Vertical Devices site down?

[Scott McCrea]

Is Gary Storrick's Vertical Devices page down? Hasn't worked for me for the past few days.

[NZcaver]

The entire (parent) site appears to be down. What's going on, Gary? Somebody pull the plug on you?

[ek]

In the mean time, a (not official) snapshot of the site can be accessed here.

[gdstorrick]

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[ek]

Gary,

I believe you are on shaky ground in saying that the archive is an illegal copy. If you were correct, then I think all web search engines would be illegal. That site archives a wide range of web content, and has been in operation without substantial legal challenge for a number of years. Nonetheless, I believe it would be illegal for them to maintain the copy after you ask them to take it down, and they have a good history of taking sites down when people who can demonstrate they are the authors ask them to. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

If you wish, I would be pleased to edit my post and remove my link to the archived version of your site. Just let me know.

I will be interested to hear about why you've chosen to take your site down, if and when you decide to discuss the matter. I hope nothing terrible has happened.

[gdstorrick]

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[Scott McCrea]

[NZcaver]

Thanks for the explanation, Gary. I'm sorry to hear the site is gone. I realize other factors are involved, but I for one would have willingly donated toward web hosting costs if I had known.

I've always enjoyed visiting you and your display at NSS conventions, and I'm surprised to hear there wasn't much interest last year. Having a *slight* tendency to accumulate gear myself, some of us can only marvel at the expanse (and expense) of your collection. Not to mention the countless hours of researching, reviewing and photographing devices and updating the website.

Your mammoth efforts over the years have not gone unappreciated. Thank you.

[Cheryl Jones]

Sorry to hear this. Your site was a terrific resource, Gary!

I really enjoyed the exhibit at the ICS and you taking the time to discuss various items. I think you were given a lousy, out of the way location, which explains the low visitation.

Cheryl

[driggs]

Gary, I will happily host your Vertical Devices site for free. Even if you don't intend to update it in the future (which would be quite a shame), I will offer to host the existing content for you.

This is the very least I can do to repay the many dozens of hours I've spent lusting after gear on your website, and the hundreds of dollars I've saved by reading your reviews first, to say nothing of the hundreds of dollars I've spent after reading about some obscure device there!

Email: driggs at speleo dot us

[snoboy]

Another big thank you to Gary for what he has created, and a plea to continue if there is a reasonable way...

I have so often found my way to your site to look up some thing or the other, and been amazed by the volume and quantity of the content. An hour or so later...

[gdstorrick]

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[gdstorrick]

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[LukeM]

Archived information is better than no information at all! Sorry, I know you have every right to do exactly that you want with the site. Just stating my opinion. Thanks for having maintained such a useful site for so long!

[gdstorrick]

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