Cipher

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Holiday Notice Homecoming will be suspending support from December 21st to January 1st in order to give our volunteer team a much-deserved break over the holidays. While some members of the team may respond to time-sensitive requests during this time, please expect longer than usual response times and for minor issues to be resolved after the holidays. Thank you for your understanding. Happy Holidays! Last Month: December 2025 Income Total: $5,582.12 Amount Source $5,581.75 Donations $0.37 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,118.26 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.89 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $3.60 AWS Orphaned address, removed $19.95 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $105.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $105.00 Invision Forum software renewal This Month: January 2026 The donation target for January 2026 is $5,694.79. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.79 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.95 SendGrid Outbound Email $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $240.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $240.00 UPS LLC Mailbox Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

OVH has a number of newer or refreshed offerings which would allow us to reduce our costs and address some of the issues we've had over the past two or so years while retaining close to the same capacity, and one of my goals is to create and execute on a plan to migrate to some of these by mid-2026, though that timeline may shift in either direction since we're a fully volunteer operation with a lot of moving pieces these days.

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Holiday Notice Homecoming will be suspending support from December 21st to January 1st in order to give our volunteer team a much-deserved break over the holidays. While some members of the team may respond to time-sensitive requests during this time, please expect longer than usual response times and for minor issues to be resolved after the holidays. Additionally, we will be opening donations to cover our expenses for the month of January 2026 on Saturday, December 13th rather than later in the month as we typically do during other times of the year. Thank you for your understanding. Happy Holidays! Last Month: November 2025 Income Total: $5,681.70 Amount Source $5,677.39 Donations $4.31 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,118.26 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.89 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $3.72 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $19.95 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $413.56 Our G.L. insurance provider, Hiscox, billed us early for our annual insurance renewal. We anticipated this charging us in December, and as such, we will be including it in our donation target for December. We received a discount on our NameCheap domain renewals which was not factored into our target for November. The remaining funds will be put towards our operating expenses for December. Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $300.00 DocuSign Annual renewal $113.56 NameCheap 2x .gg renewal (1-year) This Month: December 2025 The donation target for December 2025 is $5,580.78. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.79 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.95 SendGrid Outbound Email $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $455.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $350 Hiscox G.L. insurance (1-year) $105 Invision Community Forum software renewal (6-month) Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Last Month: October 2025 Income Total: $5,204.90 Amount Source $5,203.99 Donations $0.91 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,206.74 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.80 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $23.72 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $19.95 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes This Month: November 2025 The donation target for November 2025 is $5,673.36. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.79 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.95 SendGrid Outbound Email $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $466.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $300.00 DocuSign 1 seat, annual $166.00 NameCheap 2x .gg domain renewal Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

We did not pay for the support we received last weekend, we managed to get the issue flagged for intervention. If we were to change support tier, the prices are listed on OVH's website: https://www.ovhcloud.com/en/support-levels/plans/. Note that the Business tier is actually 10% of of your bill or $300, whichever is more, which would be around $490 per month for Homecoming.

Great to hear, thank you!

Vanguard has been restored on new VMs, but we are unable to restore Architect Entertainment on Vanguard until we can safely recover data from the downed VM host.

We're unsure of the root cause, but something took out the CPU(s), certain functions of the mainboard such as IPMI, memory, and damaged the disks. We're currently working on Vanguard and expect to have it up within the hour.

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Last Month: September 2025 Income Total: $5,239.44 Amount Source $5,238.70 Donations $0.74 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,202.65 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.81 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $29.26 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $19.95 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes This Month: October 2025 The donation target for October 2025 is $5,202.87. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.79 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.95 SendGrid Outbound Email $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0.00 IONOS has not yet invoiced us for a domain renewal which happened in August. We’re expecting to be invoiced for it this month, but are not going to be including it in our expense breakdown as the funds were previously collected and have been held. Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Last Month: August 2025 Income Total: $5,322.66 Amount Source $5,321.59 Donations $1.07 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,202.65 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.78 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $29.17 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $19.95 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $116.34 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $106.34 NameCheap Domain renewals $10.00 IPSFocus Website asset support renewal This Month: September 2025 The donation target for September 2025 is $5,218.26. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.79 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.95 SendGrid Outbound Email $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $17.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $17.00 IONOS Domain Renewal Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Last Month: July 2025 Income Total: $5,428.27 Amount Source $5,427.61 Donations $0.66 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,202.65 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.78 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $29.30 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $10.30 SendGrid $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes This Month: August 2025 The donation target for August 2025 is $5,307.14. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.09 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.25 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $107.00 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $107.00 NameCheap 3x 1-year domain renewal Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

Hello everyone! As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread. Homecoming operates in a non-profit capacity* and accepts donations from the community each month to cover its operating expenses. These donation windows typically open on the last Saturday of each month, around 13:00 EST, and are automatically closed once the goal for the month has been reached. Any funds remaining at the end of each month are put towards our expenses for the following month. In the event that our expenses exceed our estimated costs for the month, the difference will be included in the donation goal for the following month. If you wish to donate, you may do so here. The donation window for next month is open as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal is met. Thank you for your continued support! * Homecoming is a Delaware registered Limited Liability Company, not a non-profit organization, and donations made to Homecoming are not tax deductible. Last Month: June 2025 Income Total: $5,097.12 Amount Source $5,096.35 Donations $0.77 Rebates & Rewards (PayPal) Recurring Expenses Total: $5,192.60 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $264.79 Google Workspace Voice (x1), Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $29.54 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes This Month: July 2025 The donation target for July 2025 is $5,426.49. Recurring Expenses Total: $5,183.09 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes $4,853.37 Server Infrastructure (OVH) $265.57 Google Workspace Voice, Business (15 seats) $31.00 Databasemart GPU Server $19.25 Email (AWS EC2 + SES) 2x EC2 micro instances $13.90 Admin Software Additional Expenses Total: $0 Amount Service / “to” Addt’l Notes Donations will be open at https://cohhc.gg/donate as of the time of this post and will automatically close once the goal has been met. As always, thank you for your continued support. - The Homecoming Team

For better or worse, we don't use a sheets-driven approach like what may have been done earlier into City's development; we work directly with the domain-specific text representation that those sheets were originally compiled to which are not easily understood if you are not a powers developer, and have a tool which parses and generates these files with a GUI which some on the team use. Unfortunately, this means that it is not as simple as just publishing sheets somewhere for user consumption. That said, it was a past desire of mine to parse and build a version of some of the powers data in a format that is easier for the community to work with for purposes like keeping Mids' up to date, but it's not a priority at the moment and would be unlikely to happen in the near future.

Hey, Unfortunately, Google pushed a series of updates to how they index and rank websites for Search in March and one of those changes resulted in forums being significantly de-valuated, ours included. The Search Console does not display any issues with crawling and indexing our site, but logs show since May 27th, the number of pages indexed dropped from ~140,000 to just 10,800, and and our impressions have dropped from ~83,000 per day to just 821 today. Other site administrators have been seeing the same thing happening to their websites, both forum and blog based, at the same time as ours, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any solution for it on our end.