Just so you all know a little of what we’re doing:
- We got end-to-end registration done where we were able to “reclaim” an existing avatar. This was a big deal because someone new had to learn the registration system (remember, the number of engineers is .. “compressed” now), and we had to be able to “reclaim” information from the old avatar.
- We got the build environment moved out of the co-location facility, and to Amazon S3. We actually build our code every night so it was important to get this running “in the cloud” so we could get out of the cage.
Of course there’s more going on, but I know everyone get’s antsy without updates. You’ll also be happy to know we don’t have the monthly payment stuff wired up yet :-).
P.S. Thanks to everyone for almost all of the excellent images. A few were excellent, but not quite what I had in mind (you know who you are 🙂 ). Im trying to find a way to get more up and/or in rotation :-).
I am so There 
#1 by Doctor_Evil on 2011.07.05 - 8:43 am
Can I give you money yet lol.
#2 by Lady_Jewel on 2011.06.13 - 8:24 am
I can’t wait for There to re-open! It was my little world! Hopefully see you all There soon!
#3 by Okalnix on 2011.06.13 - 8:16 am
SaltySilver have made this video.
————
Michael Wilson Q&A ‘s about the reopening of There.com. All questions and answers are taken from MW blog and are correct to my knowledge.
Mabley its helps for people that need to have voice info.
Just helping hand.
Btw I have ask SaltySilver she say …..that would be fine with me.
#4 by Michael Wilson on 2011.06.13 - 9:04 am
‘clap ‘clap ‘clap. This was great. I loved the pronunciations, especially. Thanks!
#5 by jimony on 2011.06.13 - 11:11 am
It was a great video, although I am a bit worried about those griffers now.
#6 by Karmapup on 2011.06.13 - 3:42 pm
Seriously, I bout fell off my chair I was laughing so hard, ROFL – Great Video – The pronunciations were fantastic!!!! 😉
#7 by HighFlier on 2011.06.13 - 5:49 pm
Yup, she’s kinda hot for an avatar. I was wondering if he was having a hard time keeping his composure with all the sunshine beaming down on him. I think her griffers were holding up just fine if you get my drift. At the end he almost falls over from the bright lights lol. We need that hand gesture in There in the future it would sure come in handy. SaltySilver your a genius machismo filmmaker.
#8 by SaltySilver on 2011.06.14 - 5:23 pm
aww shucks, It was easy, ‘coy but that program I was useing is in bata and closes itself. ‘Vash! I was going to try to fix the language I found out If I write Avatar = Ahva tar or Avie= ahvee it would say it right… and add more gesture, but all this adds time to the video. So I did manage to get the video right at 10 minutes with out cutting much out of the Q&A wording on MW blog.
P.S MW if you like, you can post a link on your Q&A page.
#9 by Mademoiselle Fifi on 2011.06.13 - 6:06 am
Great pics High…i saved them….fun times we had, for sure….and more to come it seems. I’m ready.
#10 by DodgeBoy101 on 2011.06.13 - 5:54 am
Thanks for the update! 🙂 Been waiting for 1 🙂 Cant wait till There comes back on! 😀
#11 by Aion on 2011.06.12 - 10:35 pm
Thank you for the update. So the world is up and running, vast and empty, on the amazon server cloud ?
#12 by DrChisel on 2011.06.12 - 8:28 pm
Have you thought about like coming back with a bang?
#13 by HighFlier on 2011.06.13 - 11:28 am
Like this?
http://www.finalefireworks.com/node/1092208
#14 by Therians Fan on 2011.06.14 - 7:43 am
The person that is the founder of that company was also the original founder of There. 😉
#15 by xxxcometxxx on 2011.06.13 - 12:00 pm
i dont think it matter how they come back as long as they come back . have really missed there and cant wait to get back into my crater.
Comet
#16 by mimi06 on 2011.06.14 - 2:04 am
comet! hi hi.. can’t wait to see you.. 🙂
#17 by willesc on 2011.06.12 - 4:31 pm
i cant wait tell there gets back up and running, and the developer program starts back up, my photoshop skills have greatly improved 🙂
#18 by Mademoiselle Fifi on 2011.06.12 - 10:50 am
Since we’re all going to be noobs, i wonder if we will be born with new There2 outfits.
#19 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 5:32 pm
OH My, Now I’ve been wondering about you, ~/*♥*|*♥*\~ ahhh
Who knows maybe the new outfits will match our spikes too. heehee
So you’v been wonderin around and finally took some time to checkup on us hu! bout time you got your hub to pull ober that trailer…your missin all the fun. Getgr blue hair out and brush out the dust as it appears you’ll be wearing it again soon and don’t forget your your big red hand. lol Can’t forget that one. omg you and your red hand. Bring some cocktails to the revival too.
#20 by mmeodiles on 2011.06.13 - 5:40 am
Shuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrruppppppp! 😉
Disclaimer: Don’t worry MW…I won’t say this to anyone else, but a blue haired person here!!! 🙂
#21 by HighFlier on 2011.06.13 - 6:16 pm
#22 by turret001 on 2011.06.12 - 10:14 am
Hooray!!
I gotta ask something, what about running There for people who have the client currently.
They can be like Beta tester, and There servers will stay up for like 12 hours and offline again.
#23 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 8:06 pm
Fairly certain he said all old installers and installed versions are defunct (even beta’s). You’ll have to load the new versions of both ThereIM and the world. Just uninstall all your old ones unless your the skeptical type who thinks there’s a slight chance they’ll work or just like to keep every tidbit of There installed at all times. Therian Hoarders I guess you’d call-em. Hope that helps. See you in There.
#24 by Katelyn on 2011.06.12 - 10:06 am
Hello MW, I havent bin checking this site out much often but i want to get more involved now, I just havwe a few small questions about ThereIM. before it closed i didnt even know what thereIM was, But i heard of it, my first question is, Will the IM be Free? Can every old avatar go on? Can you make a new one and go on? Are you still making it a 18 And up? Thats mostly all i want to know for now, if someone else knows these answers also can you answer hehe 😉 thankyou verymuch.
#25 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 8:15 pm
Gota be 18+ bro to play which most people are totally thrilled about!!! Not sure on the ThereIM question but I highly doubt it will be free as you used to be able to access your buddies and change me in the ThereIM menus unless they’ve changed it?
#26 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 8:50 pm
whoops missy I meant not bro.
#27 by Wendy Stoll (Wendy50s) on 2011.06.13 - 4:16 am
ThereIM is not free, either. We haven’t been told how much the monthly fee will be. And it’s all 18+.
#28 by MissyMay on 2011.06.12 - 8:47 am
one question-
if we were to say pay for the first month that there.com opens (the virtual world, no There IM) and then for some reason decide to not pay for the next month (or even down the road we forget/don’t pay a month) will our avatars still be accessable when/if we decide to pay again? (whether it’s 1 month without paying or 5) please answer. Thank you MW for keeping us updated. 🙂
#29 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 8:34 pm
This is a very good question so you get my vote for question of the day. Doesn’t mean he’ll answer it though.
I sure hope you can still access your account once you pay up your debts how ever that might work. But even scarier what I fear is will that cause you to loose all your avatars possessions forever also for not making a payment on time like Second life does when they close accounts for non payment and clean it out without even a stitch of noob cloths left in the inventory then claim you breached your subscription agreement and broke the terms of service by not paying on time or forgetting to pay. This happens often in that other place and people get hit real hard sometimes after collecting or designing items for years. So like you could basically get your account back with ((( all your possessions and designs wiped out ))) for lousing up your subscription agreement and terms of service policy concerning those. Please don’t write that into your terms of service There Gods or the subscription policy. Please No!!! Would be just absolutely awful.
#30 by jimony on 2011.06.13 - 12:36 am
He has previously answered this question, you will be able to re-login when you pay again.
#31 by Yahza on 2011.06.11 - 10:35 pm
Sounds like you have a pretty good engineer to dial that all in. He wasn’t the one who created it and you know how that goes. If you didn’t create the code sometimes it is like Chinese. You can’t understand it. But I think it shows you hired some good people in the past. They probably had good clean code and maybe put notes in the code. In fact why don’t you tell your engineer to put notes in the code that might be helpful to him and others in the future to understand it fully. Even if it looks pretty easy to someone else it might not be. We are out of first gear and now running in second gear now I think.
That Amazon S3 situation sounds good to me. I think I will do a Google search on that. Find out more about it. I would guess you are getting more bang for the buck over at Amazon. I just checked. Amazon S3 is storage. Okay. It must be a great bargain and very reliable. Maybe I should find out if I can buy a terabyte to backup my hard drives. I will have to look into it.
Out of the cage and my buggy is warming up!
#32 by JasonMK on 2011.06.11 - 5:25 pm
Thanks for the updates! I’ve been hitting refresh on this page since I heard the news!
#33 by frankprss on 2011.06.11 - 12:04 pm
Are teams still preserved? I mean – will my paintball team still exist with its current rating?
#34 by Santacroce on 2011.06.11 - 11:47 am
Hurray! Can’t wait!
#35 by mimi06 on 2011.06.11 - 10:42 am
Question. Just say that THERE announced it would reopen, with the pay per pay option. Would you still pay to play even if we didn’t get back all we had? Starting fresh?
Yep, I would 🙂 (Altho I Love the way this is going)
#36 by ant1977 on 2011.06.11 - 4:33 pm
I would, but I would only pay once in awhile not every month and not for more than one avatar.
#37 by jimony on 2011.06.11 - 4:42 pm
“Just say that THERE announced it would reopen, with the pay per pay option.”
But MW already has announced that There will reopen with the pay per pLay option. Why wouild we have to just say it?
“Would you still pay to play even if we didn’t get back all we had? Starting fresh?”
Are you asking if it is only pay to play because of the existing inventory? That wouldn’t make sense, among all the financial reasons given for having it pay to play there is also the fact MW never made absolute guarantees we WOULD get existing inventory back, just that he EXPECTS us to get our old inventory back.
I’m of the opinion that I don’t understand what you are asking.
#38 by HighFlier on 2011.06.11 - 8:27 pm
I don’t fully understand what your asking. Some term is not worded correctly or if it is I’m lost. Do you mean pay per play?
Is this a typo >pay per pay? whats that mean?
#39 by mimi06 on 2011.06.12 - 3:09 am
it was just a question.. I KNOW we will have all our inventory, thats without a doubt, it was just an off the wall question, to see how many would have payed to play IF the circumstances were different.. sorry for the misunderstanding. 🙂
Thanks ANT for the reply..and jimony maybe I worded that wrong. disregard anything I say rofl..listen to MW not me..:)
ermm.. goes back to my cornor..
#40 by toufovou on 2011.06.12 - 6:45 am
She’s just asking a question and giving her personal answer to it. She means that even if she didn’t get her inventory back she would still pay to play!!!
Oh I would too of course! 😀 No reason to not continue being There if I dont get my stuff back.
#41 by mimi06 on 2011.06.12 - 5:28 pm
ermm yep, anyone that knows me knows I often mispell… rofl sorry bout that.. “PAY TO PLAY” …………..just ignore me.. I’m on a THERE high, and way to excited, I apologize.. thansk for clarifying that for me toufovou 🙂 skip this one and go to the next, trust me it makes more sense rofl..
#42 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 9:13 pm
Thanks for clearing this giant fiasco you created up lol.
At least you admit to wrongfulness. Now I’ll try to catch up the rest I lost last night cause of thinking about this pay for pay business all night long even in my dreams.
Now repeat this 3 times for messing with our thought prosthesis as your punishment. And you can’t do it alone there must be another person present. Thad be cheating to do it alone. Just try not to use any words with P’s in them the next time OK. You are forgiven.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
#43 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 9:24 pm
See now, you even got me confused already..I meant to say pay per pay not pay for pay. But you should do the exercise again just to make sure you got your p’s straightened out there missy.
#44 by jimony on 2011.06.13 - 12:33 am
I figured out the “pay for pay” mis-typing, it was the first statement about imagining that it was announced There will open as a pay to play world that had me confused.
#45 by mimi06 on 2011.06.13 - 1:30 am
Good grief, you really don’t think Peter Piper gona spoil my THERE high? rofl.. I wil pay to hear you say that 3 times when we log into THERE? rofl.. yes, thats a dare.. Mimi has a way of causing giant fiasco’s NOT.. I usually sit quietly in my cornor.. but you sure made me laugh!.. rofl.. thank you.. and I always admit to my mistakes.. >>>back to my cornor mumbling peter piper picked a peck of.. PAY FOR pays! rofl..
p.s. Michael, yes, I am going nuts waiting… rofl..
#46 by jimony on 2011.06.13 - 12:45 am
Ok, I figured out what was wrong with this question. When you start a question with the word “Question.” it sounds like you are asking the blog author to answer a question for you. When I read the question I read it as a question for MW, not for all the commenters.
In answer to the question, we don’t have a guarantee that our stuff will in fact all be there. MW expects it to be and at least one trial test shows it is retrievable, but we are not guaranteed, individually that it will work. So when we pay for There, we have to accept the risk that our inventory may not be there, even though it probably will be. Those who cannot recall enough information for previous account retrieval will have to go the route of starting fresh anyway, so there will be a mix of people who will have to make that decision.
#47 by SaltySilver on 2011.06.11 - 6:04 am
Mr. Wilson, What is the name of your Thereian dog?
#48 by EvenStupider on 2011.06.11 - 9:14 am
Turkey tits
#49 by MrScrooge on 2011.06.11 - 5:28 am
I was going to send you a picture of you running over my avatar with Zach’s 2009 Christmas buggy but it looks like I lost all of my old There pics. 😦
That was hilarious. I’ll always have the memory, I guess.
#50 by Danica Ravenheart on 2011.06.11 - 4:27 am
I know some one asked already but I have to also ask, did the re-claimed avatar sill have the t-bucks and inventory that it had before.
#51 by maverickfred on 2011.06.11 - 2:25 am
g/day guys
Yes i carnt wait for there to open only 2weeks to go i hope lol see you in there guys .
GREAT JOB MW .
#52 by Alease on 2011.06.11 - 1:05 am
Thanks for keeping us posted, MW ; )
#53 by RosettaF on 2011.06.10 - 6:36 pm
I can’t wait for There to open period! I check this page almost daily. See yall there!
#54 by Tiger100 on 2011.06.11 - 1:05 am
I check this page more than once each day 😀
#55 by Cerenela on 2011.06.11 - 5:14 am
Hey Rose!! Nice to see u =)
#56 by Richard Hallock on 2011.06.10 - 6:04 pm
The updates are fantastic! I am very happy that there is so much communication taking place! Thank you agian for keeping us updated, some of us just can’t wait to go home again!
#57 by mikecesar on 2011.06.10 - 5:49 pm
Thanks so much for the update.
#58 by S_S_B_P_D on 2011.06.10 - 4:39 pm
Hey MW, Thank you for all your work! Do you have a set date yet for IM to open? or the World? thank you!
John
(S_S_B_P_D)
#59 by Jordan on 2011.06.10 - 4:19 pm
Thanks for the updates Michael. You’ve done so much for us.
We love you. ❤
#60 by HighFlier on 2011.06.10 - 3:40 pm
My ripped offness feeling of loosing my virtual possessions over the past several months is starting to subside a little. Iv all but abandoned my second life already and my u-haul is packed.
#61 by Bumpin42 on 2011.06.10 - 3:13 pm
Can`t wait, because once the IM reopens that put us one step closer to paintballing……. So Thx again Mw and staff… : )
#62 by Sportsxstar25 on 2011.06.10 - 3:03 pm
Donations are just that donations ….if i donated to help a cause i wouldnt care if it didnt last as long as id like …cause god only knows money only goes so far…but as long as it helped the moment thats all that matters…. like others i spent alot of money on the game and seen it as like going out to eat or to the movies….i dont ever remember spending a buck and seeing it last forever lol but what does is the memories ive made in the game….. cant wait till the doors are opened
#63 by Diego on 2011.06.10 - 2:29 pm
Thanks for the update….appreciated very much.
#64 by toufovou on 2011.06.10 - 12:29 pm
Dunno if we will be happy about the monthly payment stuff done and ready cuz that means that it is one more thing that still needs to be done!!!! 😀
#65 by SaltySilver on 2011.06.10 - 12:25 pm
Thanks for the little mildstone updates. It gives us something to talk about as we wait for the big day. Keep them coming.
#66 by xSnoopy on 2011.06.10 - 12:18 pm
Thanks for the update Michael! ..
DAMN!! We have LESS than 3 weeks to go till reclaiming our avies.
We have had 15 months to think about what we lost last March.
We may squabble amongst ourselves but, we are ALL on your side for this opening!
YOU GO MICHAEL!!
#67 by Paddy on 2011.06.10 - 4:54 pm
Hiya Snoop 🙂 . Hope you have bben well comrade, I look forward to seeing you again and maybe we can paintball 🙂
Take it easy comrade 🙂
#68 by xSnoopy on 2011.06.11 - 4:55 am
Hiya Paddy,
Been well here .. How about you?
Trying to catch up on all the mods I made to this 3 year old system. Got to get it back in shape for There.
Looking forward to seeing you also and catching up.
Oh, and sliding your butt a few times LOL
Only 2 or 3 weeks to go till we have IM and our old avies back
See you then 🙂
#69 by Escape on 2011.06.10 - 12:12 pm
Does the “reclaimed” avatar you mentioned have all the account info and inventory (same as when There closed)? Thanks for the update…. So what’s next?
#70 by Jordy26 on 2011.06.11 - 9:01 am
Yep, they took backups a couple days after it closed for everyone so it will start off again from then.
#71 by AnOldDeveloper on 2011.06.10 - 11:54 am
I’m so looking forward to re-entering There and reclaiming my totally fabulous avatars! Good luck with the process 🙂
#72 by Grimm on 2011.06.10 - 11:52 am
Ready, willing and able to get in and test for ya 🙂
Just say the word
#73 by Sassybeme There on 2011.06.10 - 11:47 am
So if we can reclaim our old avatars, does this mean we reclaim our old start up date as well? Profile information and such?
I’m so glad be out of the storage finally. 😀
This connect with facebook and twitter is a cool add btw. 🙂
#74 by Kev on 2011.06.10 - 11:20 am
I’m just wondering, now that the ‘build environment’ is moved to the cloud, does this mean There will be more smoother (without lag/rubber-banding etc.) ?
Thanks for giving us updates every now and then.
#75 by Soede on 2011.06.10 - 11:18 am
I want to see the ones that are “not quite what you had in mind” Those sound the most interesting =P
#76 by mimi06 on 2011.06.10 - 2:24 pm
lol Soede.. makes ya wonder.. all the pictures everyones put here and thu out FB last year just keep me hoping.. remember all the people that said.. “get over it”.. dont think they really understood.. lol
#77 by Okalnix on 2011.06.10 - 11:15 am
Thank for the update.
I think you have a lott to do still
Relax and that a beer if needed oke.
#78 by Okalnix on 2011.06.10 - 11:17 am
Relax and if needed just take that nice cold Beer.
#79 by Barney S. on 2011.06.10 - 11:11 am
did you like the picture of us mixing it up (here it is again in case you forgot): http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=mls4up&s=7
#80 by ant1977 on 2011.06.10 - 3:05 pm
I love Mr. MW’s reply to SecondLifedotCom’s question!! ‘tu
#81 by Barney S. on 2011.06.11 - 3:33 am
me 2
#82 by TherePercy on 2011.06.10 - 10:54 am
Getting ready to reclaim Spinning Spades. (Hopefully Inlet Cove on Motu-Motu survived the suspended animation, so to speak) 😀
Keep up the good work, MW.
I think this sums up most of our feelings about There™: http://therepercy.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/travellers-no-more/
#83 by There Lover on 2011.06.10 - 10:54 am
Thanks for the update MW! It’s really great to hear you guys are having the registration up. 🙂
#84 by vursala25 on 2011.06.10 - 10:42 am
MW..you are an Angel..thank you..:))))
#85 by Chris Alderman on 2011.06.10 - 10:38 am
thanks for the update Micheal we can,t wait LOL
#86 by Marianne Mohr on 2011.06.10 - 10:29 am
Thanks so much for the update! Might you add a tip jar to this blog?
#87 by Michael Wilson on 2011.06.10 - 10:30 am
I would love to, but if something goes wrong and we don’t stay open as long as a donator might want (or lord knows what else we do that they don’t like), I’m not prepared to figure out how to refund donations. I appreciate the thought though.
#88 by toufovou on 2011.06.10 - 12:30 pm
Knock wood everybody so nothing will go wrong!!!!!!!
#89 by YankeeintheSouth on 2011.06.11 - 2:17 am
I like Marianne’s idea. You know Thumdar did something similar, where he needed so much and showed the donated amount needed and the amount he was receiving. Nobody on there expected a dime in return, it was to a cause. It’s a bit early to determine that but I hope you keep something like that in mind instead of throwing in the towel, just a suggestion. I’m sure you will have ALOT of support in that. There.com is your baby for sure but it is our’s emotionally 🙂
#90 by jimony on 2011.06.15 - 2:33 am
I think I can understand Michaels point here; what if a few thousand was raised by donations and they hit a snag and either couldn’t open or couldn’t keep it open? I am sure they have the finances to start and open, a few thou donated now isn’t going to do much toward keeping it open later, but if instead of donating, you spent that money actually in-world, it would be included as income that would show There as more viable. As a donation, it is meaningless as far as showing There making ends meet and only adds to the possible work needed on their end as well as the added stress of those donators possibly having expectations that aren’t met.
We can keep an eye on the numbers that There will show as income to expenses and buy more stuff to show There as being more self-sustaining than any donations will do.
#91 by HighFlier on 2011.06.10 - 3:22 pm
Geesh….you want him wearing a g-string too? you seem eager to toss out some bucks there missy. lol You could take him to second life and have a night out on the sims pass him some lindens he could cash out to $h$o$u$s$e$. Poor fella not even taking a salary and stuck in a cage too. So maybe your feelin sorry for him. I understand jist jking. Maybe you could make one for him on a site of your own or talk to thumdar about collecting some tips for him.
#92 by mmeodiles on 2011.06.11 - 8:06 am
Actually when talking about blogs and donations and money…I think the absolute best thing would be to play there, pay the monthly fees, and support THERE by buying, building and making zones, hoods etc…That would certainly bring in the money needed!!!! If you feel like donating after THERE is opened…use the money to buy..for example a paz or hood or stuff… 🙂 ~ Peace out!
#93 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 7:40 am
Or just pass him some there bucks the first day ThereIM opens. But maybe she’s thinking he might need some spendable funds that aren’t stuck in world. Some startup cash to use right away. Liquid Gold as the Hill Billies used to put it.
#94 by HighFlier on 2011.06.12 - 7:53 am
And for those who don’t which Hill Billies I was talkin about:
http://www.colemanlesh.com/googleSearch.php?pid=u6SPfDpKL0vZlGSMQ98mr5_wjXxtulkp
#95 by Angel_Eyes on 2011.06.12 - 7:02 pm
well there is a better place to have slaves and g strings and that kinda action going on and thats red light center online not nameing the site but hmm i could hmm show yall what to do and you can make alot of donations i would sooooo pay to see it !! lol
#96 by mimi06 on 2011.06.10 - 10:26 am
Wish I knew what all that means, but I am assuming “out of the cage” is a good thing lol.. Thank you!
#97 by TherePercy on 2011.06.10 - 10:51 am
The ‘cage’ refers to the facility where they ran 2000+ dedicated servers 😀