Now that things on the site have settled down once again we thought it would be worth explaining the events leading up to the change of server, especially in view of some of the misinformation which is being disseminated.
 
Following Danielle's initial idea to try and index the 1841 Sheffield census a transcription project was started.  The transcriptions were coordinated by Elaine while Ian designed and built the site software and databases, initially for the transcribers, but then later for the public site.
 
Following the completion of the 1841 census, however, Elaine became increasingly unhappy with the content and additional features being added to the site, initially the Trade Directory data but subsequently other features.  Things eventually came to a head and following a confrontational meeting it later became clear that Elaine was intent on driving Ian from the site even if she had to close the whole thing down to do it and even though that would leave the site without any technical resources.
 
The closure of the server would have meant that all of the previous years's hard work in designing and building the site as well as the thousands of hours of effort already expended in transcribing and checking records would have been lost.
 
On her return to Canada the closure of the server was again threatened by Elaine.  This time a group of us (who are now the Sheffield Indexers Steering Group) wrote to the provider of the webspace and looked for reassurance that the server would not be closed solely at Elaine's request as the site had originally been started jointly by Danielle, Elaine and Ian.  
 
We also assumed at this point that sanity would prevail as the loss of all the work that had gone before would surely be madness.  We were shocked however to discover that the webowner was of the opinion that the site was Elaine's to do with as she pleased and that she could close it any time she felt like it as shown by these two actual quotes:
 
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It also seems that the site owner was not particularly happy with the new features that had been added.  This response left us with no other option but to try and move the contents of the site elsewhere, to a server that could not be shutdown at the drop of a hat and over which we had full control in terms of content and its continued existence.
 
Working through the night the majority of files were copied from the original site which was fortunate as it was subsequently closed without warning.  Those files we were unable to get off in time we were able to salvage from a backup that had been made some time previously.  Rebuilding all the menus, recreating the databases and reconfiguring the software has taken the best part of 2 full days, ie. 48 hours, but we are confident that just about everything is now working again.  We hope you enjoy the new site and certainly hope that this time it is here to stay.
 
Sheffield Indexers Steering Group