I had been wondering why I couldn’t get into Gamefan to find news (let alone even loading it) and now I know why. I can’t think of any Sonic websites that are hosted there but if you know any of them it may be wise to tell them to move before tomorrow or find a temporary spot.
Following a turbulent merger with Express.com, GameFan appears to have pulled the plug on all of its hosted websites. The main GameFan website is down (supposedly for an almost permanent period) while popular sites such as VoodooExtreme are unreachable. Apparently Express.com found hosting sites to be “no longer supported under our business model.” A full version of the email sent out to hosted sites appears below.
RE: Courtesy Hosting Services
Dear GameFan Network Associate:
We regret to inform you that Express.com will no longer be offering the courtesy of hosting services to its GameFan Network Associates. We have found that this service can no longer be supported under our business model, and we will do whatever we can within reason to facilitate any transitional requirements. The timing for this is as soon as possible, and is to occur no later than Monday, October 2, 2000. To be clear, any GameFan Network Associate site that has not been moved off Genuity s servers by 11:59 PM October 2nd will effectively be shut down, so it is critical that you take independent action to retrieve and independently procure hosting provider for your site(s).
A pretty rotten thing to do on such extremely short notice. 🙁 Good luck to those hosted with them.