Apple2Guide.net wiki: A small problem...

["Gabriel" <usenet@gamoe.net>]

I have bad (and good) news. The Bad: I made a horrible mistake and
deleted the entire wiki MySQL database.

Let me explain:

I've had a lot of school work lately, and haven't had a chance to make
the changes I wanted to the wiki. Well, today I had some time on my
hands, so I decided to finally move up the wiki to it's proper address,
as Warren has  been asking me to do for a while.

The thing is, I already had a test database and wiki copy set up. But,
the wiki version installed is not the latest anymore, so I wanted to
install the newest version. So, what I proceeded to do was delete the
empty test copy database to be replaced by the newest version and drop
the tables of that database. Then, after it was installed, I would
point it to the "old" real database, accessible from the old address,
and once I was convinced it was working fine, delete the old software
(not database).

The thing is, I already had a copy of the wiki software in place in the
new address. However, it was not the newest version and it was working
off another database (with no real data), so as not to affect the
working wiki just in case something went wrong.

So, I deleted that copy, along with the empty database (since it had no
real data, and I wanted a completely "fresh" install) and installed the
newest version. After that, I was going to backup the working database
and connect it to the new software.

What went wrong:

I opened up PHPMyAdmin, by clicking on a button next to the database
with no real data, but I was automatically logged in by my browser
(trying to help out...) to the *OTHER*, working database, in which I
proceeded to drop all tables, since I was under the impression that
this was just the test database. To top it off, I don't have a backup,
because I cleared up files on my drive recently and accidentally
deleted the backups. Google doesn't have enough pages of the wiki
cached, either, so getting it from there is a no-go.

The good news:

I called up and talked to my host. They can restore the database.
*But*, they charge a $150 fee to do so. $150 is a lot of money for me
right now. It was my doing, though, and I will pay it if you guys think
it's worth it. I have about 30 days to decide, although the rep told me
I should probably call before 20 days or so just to make sure it wasn't
erased.

So, that's the story. Tell me what you think I should do. I was
thinking, though that $150 is not a lot of money when divided by a
bunch of people. So... If you think I should have the database restored
and you guys want to help me out, I've set up a donation page at
http://gamoe.net/donate.html . I'd appreciate any help with this,
although I also understand if you don't feel like helping me pay for my
own mistake. It's all good either way.

Conclusion:

I'm going to back this thing up once a week, and put up the latest
backup for download at least once a month, as suggested.

Feedback:

Let me know if you think I/we should (pay to) restore the database or
otherwise.