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View Full Version : War stories: where were you when the Forum went down?



David Bailey
24th-November-2005, 08:44 AM
From a Really Official Press Release:

---------------------------------
Economists* across the nation were baffled yesterday as industry leaders reported a massive rise in productivity throughout the UK, from lunchtime onwards. They could find no visible cause, and only a few muttered hints of "Forum down" gave them any clues. Bosses noticed a slight change in empoyee attitudes, and a different coloured "screensaver" used by staff, but could make no sense of it.

Tracking down references and unearthing evidence, investigators finally managed to interview a mysterious figure, who asked to be known only as "DJ, OK?". This figure rambled incoherently for several minutes, becoming more and more emotional, before he finally raisied his eyes to the heavens, crying out "WHY? WHY, FRANCK WHY?", then covered his head in his hands and sobbed inconsolably.

The mystery deepens and the investigation continues...
---------------------------------

* I know, it's usually "scientists are baffled", but that'd be, well, silly.

under par
24th-November-2005, 08:55 AM
I don't think it would have been so bad but the forum page would open and showed there was a PRIVATE MESSAGE unread.

Who was it from ?:eek:

What little gem of goss was enclosed in the unread unreadable PM?:eek:

Took so so long to find out.. but now ahhh:drool: :drool: its back.



Thanks Franck:worthy:

I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky.....


It did mean a forumite telephoned me though.......soon fall back on old habits eh when you can't get your fix...

Icey
24th-November-2005, 09:07 AM
Economists* across the nation were baffled yesterday as industry leaders reported a massive rise in productivity throughout the UK

I actually did some work yesterday, it's too ghastly to contemplate. i shan't be doing it again any time soon thankfully now that the forum is back:grin: Thanks Franck :clap:

CeeCee
24th-November-2005, 09:11 AM
Originally posted by DavidJames
This figure rambled incoherently for several minutes, becoming more and more emotional…

The temptation to comment is almost irresistable...

Where was I when the Forum went down? I was at home and I actually managed to finish my stack of ironing, tidy my office, file my paperwork and catch up on my emails to non forumites.

Then I wondered about what would happen when it came back up.
What if all the figures had returned to zero!
No reputation points, no number of posts, no power!
What! Start all over again.

While I’m proud of my 70 posts, I’m new so wouldn’t be affected. What about the Super Posters, how would the Forum World cope if they had to start again?


Originally posted by Underpar
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky.....

I met a forumite last night at Surbiton and we both found ourselves declaring that we are not addicted to the Forum, the fact that it was down was not a problem, we could cope. Isn’t that one of the signs of an addiction, denial?

Cruella
24th-November-2005, 09:22 AM
It did mean a forumite telephoned me though.......soon fall back on old habits eh when you can't get your fix...
It's OK UP,i don't mind if you name and shame me:flower: It was quite nice chatting instead of PMing. But ok i admit it my name is Di and i'm an addict.:blush:

Lynn
24th-November-2005, 11:03 AM
I didn't notice too much as I am trying to get other things done, have to admit though that I did attempt to get on here last night and couldn't. I did think 'what if it was down for weeks'? There is text and email I suppose...

Anyway, I have a question and this is as good as place as any to ask it (OK, I should really track down the rep thread). I can't rep anyone - when I try to the screen just jumps to the top of the page. Anyone else find this? (DJ you needn't answer this as I can't rep you for being helpful. :whistle: )

LMC
24th-November-2005, 11:14 AM
I can't rep anyone at the moment either - tried logging out and in again to clear cookies, but nope, still not working...

I'm using the Basic Blue skin if that makes any difference?

Dizzy
24th-November-2005, 11:17 AM
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky
I am not a forum junky.....


Nah............me either!!! :whistle: :rolleyes:

I actually got on with some paperwork at my office though I was checking every 10 minutes to see if the forum was up again!! :eek:

Mary
24th-November-2005, 11:19 AM
Anyway, I have a question and this is as good as place as any to ask it (OK, I should really track down the rep thread). I can't rep anyone - when I try to the screen just jumps to the top of the page. Anyone else find this? (DJ you needn't answer this as I can't rep you for being helpful. :whistle: )


Consider yourself repped young lady. Yay for Macs!:clap: :clap:

M

under par
24th-November-2005, 11:26 AM
I can't rep anyone at the moment either - tried logging out and in again to clear cookies, but nope, still not working...

I'm using the Basic Blue skin if that makes any difference?

When I repped in basic blue a pop up window appeared but it was behind the screen of the forum.

LMC sorry to quote you fully (doffs cap as a subordinate should do) but it was all relevant....honest MISS! beggin your forgiveness mam!

Icey
24th-November-2005, 11:29 AM
I can't rep anyone at the moment either - tried logging out and in again to clear cookies, but nope, still not working...

Is that a hint to get others to test their repping ability on you? :whistle: That has shades of DJ you know!

LMC
24th-November-2005, 11:31 AM
Nope, no pop up screen for me :(

UP, you silly man :rolleyes: :hug: - woulda repped you for making me smirk, but can't!

Icey - I don't do hints, I only do blindingly obvious :rofl:

Icey
24th-November-2005, 11:32 AM
I've lost my repping ability :tears:

Groovy Dancer
24th-November-2005, 11:34 AM
I've lost my repping ability :tears:


:sad: :yeah:

Lynn
24th-November-2005, 11:35 AM
Is that a hint to get others to test their repping ability on you? :whistle: That has shades of DJ you know!No! I honestly didn't even think of that! :rofl:

I just noticed that I can't rep people, noticed last night too.

Gojive
24th-November-2005, 11:39 AM
Heh! I'm no forum junky either, so when the forum went down from 2:39pm until 8:50pm, and continued to be unavailable when I tried every 15 mins in between, I just got on with other things. I've now caught up on all the other forums I use :)

Lynn
24th-November-2005, 11:47 AM
No! I honestly didn't even think of that! :rofl: Duh reading this too quickly, thought you were quoting me! But if anyone needs to test whether they can rep or not...:whistle:

Little Monkey
24th-November-2005, 11:52 AM
I had unread private messages, and was completely traumatised as I couldn't read them!:tears:

*Shudder*

Feeling better today.......

under par
24th-November-2005, 11:58 AM
Duh reading this too quickly, thought you were quoting me! But if anyone needs to test whether they can rep or not...:whistle:

Try repping again .......:kiss: I'm available:kiss:

Mary
24th-November-2005, 12:52 PM
Try repping again .......:kiss: I'm available:kiss:

Me too!
:whistle:

M

under par
24th-November-2005, 12:57 PM
Try repping again .......:kiss: I'm available:kiss:
Aw! Thanks Lynn.:kiss:

Little Monkey
24th-November-2005, 01:02 PM
Try repping again .......:kiss: I'm available:kiss:

And me! Ooooh, see how close I am to 200!!!! Go on, try me! :D

ducasi
24th-November-2005, 02:15 PM
There is no truth in the rumour that the forum went down because it couldn't cope with certain people's reps going into the 700's. :really:

David Bailey
24th-November-2005, 02:26 PM
There is no truth in the rumour that the forum went down because it couldn't cope with certain people's reps going into the 700's. :really:
Well, I know. Dunno who does this kind of thing, it's highly irresponsible. And I'm kind of disappointed to be still a beacon of light, I was hoping to transcend into being a fallen angel or something.

(obviously not a real angel, fallen angel's about the best I could aspire to).

Still, I think I'll change my avatar to mark the occasion; something good's been suggested...

Lynn
24th-November-2005, 02:33 PM
Still, I think I'll change my avatar to mark the occasion; something good's been suggested...I really should do this too, but can never think of anything interesting enough (or work out how to do it).

Icey
24th-November-2005, 02:44 PM
Well, I know. Dunno who does this kind of thing, it's highly irresponsible. And I'm kind of disappointed to be still a beacon of light, I was hoping to transcend into being a fallen angel or something.

Ohhh, mine's changed. I'm now going to be famous soon enough. Not too sure I want to be famous.

LMC
24th-November-2005, 02:48 PM
I wouldn't worry about it Icey - I mean, mine says I'm just really nice...

Icey
24th-November-2005, 02:55 PM
mine says I'm just really nice...

Now we both know that's simply not true. You're just evil, you're only nice when you've got a temperture or something :hug:

LMC
24th-November-2005, 03:00 PM
Well, exactly, that's why I said not to worry about being famous :D

DJ as an angel now..... :what: :rofl: -> \_/

DavidY
1st-December-2005, 12:00 AM
I was logged in at 12:28 today, came back a few minutes ago (22:50 ish) and there have been hardly any posts in that time.

Has the forum been broken again?

Or have people been doing actual work for a change?:confused:

Icey
1st-December-2005, 12:10 AM
I think it fell over about lunchtime :sad:

philsmove
1st-December-2005, 12:21 AM
It s been a bad day suffering sever withdrawal symptoms :tears:
And having to put up John Gimber’s Jokes On the Bristol forum :blush:


Thanks Frank for getting us back on line :clap: :cheers: :clap:

Lory
1st-December-2005, 12:32 AM
I wonder if we'll have a forum baby boom next aug/sept? :rofl:

WittyBird
1st-December-2005, 12:40 AM
I wonder if we'll have a forum baby boom next aug/sept? :rofl:

chance would be a fine thing!

Franck
1st-December-2005, 12:44 AM
I think it fell over about lunchtime :sad:
Yep, it started with a routine server crash, but this time the database got corrupted :sad: I spent most of the afternoon chasing support guys trying to fix the problem.

It seems the Forum is now too busy for a standard (Virtual Private Server) Server, and the loads with often as many as 100 people online at once are too high to sustain. I have therefore been looking at proper dedicated servers :sick: and will have to transfer, upgrade in the next couple of weeks. This might mean a day or two of interruption while the DNS gets updated, but I'll give you all warning and try to choose a (relatively) quiet time to do it.

Thanks for your patience (today and in the near future). :flower:

ChrisA
1st-December-2005, 12:46 AM
a routine server crash
A what????????

These Mac people. I'll never understand them.... :devil:

Franck
1st-December-2005, 12:59 AM
A what????????

These Mac people. I'll never understand them.... :devil:Well, the server isn't a mac :wink:
Crashes have recently become routine because of the high load... (I guess recent 'elitist' discussions haven't helped :whistle: )

Vbulletin is a very good system, but when a forum becomes busy, it consumes bandwidth and the hundreds of server requests are very resource intensive...
Maybe I should consider moving the forum to a mac server... now there's a thought! Stable, beautiful, affordable, easy to maintain and use... :clap:

ducasi
1st-December-2005, 01:03 AM
I run my web sites from my Mac... :whistle:

But if you find a good, cheap hosting company that uses Xserves, let me know. (Or even better, a cheap co-location provider in Scotland!)

WittyBird
1st-December-2005, 01:16 AM
and for most of the men out there its the only thing that has for them today:whistle:

ChrisA
1st-December-2005, 10:11 AM
but when a forum becomes busy, it consumes bandwidth and the hundreds of server requests are very resource intensive...

Do you have any idea of how many update transactions a second it has to cope with at peak?

And where are all the resources going? In the script interpreter or the database? Allegedly, MySQL is pretty robust these days but I've never really used it...

ducasi
1st-December-2005, 10:35 AM
From my experience, it's not MySQL that's the problem, it's Linux's architecture, and the spec of the server that is the issue.

Linux isn't very robust in low-memory situations. On a big enough, dedicated server, the forum can have all the memory it needs.

Based on my experience of running vBulletin, I'd be looking for a system with one or two gigabytes of memory to run the CerocScotland forum on.

KatieR
1st-December-2005, 11:08 AM
It seems the Forum is now too busy for a standard (Virtual Private Server) Server, and the loads with often as many as 100 people online at once are too high to sustain. I have therefore been looking at proper dedicated servers :sick: and will have to transfer, upgrade in the next couple of weeks. This might mean a day or two of interruption while the DNS gets updated, but I'll give you all warning and try to choose a (relatively) quiet time to do it.
One thing you can do is log on to The Australian Forum (www.cerocforum.com) become a forum benefactor (AUD$15.. so about £6 - a small price to pay) and play arcade games all afternoon :whistle:

Oh and dont forget to use my wonderful referral link
http://www.cerocforum.com/index.php?referrerid=376

Lynn
1st-December-2005, 11:20 AM
Shows we are addicted - its down for a few hours and yet we still feel the need to keep in touch via email, text etc!


This might mean a day or two of interruption while the DNS gets updated, but I'll give you all warning and try to choose a (relatively) quiet time to do it. A day or two! :really:

Well, it will be a good time to see if life can continue without the forum...

Seriously Franck, thanks for all your work yesterday getting things up and running again. :hug: :flower:

DavidB
1st-December-2005, 02:12 PM
Franck

Can you please crash the server again. Everyone was so much nicer to each other yesterday.

drathzel
1st-December-2005, 02:14 PM
Shows we are addicted - its down for a few hours and yet we still feel the need to keep in touch via email, text etc!

Yup! I was probably in contact more with forumites during the black out!:D