It seems that the one tradition I’ve never been able to get away from at Wicasta.com is the necessity to constantly upgrade the web site. Most often it’s by choice, because I don’t like the way something looks or works. But this time, it’s because my server was hacked and everything on all but two of my domains was deleted. And I mean everything.
I’ve decided to regard this as an opportunity and take a new approach with the web site; or at least with the front end. I’ve been torn over the theme I’ve been using on the web site’s main pages. I thought it was beautiful and I loved the layout. But let’s face it. It wasn’t the most user-friendly interface. Quite a few people complained that it was hard to read (although everyone largely agreed that was beautiful and that the chica on the main page was an evocative image).
If I’ve prided myself on anything through the years, it’s been that whatever else its failings, my web site has always been easy to navigate, and it’s been easy to get quick updates. The ony thing I didn’t like about the design with chica was that there was no easily accessible updates page. So I’ve decided that since I’m re-working the web site, I’ll use a theme on the front-end that’s more in line with this way of thinking.
Right now you’ll notice that there are a lot of missing images, and generally the theme looks like crap. I’ll get this straigthened out in the next couple of days or during the next week. Naturally, I would start trying to install a new theme at lunch when all the yuppies are checking their mail. Bear with me. I’ll get it done.
The individual sections will be brought back over the next week or so as time permits. Getting them back online won’t be that much of a problem because my hacker didn’t gain access to the SQL databases, and most of my posts are still present. It’s just a matter of getting WordPress interfaces re-installed and maybe generating missing images. Not as big of a deal as it sounds like.
In closing, I’d like to thank the fucking idiot who hacked my server. If nothing else, he showed me that I’d become complacent. I let my guard down. He also gave me a reason to re-work the web site a bit, which is something I probably never would have done otherwise.
I’d also like to extend a hand of thanks to the support team at my host provider, who were able to simply restore some of the deleted domains. However, I’d also like to flip them off in seven different languages for proving totally useless in restoring the rest. I’ve never met a bunch of people who were quite so worthless when it came to addressing and solving a problem. So while the initial cooperation was appreciated, the follow-up disregard marked them all as unmitigated assholes. I will remember the experience.
On a personal note, I’m looking for to the surprises that await my hacker friend. Little does he know that a lovely friend of mine in Asheville, NC is pouring through the access logs and tracing his IP as we speak. It might have been great fun for this little prick to have caused the damage he did for no particular reason, but what comes next will not be fun at all.
Bon Appetit!
– Wicasta Lovelace
