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If you have tried to use the forum in the past two days, you have noticed that it has not been working. This was my fault, and it should be back operational now. We've been having some small reliability problems all along, especially with trying to update the software that runs the message boards. There have been several updated releases since the version that we are running, each with bug fixes that we aren't able to enjoy until we are able to execute the upgrade. The latest testing of why we haven't been able to upgrade pointed to a big part of the problem being with the hosting company that we were using. Other folks trying to use the software on that host were having similar problems. The extended downtime over the past two days has been while I've been moving the message board software to a new host. That process should have accounted for half a day, or maybe a full day of down time. Unfortunately, the database that drives the forum is very large, and the size was causing an error in the move.
Imagine having a friend that needs to move to a new house. You say "sure, I'll be glad to move all of your stuff for you. I've moved plenty of houses before, and I have a big truck." You pack everything up and drive over to the new house, then once you get there, you realize that the refrigerator won't fit through the door, because the door at the new house is too small. This isn't because that house has a really small door, but rather, that it is an abnormally huge refrigerator.
In the computer version of this situation, it isn't a major problem, rather just an inconvenience. Part of why it took so long is that for the first 36 hours of down time, I was going back and forth with the tech support at the new host to have them increase the size of the "door." It took them that long to tell me that they weren't going to do it, which is something that is immensely frustrating, and be assured that I've let them know how I feel about it. Obviously if I had known that this was going to be the case, I would not have waited.
So as soon as I found out that they were not going to be helping, I got out the hatchet and started removing pieces of the refrigerator. Speaking of which, you may find a missing .pdf file or two. If you notice them, let me know where they used to be and I'll try to restore them.
The tools that I have for this job are such that each swing of the hatchet requires a time-consuming file upload (around 40 minutes) followed by a time-consuming crunching period (around 20 minutes), just to find out whether or not the particular part of the file is now small enough to get imported under the existing limit. Sort of like cutting a windshield to fit, it is a cut a little, fit, mark, cut a little operation.
So that is why it has taken so long to get things back up and running. This isn't going to be the last time that there will be down time, because this down time has only accounted for moving the files to the new, hopefully more reliable host. The good news is that the down time for updates should be much shorter, because I can do some testing before having to monkey with the live site. There have been four of those since mid-September, and odds are that you haven't noticed them hopefully. The next one of those will be sometime next week when I try to get the new update installed on the new host, assuming it tests well before hand.
Thank you for your patience, and look for a slightly better forum soon.
Imagine having a friend that needs to move to a new house. You say "sure, I'll be glad to move all of your stuff for you. I've moved plenty of houses before, and I have a big truck." You pack everything up and drive over to the new house, then once you get there, you realize that the refrigerator won't fit through the door, because the door at the new house is too small. This isn't because that house has a really small door, but rather, that it is an abnormally huge refrigerator.
In the computer version of this situation, it isn't a major problem, rather just an inconvenience. Part of why it took so long is that for the first 36 hours of down time, I was going back and forth with the tech support at the new host to have them increase the size of the "door." It took them that long to tell me that they weren't going to do it, which is something that is immensely frustrating, and be assured that I've let them know how I feel about it. Obviously if I had known that this was going to be the case, I would not have waited.
So as soon as I found out that they were not going to be helping, I got out the hatchet and started removing pieces of the refrigerator. Speaking of which, you may find a missing .pdf file or two. If you notice them, let me know where they used to be and I'll try to restore them.
The tools that I have for this job are such that each swing of the hatchet requires a time-consuming file upload (around 40 minutes) followed by a time-consuming crunching period (around 20 minutes), just to find out whether or not the particular part of the file is now small enough to get imported under the existing limit. Sort of like cutting a windshield to fit, it is a cut a little, fit, mark, cut a little operation.
So that is why it has taken so long to get things back up and running. This isn't going to be the last time that there will be down time, because this down time has only accounted for moving the files to the new, hopefully more reliable host. The good news is that the down time for updates should be much shorter, because I can do some testing before having to monkey with the live site. There have been four of those since mid-September, and odds are that you haven't noticed them hopefully. The next one of those will be sometime next week when I try to get the new update installed on the new host, assuming it tests well before hand.
Thank you for your patience, and look for a slightly better forum soon.
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