14 May '20: BOARD CRISIS [mysqli error] UPDATES

[JackRiddler]

.

[WEEKS AFTER FIRST POST: Title of this thread is changed to reflect most current developments, you can ignore old stuff and see LAST POST for latest.]

Hi all, Jeff's trying something and I'm going to try things too, to see if we can't end the constant general error (mysqli) messages that have caused weeks of board troubles. This may mean board shutdowns, which I hope will be short. We will back up the board and hope to do no harm! Hope it works and we can declare the Rigorous Intuitive Renaissance of 2020. (What a crazy world, where you can't say such a harmless, hopeful, half-joking phrase without it sounding like a dystopian threat.) It's been exciting to see how many of you are still sticking it out and even coming back from the past to post again despite the mysqlis. See you soon.

[cptmarginal]

The board is faster for me right now than it has been in weeks, and I have not gotten any "too many connections" errors in the last hour.

I just clicked the donate button to see if that was still possible

[cptmarginal]

...and then it got overloaded again five minutes after posting that.

It is somehow valuable to me to keep this supposedly outdated forum technology going. Besides, the only way that a sub-Reddit (or whatever) could in any way substitute for this site would be if it included the entire archive of previous posts. I frequently end up coming here just to search for names and information, and am rarely disappointed.

[JackRiddler]

People can start whatever they like on Reddit or Instagram or TikTok or whatever else they fancy. It may be interesting, but I don't care and obviously it will not be this board, for exactly the reasons you're saying. This board will remain the only version of this board above all because it includes the only archive of this board. I hope we will be able to save it, but there will be no non-php substitute.

[cptmarginal]

I agree totally, and thanks for the laugh - and for the effort to help fix things.

[JackRiddler]

So the first shutdown was conducted this evening, March 19. I have not yet found a definitive solution to the problem. But I am hoping we learned a few things that will help in finding a soclution.

I'm sorry to be so incomplete with the info. It's because I personally don't know much. I have sent my findings, from experiments while the board was disabled, to one of our colleagues, who knows more. We are hoping he comes up with solutions.

Sorry!

Will keep you updated!

[Grizzly]

Thanks to all who are working on this issue. Drinks for everyone!

[identity]

Thanks to Jack, Jeff, Drew (et al.?) for your ongoing efforts.

Seems worse than ever this evening!

[Iamwhomiam]

Kinda weird how it fluctuates from normal to barely usable. Could someone signing in be bringing parasites with them?

[stickdog99]

Hi all, Jeff's trying something and I'm going to try things too, to see if we can't end the constant general error (mysqli) messages that have caused weeks of board troubles. This may mean board shutdowns, which I hope will be short. We will back up the board and hope to do no harm! Hope it works and we can declare the Rigorous Intuitive Renaissance of 2020. (What a crazy world, where you can't say such a harmless, hopeful, half-joking phrase without it sounding like a dystopian threat.) It's been exciting to see how many of you are still sticking it out and even coming back from the past to post again despite the mysqlis. See you soon.

This board has contracted COVID-19. No gatherings of more than 10 users at a time, please.

[JackRiddler]

.

There is no way this many "visitors" are real. Especially since they're often equally distributed among all subforums, including the long-ago defunct. Right this minute we have 32, that sounds like a normal peak number. Several times a day it jumps to 300+ and the board gets impossible. It's either an artifact (a failure in our software, a failure on the server, etc.) or an attack, but in that case a weird intermittent one.

The shutdown experiment did yield some findings, which may or may not be useful, and we WILL be moving to the next phase of measures soon. There are likely solutions, but we've been working around the edges first, before moving to more heavy-duty and risky upgrade options, etc. etc. Also, we have not so much time in a day for this activity, much as we do think it's important to save the board.

So for now continuing to say: SORRY! We'll try to let you know when renewed shutdowns are coming, but in any case, if you come here and it says board disabled, you'll know that's intentional and temporary.

And yeah, yeah, quarantining the board, ha ha, of course we all keep thinking this same thing, but it's really not the same.

Stay healthy and safe, as the new salutation goes.

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[Laodicean]

You too, Jack. And to all.

[minime]

The problem could be shared server space and data mining by 'tptmb'. I've noticed unusual spikes on all sites I've visited.

[minime]

I would use social media to gauge public response to the current crisis, and formulate the final solution.

[minime]

I just noticed a drop of 200 'guests' with the departure of the Majestic-12 search engine.