So I can see both sides here, especially after recently seeing a screenshot of HugeLunatic's post on tumblr--it definitely made it seem like GoS was gone forever. Which is why I came over here to see if HL had posted anything else and here I am.

Is HugeLunatic's post uncharacteristically vague? Yes. Could there have been better communication about what was happening and is happening now? Absolutely. But Lunie didn't actually say that the sites were dead and gone forever... Just that you should be able to find stuff on Wayback to get a working download link. Which is the standard workaround when a site is down and undergoing maintenance. Of course Wayback doesn't have absolutely everything--I myself was looking to download something earlier this week and the page I was looking for wasn't archived.

But again HugeLunatic, or anyone else for that matter, didn't say the sites where gone for good. From HugeLunatic's post above and the maintenance message, it seems like an update was tried and it didn't work. Maybe I am being too optimistic, but given HugeLunatic's track record, let's give some patience, grace, and benefit of the doubt. I just find it extremely hard to believe that someone who has done so much for the community, making things, teaching others, running and moderating multiple sites (including the one we're currently on!) would just let sites die with no warning and no call for backups. Again, call me naive, but it doesn't seem like HugeLunatic's style. I have to believe that some kind of workaround or backup is in place, or maybe a return to the old process while a new solution is researched. Etc. And maybe things aren't going as planned but HugeLunatic just doesn't have the time right now to go into too many details.

For those of you who don't know, Lunie has been judging in the building contest that just ended, which takes up a lot of time and energy. This site update/hosting move is going on, too, and then who knows what other Real Life things are happening for HL. Maybe HugeLunatic just didn't have much time for a proper update. Or maybe she's working on a fix/plan B and would rather work on that than respond to every question about ETA.

Again, I agree it definitely sucks that so little info is given and it does look scary with multiple places being down. But that's probably because the hosting is the same. Some of us have been around long enough to remember other outages and the lack of info. Remember how MATY and the booty used to go down every now and then for weeks or months at a time? How the Graveyard disappears and comes back? How Insim was down a few times? Heck, GoS itself has gone down before, now that I think about it. If this is your first outage, it probably seems really scary but, again, knowing what HugeLunatic has done for the TS2 community... I just have to believe that GoS and S2A will probably come back too or has a backup in the works. Simsample has a point. Let's remember that TS2 is a hobby. Nobody, including HugeLunatic, owes us anything, not even an explanation. (Though tbh, HugeLunatic, one would really be appreciated and I'm surprised at the lack of meaningful communication beforehand as anyone, let alone someone with your experience, could have predicted a lack of update would cause panic if the site was down for a sustained period.)

So! To be clear, while I'm not saying no one shouldn't be angry or expect better communication (I'm a little miffed myself, honestly), I am saying is that Simsample has some points. Panicking, ranting, or complaining on other sites won't help here. And also, before we start running off to archive what's on Wayback, let's be patient and wait for Lunie to give us more info and/or marching orders.

REALLY?! THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU?!

I posted MONTHS ago (back in March) when the site had issues after the drive fail. I SPECIFICALLY said the hosting went thru the end of May and if the upgrade I was going to start IN MAY didn't go well then GoS, s2a and hugelunatic would all go down. Did you not believe the post? Why did you not take action at that time?

Currently transferring my whole Sims 2 folder to a USB drive as a backup, in case my laptop unexpectedly decides to flip me the bird.



I apparently have named the folders of my GoS CC after the thread titles on there. Which helps somewhat, I guess, since some of them at least have in them what CC item it is (for example, "recolour of hair mesh X", "edit of clothes mesh Y"), etc.

I have no idea if I can find out in-game or with some external tool or whatever which hair/clothes, etc. in-game belong to what file, so I'm not sure if I would be able to take pictures of the CC.
But most of the items have their respective mesh with them in the folder and maybe there is a way to find out which mesh a file depends on if it isn't with it in the folder?

Honestly, I'm good at downloading CC and hoarding CC, but when it comes to working with CC I'm a complete newbie.

When my backup is finished and when I have some free time, I'm getting to work on trying my best to figure out the files.
Some of the GoS CC really became must-haves in all my Sims 2 installations, so I suppose I'd at least make one person happy with it.

Just in case if the site isn't coming back. If it is, I'll of course be very happy and at least then I have it easier to move my CC to new installations.

reminder that USB drive isn't best long-term storage - you'll eventually want an external hard drive or something!

I'm planning to get an external HDD or external SSD, but I figured just for now as a quick backup the USB drive will do.
The chances that my laptop randomly dies over night are very low, but never zero, haha.

Apologies @HugeLunatic I do remember that post, though I don't think it was as widely circulated as it should have been. And then maybe community members needed a specific call to action, in order to start doing something--i.e., donate and/or start archiving. Maybe people were unclear or unsure of what to do.

But what can we do to support you now? Do we need to donate to get the sites back up temporarily so we can archive them? Do we need to help research solutions for alternative hosting or moving the site? Or maybe do we just need to sit tight? Etc., Etc.

Not trying to badger you. Just let us know whatever we can do to assist right now.

Hi simsample, just starting this off by saying you're someone I deeply respect and I mean no ill will towards you nor to HugeLunatic, but that is exactly why I am disappointed with the handling of GoS and, in this specific case, your response to adelainaki here. u/TheBoobfather is me, not adelainaki, and I think it's very unfair for you to come at them with accusations of your own that they "ran off to Reddit" when, unless they're u/SuperLowAmbitions, they did not.

I also did not "run off to Reddit" myself. I found out about this through Reddit, because I very rarely use MTS these days, and just barely keep up with TS2 at the current moment simply because the new Tomodachi Life is consuming most of my lifesim energy. Reddit and Discord are my primary forms of social media at the moment, and I found out through the latter about the past incident with simnostalgia. I am not "ashamed" of myself for venting my frustrations with how this was handled on a website that I very frequently use.

At the very least, I ask that you apologize to adelainaki for telling them to "shut the fuck up" when they approached this in good faith, and if you still feel any ire, to please take it out on me instead since I am the one who left the comments you're upset with. Thank you.

How convenient that your Tumblr no longer exists, and we cannot look back at the mentioned post... A post that not many people saw, clearly. I have seen many posts from Sims creators on Tumblr and the consensus is that this was UNEXPECTED and that there was NO prior warning. One small throwaway "this site MIGHT go down IF..." post was not a sufficient warning. As someone else mentioned, there should have been a serious post made warning people, and perhaps asking those who saw it to share and spread the word. If someone running one of the (if not the) biggest Sims sites makes a post saying vague things like "IF the upgrade isn't going well", instead of "hey, there is a serious chance that things are going down soon, please archive and update what you can", people rightfully will likely not actually expect it to happen. It's like the government sending out a warning, "hey, there might be a tornado tomorrow, not sure tho, we'll see" instead of an actual tornado warning.

If you KNEW the sites were VERY LIKELY going down, why not make a post as mentioned above? A post that would ACTUALLY show people the seriousness of the situation, actually make people share, and kick them into gear. So yeah, I didn't see your March post, and even if I did, I, like many who did and clearly deducted the same, would think that things are not as serious, because if they were, I'd expect a more severe warning. I have seen dozens of comments and posts, and EVERY ONE OF THEM has people expressing how unexpected and shocking this is and how they would have archived things if they knew. Clearly, I am not the only one finding the communication insufficient, and clearly, the post we are no longer even able to verify (to check how many people commented/liked/reblogged, for example) you made was simply not enough of a warning. It's okay to admit you've made a mistake and should have communicated things more clearly, but I have a feeling that will not happen.

To be clear: nobody is angry that you cannot run the site anymore, that you don't want to pay for it, or that you can't manage to sort the complicated coding changes needed. We are all simply at a loss about the loss of the community's history and the fact that there was no proper communication. Again, you did not have to do anything other than make a proper, serious post in which you, in certain terms, warn people and give them a chance to preserve as much as they can. That is all. And even the fact that people are arguing about whether this is permanent or not, and saying things like "calm down, it might just be down temporarily, HS didn't say it's permanent," speaks of the issue as well. We don't even have solid info from you on whether the biggest Sims 2 community sites are down permanently or not, just as we did not have solid info about them going down, which further shows the lack of communication issue.

That totally describes the weather service anywhere lol.

https://web.archive.org/web/2026031...com/hugelunatic