Message Board Outage

[RawBearNYC]

I plan on attempting to upgrade the message board software this Sunday, 8/7. I haven't decided on a time and I'm not sure how long it is going to take. When I'm done, hopefully, some of the performance problems we've been having with the site will be alleviated. I'd apologize for the inconvenience, but that would be incinsere :P

[Adghar]

Hooray!

[Winged One]

Thank you for both upgrading and for warning us.

[Frojoe21]

Is the software a new version, or an entirely new peice of software all together?

[Lilly]

I must say, the upgrade is going to be greatly appreaciated.

Are we upgrading to Yabb2 or another service pack of 1?

[RawBearNYC]

we'll be upgrading to YaBB 1.4. YaBB2 has a different data structure and I have no interest in trying to transform these boards that much. If my research is correct, 1.4 should run under mod_perl, taking a huge load off of the server.

[The_King_of_Durf]

Oh, jolly day to everyone! It will be most appreciated.

[Zherog]

If my research is correct, 1.4 should run under mod_perl, taking a huge load off of the server.

And if your research is not correct? ;)

[Frojoe21]

Then we are all doomed. DOOMED I SAY. I HAVE BEEN DRINKING TOO MUCH COFFEE. :o

But seriously, then we are still stuck with this version, and will have to deal with the faults.

[sktarq]

So besides the boards being down for a few hours sunday and hopefully faster posting after that will this mean anything different for the rest of us?

[Lilly]

According to The YaBB info page (http://www.yabbforum.com/downloads.php) there are some upgrades as compared to the version we have, mainly the reversed and only 10 post review of topics, so it's possible that massive threads, such as SMBGs can stay open past 50 pages, but we'll see.

[Adghar]

What I can tell from the pictures looks like we're going to get a News function, be able to login from the bottom of the index for those who don't trust cookies, and... a logo if desired?

[Winged One]

If I may make a suggestion, RawBear, I recomend preforming the upgrade early tomorrow(rather than late tomorrow), and get it over with ASAP.

[RawBearNYC]

If I may make a suggestion, RawBear, I recomend preforming the upgrade early tomorrow(rather than late tomorrow), and get it over with ASAP.
Nope, you may not :P I'm not sure what else I'm doing tomorrow (or tonight, for that matter), so I don't want to lock myself into anything with the boards.

[RawBearNYC]

The upgrade seemed to go well, post here if you run into bugs :) And the good news is that mod_perl is enabled, we're hoping that the problems of the past are just that, of the past. I spoke to soon, Mod_perl isn't running, it might be a few more minutes. OK, that seemed to fix it. But I'll be keepind an eye on things all day to make sure.

[Adghar]

HORROR OF HORRORS! They changed the font of the index :( It's all small now but when I enlarge text size it's too big :(

[Pax]

I've kept findingit impossible to make a reply to a particular thread - only the first fifty-odd characters get posted, but what *I* see is an error message (it reads "The document contains no data"). I can't edit the post - that showed up normally for me right away, but when I re-opened the thread itself ... the edit wasn't there anymore, just th...mod testing

[Pax]

Make that ANY thread. The post above is cut off at the knees too. ARGH.

[Adghar]

That's happening to me, too :(

[Frojoe21]

I'm really not liking this. I tried to post an example for a campaigns rogues gallery and it cut off 3/4 of the message. Can this dilemma be fixed?

[Pax]

Reboot didn't help; the problem persists. FWIW: I'm using Firefox (specifically, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4), on a Win98SE computer.

[Pax]

testing: A 2 4 6 8 B 2 4 6 8 C 2 4 6 8 D 2 4 6 8 E 2 4 6 8 F 2 4 6 8 G 2 4 6 8 H 2 4 6 8 I 2 4 6 8 J 2 4 6 8 K 2 4 6 8 L 2 4 6 8 M 2 4 6 8 N 2 4 6 8 O 2 4 6 8 P 2 4 6 8 2 4 6 8 R 2 4 6 8 S 2 4 6 8 T 2 4 6 8 U 2 4 6 8 U 2 4 6 8 V 2 4 6 8 W 2 4 6 8 X 2 4 6 8 Y 2 4 6 8 Z

2 4 6 8 A 2 4 6 8 B 2 4 6 8 C 2 4 6 8 D 2 4 6 8 E 2 4 6 8 F 2 4 6 8 G 2 4 6 8 H 2 4 6 8 I

[Pax]

Right; based on the test above ... the limit appears to be EXACTLY 350 characters. Too round a number to be pure coincidence, IMO.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Hey, just got an IM from Wukei - she can no longer stay logged in. She's using AOL (9.0 Optimized SE) (bleh), on a WinXP computer. Apparently, any attempt to go anywhere after she signs in logs her out again.

I suspect others may be having the issue as well, but obviously they can't post about it :P

If you're having this issue, IM me or send me an e-mail (my contact info is in my profile). I'll get what info I can and post more to this thread later.

[crimson77]

I have notice the same problem that pax has as well. It will only allow so many characters. This is destressing because we want players to post a lot and i cannot even display my whole battle mat which is critical to my campaign.

[Hzurr]

I've been having the same problem. It seems to happen when I try to modify a thread, but I'm not sure. I've switched from using Firefox to IE, and I haven't had any problems with it, but when I was using firefox, I was getting the same "document contains no data" error message.

[Winged One]

I've been having the same problem. It seems to happen when I try to modify a thread, but I'm not sure. I've switched from using Firefox to IE, and I haven't had any problems with it, but when I was using firefox, I was getting the same "document contains no data" error message.


It only happens with Firefox? *goes after whoever designed this version of YaBB with torches and pitchforks*

[LadyGlutter]

Yup, I just sent myself two identical PMs, one using Firefox, one using IE. The Firefox one was amputated, not so with the IE one. :-(

[Brianna_Sollandry]

It happens when you try to modify a post with Safari, as well.

I've seen no problems with creating new posts, but ghod help me if I want to change something I've already posted....

[subcreation]

I am having trouble with Profile, if I try to update my profile I get this message.

Unable to open 1060472104.mail

--Thank you
Subcreation

[Winged One]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one...

Anyway, to protest, I made a ranger with the people who put the letter per post limit in this version of YaBB as her favored enemy(subcreation can back me up on this).

Also, this one has it's own topic, but with some topics, it gives two complete copys of the post history.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Bad news - the bug also seems to affect Opera, but even more so. I switched to it to see if I could get around the bug (normally I use Mozilla), but it just truncated my post further.

FWIW, I'm using Mozilla 1.7.8 [Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511], and Opera [Version 8.02, Build: 7680] on a WinXP Pro [Version 5.1 with Service Pack 2] computer.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

This is a test post to see the character limit for Opera...

Looks to be about 542 characters, but it did something very strange - it didn't cut off, but instead repeated the beginning of the post starting at character 539 until it cut off, so it may be a bug of a different color in the case of Opera.

[Winged One]

When I open some topics, it displays
103 An Error Has Occured!: Unable to open 1123467270.data

If it helps, all of the topics I've gotten that message on so far were 1 page long.

[RawBearNYC]

Ok, everybody, thanks for trying to help, but I'm on it. It may take some time to iron out the kinks. You'll see lots of new and unusual problems while I'm screwing with things.

Remember the virtue of patience.

[Winged One]

Must...resist...urge...to...exercise...talent...fo r...corrupting...virtues...

Anyway, the error my last post on this topic was about seems to be the result of RawBear "screwing with things", as it didn't happen earlier today.

[Snowelf]

We appreciate you RawBear. :)

I am a lucky poster who has no problems to report so far. Thanks to you and The Giant for caring enough to even do an upgrade.

[RawBearNYC]

The problem seemed to be with mod_perl and either version of YaBB (1.3 or 1.4). I did a rollback to our backup version, and will see if I can fix the problems with mod_perl.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

It's all good, RAWBear - always some bugs to work out :P Just wanted to log any errors I came across. ;)

[Pax]

Yeah - no complaints coming from me; problems are almost inevitable when upgrading from one software version to another ... especially for the Web, since there are SO many differing configurations of software/OS/hardware/etc/etc/etc that can and will be encountered.

[LadyGlutter]

Agreed. Thanks RawBear, for the work you are putting into this. I'm really excited that it should take a huge load off the server once completed, actually. I think we all just want to help somehow or another. :-)

[Wukei]

Woo! I love you *hugs RawBear* I can post again!

[maxinator]

Okay, here's one for you:

I'm a new user and every time I try to edit my profile (like to change my password to something I can remember) it tells me I "must register to use this feature". But only AFTER I've changed the things in my profile and clicked "Submit"! I'm pretty sure I'm registered, since I can post and I apparently have a profile to edit.

Any suggestions?

[maxinator]

Okay, here's one for you:

I'm a new user and every time I try to edit my profile (like to change my password to something I can remember) it tells me I "must register to use this feature". But only AFTER I've changed the things in my profile and clicked "Submit"! I'm pretty sure I'm registered, since I can post and I apparently have a profile to edit.

Any suggestions?

[maxinator]

Okay, here's one for you:

I'm a new user and every time I try to edit my profile (like to change my password to something I can remember) it tells me I "must register to use this feature". But only AFTER I've changed the things in my profile and clicked "Submit"! I'm pretty sure I'm registered, since I can post and I apparently have a profile to edit.

Any suggestions?

[thejessicat]

Okay, my friend can't post anything, so I'm posting for him.

We're both new users who got our accounts at the same time, but mine seems to be working just fine, while his doesn't work at all.

Every time he tries to edit his profile (like to change his password to something he can remember) it tells him he "must register to use this feature". But only AFTER he's done his editing and clicked "Submit".

Also, he can't actually post, but he can click "Reply", type up a whole post, and then get a "can't find maxinator.dat" message when he tries to post.

Any suggestions?

[Arian]

I see three copies of maxinator's post just before your request, Thejessicat. (Sorry, I misspelt your user name.) It definitely looks as if he can post, from where I'm sitting. :-)

[thejessicat]

Wow, those are new! They definately weren't there when I posted mine. Maybe there's a lag? Anyway, what about the profile editing? I've signed in as him and I can't edit it, either.

[sktarq]

Are you running the internet via the same program?

finally the site seems to be a mite picky of late. It denied my ability to post in this thread at times (about a 1 1/2 days) but not another in the same forum. It has also taken to trying to log me out every five mintues but got over it the next day. Wierd but it may just be an hourlong bug.

[crimson77]

Lag issues:

I was wondering if you think the lag issues that we have been having on this site will improve?

I dont know if anyone else has noticed this beside the players in my group, but every monday wednesday and friday the lag is the worst. On weekends and later at night the lag seems to be better.

Just wondering if there is going to be a server or bandwidth upgrade anytime soon.

[Wukei]

That's pretty obvious why that happens, and it happens around 11 my time (12 EST) and continues til about 4. IE, lunchtime at work and when everyone gets off of work.

So, see, it's because the comic should be up, and everyone's curious. You can't get onto anything but the front page.

I'm sure them updating the forums was trying to fix some of this, but Rich has become rather popular, and the rush onto the forums really hurt him.

PS: Just for the past hour or so, I've made posts and the thing comes up with "Website not responding." I don't have that problem unless I post. So I have to close the page and come back. Not a big deal, just one that other people might be experiencing as well.

[sktarq]

I just had the site (and only this site) shut down for just over an hour? any ideas? was somebody tweeking the bits that allow IE users to be here?

[Wukei]

*sigh* once again...

There is an onslaught of people around the 5-6 o'clock marker because that is when people get off of work and get on the boards to check what's been happening all day.

[sktarq]

No it wasn't a lag...the enitre site was unrecognized-I've been here many times before when it was *peak hours* and never had it do this.

[tonberryking]

what exactly IS the cause of the board constantly going under? I've been trying to follow this thread but I don't see a straight up answer.

[Frojoe21]

I think it has something to do with the amount of people viewing the site and the onslaught of new people coming on the forums. This is sheer speculation, but what I think RawBear was trying to do is Upgrade the board software to one that took up less bandwidth or something like that, so that there would be fewer time outs. I could be wrong though.