Scheduled maintenance

[number8]

Heads up: the forums will be down on Friday so I can reinstall vB and try to fix some stuff. Will possibly be an all day thing.

Start planning alternative means of getting your sick minds off for the duration.

[Dukefrukem]

Start planning alternative means of getting your sick minds off for the duration.

This will be a challenge.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Thanks for the heads up, 8. Much appreciated, as is all your hard work.

[Skitch]

Yes, thanks.

[number8]

Not exactly done, but you can start posting again.

[Lazlo]

Not exactly done, but you can start posting again.

Thanks for the hard work 8. Nice to have Dear Leader welcome us back.

[Irish]

Dig that banner. Thank you for the time you've put into this.

One note (& you're probably already aware): New posts doesn't flush certain threads once they are clicked, ie they aren't marked "read" by the system so they continue to present as new, unread, bolded, etc. Smells like a cookie problem. The "Mark all posts read" link/page doesn't resolve the issue.

[Irish]

Testing testing

[Irish]

Or.... It's a cache issue.

Thread indexes aren't update when someone posts to them. Hmmmm.

[Irish]

To your credit, 8, the entire site feels worlds snappier. Pages load very quickly. It's a startling difference.

[number8]

Yeah, it is definitely a caching issue. I upped it to help with the slow load and it's causing the posts thing, which gets solved if you refresh. I'm trying to find a middleground.

Thread and search indexes are a little screwy right now. I wanted to rebuild it but couldn't find the time to stand by and monitor it for a lengthy time this weekend. Hopefully tomorrow.

[Dukefrukem]

Search broken too.

edit: as you mentioned.

[D_Davis]

Do we have to refresh each page now? Not quite sure how to see new stuff.

[Russ]

The site portal looks kinda primitive on my phone -- scaled-back interface -- anyone else having similar issues?

[Thirdmango]

Gotta second the refresh thing. I have to refresh every forum because it's stuck on being Dec 17.

[[ETM]]

Tapatalk seems to work perfectly. It's business as usual for me.

[number8]

Heads up, I'm planning on shutting it down for a few hours again tonight (I'll try to do it after midnight EST) to try and fix some of these issues.

[number8]

The site portal looks kinda primitive on my phone -- scaled-back interface -- anyone else having similar issues?

We've always had a more minimal mobile theme. Is that what you're talking about?

[Russ]

No, I mean it used to look the same on my phone AND iPad. Now, when I view it on my phone, I no longer see posters' avatars when I'm in a thread. I can no longer zoom in or out. It's very streamlined and limited in functionality in a way that it never was before. I now HAVE to go to my iPad to recreate the interface that I used to get on my iPhone...

[Irish]

We've always had a more minimal mobile theme. Is that what you're talking about?

Small heads up-- last time I accessed from my phone, mobile site didn't come up at all. I got the full site, same as desktop & ipad.

Anyway, thanks for the round of bug squashing. Appreciated.

[EyesWideOpen]

Is the site still massively broken for anyone else? It logs me out after almost every page and I have to refresh for me to be able to post. It also won't let me make any changes to my signature. I make a signature click save and it goes through like it's ok but then nothings there.

[Skitch]

I don't have to refresh, not getting logged out. The 'new posts' button still seems to be nonfuctional.

[Dukefrukem]

I don't have to refresh, not getting logged out. The 'new posts' button still seems to be nonfuctional.

Works for me. Only thing that doesn't work very good is the search function, and people's avatars did not fill in.

[Idioteque Stalker]

I have to refresh every page, sometimes even twice, and lots of avatars are still missing. Not being signed out anymore though.

edit: Chrome

[D_Davis]

Still have to refresh everything manually.

Some avatars not showing up.

[Gizmo]

same as the last two guys, i think, i didn't refresh before posting.

[transmogrifier]

Yeah, for me the New Post function works, but when I click on one of the links in that section, none of the new posts are actually there until I reload the page.

[Ezee E]

Everything works for me on Safari.

[Neclord]

I have to refresh in order to see new posts in a thread as well, what's the deal?

[EyesWideOpen]

Now randomly when I click on a thread or change the page an ad page comes up for Good Housekeeping, etc. It's not a pop-up it actually replaces the Match-Cut page and I have to click back to get back to MC. Not happening on any other site I go to.

[Dukefrukem]

Can one of the admins respond to this stuff please?
What do we need to do (as a community) to get this resolved?

[Irish]

Now randomly when I click on a thread or change the page an ad page comes up for Good Housekeeping, etc. It's not a pop-up it actually replaces the Match-Cut page and I have to click back to get back to MC. Not happening on any other site I go to.

Same!

[Neclord]

I've had that happen a couple times to me, except to a Forbes page.

[Melville]

Yeah, I have to refresh every page, regardless of which browser or operating system I'm using. I've never had popups or been sent to another page, though.

[dreamdead]

The refreshing issue is one I also experience. Mods can't fix this issue. I wager that number8's aware of the problem but working to decipher how easily able he can fix the issue.

I empathize with everyone, though. It's frustrating. :(

[number8]

Well, I'm gonna be honest, I have nothing to say. dreamdead is correct that I've been trying this entire time, doing edits every couple of days, but could not seem to fix any of the problems. I don't know why we decided to switch from VB3 to VB4 but it's becoming clear to me that the general consensus out there among VB users is that it's a mistake to do so. If anyone is better experienced with VB, I'm willing to hand the site over.

[Dukefrukem]

Well I think we decided to switch to VB4 because VB3 was equally broken. The thread ratings weren't working, the site was wicked slow, and there were random errors here and there.

Do we have anyone on the forums who's a VB expert? (i can find one if needed).

[Irish]

Unix jock here. I can help, but I'm not sure you want me to. I sure as hell don't want to take anything over.

Two questions:

- Is the database backed up?
- Do you have shell access on this hosting account?

[number8]

Yes and yes.

[number8]

Another last resort I was considering was to start a fresh VB5 forum and just manually import old posts. But it's an entirely new system so we'll lose all the design and also features that are run by plugins that won't be compatible anymore. I'm perfectly willing to just go barebones in favor of functionality (I know a lot of you are using Tapatalk anyway and not seeing any problems because of it).

[Irish]

Okay, you'll need to give me shell & database access. If your host allows it, set up temp accounts & then delete them once I am done.

If the host doesn't allow it, you'll have to trust me with your access-- and then change your info once the site is fixed.

If there's a fresh copy of VB zipped on the server, I can probably get this done by this time tomorrow.

[Irish]

Another last resort I was considering was to start a fresh VB5 forum and just manually import old posts.

Wait! Do that instead. That'll be easier.

[Dukefrukem]

Another last resort I was considering was to start a fresh VB5 forum and just manually import old posts. But it's an entirely new system so we'll lose all the design and also features that are run by plugins that won't be compatible anymore. I'm perfectly willing to just go barebones in favor of functionality (I know a lot of you are using Tapatalk anyway and not seeing any problems because of it).

Yeh that's fine with me.

I'm pretty sure they upgrade the plugins to work with newer version for VB. But I can live without taptalk until we get the basic function of the site working.

[number8]

Tapatalk would be fine. I only mentioned that because people using it are already using the site without the design or the plugins anyway. There are little stuff on the forums that are not VB features but are plugins and hacks that Raiders implemented and I had to recreate when we switch to 4, like showing who rated a thread.

[Dukefrukem]

Tapatalk would be fine. I only mentioned that because people using it are already using the site without the design or the plugins anyway. There are little stuff on the forums that are not VB features but are plugins and hacks that Raiders implemented and I had to recreate when we switch to 4, like showing who rated a thread.

Ah I see.

Yeh fuck it. Let's start from scratch and build it like we did years ago. Why not? Will be fun.

[Skitch]

I'll vote for whatever is the least amount of headache for all those who work behind the scenes. I harbor no nostalgia. I always look forward. Only thing I need to know is what size you want the banners to be. :D

[Raiders]

The switch was made because we were running an unsupported (outside the forums) and outdated version and I recommended to E that it could be best to start fresh with the latest release in case support was needed for the implementation. I had indeed resisted vB4 for years, largely out of laziness but also because I remember reading some warnings, but those types of user forums always tend to verge on melodramatic. Sorry it has all been so difficult.

I vote also for whatever is easiest. I have barely been here for the last like, five months. I think some similar use with respect to film ("thread") ratings would be nice since it seems to have been a successful format, but functionality would always be highest priority.

[number8]

Yeah, the warnings seem to be a pretty common consensus. Apparently VB was bought by another company back then and the original developers left, and 4 was built by the new people.

[Gizmo]

Today seems to be better. The threads didn't need refreshed for me, at least.

[Spinal]

I thought the functionality of the website had been altered to match the North Korean banner.

[MadMan]

I've been using only my smartphone since my laptop died back in November anyways.

[EyesWideOpen]

Now randomly when I click on a thread or change the page an ad page comes up for Good Housekeeping, etc. It's not a pop-up it actually replaces the Match-Cut page and I have to click back to get back to MC. Not happening on any other site I go to.

This has stopped over the last two days. I still have to refresh every page every single time I go from one page to another but progress.

[Irish]

The spam stuff stopped for me too (it was just that one day).

Another issue: The search index isn't updating.

Any thread title created after the upgrade isn't indexed and doesn't appear in results. Did advanced searches on title only for American Sniper, Tak3n, and Kingsman and received zero results back each time, even though these films all have new polls associated with them.

[Dukefrukem]

So are people working to fix these things? If not my friend is a vb expert and can probably help. Please just let me know the plan.

[Dukefrukem]

So are people working to fix these things? If not my friend is a vb expert and can probably help. Please just let me know the plan.

Do we not need help?

[number8]

I've got the new forum installed. Just need to pick a time to shut down and transfer posts over. Saturday morning is probably ideal.

[Dukefrukem]

Let me know if you need any help with anything. My freetime is now infinite.

[Irish]

Let me know if you need any help with anything. My freetime is now infinite.

Since you've offered, I've got a coupla loads of laundry over here that need doing...

:D

[number8]

Bah, my internet connection's been really spotty all day (maybe the weather?), so I didn't want to risk it.

[number8]

Unless my power gets cut out which I don't expect it to be I'll try this again tonight when I'm snowed in.

[Dukefrukem]

Unless my power gets cut out which I don't expect it to be I'll try this again tonight when I'm snowed in.

We should start a MC thread on the storm. With Pictures.

[Skitch]

We should start a MC thread on the storm. With Pictures.

on twitter.