lightning. chaos predictably ensued. in case it hasn't been said enough, back up your stuff. we continue to welcome the donation of a rackmount ups, 2200 or 3000 model, should one become available.