Hello everybody, sorry for the mess, we're trying to clean right now...
In the last hours, there was a major breakdown in the database. Trying to reconstitute the pieces of data that was updating, the hard-drive that is hosting the database decided it had enough and shut down because it was full... this is why the entire site was down this morning...
Since then, it was complicated to navigate thru the site because i had to deactivate the addons system that was giving more features to the forum... this also was fixed and the actual features remain.
Now, the next days:
For the end of this week, we will have to shut-down the site in various moments of the days because we will make tests and clear the database of the useless elements that are haunting the site for years... So we have to appologize right now for the troubles that may come in the next days.
The server status... some people commented the actual situation to not be different from what it was before the CF2 upgrade, but i have to comment myself on saying that what you had in the past was related to the whole system used to run your forum... too much hacks, too much gadgets coded on the fly, and a hard-drive not happy to deal with all that work to do... so the site was always slow, always breaking down. Right now, it is different... the problems we faced since the upgrade are related to the size of the database only... too big, too fat, we have hard time moving it from one room to the other, it stuck in the door not wide enough... (i hope the image is clear here!)... so in the next days that's what we will act on... making this fat database take a diet and slim down... a lot. for that, we need time, your time, sure, but also the time for us to fix everything once and for all...
John is our web-techy, he is very efficient, but need a nap from time to time, so that's why we do not work on this 24/7...
Some words on the upgrade itself, and the loss of a lot of things on the site; basically because it was needed for the security of the site and for the complexity of the work done or to be done, we had to deactivate a lot of additions to the site, and they will be replaced or upgraded in the next days and weeks... but there again, it takes time.
As an example, the Living Avatars... a lot of members complained about the move from "one avatar + one dollie" to "one dollie avatar"... the system is also not the best we could find because of the lack of consistancy in the image manager, but we're going to have it working perfect in no long... The dollies are not gone, they are just in a different Doll House. The change was a difficult decision to make, but for server performances and the flexibility we had, it was a no-choice avenue... Living Avatars or no more dollies... I hope you understand, this is not based on some members requests but to the life of this site... when the dollies were implemented first, they were driven by an engine created for a small community of 50 to 250 members... you are 1000 times bigger... this is complicated to run from the server side, and hard to manage from the browser side also... anyway thanks to
Ravenscape and her team for all the efforts to make this cool gadget work
nickel!
Another difference is the Blessings engine... everybody complaints about it, and i know it is not giving the results you had in the past. Th blessings are not calculated the same way, each time the server is shut down the system is missing some donations or subscriptions, and the bank is far from being what it is supposed to do... BUT we fixed them all in the background. The engine author
John Jakubowski was kind enough to help me fixing the missing pieces, and i will put everything back before the end of the week... at least i do not have to clear 5000 entries of wrong bank credits..
btw, about lost blessings and wrong counts, we try to fix everything, so if you REALLY lost some big amount of blessings since the upgrade, just say so...(PM me!) because we actually have all the blessings in hands and in bank inside the database, so i can hit the counts and verify that you were not fooled. Some guys may have lost some transactions like gifts or donations, and the system tracked them all. but remember that the banks flaw even had you come back to what you had in the upgrade and you may have some millions of blessings lost somewhere if a friend gifted you with this... remember that there is nobody above me for the blessings...
i have the biggest count, so if someone say that he had like 5 millions, sorry but it is impossible.
Reps... Oh Reps... fixed in most parts, missing some calculations, but i'm checking all this with
Rep Daddy who is devoted to make this fun thing work perfect for all...
Permissions, Privileges... a big piece of what we have faced in troubles for the last 10 days... but this is coming to an end, we're putting the next days to fix the missing links and everybody will have their levels back with their identifications and ranks and everything you can imagine as a dedication ... the reason why it was unfinished in the last days is simple; everybody is lost in translation... the guys who coded this forum software forgot to give us a proper documentation with the new tools and features, and actually the entire staff is trying to learn the whole thing... the upgrade was like moving from a 2 rooms appartment to a 8 rooms country-house... the guys need to learn how to clean the house, how to feed the donkey too...
The Special Features you had in the future are to be replaced or upgraded... the Blogs forum is yet to be merged with the new
Blogs system, but seems that you already find some fun with the new one, you populate it a lot, i like it.
The Public Groups is also a fun thing, maybe not used at its full potential right now, i'm trying to get some addons to it so you could have your own little forum inside CF.com... yeah yeah, no more need to start a forum outside, you will have your own place here! a lot more features will be added from time to time on CF.com, but we need the site to be fixed from the inside before adding anything big, because the server machine is far from liking me right now...
Site Subscribers are not forgotten... you are acting a great addition to the site by helping financing it... We try hard to bring back your privileges, but i need the teams to help me on that, and for now, they try to understand how the new forum works, so they are not focussing on me... sorry for that, i will try to have some coffee and bring them some food so they can help me helping you! and i have some surprises for all supporters in the next weeks... (like these private forums i just talked about!)...
Regular members, non subscribers, you are not left aside... once the site is up and running properly, you will find new additions and a better brwosing on this site as well... we had hard time fixing a real theme for the site, i hope you all like my two
Sky variations (i like that new tagline, don't you?), i'll try to listen to all your grievances/suggestions/complaints in this new era...
So this is, a little resumé of the situation. I'll try to keep you update on all the site activities until everything is fixed... and after, for sure, if you want me to stay !
oh, btw, use the
Bug Reports forum if you face a strange situation...