We implemented the permanent fix yesterday. However, the result seems to be the same: NO EMAIL.
I half expected that this would reveal to me that I had made a stupid mistake, and all this palaver was for nothing. That would have been supremely uncomfortable, but at least we’d all be online. But we’re not.
I know you, our clients, have struggled for the last two days. So have we, there is no doubt. I literally feel your pain.
We have two options at this point, but I want to make clear at the outset that your data — your 5.1 million emails, 2.9 terabytes — are safe. Additionally, I am still alive, which could be a positive or a negative for you, depending on how you view the situation.
Option one, and the option I’d prefer under normal circumstances, is to start fresh with a new mail server, and even just verbalising that fills me with that feeling you get at the beginning of a footrace. You don’t know if you’ll come first, or 101st, but goddam, you’re going to race your heart out.
Option two, to put it succinctly, is to know when to quit. It’s not the end I envisioned when I was supposed to hand over the business and our name in May last year, but nothing lasts forever.
Already I hear most of you leaning towards option two. I don’t blame you. Just get out of the way, Craig, and let me get my email and entrust it to someone with a bigger marketing budget.
If I choose option one, it’s going to take at least a week … and that’s being optimistic. So you will not be able to send or receive email for all of next week, and if everything works, you’ll be online by Monday, 30 March 2026 … I hope.
If I choose option two, that would be like giving the order to “abandon ship”; you don’t want to be in the cold water, but the only other option is even less palatable.
I’ve decided, after much soul searching and personal conversations today, to take option one.
Who knows what NinerNet will look like in a week or a month. However, I know what’s most important for me, and that is that you have your access to the 5.1 million emails you have entrusted to us. You will have access to them, and what you do with them will be up to you.
We will, as always, be communicative, and post updates here. We’re not ignoring your emails — which we ironically continue to receive — but our focus must be and is on keeping everyone as informed as possible.
