Author Topic: So what happened this time?  (Read 16769 times)

Tymers Realm

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So what happened this time?
« on: 11 July 2017, 15:49:09 »
As the Subject line states, what happened this time?
A week and a half or so is way too much. Wouldn't you think?

And before anyone says it, I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. And I don't plan to.

Peter Smith

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #1 on: 11 July 2017, 15:58:49 »
And before anyone says it, I'm not on Facebook or Twitter. And I don't plan to.

If you purposely keep yourself away from communications channels, then you will not receive communication.
Power corrupts. Absolute power is kinda neat.

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Tymers Realm

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #2 on: 11 July 2017, 16:10:11 »
If you purposely keep yourself away from communications channels, then you will not receive communication.

And there could be updates to the Battletech page on CGL's website. Which hadn't even updated the changes in Line Developers yet.
I'm sorry if I seem a little Luddite in my views about Facebook & Twitter, but I just don't care for those platforms. I've seen how it can twist my GF enough. I don't wish to go down that road.

monbvol

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #3 on: 11 July 2017, 16:30:05 »
While I am willing to at least visit the Battletech Facebook page(I have no facebook account and the odds of me getting one are rather remote at best) I do think it is a fair question to ask why the main CGL page doesn't have some sort of announcement.

And that people are being rebuffed for not visiting Facebook or twitter is something I hope stops happening since I don't think it unreasonable that information should be distributed through as many channels as possible, especially a company's official main site.

At the very least it just plain looks bad that CGL isn't interested(any excuses of them not being able to are no longer excusable in my book) in keeping their main official site updated, especially after such a major and prolonged outage.

The official announcement is that there was some sort of server work on the old server that hosted pretty much all of CGL's sites that was not properly communicated to them and the decision was made to change servers.

That it took this long certainly has been frustrating and I do have to wonder if there was something more going on because to me it should not have taken the Battletech forums to come back up(took them nearly an extra day versus all the other sites) but we have the official word.

Moonsword

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #4 on: 11 July 2017, 16:38:47 »
Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your concerns regarding communication but please remain civil and refrain from sniping at each other.

monbvol

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #5 on: 11 July 2017, 17:04:18 »
I can accept I probably should have worded a few thoughts better as I don't mean to offend or marginalize anyone.

But to move on and bring this topic back more into focus:

Hopefully soon we'll have full forum functionality back again soon as there seem to be a few bits still not working quite right.

elf25s

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #6 on: 11 July 2017, 18:52:46 »
but getting back on the subject almost two weeks down time?  so what had happened?
you sure cannot out run death...but sure as hell you can make that bastard work for it!

Liam's Ghost

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #7 on: 11 July 2017, 19:05:55 »
but getting back on the subject almost two weeks down time?  so what had happened?

As I understand it, their previous server provider failed to inform them about some maintenance, and they ended up having to migrate. It looks like some work is still underway.
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

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Maingunnery

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #8 on: 11 July 2017, 19:07:15 »

As I understand it, their previous server provider failed to inform them about some maintenance, and they ended up having to migrate. It looks like some work is still underway.
Yep, it seems that some threads can't be replied to yet. I will try again later.
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Liam's Ghost

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #9 on: 11 July 2017, 19:09:37 »
Also looks like we lost about a week and a half of posts. I wonder if we're getting those back, or we should just count our blessings that that was all we lost.  :)

(as always, thank you to the staff for enduring the frustrations of technology to provide the rest of us ungrateful saps the benefits of that technology)
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

(indirect accessory to the) Slayer of Monitors!

Tymers Realm

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #10 on: 11 July 2017, 19:12:46 »
Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your concerns regarding communication but please remain civil and refrain from sniping at each other.

Yea, sorry about that. I just wanted to keep the eventual "Didn't you check X or Y Social site?" from creeping up.

BattletechisLit

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #11 on: 11 July 2017, 19:18:55 »
While it is more professional to have an explanation on your Official Site about what happened, I can see why communication was only available through social media.

worktroll

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #12 on: 11 July 2017, 19:31:48 »
Short form, semi-official response.

All the Catalyst sites went down due to a major hack. The BT forums were just one victim.

Professional web providers were brought in to manage the rebuild - we've been burning too many volunteers who've given of their time, skill, and blood, to keep the old stuff working, and it was time for a change of approach. This did slow things down while the new folk came up to speed on the 'historical curiosities' aspect.

And then we hit problems with the restore of the BT forum backup. After a number of attempts to restore the most recent backup, they made the call to fall back to an older copy, which we're now running on. Yes, less than ideal, but it's the first major data loss since 2011. For a volunteer-run forum, that could be much worse (eg. how many times did we lose the whole forums between 2000 and 2010? Five times? Six?)

Remember - CGL pay for the site & storage, but (until now) all forum work's done by volunteers - both front-of-house & back-of-house. The handful of people actually employed at CGL are not web gurus, nor do any do any tech stuff - they're too busy trying to get books out the door.

And yes, we're looking at options for better comms in the event of any future outages. Things like a splash screen from Word of Blake, at least. But concentration is currently on restoring service. And as the blessed Blake says, "Behind our efforts, let there be our efforts."

W.
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Moonsword

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #13 on: 11 July 2017, 19:41:18 »
Okay, we're having some reports that people are having problems logging in.  I'm communicating that to the system admin team internally.  In the meantime, please do not create new, alternate accounts.  We recognize that you're not doing it out of any sort of malicious intent but doing so is still against the forum rules.  Please give us time to finish sweeping up the mess properly, then get in touch through another user or another channel and we'll try to get you sorted out.

The point about posting to the main CGL site has been raised internally, by the way.

worktroll

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #14 on: 11 July 2017, 19:43:42 »
What he said. We're still picking up pieces. And the extended smiley list has disappeared!  :o
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

BattletechisLit

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #15 on: 11 July 2017, 20:05:43 »
Glad to hear it. Is there any talk about updating the site? Ya know like updating the coming soon section stuff like that? And hopefully not just be a one time thing? I know "volunteers" and all that jazz but us fans hate seeing the website rot.

Moonsword

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #16 on: 11 July 2017, 20:26:42 »
Glad to hear it. Is there any talk about updating the site?

Yes although we've been a little distracted lately.  Can't quite remember why, though.

Ya know like updating the coming soon section stuff like that? And hopefully not just be a one time thing? I know "volunteers" and all that jazz but us fans hate seeing the website rot.

It hasn't been updated in a while but I don't think we've announced any major new products lately.  Looking at the products released, I don't see anything on there that needs to come down, either.  I'm going to let the dust settle a little before trying to do much with the site, though.

worktroll

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #17 on: 11 July 2017, 20:38:49 »
Restoring the extended smiley list, and dealing with the users having problems logging in, and some related issues, are the priority.

But yes, when we've got things more stable, and TPTB tell us about new things, we expect to update.
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"


Liam's Ghost

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #19 on: 12 July 2017, 17:01:15 »
Ooh! Can I?

EDIT: Yes!
Good news is the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show an immediate latency of 44.6 years. So if you're thirty or over you're laughing. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you've forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.

(indirect accessory to the) Slayer of Monitors!

MoneyLovinOgre4Hire

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #20 on: 12 July 2017, 17:24:20 »
If anyone's reading this and still getting the Session ended message that won't let you post or log out, try clearing out your cookies and restarting the computer.  Worked for me.
Warning: this post may contain sarcasm.

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Daryk

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #21 on: 12 July 2017, 19:53:00 »
Testing...

EDIT: Excellent!  I was unable to post yesterday and earlier this evening, but apparently can now...

worktroll

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #22 on: 12 July 2017, 19:57:37 »
Unsung heroes - Moonsword and Knightmare - have been our astropaths guiding the Professionales Mechanicus towards the radiant beacon of Randall's Golden Writing Throne ...
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Moonsword

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #23 on: 12 July 2017, 20:10:31 »
We're still seeing some trailing issues (the missing smileys mainly - not just the extended ones but the base set have some missing, plus the ones we have aren't the same) but at this point, I'm hearing a lot of positive news from various people that things are working.

If anyone's reading this and still getting the Session ended message that won't let you post or log out, try clearing out your cookies and restarting the computer.  Worked for me.

There were backend problems around the session verification to my understanding.  It didn't matter whether you had a cookie or not, the server couldn't figure out what to do with you.  We also had a round of other, different server issues this morning.

Unsung heroes - Moonsword and Knightmare - have been our astropaths guiding the Professionales Mechanicus towards the radiant beacon of Randall's Golden Writing Throne ...

More Knightmare than me.  I've mostly just been annoying various people with emails on a regular basis to route information where it needs to go and trying to help feed information out on a regular basis.

Valkerie

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #24 on: 12 July 2017, 20:20:53 »
Well, big thanks to everyone involved getting it all back online!  I for one very much appreciate all the hard work that everyone does to keep these sites up and running.  :) 


May whoever hacked things be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels  >:D
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Tymers Realm

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #25 on: 12 July 2017, 20:22:05 »
How about Spoiler Function?

Moonsword

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #26 on: 12 July 2017, 20:26:45 »
There's still forum settings that need to be tweaked and put back the way they were, that among them.

Alsadius

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #27 on: 12 July 2017, 20:47:31 »
Suggestion: Can this thread, or one like it, be posted as a global sticky? It'd be helpful in informing people what happened, and hopefully shouldn't take too long.

Also, while I do regret the loss of those posts, thanks to those who got us back to functionality.

pheonixstorm

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #28 on: 12 July 2017, 21:04:59 »
Well, if you ever get tired of SMF pick another board and I can write up a nice conversion script in php to cleanly move things over ;)

abou

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Re: So what happened this time?
« Reply #29 on: 12 July 2017, 21:35:03 »
One of the many things that concerns me is that Catalyst has a Twitter account, but it hasn't been updated since July 8th and before that June 30th. Both those posts were about Dragonfire with nothing about the websites. Same for the Tumblr. I don't expect the volunteers that manage to forum to do the same for official Catalyst stuff, but nothing from the guys in charge?

I'm thinking of a very specific quote by Morty from Rick & Morty that involves a backpack and a museum or store.

 

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