A message to my peeps of the blue bird...

Hello, my bosom partners in music piracy crime, who partake in that lovely musical P2P program we all love and about which we keep mum. It is indeed Spitfyre, in case you're wondering. You're in the right place.

Guess what? After seven and a half faithful, glorious, uninterrupted years on Slsk, I am moving. I will be offline temporarily, for (quite?) a while, starting sometime after mid-December 2009. It may not happen until January or February (or even March, but probably not) of 2010, and once it does happen, I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully not long at all, as I will probably be going through more withdrawl from you than you will from me.

It's important to emphasize that this downtime is temporary! I am not permanently leaving Slsk. I will return, even if it takes a few months. Please be patient and keep me in your uselists and room memberships, public and private. I am coming back!

When I come back online, please keep a few things in mind...

First, please know that I currently live in a major metropolitan area where the broadband options are plentiful and reasonably priced. Up until now, you've enjoyed a decent upload speed from me (i.e. you downloading files from me), and my (cablemodem until May 2008 and DSL since May of 2008) connection has been very reliable. I am moving to a very rural country setting. I'm not kidding. If you pull into our future driveway, your cellphone signal will go into analog roam mode or disappear altogether. My only options will be dial-up, or various satellite options. Satellite options in the country suck, because they know they have you. I have to choose between a company that gives you good up- and download speeds but caps the overall data traffic for a certain 24-hour period (sure, you can exceed the cap, but then everything slows to a 1.0kb/sec crawl), and a company that gives you slammin' download speeds (i.e. me getting files from you) but uses a regular phone line for upload (you can get files from me but at crappy dial-up speeds--but you can get them anytime, because there is no daily cap). So, chances are that when I return, I will unfortunately be able to get files faster from you than you will from me. I hate that, but my only other alternative was to remain offline altogether and not be able to share OR receive files from other users for the several years that we will live there.

So, speed will suck and perhaps be less reliable, but whaddaya do? Another thing I'd like you to know is that when I return, my username will still be Spitfyre. Right now I have no plans to change that. I also plan to keep all of my shares exactly as they are. Everything you currently see, you will see again when I come back. My configuration will probably be the same unless I had a few folders and have to rename or reorganize a few things. In fact, I will probably share even more, as I may eventually have a few days on my hands to add more new downloads that I've been stockpiling (not due to greed or any other slimy reason, but sheer lack of time, as I have been in med school for the past several years).

When I come back, depending on which internet provider we end up signing up with, I may have to add some download restrictions. Let's face it: if I'm capped at a certain amount of up- or download bytes/megabytes per day, and I want as many people as possible to get fair access to music they want, I may have to limit users to something like 1 album per day. I am not yet sure if I will have to do this; time will tell. My current goal is to go with the service provider with the phone line upload but satellite download because even though it's totally not fair to you guys, at least I won't be capped and you can download music from me all day, and while it's pathetic speed, at least you'll be able to download an unlimited amount. Again, time will tell, and I'll post updates as I can.

Another idea I have is that we could end up putting the Slsk-based computer in our office, which will be in another major metropolitan area, instead of keeping it at home. If we go that route, we'll be able to take advantage of all the reasonably-priced broadband options that a major city offers, and thus when I sign back on to Slsk, your experience from then on will be much the same as you've experienced from me up till now: a reliable connection with decent speeds. The only drawback I can think of (and thus the only reason that this might not happen), besides my not having access to Slsk at night before bed or in the mornings before leaving the house, is that it could prove to be a distraction for us at the office (I'm very easily distracted), and we've got a business to start and get up and running, and savings accounts drain quick without income to replenish them. So, if we decide to keep the computer at the rural house, that's why.

I am unsure exactly how long I'll be offline. It could be as little as a couple days, maybe a week, or maybe as long as a month or two. Please know that I'll miss you all very much during that time, but also please keep in mind that I will be bouncing back as fast as possible, and in typical Spitfyre form.

However, true to form, my machine will remain online, uninterrupted, 24/7 for at least the next month or so, so feel free to dig in and have at it. By all means, get all you can in the next several weeks - but please do NOT queue up enough at once to crash my computer, and please DO have courtesy and consideration for other users, or I will have to open my can of flying monkeys to come after you in the night :)