1. I want to repeat what I've said earlier, that your posts are not in danger, and were never in danger. Backing up "all the posts" and everything else that makes CathInfo "CathInfo" is a simple one-click operation, plus 10 minutes of waiting for the resulting file to download. This file has been backed up umpteen times to my local PC, local external hard drive, and many DVDs.

2. The site is faster now on the current server, anywhere from 10X to 100X faster than the old shared hosting was. I am now hosting on a VPS, or virtual dedicated server. I have complete control over this server's settings, and I have access to some great technical support now.

3. The site is doing great on the new host, and has already weathered a DoS attack on Tuesday (81,000 requests in 45 minutes) and no one even noticed! "Shoo, fly!"

4. Just one problem remains - some of the formatting tags [youtube], [url] etc. including regular links, do not work. This is because the new server uses PHP 5.5 or greater, which ditched a certain command that CathInfo's programming code was using. For those involved in PHP programming, I can tell you that it's preg_replace with the /e modifier. I need to find a replacement for that function and I'll be all set. My new host LiquidWeb is even giving this a try, since they're so helpful in terms of customer service.

5. Regarding cost: The old hosting was extremely frugal, only costing me a fraction of the cost of a "Reseller" account which I had with Hostgator. On a reseller account, you can have lots of hosting accounts -- however many you can fit. I have other websites on that account. This new server costs about $65 more per month than that old Reseller account on Hostgator. Fortunately, that is still well within CathInfo's income. So CathInfo can continue to support itself as it always has, without needing to pass the hat around on a regular basis (a la Fisheaters).

6. The future: Once I get everything settled, I'm going to add back and re-enable more features to CathInfo that were stripped out 18 or more months ago, to optimize the site so it could continue to squeeze into a (frugal) shared hosting account. More posts per page, topics per page, etc. at least for MEMBERS. That is to say, members with a free account and logged in. I can't promise much for guests, since the DoS attacks always come from non-logged in "guests". Sorry. Like I've said before, get a throwaway e-mail account, pick a random name, and join in!

I will also stop trimming databases from now on. The Likes database, Ignores database, and PM database come to mind. I used to trim these non-essential databases regularly, but not anymore.

7. Keeping options open. I still might get a physical server machine in my home, but I have to look into the feasibility of self-hosting from all angles before I take that plunge. I have to analyze any future DoS attacks I've receive and run some calculations, and figure out if they would overwhelm the Internet pipe I have to my house (or COULD get, with an upgrade from my ISP). That is the main issue. If I determine that I don't need any services I can't provide myself, then I very well might take the plunge. I could also look into hosting the box with a local business or ISP with a wider Internet pipe. Those are all things I am considering, but for right now I had to get CathInfo immediately stabilized, which I have done with this upgrade to VPS server hosting.

Can you enable members to get email notifications when they receive a private message?

That would be pretty easy to add. And it would be a very good and helpful feature.

As soon as I get to that point (improving CathInfo) I'll have that at the top of the list. When I prioritize things, I weight the benefit vs. how long it will take.

Years ago Cathinfo had little flags of the countries where the poster lived.
This was nice and sometime helped to understand the post better as customs differ from country to country.
Young people can remember clues contained in posts as to where the poster lives but old people need visual aids.

That was one of the things I disabled.

Those are the kind of nice features I want to bring back now that I have the server power to handle it.

Yes, they told me that option, but then I'd have to deal with this "later".

PHP 5.5+ is the future (actually they're already on PHP 7) so I don't want to be some kind of PHP luddite trying to hold back time.

In other news, it turns out that the site wasn't allowing PMs until I fixed it just now.

Several database fields got a default value of "none" rather than "null" -- so certain things were complaining when that default value was being used.

I found that problem a couple days ago, but I haven't checked every single database table for that problem. Maybe I should, but I also have lots of other things to do...

Your new host uses just one IP (67.225.163.111) based in Lansing, Michigan. It seems you could get better service with a cloud-based solution; that would greatly help with averting future DDoS attacks.

For some reason, the time of posting for me is one hour off.
I made a post @ 10:40 (EDT) but it shows up as 9:40 and looks like I cannot fix it by changing the times in my profile.

I noticed this too.

I think it has to do with daylight savings time.