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Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:02 pm
by Fred
Everything appears to be normal now but when I tried visiting the forum several times throughout the day it appeared that everything had somehow reset back to the year 2010.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:07 pm
by Cortopassi
Lots of problems for me too accessing, sometimes all forums were empty, other times a variety of text error messages.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:10 pm
by MediumTex
Sorry about that.

I am looking at some other hosting options, but the next step up in hosting costs four times as much.

Maybe we will do some kind of NPR-style pledge drive to cover the cost.  I'm as frustrated as everyone else with the recent reliability issues.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:11 pm
by Pointedstick
Is that with the same host, or among different ones? Maybe it's time to change hosts.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:19 pm
by MediumTex
Pointedstick wrote: Is that with the same host, or among different ones? Maybe it's time to change hosts.
I'm thinking same host, different plan.

I just haven't had the time lately to focus on it.

The plan we currently have should be sufficient, but I think surges on other sites that are knocking us offline, or at least that's what they keep telling me.

Until we try a more robust plan, we won't know for sure if that's the problem.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:24 pm
by Xan
I really would expect the $5/month plan at DigitalOcean would be sufficient to run the forum.  But then somebody would have to manage the virtual server every so often.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:26 pm
by MediumTex
Xan wrote: I really would expect the $5/month plan at DigitalOcean would be sufficient to run the forum.  But then somebody would have to manage the virtual server every so often.
It should be.  Everything ran pretty well up until a few months ago.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:27 pm
by Pointedstick
Frankly Arvixe seems to suck. I've never encountered this kind of problem for any other sites I visit, nor any I've run myself. Is the site hosted on a Windows box instead of Linux? I really think they may be substantially superior options out there, likely at a fraction of the higher price they're asking for better service. At the very minimum, I've hope you've been getting refunds on the hosting fees for months, since they advertise a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which we are definitely NOT seeing.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:30 pm
by MediumTex
Pointedstick wrote: Frankly Arvixe seems to suck. I've never encountered this kind of problem for any other sites I visit, nor any I've run myself. Is the site hosted on a Windows box instead of Linux? I really think they may be substantially superior options out there, likely at a fraction of the higher price they're asking for better service. At the very minimum, I've hope you've been getting refunds on the hosting fees for months, since they advertise a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which we are definitely NOT seeing.
Would you like to be the project manager to shop for a new host and migrate everything over?

If so, the job is yours.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:34 pm
by Pointedstick
I'm afraid my level of web experience is probably just enough to be dangerous.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
by MediumTex
Pointedstick wrote: I'm afraid my level of web experience is probably just enough to be dangerous.
And you know a lot more than I do.

I just don't want to break anything.  That's my main concern.

If someone wants to take this job, I'm happy to delegate it.

I'm sure there are members here who know exactly how to do what we are talking about and troubleshoot any problems that may arise.  I just need to find one of those who will volunteer.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:01 pm
by Reub
Personally, I'd love to reset back to 2010!

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:03 pm
by Fred
MediumTex wrote:
Pointedstick wrote: I'm afraid my level of web experience is probably just enough to be dangerous.
And you know a lot more than I do.

I just don't want to break anything.  That's my main concern.

If someone wants to take this job, I'm happy to delegate it.

I'm sure there are members here who know exactly how to do what we are talking about and troubleshoot any problems that may arise.  I just need to find one of those who will volunteer.
I volunteer to take over on June 10, 2017, the day after my 68th birthday when I plan on retiring (but don't hold me to it).

In the meantime, I see other websites that obviously use the exact same software package that this forum does and they don't have the same issues. As many members as we have here, I can't see how it can possibly be putting enough stress on the system to result in so many problems. I could be wrong, but I tend to think that whoever is hosting this website really sucks.

Re: Was it just me?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:15 pm
by dualstow
For what it's worth, I'm on a forum hosted by freeforums dot org that never crashes. There are just a few of us there, left over from a forum of thousands that was closed by the owners. The guy who runs it undoubtedly possesses no more tech experience than Med-Tex, but we've never had a down day. Not one.

Sorry the diaspora thing didn't pan out.
Reub wrote: Personally, I'd love to reset back to 2010!
LOL!