I hope so too, I hope so too.

This prompts me to ask something I've been itching to since my early days here. Why exactly are there two lighting sites, with nearly identical names, both based in North America, with seemingly similar features and content, and with a large number of mutual members, anyway? Which site was first, and whose idea was it to make another regardless?

I understand hoping to get the site back up due to pictures that are on there. Just because I'm curious, though, let's say it can't be done and everything is lost. What would be the point of making a new site? Lighting Gallery is the more popular of the two, anyway. Not bashing the other site, just incredibly curious.    

There are some not so pretty events, which I don't think would be too good to dig out...

Ooh, sounds fun. But I won't inquire further if the tale shouldn't be told. 

yes there were some differences among members. Since you mention it, yes the GoL is smaller, which is why many prefer it. It's sort of like LG is the big city (LG was first, bTW) and the GoL is like the suburb. Both have their advantages.

This prompts me to ask something I've been itching to since my early days here. Why exactly are there two lighting sites, with nearly identical names, both based in North America, with seemingly similar features and content, and with a large number of mutual members, anyway? Which site was first, and whose idea was it to make another regardless?

I understand hoping to get the site back up due to pictures that are on there. Just because I'm curious, though, let's say it can't be done and everything is lost. What would be the point of making a new site? Lighting Gallery is the more popular of the two, anyway. Not bashing the other site, just incredibly curious.    

One time some of the members on this site had an argument for an unknown reason.  They kinda of divorced this site when the Gallery of Lights was formed.  As the time passed, they reconciled each other but the site remains.  I used Gallery of Lights to post pictures from Movies and TV show grabs over there.  I hope this gets resolved or forever get lost and reposted some of the picture grabs again here I have posted some comments at the other site linking to the Gallery of Lights pages.

On the GoL one thread was very useful: There was list of ANSI ballast codes together with the lamp electrical rating (rated arc current and the typical arc voltage), so it was quite good reference I used when someone was asking for some hard to find or an unusual ballast...
If someone have that list (it was assembled by pieces by many users over time), I think it would be good posting it here...

Here's a link for the current ANSI codes: http://www.kolmart.com/HID-ANSI-Code-Guide_b_3.html


I couldn't tell you the old MV codes though...

The wattage ratings are everywhere, but that tells nothing.
When you have to find and/or design some suitable ballast either for ANSI lamp to be operated in non-ANSI area or to find a suitable ballast for some non-ANSI lamp, you need to know the exact currents and voltages, the load characteristic could be well guessed form the ballast concepts used for the given ANSI code...
So what was way more important there, were the arc current and voltage figures, not just the wattages.

Jace is TudorWhiz, right? According to his profile he hasn't been here in almost 11 months.

Correct.

Jace may not have been on L-G in 11 months. But I could swear he was on GoL not too long ago. . . .

If so, maybe he will try getting on GoL and find out the site is parked and do something about it. Everybody seems to think Ian doesn't care about GoL anymore. But I think Jace does. I think Jace just doesn't know what's going on.

Yes I'm sure Jace cares but he just hasn't been on the site that's all. He's probably been busy. He hasn't replied to my email. I hope he still uses his tudorwhiz@gmail.com email.

If anyone can contact them via face book (Ian Golden has a my little pony avitar and Jace Chapman has himself as his profile pic) that's our best bet at this point. I don't have a facebook so i can't reach them on there.

Hey, In case you don't know, I'm user joe_347v on GoL. Sorry about the problems but we need the site owner before we can do anything about the site. This is because the domain and the hosting was done by him so he is the only one who can contact them to fix it.

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This prompts me to ask something I've been itching to since my early days here. Why exactly are there two lighting sites, with nearly identical names, both based in North America, with seemingly similar features and content, and with a large number of mutual members, anyway? Which site was first, and whose idea was it to make another regardless?

I understand hoping to get the site back up due to pictures that are on there. Just because I'm curious, though, let's say it can't be done and everything is lost. What would be the point of making a new site? Lighting Gallery is the more popular of the two, anyway. Not bashing the other site, just incredibly curious.    

Yes there was a disagreement which led to some members splitting off but as time went by the two sites reconciled which ended the conflict. GoL still remained as some members prefer posting different types of pics on each site. I personally find most of the streetlight and traffic light collectors on GoL so I post to both sites if possible. I usually post more of my streetlight pics on GoL and my general lighting pics on GoL. Another reason why GoL was frequented by some is the site remained a small site so people who frequented there really go to know on another I'll say.

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I'll post a copy of the announcement I made in case it didn't get through to you guys:

    
WHY GOL IS OFFLINE - DOMAIN NAME EXPIRED
« on: Today at 10:45:46 PM »
Hey everyone,

In case you've been wondering why none of you guys can't access GoL, it's because the domain for this site expired and needs to be renewed. As far as I know only the site owner (Ian) can renew so unfortunately we have to wait until he renews it or passes on the ownership of the site to someone else. A lot of us have been trying to contact Ian about this issue but so far we don't have anymore info to tell you guys.

Anyway if you know how to edit your computer's hosts file, you can try doing this to see if you can access GoL:

add the following line to your hosts file:

72.29.81.201   www.galleryoflights.org

please see the below link for instructions:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

If you do decide to edit the hosts file please make sure to REMOVE THE CHANGES you made WHEN THE DOMAIN IS RENEWED again.

For the updates on the GoL situation please see the thread on LG below:
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/index.php?topic=3319.0

I am user Joseph_125 on there.

Hope everything's fixed soon and this announcement goes through to you all.

-Joe

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I made a backup of the forum in case anything happens but I have no way of verifying said backup for completeness. Gallery backup to the best of knowledge requires access to the hosting/server account which I don't have.

Hope the reason behind isn't anything worse happening to Ian...