Early this afternoon most of Hollywood Elsewhere’s uploaded still images (dating back to August ’04) disappeared.

Hollywood Elsewhere’s ISP is WP Engine of Austin. The vast majority of HE’s images are stored in a cloud maintained by Amazon Web Services (AWS). WP Engine stores the images on a hard drive for about ten days, and then migrates them to the AWS cloud. I know the bucket name but not the account #. Not my fault.

As of earlier today WP Engine’s access to these images was denied, and therefore to the world. The protocol access data has changed due to whatever, and WP Engine, appallingly, told me they have no way of reaching out to AWS to inquire or remedy.

It’s presumably a payment issue, but I don’t have the AWS account # that would allow me to shake hands with their system and forward whatever payment may be required.

The guy who set all of this up back in ’17, Dominic Eardley of Lexington, Kentucky, wouldn’t reply to my messages (text, email, phone). Plus AWS doesn’t have an easy-access chat or help line, certainly without my having an account #.

Update: After several hours Dominic <u>finally</u> replied, and then an AWS customer service rep reached out.

The situation will eventually be solved but this is what’s been occupying me and darkening my soul for the last five or six hours.