WARNING: I've been noticing a lot of issues on the site related to people using Mirroring/Web Copying/Page Sucking software. Now I'm not totally opposed to such programs, I use them myself sometimes, but they MUST BE USED CORRECTLY. The big problem seems to be when they hit the PHP code in my Gallery. They go into infinite loops, suck up enormous amounts of bandwidth in a limited amount of time, and don't actually download anything.
Please stop doing this. I had one guy let his program run for two hours and he DOUBLED my monthly bandwidth.
I just had another guy on June 9-10th who generated over 18,000 404 errors, using 11 meg of bandwidth. And seriously, the total content of my site is only about 85 Meg, including the log files!
There's nothing on this site you're going to find via one of these programs. No hidden directories or secret stashes of "Good stuff". But if this continues to be a problem, IP bans will be put in place, and I may even have to take down the gallery.
So, if you're going to use one of these programs, learn how to properly configure it to not do infinite loops when they hit PHP, and SUPERVISE them. You will probably get everything here within half an hour. When you start seeing errors rack up, PULL THE PLUG.
That is all. Be considerate, or be blocked.
2/6/10 - As always, things take longer than planned, but in any case, Chair #8 shipped around Christmas, #7 and #6 are waiting for some special parts before they can be painted. The new paint booth works incredibly well. There is still a huge backlog of work, as shown in the Production Queue, so Commissions and customization is still closed.
If anyone is a PHP expert and would like to donate a little assistance, I'd like to come up with an ultra-simplified, stripped down gallery feature so that I don't have to deal with the 400+ /Month hacking attempts at the Coppermine login page. Seriously guys, there's nothing there hidden you can't see normally!
The big news currently is that I'll soon be taking Paul Mauser Studios in a different direction. Being a Custom shop is overcomplicated by the day to day considerations - day job, life in general.
So, once the current list of commissions is completed, I'm going to move to a more online-retail like model. I will build things to put in inventory, and list them here on the site. When they're available you can pick them up. And I'll keep a page up of what is in the production queue.
Some items will be carried unpainted and be painted to order.
I'll bring up some new, simpler products that I still think will be unique.
Some items which are in high demand but hard to produce in quantity may be put up for eBay auctions.
A site overhaul is one of those items in the queue, but I'm going to take a stab at putting up part of the queue now.
I'm also going to make time to take on a few personal projects that have been waiting for far too long.