Jay

https://github.com/jaysylvester/comitium/issues/109

TV's Frink said:

 So...how about tranny surprise?

I'm always down for a tranny surprise.

So the archive restoration is a bit of a mixed bag. Comparing what I'm seeing from my archive to archive.org, there are definitely some holes on both sides. There are topics on archive.org that I don't have in my archive (like the topic none references above), but there are also topics I pulled from our archive that I can't find on archive.org.

I don't have time to dig through archive.org and do a full comparison, but my wheels are already spinning regarding a restoration of OT.com using archive.org sources. Could be done manually, could be automated. Labor-intensive either way.

I'd definitely like to pull old avatars for those that are missing in the new software so we don't have the ghostly figure in their place :)

Great timing for this topic.

The reason you see some odd gaps in the topic chronology is that the automatic archive in the original (2003) forum software grabbed topics that hadn't received an update in X days and moved them to the archive. Since some very old topics were still active, they didn't get moved to the archive, while some newer topics did.

Last night, I wrote the scripts necessary to migrate the archived topics from the original forum to the new forum software. I'm testing them in my local dev environment now.

So, with the launch of the new software (testing is ongoing...more news soon), we should have a complete catalog of ot.com posts going all the way to March 10, 2003.

The original Spartacus release was a waxfest. All the detail was DNR'd away. Thankfully, they're releasing the new restoration performed by Robert Harris in October:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=259470

I've put my Blu-ray purchases on hold for the most part since 4K is imminent, but I might make an exception in this case to complete my Kubrick collection.

Here's where you can start logging feature requests:

http://github.com/jaysylvester/comitium/issues

You'll need to create a GitHub account. Everything you add should be labeled as a feature request at this point, not a bug, because we're not talking about the current software. Once I open up the software to members for testing, you'll be able to log bug reports there as well.

Incidentally, some of the items you've listed are already a part of the new software and will be available at launch (a mobile layout, for example). The rest have been floating around in the back of my mind in some form or another. The new software will definitely be more modern in its approach. Keep in mind I built this forum in 2007 or 2008 and it's basically been patchwork since then to keep it running. Things have advanced quite a bit in the last 8 years. The new framework will make updates and maintenance a lot easier, and I'm committed to keeping this place running as long as Star Wars fans want to gather here.

Just a reminder that links to downloads outside small clips to demonstrate quality or content aren't permitted within public topics. It looks like some of these files are full presentations, so I've removed those links. If I've misunderstood the content, feel free to repost.

Even though the password reset page throws an error, you should still receive an e-mail with a new password in it. Are you not receiving that e-mail?

I can reset your password manually, though. Send me a message through the contact form again (I've fixed the problems with that) containing the e-mail address you originally signed up with. As long as that matches what's in the database, I'll send you a new password.

I was away for the holiday and wasn't aware of the outage. The hosting service was asleep at the wheel, as usual. SilverWook tried to contact me, but that mailbox is problematic as he mentioned. I'm going to switch the address on that so it can be usable again.

I've set up a service that notifies me if the site goes down. Plans are also underway to move to a new hosting service, but that won't be for another month or two.

The hosting service had to install some patches on the server as part of our attempt to track down the cause of some of the errors we've been seeing. Installing the patches meant restarting the ColdFusion Server software, which would explain the errors you saw (they had 2 patches to install and the timing lines up with the outages).

Did you get an error message? Can you copy/paste it here, please?

It's a known issue. It still logs you out and doesn't seem to be causing any real problems, but I'm looking into it.

TV's Frink said:

SilverWook said:

TV's Frink said:

I'm unable to get on nine times out of ten since the migration.  Am I the only one?

 Are you getting any error messages? If so, take a screencap, and send a message to Jay.

 It just says the forum is offline for maintenance.

You're accessing the site on the old server if you get that message. Try clearing your local DNS cache. Your ISP's DNS servers might also be to blame.

Sorry about that. It was the only window I had open.

If you see the "forum offline" message, it's intentional, not an error that needs to be reported.

Hopefully, we won't see any more outages on the new server. That was the point of the migration.

Our hosting service is migrating ot.com to a new server. The migration is scheduled to begin October 7th at 2 PM ET (US).

The forum will be offline during the migration. Normal functionality will be restored after the migration is complete, which shouldn't take more than a few hours.

Two weeks from today, I'll be removing the option to hide user profiles from other members. All profiles will be visible to forum members. Visitors won't be able to see them, though.

You have until October 19th to remove any sensitive information from your user profile.

I know how frustrating this is for you guys, and I'm sorry.

I'm looking into what it will take to migrate to a new hosting service. I'll keep you apprised.

It's very frustrating. I've received basically no help from the hosting service, and with the return of the home page injection attack, I'm fed up.

I'm working on a plan to migrate to a new host, but with this aging technology stack, it's a challenging task, and I'm considering different options. It's going to take a while to make it happen. I'll make an announcement when I have more information.

I'll call them again tomorrow. I'm due an update from them.

I just got off the phone with support and they're going to escalate the issue. I'm expecting a call back from one of the support managers later today to talk more about it.

Basically, the ColdFusion service is shutting down and they haven't been able to identify the cause. They've been restarting the service to get around the problem while they attempt to diagnose it, but the tech I spoke with agreed that it's been going on far too long and it needs more eyes on it.

Chrome's warnings come not from an ability to detect malware, but from Google's knowledge of a given URL having served up infected files in the past.

The warning in this case appears because one of the images in that topic is hosted on dreamworks.ru, probably because that site served up infected files at some point in the past.

I'm not a virus expert, particularly when it comes to viruses within image files, but I tend to think your antivirus software would alert you to any problems as long as it's actively scanning new files as they appear.

Awesome. I'll contact the hosting service.

There were some malformed URLs being requested that were generating quite a few errors in the ColdFusion logs, so much so that the log files were maxing out and being automatically moved/deleted by the server several times per day. It's possible this high disk activity had something to do with the outages. I put some error handling into the offending component so those malformed URLs simply redirect to the forum home page.

Let me know if you experience any further outages. If you do, I'll have the hosting service continue to investigate.

The hosting service has traced it to new antivirus software on the server that's hogging resources and causing problems. They said to expect a few more days of outages before they have it tweaked.

The hosting service informed me that they've been having problems with ot.com's ColdFusion server. Since it's intermittent (as you've witnessed), they've been having difficulty diagnosing the exact cause. They have monitors in place and are working to resolve the problem. I'll provide updates as I receive them.