Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Kottu The Ghost Town

It's been well documented by Indi but Kottu's like one of those ghost towns right now isn't it?

Whenever I look at it all I see is one post entitled "What's wrong with living together?", some nice Sri Lankan photographs and the list of blogs running down the right hand side. Then, as if to turn the knife in the wound, there's the message from Indi to tell me that the server is overloaded and to ask me to excuse any hiccups. I don't know if that's what everyone sees, but it's my current Kottu.

Only a few days ago it was a busy and bustling town. There were people and posts everywhere. Noise and the flurry of activity was incessant as bloggers got on with their thing, writing about their lives, their loves and their hates. Fellows moaned about girls and girls droned on about boys, others waxed lyrically about the perils and problems of Sri Lanka today.

Trainee and trained journalists practiced their art and world class photographers showcased their latest pictures. Hell, even politicians used Kottu to publicise their views and themselves. Well at least one did.

The shadow of Kottu that remains shows us, as if we didn't know, that sex sells. Kinkypinky and 6 feature heavily in the most read blogs or posts and Lady Divine's post about booze and virginity tops the monthly chart. It's funny how we take things for granted, how we all got on with our little blogs and just expected Kottu to be there to syndicate them in the background.

Each time I glance at it I feel like one of those chaps who has left his home town as a teenager and returned many years later to find it deserted, maybe with a few old people strolling around and a dog or two. This is not to be confused with finding a town desserted, when everything's coated in Chocolate biscuit pudding and Wattalapam, perhaps with some trifle too. You may think that the only difference is an "s" but it's not that simple at all.

I'd offer my help to Indi but my knowledge of code is about as good as my knowledge of women and how to make them happy.

Come back Kottu, we miss you.

8 comments:

FINroD said...

oh man i get the samething... sigh.. really hope it comes back online.. its been my addiction for many weeks now..

Anonymous said...

Its updating OK now, on a new database and server. Actually updating every 15 minutes now. There just don't seem to be that many posts.

I noticed that traffic is slow on indi.ca as well, which usually gets more from outside Kottu. Dunno. But the software is reinstalled and running OK now.

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Indi - I don;t understand the technicalities but all I can see, as at a few seconds ago, is the screen as I described in my post. I've tried refreshing etc but it makes no difference.

Anonymous said...

shit, it looks fine on Firefox, but it's exactly as you say on other browsers. Looking into it now

Anonymous said...

Holy mother of God I'm an idiot.

Have a look now. I attributed all the posts to a user that didn't have rights to post. I think. Can you have a look and tell me?

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Indi - It's sweet and smooth now, like a lovely sounding snare drum. Thanks

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Indi - just sent you an email. All looks good via IE but the list of blogs down the right hand side is missing.

RD

Anonymous said...

Man server woes! I am battling two servers separated by Pacific ocean and one server's admin is like a jealous boy friend, wont let my fingers come near! I am going kite surfing after checking SL blogs on Kottu that is working fine now!