Site Outages

[Matt]

Sorry for the down times everyone.

Everytime we have a snag, they have to reboot the server which kicks everyone off. <_<

I am dealing with support about it because the amount of times this has happened over the last two weeks is unacceptable. I understand we are taking an amazing amount of hits since we started the fund raiser. :rock:

I told them that is the entire reason we moved to a dedicated server and we needed a fix.

I appreciate everyone's patience and just know that when this site is having a glitch, I'm doing nothing but trying to get it fixed. :grouphug:

[Brice]

This I know. Matt has been known to leave work before because a site he owned was down. :lol:

This is the first time since this morning I could get on here. :( *clings to the .com* :couple:

[The Lady of Shadows]

we really appreciate it matt. you've gotten us all so addicted that we sit in front of the computer and just hit refresh refresh REFRESH and tilt our heads curiously, not understanding the problem. we KNOW it's out there - we just can't get to it. the ultimate torture.

p.s. whenever it's down razzle and i take bets on whether you're going after anyone with sharp objects or hiring brice to do it for you. :lol:

[Merlin1958]

You know Matt, I hesitated to mention it cause I thought it might be misconstrued but, the site does run rather sluggishly. I am in no way complaining but just letting you know that's all. I still get on here just slowly. You're paying for this no doubt and should get the level of service you (and we?) pay for. Good luck!!!!

[Matt]

There are a few people who report constant sluggishness with the site. Sometimes it's just for a few minutes because the board is running some kind of task.

At any rate, Aaron and I are doing our best to negotiate the right amount of space without paying too much all while having no idea what we are talking about. :lol:

[razz]

seriously, just say the word matt. you'll have no more troubles. I'm already sharpening my knives. i mean um....my pencils, so that i can write up a contract with the server people. :ninja:

[Daghain]

Seriously, if you need donations to keep the site going, just ask. :D

[MonteGss]

I gave a donation or two at .net. I felt it was wasted money.

Here, however, I would not feel that way. Maybe it's just Matt and his actual presence on the boards...not some invisible name asking for money...
This is a pretty good place to be.

:D

[Daghain]

Amen, brother!

[The Lady of Shadows]

Seriously, if you need donations to keep the site going, just ask. :D

donations. definitely. you name it matt and you've got it. we've got your back on the site and it's not going anywhere.





unless of course you have to send razz and brice in to "negotiate". then you may need to find a new server service. :unsure:

[Jon]

I gave a donation or two at .net. I felt it was wasted money.

Here, however, I would not feel that way. Maybe it's just Matt and his actual presence on the boards...not some invisible name asking for money...
This is a pretty good place to be.

:D

Aye yup... some moderators wondered where the admin were there as well.

Yes Matt it has been sluggish for me for a month or so. I just didn't want to complain.

If I know where and how,I'll dontate what I can.

[turtlex]

Matt... Or how about a amazon link here that would put proceeds to TDT? You could sign up with amazon associates, and then when we buy stuff at amazon, so long as we click through, I think you'd get some money. It might help. Just a suggestion. It's not like we don't all buy from amazon anyways!

[razz]

did anyone else just have problems loading pages?
:unsure:

[Randall Flagg]

I used to often have problems loading the pages quickly. I started using Mozilla Firefox as my browser and significantly reduced page loading time.

[alinda]

After the site went my server did ( or something) I have no internet at home when I left since yesterday too :(

[Matt]

I think that is part of it and also the moment a person is actually trying to refresh, some of us go hours at a stretch without doing it and may hit at a weird moment. Then you have those hours where you do it every 2 seconds. :lol:

As for the comments on donations, we really appreciate that. Some kind of "Friends of TheDarkTower.com" premium membership might be worked out. We would just have to figure out some kind of perks. :orely:

[The Lady of Shadows]

oh captain, my captain?

we'll help you out with those perks. just click HERE (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?t=4008)

:evil:

[Matt]

I gave a donation or two at .net. I felt it was wasted money.

Here, however, I would not feel that way. Maybe it's just Matt and his actual presence on the boards...not some invisible name asking for money...
This is a pretty good place to be.

:D

I forgot to mention how much I appreciate this. The idea of "being here" was one of the things I wanted the most for this site.

I'm going to discuss this with the other Directors you guys, maybe after the fund raiser we can start a poll to see what people would like.

[turtlex]

Um, did we just have another outage?

I couldn't post and then got knocked off completely.

Total suckage.

[Daghain]

I thought it was my company's web portal. I'm getting a page saying I don't have authorization to access the site with my company's logo on it. :lol:

[razz]

Luckily it wasn't as epic of an outage.
still sucks though

[Matt]

I called and made them reboot it.

We're working on the problem everyone, sorry for the inconvenience. :fairy:

[turtlex]

Matt - do you need us to come there and kick some ass for you?

[Merlin1958]

I think that is part of it and also the moment a person is actually trying to refresh, some of us go hours at a stretch without doing it and may hit at a weird moment. Then you have those hours where you do it every 2 seconds. :lol:

As for the comments on donations, we really appreciate that. Some kind of "Friends of TheDarkTower.com" premium membership might be worked out. We would just have to figure out some kind of perks. :orely:


They did something fairly simple over a .net. You donated 10 or 2o bucks and got a "19" sig in your handle (Where your member level and avatar appear) to show you were a supporter. Something similar might work here as well.

[Matt]

That's very true, I just had to keep anything that might go to Haven if I hadn't asked for it.

We are seriously kicking around some ideas for people to help in the "off" fundraiser season if they want.

[LadyHitchhiker]

I will help wherever I can!

[razz]

another blackout :(

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr82/Devavres/Untitled.jpg
So lonely

[gsvec]

Yeah, I was just clocking . . . but we're baaaaack!!! :excited:

[Matt]

I was on it quick this time. The people at Hostrocket are trying to come up with a solution which includes tracking the problem.

We're going to do whatever it takes to get it solved. Really sorry for any inconvenience. :grouphug:

[razz]

No inconveniences, Matt. We just can't stay away from your wonderful site.

[razz]

btw was there an outage this morning? around 6:00 AM est?

[Gunkslinger]

I'll pony up some cash to keep this site running just as long as others follow suit.. :cowboy:

I donated a sizeable amount to .net. Then it tanked. What a great investment. :orely:

[Matt]

:lol:

I appreciate that man. I also donated some money years ago.

This is basically the reason why I want to make sure the site stays free to everyone, it matters to me that people feel like they get their "money's worth" :lol:

Some kind of paid membership is being talked about and I am overwhelmed by how generous people are being. I'm glad folks like the place, it's a dream come true for me.

[turtlex]

( to paraphrase an older Letti sig )

Yeah... we like it a little bit... a little bit like the Earth !

[Merlin1958]

I will help wherever I can!

To quote Patrick Swayze "Ditto"

And why wait til after haven season? If folks are going to help out then they will regardless. I understand your concern but I would bet you'd be surprised. One thing sort of has nothing to do with the other. Or something like that. I just want some cool sigul by my name LOL

:cool:

[Matt]

:lol:

During Haven Season (I like that), I would much rather any extra funds a person has go to that. :rock:

But the sigul is a cool idea, I may do that for contributors this year.

[Merlin1958]

:lol:

During Haven Season (I like that), I would much rather any extra funds a person has go to that. :rock:

But the sigul is a cool idea, I may do that for contributors this year.

Why Thank you My Good Man!!! (#101 LOL) And feel free to use the "Haven Season" all you like lol.

You know, The Tower and Guns sigul of DT.com might be a good (and original) idea. Or the Ka or Crimson King eye? Just spitballing.:orely:

[Hannah]

The monthly server fee is the main cost of site upkeep, and it is not enough for us to feel like we should accept any donations to offset the cost.

This site is, and always will be, a place where anyone can come free of charge. Any money that is being paid should be for a service or product, and not a donation. At least that's how I see it. So if we are going to introduce some sort of paid premium thing, there will certainly have to be advantages that come with the payment. Ya dig?

[Matt]

Yep, no "something for nothing" on the site.

And there in lies the problem.

But overall I really appreciate you guys thinking about us, we're going to figure out a way for people to help if they would like at some point

[Merlin1958]

The monthly server fee is the main cost of site upkeep, and it is not enough for us to feel like we should accept any donations to offset the cost.

This site is, and always will be, a place where anyone can come free of charge. Any money that is being paid should be for a service or product, and not a donation. At least that's how I see it. So if we are going to introduce some sort of paid premium thing, there will certainly have to be advantages that come with the payment. Ya dig?


Actually M'am, and with all due respect, what I was suggesting was in no way a membership and/or advantages thing. People who have been over at .Net will more readily understand but, if you enjoy the site, and WISH to make a donation (sort of like putting a buck in the SA bucket) AND/OR would like to have a cool sigul next to your name on the boards then you participate. If not. nothing changes. You would just be allowing people who would willingly and selflessly, of their own individual accord, contribute if they like. Receiving the sigul would be akin to getting a poppy pin when you donate to VA members? The KEY is there is no obligation whatsoever!!! Especially if you set a nominal minimum like say 5 or 10 ten bucks. I don't know works for me. Anyone else have thoughts?


P.S. Personally, I think that the first people to donate and rec the sigul will start a buzz on the boards. Where did you get that cool sigul? because I donated to the site. Ahhh, I wanna get me one!!! (or not, makes no functional difference the site remains the same) cool?

[Matt]

It's actually a beautiful problem to have, weather or not to do this I mean. :lol:

So I want to make sure everyone understands how much Aaron, Dora, Hannah and myself appreciate the desire to give back to the site, it means a lot to us. :grouphug:

However, this should be the last word on the subject for a while.

1. The slowdash and flat outage the site is experiencing may or may not be related to our server cost. If it is, we're going to fix it and don't mind the money outlay that would create. We love the place like a child.

2. Ideas for a paid membership will continue to be kicked around but the site itself will always remain free. I love the idea of giving and in a case like this, I think (for now) we would be better served if we point that idea at charity.

3. TheDarkTower.com is not accepting any simple contributions to the site at this time but would love it if people wanted to get involved with the fundraiser.

4. If we ever do allow some kind of paid membership, it will be in return for something "extra" that does not include the free benefits of the site.

Again--I really appreciate the desire to give back and I want everyone to know I'm all for it. We can focus the community to do amazing things, the cost of the site is a pittance to have that opportunity.

[herbertwest]

what happened to this site those last few days?

Is it fixed or will it MAYBE occur again soon?

[Hannah]

The problem (as far as I understand it) is a combination of different things, including Host Rocket and we also need to upgrade to more memory. We're working on fixing it, so hopefully it won't happen again anytime soon.

[herbertwest]

So basically, what's happening is the same thing that happened to thedarktower.net, right?

Too successfull...

[Aaron]

I am going to be doubling our RAM space in the next couple of days, which should hopefully fix the issue for now. The double-edged sword of high activity on the site. But the upgrade is pretty inexpensive, so no worries. Sorry that it was down for so long; I think there were actually issues with HostRocket in general yesterday, as everytime I tried to call support they couldnt take my call due to extraordinarily high call volume--all five times that I attempted.

It is similar to what happened at tdt.net, but not the same at all. On top of their storage issues, they also had a ton of faulty code, because the original owner had altered it when experimenting with new features. We don't do that at all with this site, so our only issue is storage, which we should be able to remedy through server upgrades.

[Unfound One]

I'm so glad we're back on line!

And I also want to give a big thank you to our directors who are working so hard to keep us up and running!

You guys rock, and thanks so much. :huglove:

[Brice]

*clings to .com*

[sarah]

wb tdt.com. :grouphug: thanks Aaron for working it out. :wub:

[Daghain]

Woohoo! We're back!

Thanks to the Directors for working to keep all us crazy people in one place. :D

[Randall Flagg]

Feels good to be here.

[Aaron]

I just sent over the request for the upgrade. We will be going from 512m of RAM to 1g. If all goes well, it may be implemented before the end of today. We're considering some other upgrades as well, but we're going to see how this works out first.

It's great to have everyone back! :excited:

[Daghain]

It's great to be back! :D

[Heather19]

Thanks for all your hard work you guys! We appreciate it.

[razz]

Glad it's back. We were using facebook to organize a riot (organize. riot. :lol:)against Vbulletin

[Brice]

No we weren't. :innocent:

[alinda]

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Sam]

Razz, you have facebook? And Brice? I didn't think you knew how to access facebook. Oh wait, that's me.

[NeedfulKings]

Glad it's back. We were using facebook to organize a riot (organize. riot. :lol:)against Vbulletin

I saw that this morning. It's good to have a backup--I was going to join in on the rioting, but .com came back!

:nana:

Good luck on the upgrades, guys! :couple:

[Jean]

home!!! bear is home!!!!!!!! home is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gsvec]

Hooray - we're back!!! :excited: Glad we didn't need to resort to that riot!!

[Jon]

Site outages are...


http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff79/walterodim_photos/OuttaSite.jpg

[jhanic]

I just want to thank everyone who helped bring the site back! I REALLY missed it!

John

[The Lady of Shadows]

Razz, you have facebook? And Brice? I didn't think you knew how to access facebook. Oh wait, that's me.

brice even twitters. or was that a secret? of course, he only does it when the site is down so. . . . :P

come sam, drink the twitter and facebook kool-aid. you know you want to! :wtf:


now then, back on topic. has it occurred to anyone else here that vbulletin is actually a subsidiary of north central positronics. and that these "outages" aren't outages at all but carefully and cleverly disguised attempts to distance us from the site and it's people? i'm just saying. . . .

[The Lady of Shadows]

and by the way.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk95/turtlesong/Thank_You.gif

to everyone who did anything at all (even organizing riots) to bring the site back!

[Matt]

Wowie!

I go out of town and this happens. :lol:

Obviously a huge thank you to Aaron for being right on top of it, it's great to have redundancy on the site for that stuff. The site really is at a turning point this year and obviously we're going to do what it takes to make smart decisions on how to move forward.

Site seems great today...so glad we are good to go. :grouphug:

[The Lady of Shadows]

Wowie!

I go out of town and this happens. :lol:

Obviously a huge thank you to Aaron for being right on top of it, it's great to have redundancy on the site for that stuff. The site really is at a turning point this year and obviously we're going to do what it takes to make smart decisions on how to move forward.

Site seems great today...so glad we are good to go. :grouphug:

shouldn't you thank brice too? he did some bitchslapping as well. :lol:

[Gunkslinger]

Whew!

[turtlex]

Okay, that was slightly terrifying..... Glad we're back up. Thank you very much !

[Odetta]

*uncurls from fetal position*

[Aaron]

The outage that just happened was due to the upgrade. The extra RAM has been added, so we'll see how it goes from here. :D

[Matt]

Wonderful!! :clap:

[Daghain]

Woohoo!

[razz]

there was just an outtage?

[Aaron]

Very brief; I noticed it and called almost immediately. Just happened to have good timing. :thumbsup:

[Matt]

Wow! That one was a dosey, thanks for the patience everyone. :grouphug:

[gsvec]

I was ascared. :scared:

[flaggwalkstheline]

I started having flashbacks of .net and it's "blaine will be right back" message or whatever it was
good to know that's not what happened here

[Brice]

Matt, if by patience you mean us all sitting in the corner weeping over the lack of tdt, then you are very welcome. :lol:

[JameseyLefebure]

Matt, if by patience you mean us all sitting in the corner weeping over the lack of tdt, then you are very welcome. :lol:

I was weeping on Liisa's wall! with my wine ;)
SOOOOO glad the site is back - i don't think poor facebook could have handled continued use from all tdt memebers!! :)

Jamesey
xx

[Lily-sai]

Yeah. Never have seen Brice spend that much time on FB before. :lol:

[Brice]

Me neither. :lol:

[Matt]

I started having flashbacks of .net and it's "blaine will be right back" message or whatever it was
good to know that's not what happened here

Oh no, we will never get one of those. When this site is down, everyone can rest assured that I am working overtime to get it going again.

Basically all I did yesterday. :lol:

[Lily-sai]

Thank you, Matt. :huglove:

[JameseyLefebure]

thank you matt!!! :) :)
it's the first time since i joined this (amazing) site that i've not been able to have my daily dose!! I didn't like it :(

Jamesey
xx

[Brice]

Allow me to point out that Matt has gone home from his job when his site was down for maintenance. Also I'm sure we'd skip the Blaine message even if there were extended downtime...just because of the memories that go with it. Man, that sucked. <_<

[Matt]

Yes, yes I did. :lol:

I'm one dedicated mofo--and the even cooler part is the shitty job I have now means I can just fix stuff from work. :thumbsup:

[turtlex]

In the future... it would be super cool if we could plan these unplanned outages ... I think we'd all handle it a little better. :D

[Brice]

Yes we need a schedule for unplanned downtime. :lol:

[turtlex]

Brice - I work in IT ... I've had users ask for that very thing!

[Matt]

**writes it down**

This idea may revolutionize site outages for ever more! :lol:

[Brice]

I propose our next unplanned downtime for Feb. 16, 2099. Let the next generation deal with it. :lol:

[Nerak]

Matt :couple: thank you!

[turtlex]

Wow. I just couldn't get to TDT for about the last 50 minutes.

All seems okay now.

[Sam]

Me too.

[Candice Dionysus]

Wow. I just couldn't get to TDT for about the last 50 minutes.

All seems okay now.

Same here.

[candy]

me four
phew!!! thought i had been kicked out:unsure::ninja:

[Sam]

You were, but we voted you back on because we like you so much.

[candy]

You were, but we voted you back on because we like you so much.

:wtf: is good job or i would have had to cyber stalk you

[Brice]

Nah, usually when we decide to kick someone out we give at least a good week or more notice...you know so everyone can point and laugh while the outcast cries.

[turtlex]

Nah, usually when we decide to kick someone out we give at least a good week or more notice...you know so everyone can point and laugh while the outcast cries.

Oh, just like at my job!

[Brice]

:rofl: Yes, like that!

[Randall Flagg]

We are experiencing difficulties with our Chicago server. Sorry for the site being down. Rest assured Michael is working to resolve the issue.

[Jon]

Why is it that tonight I can see the BBC code when I italicize or embolden and underline?

I never could before...which felt kinda odd.

[Randall Flagg]

Jedi mind trick?

[Randall Flagg]

Actually, you need to "Switch editor mode". It's the white box with the two A's just above the reply box.

[Jon]

Can't see one...maybe because I'm using grey folio.

[Brice]

Any and all site outages can be simply and concisely explained by the internet's inability to consistently support our member's and staff's awesomeness.