TL;DR: scriptbin is moving from one server to another.
If scriptbin goes down, is slow, does not load or there are issues, I ask for your patience as I sort everything out.

Current state

In the "phone book of the Internet", DNS, I have pointed the domain name scriptbin.works to the IP address of the new server instead of the IP address to the old server. It usually takes between five minutes to two/three days (I wish I was kidding) for that to update/"propagate" for everyone.

If someone gets the address to the old server, it gets scriptbin from the old server. If someone gets the address to the new server, it requests scriptbin from the old server and responds with that. If I didn't do this, then some could get "old scriptbin" and some "new scriptbin", and adding a script on one wouldn't show up on the other - not good! This way, the same scriptbin and the same database is used. Setting this up took some changes where scriptbin was down for a bunch of minutes - I'm sorry, but that's what had to be done.

The next step is to fully set up and test scriptbin on the new server, and then, when the address/DNS change has fully propagated and everyone goes to the new server, to stop scriptbin running on the old server, copy over the data to the new server and set it up to go to scriptbin on the new server. This will probably take a small amount of downtime as the changes are made. Once those changes are made, the move will basically be complete.

In preparing this move, I am using time I should be spending resting up after one of the most intense years of my life, and the move will mean increased server costs from now on, and overlapping costs for both servers during a few weeks. If you appreciate scriptbin and what I do and it is an option for you, I would appreciate a donation to scriptbin's Patreon.

Why at all?

Due to a combination of things, I have decided to upgrade to a new server, which is more capable. For more information, see this post on GWAScriptGuild.

Why now?

It is a relatively slow period as many community members are caught up with other things, so the impact is about as low as it is likely to get.

Personally, I have time to do it during end-of-year time off — in 2020, I had time to write the first lines of code for scriptbin and launch it.

What will happen, in which order?

Although I have a plan, I will not be documenting every step of it publicly. If updates are necessary, they will be posted here. But things are already in motion. This status/info page is being served from the new server.

I am aiming for as little downtime as possible. Being a fallible human with decades of experience trying to get technology to do what I want, I am giving fair warning, so that people can be prepared.

Do I need to do something?

No. Other than maybe showing patience and understanding as I try to pull all of this off with as few hitches as possible.

Do I need to back anything up?

Aside from not being able to get to scriptbin, everything will still be there. This is not a "new bin who dis" situation where you have to start over.

At most, at worst, a few view counts may go backwards, or a script added or edited at exactly the wrong second might be caught in the transfer between the old and new server. But no one's entire script catalogue will have gone walkies.

That said, it is always a good idea to have backups of your scripts, server move or not. If you wish to start backing up now and don't have them saved elsewhere already, go to your writer's profile page on scriptbin, click "🛠️ Show other actions" and then click "📚 Download all scripts".