I recall seeing all my subscriptions indicated by the correct number when there were no forums to view, but now it is nearly empty.
I have none of my sybscriptions anymore, my folder is completely empty, does anyone if this is tempoary or not?
My thread subscriptions seem to all be there.
All of mine since April are missing in various forums, Including the newly created Official/Fan Character sheet thread that webster requested me to make to replace the existing one.... Even the all about autocarding thread is missing. over 75 subscriptions to various threads just GONE.
All 81 were there yesterday when no forums existed, so I couldn't see the threads, but the number (Subscribed threads 81) was still in the dropdown box.....
I would hope they backed the forums up and can do a rollback on the subscriptions and user accounts in case any other setting in the UCP are messed up. Otherwise They might as well deleted it all and start a brand new set of forums and have everyone log in anew if all the work has to be redone by the users anyway.
All of mine since April are missing in various forums,
Could be - I have very few subscriptions, and they're all older threads that I got tired of searching for.
Although... I'm looking at them again now. One of them was a thread started on April 23rd. All of them* have posts in the last three months.
* "all of them" is a grand total of six threads.
Could be - I have very few subscriptions, and they're all older threads that I got tired of searching for.
Although... I'm looking at them again now. One of them was a thread started on April 23rd. All of them* have posts in the last three months.
* "all of them" is a grand total of six threads.
Yeah I believe mine got wiped yesterday. I logged in, saw that none of the threads were showing, went to see if I could view all of my subscriptions and jump to it there. I got to the page that showed I had like 81 subscribed and then I refreshed the page cause it also wasn't working right and it went to 0. I don't have a huge issue with this as it was time to prune that out anyways.
I know it can't be easy running and moderating this stuff, but c'mon folks. Actually seeing a post I want to or accessing anything in any reasonable amount of time is such a crap shoot, I picture a d20 rolling every time I click.
1-2: prompt access to the desired page
3-4: page loads in twice the time
5-7: quadruple the time
8-10: go make a sandwich or something
11-12: you were idled out for no reason
13: you were idled out for no reason and lost the best post you will ever write
14-15: Internal Database Error, roll again
16-17: forums down for unexpected maintenance
18: forums down for "expected" maintenance
19: lose all bookmarks, hope
20: forum crash; roll three more times on this table, then head over to ENWorld.
Is it any wonder people doubt that Wizards can ever get -- much less keep -- their DDI services running with forums this unreliable?
-Now what? Can they be recovered?
Yep, all of mine are gone too. They were already reading 0 when the forums were down.
I know it can't be easy running and moderating this stuff, but c'mon folks. Actually seeing a post I want to or accessing anything in any reasonable amount of time is such a crap shoot, I picture a d20 rolling every time I click.
1-2: prompt access to the desired page
3-4: page loads in twice the time
5-7: quadruple the time
8-10: go make a sandwich or something
11-12: you were idled out for no reason
13: you were idled out for no reason and lost the best post you will ever write
14-15: Internal Database Error, roll again
16-17: forums down for unexpected maintenance
18: forums down for "expected" maintenance
19: lose all bookmarks, hope
20: forum crash; roll three more times on this table, then head over to ENWorld.
Is it any wonder people doubt that Wizards can ever get -- much less keep -- their DDI services running with forums this unreliable?
WotC has never been a bastion of competence when it came to their website and forums. Of every forum I've seen, big or small, I've never encountered the technical problems I do here, or at least so consistently.
There is also little doubt in my mind that DDI will go the way of Master Tools.
-All of mine are gone, too. Extremely frustrating to have those 200+ subscriptions gone.
-Now what? Can they be recovered?
Something similar to this happened to me and many others when the boards converted to Gleemax. Fortuantely the subscriptions came back once everything had been sorted out.
It seems this time they are reorganising the archives, which would affect such things as subscriptions.
So If they have kept backups, I imagine we'll get it back.
Something similar to this happened to me and many others when the boards converted to Gleemax. Fortuantely the subscriptions came back once everything had been sorted out.
It seems this time they are reorganising the archives, which would affect such things as subscriptions.
So If they have kept backups, I imagine we'll get it back.
-I didn't have any trouble with my subscriptions when things were converted to Gleemax. I notice that none of the things I post are subscribing me to the threads I post them in, so that might be the case, what you said, and things will magically reappear.
-I sure hope so...
i'm missing everything since febuaray
If I still had a subscription to the C&C for CM thread, I would add this to it, because yet again I think CM failed at properly backing up the forums before a major overhaul, as this is too much data lost. Worse when they have known the database and hardware has been failing for months and still neglected it for MTGO and DDI.
(Neither of which seem to be working correctly either.)
Peace,
Necki
If I still had a subscription to the C&C for CM thread, I would add this to it, because yet again I think CM failed at properly backing up the forums before a major overhaul, as this is too much data lost. Worse when they have known the database and hardware has been failing for months and still neglected it for MTGO and DDI.
(Neither of which seem to be working correctly either.)
I owuld do it myself,but Mike doens't listen to me anymore since i sided with a certian former VCL
If I still had a subscription to the C&C for CM thread, ...
[forum=725]Here's the forum[/forum]
[thread=960704]Here's the C&C thread[/thread]
[thread=1054537]Here's the thread where I raised the problem to CM, and Zammmmmmm also posted a link to the TCG side's thread[/thread]
Please don't derail the latter thread with complaints about CM; I don't want it merged into the morass that is the C&C thread.
Considering possible problems due to subscribing to new threads in the event the lost subscriptions can be recovered, i will not subscribe to any threads until the problem is resovled.
-I don't think you can resubscribe to other threads right now. I know, I've been posting as usual, and nothing has been added to my subscriptions. I vaguely remember a 'Subscribe to this Thread' option on threads, as well, and I can't find that now, either.
-I don't think you can resubscribe to other threads right now. I know, I've been posting as usual, and nothing has been added to my subscriptions. I vaguely remember a 'Subscribe to this Thread' option on threads, as well, and I can't find that now, either.
Its under the thread tools menu and its been working for me.....but its pain tring to rmember hwich threads i was subsribed to....
Its under the thread tools menu and its been working for me.....
-Ah, thank you.
but its pain tring to rmember hwich threads i was subsribed to....
-Yeah, I hear you. I had some stuff I was saving back from '03. Utterly gone.
I've made posts to a number of threads since the forums pooped on us and, ironically, this is the only thread that auto-subscribed me like it was supposed to.
The 'subscribe to this thread' option is not working for me. I click it, then I check my subscribed threads, and the thread has not been added.
I've made posts to a number of threads since the forums pooped on us and, ironically, this is the only thread that auto-subscribed me like it was supposed to.
I don't use autosubscribe, so I can't comment on that. But I just manually subscribed to this thread and it worked fine.
Are you certain your profile still has you set to autosubscribe? Perhaps the option got changed during the recent Time of Troubles.
Are you certain your profile still has you set to autosubscribe? Perhaps the option got changed during the recent Time of Troubles.
Nope, it's still set to auto-subscribe. It just isn't working.
Hey WizOs! How about some feedback, here?
If it is a problem for anyone I suggest that they bug customer service about it and complain on the gleemax bug forum.
The fourms are too connected to DDI and other things for just CM to do the work on the databases and such. Unless it is one team working on DDI and the forums then that would explain why all the problems are coming up where people are messing with the same databases and lists of users, and changing things without the others knowledge. Which might mean a 4th group....
CM
CS
forums code that can change the files and templates
database group that works with the databses.
Either way it is all spread too thin and why there are so many problems, let alone neglecting the forums for 6 months or more.
Hello all!
I mentioned this the other day to the techies that be, I will nudge again today to see if we have any answers.
just FYI...
I just got notified of this problem and am now taking a look at it. It would be very much appreciated and helpful if someone could PM me a a couple threads (recent threads, and old threads, if possible) that they had subscribed to (but got lost/unsubscribed from for whatever reason).
Thanks, and sorry about the troubles.
Eric
Hi All,
I just got notified of this problem and am now taking a look at it. It would be very much appreciated and helpful if someone could PM me a a couple threads (recent threads, and old threads, if possible) that they had subscribed to (but got lost/unsubscribed from for whatever reason).
Thanks, and sorry about the troubles.
Eric
Incoming!
Hi All,
I just got notified of this problem and am now taking a look at it. It would be very much appreciated and helpful if someone could PM me a a couple threads (recent threads, and old threads, if possible) that they had subscribed to (but got lost/unsubscribed from for whatever reason).
Thanks, and sorry about the troubles.
Eric
It would be extra helpful if you haven't re-subscribed to any of the threads you send me.
Eric
It would be extra helpful if you haven't re-subscribed to any of the threads you send me.
Eric
That might be dificult. It's been awhile since the subscriptions went away, so I can't remember what I lost.
It would be extra helpful if you haven't re-subscribed to any of the threads you send me.
Eric
You've got mail!
Also I have NOT subscribed to ANY threads since this error occured.
I have just been using search to find the titles so nothing in my subscriptions has changed by my hand.
thanks.You've got mail!
Also I have NOT subscribed to ANY threads since this error occured.
I have just been using search to find the titles so nothing in my subscriptions has changed by my hand.
You've got mail!
Thanks for sending those, they were very helpful!
Eric
You've got mail!
Thanks for sending those, they were very helpful!
Eric
You got mail again!
No prob. I found the oldest thread I had read to help as well. The one about autocarding.
To note the test thread has been returned to my subscription list so now only 74 threads are missing from it.
In case your PM box got flooded I am letting you know here in case you check it first when you return online.
Sorry had to run to grocery store, as I had no idea the turnaround time would have been that fast.
Get you and that Mark A Jindra from the DDM warband generator working on DDI and I bet it would be up and running by Monday. :evillaugh
Sounds like a solution is close at hand. Excellent! Thanks, Eric!
Yup not long now before I can keep in touch with the C&C for CM thread in that VCL forum I think. ;)
If only the Wizards Default Community style problem was that easy to fix then we could have a party!
Sounds like a solution is close at hand. Excellent! Thanks, Eric!
-I hope so...
It's important to note (it's already been mentioned), that archived threads will not show up and since we were way behind on our archiving that may have removed a lot of subscriptions.
And, yes, the default Wizards community skin problem is also on my "want to fix" list, but I've just got a metric ton of things on my plate and it's been marked lower priority. That said, I'm trying my best to juggle all the different things. ;)
Thanks all for your patience,
Eric
I was refreshing a page showing the "Do you feel 4E is too 'rigid'" thread, when I got the "Restricted" message telling my I didn't have enough privileges to view the thread, and when I returned to my profiles all my subscriptions were gone.
But thanks for looking into it Eric.
Good luck with your bughunting, and have a nice holiday tomorrow. ;)If it is happening to everyone, then I bet that all the threads were hidden form the subscription list to try to duplicate the problem original cause, to make it easier to see what threads can return and what are to remain hidden in "special" forums.
Or they were backed up and all existing subscriptions deleted and a rollback from the saved subscriptions is coming when they are checked for those hidden threads. Meaning any new subscriptions from this point Might be lost after the rollback is instated.
Eric, I have found a workaround for the default style problem.
Firefox users: Look for an add-on or extension called Stylish.
install it then add this style to it
Heh, I'm really glad that I don't come to these boards that often. This is pathetic.
You expect people to subscribe to DDI when you can't even get a forum right?
You expect people to subscribe to DDI when you can't even get a forum right?
-I don't think the people/software used for the boards is going to be used/is being used for the DDI program. That's just a guess, there, but...
[...] -I don't think the people/software used for the boards is going to be used/is being used for the DDI program. That's just a guess, there, but...
...his point is nonetheless a very valid complaint.
And according to a post of Michael Morris over on ENworld, the current setup of the boards is quite a hackjob. However, MM just lost a crapload of credibility when he said "Microsuck". Professionals always use the best tool for the job no matter from what company, and not whatever some sort of misguided anti-MS paradigm or OSS believe dictates.
How in the NineHells could you expect a company to successfully run a pay-to-use MMO-like service, when they can't get their forums together? Do you really think that they could handle the load issues across a serverfarm for DDI, but fail so often with their forums?
...his point is nonetheless a very valid complaint.
And according to a post of Michael Morris over on ENworld, the current setup of the boards is quite a hackjob. However, MM just lost a crapload of credibility when he said "Microsuck". Professionals always use the best tool for the job no matter from what company, and not whatever some sort of misguided anti-MS paradigm or OSS believe dictates.
How in the NineHells could you expect a company to successfully run a pay-to-use MMO-like service, when they can't get their forums together? Do you really think that they could handle the load issues across a serverfarm for DDI, but fail so often with their forums?
-As I just said, I don't believe that the same programs/personnel is/will being/be used for the DDI program. Just because a person has an ugly son doesn't mean that person has an ugly daughter as well.
So it will be like counting hanging chads on voter ballots. :tiphats:
I liked that post over on ENWorld. I knew most of it already with the problems, but glad someone else noted it, it only the suits would notice the problems and stay out of the process of making things work that they know little about then things would go a lot smoother. How long did it take Eric to get notified of the issue? How many Wizo's are on the forums at all time?
WizO_Example notices a thread about a proble with the forums.
WizO_Example directly contacts IT responsible for the forums to tell them about a percieved problem.
That is all it takes to get it done.
-As I just said, I don't believe that the same programs/personnel is/will being/be used for the DDI program. Just because a person has an ugly son doesn't mean that person has an ugly daughter as well.
No, but it's more likely isn't it? Especially, when the parents have had other siblings that are ugly, too. MasterTools, etc.
DDI is supposed to be out already. They are already advertising it in the back of the books like it's available and functional.
-As I just said, I don't believe that the same programs/personnel is/will being/be used for the DDI program. Just because a person has an ugly son doesn't mean that person has an ugly daughter as well.
I guess my main gripe is that it appears that the WotC tech staff is cut short on money. Remember the hassle with search one (or two?) years ago? How long they had to bugger the company to get a frigging second server to mirror the database to? You cannot expect an online presence of this size to be run with cheapest-of-the-cheap equipment and software. Also, mixing highly different technologies may also not be the best idea. Why is the forum running on PHP (vB) and the homepage is running on ASP (not even ASP.NET)? Heck, from what we've seen they operate servers running different versions of Apache.
A company doesn't have to throw insane amounts of money at a problem (unlike many things to be read on www.thedailywtf.com), but funding a solid base of operations isn't asked too much from a multimillion dollar corporation like Hasbro. The argument that "new servers, operating systems, and other software costs too much" is also quite invalid if you consider the total cost of ownership including the annually recurring costs and not only the initial costs.
I'd personally have absolutely no problem with the current boards being shoved into the archives wholly and the whole website and community being remade from the ground on a solid, scalable, and modern technology (like, say, JSP or .NET) that is able to support all needs without the requirement to have the tech staff hackjob-ing the database or the forum software to get something like search running.
Yes, sadly, just as I was about to head out the door on Thursday I said to myself "I better check the forums one more time...". And, when I did, they literally had the same problem that occurred last Monday right in front of my eyes (that will teach me to browse the forums!). So I ran the Vbulletin routine that brought them back the first time, and it fixed the fact the forums weren't displaying. But, it sounds like my hypothesis about it causing the subscriptions to disappear is correct.
I'm taking a look into it now and we're also working on the database corruption issues we had this weekend as well.
Eric
Hi All,
Yes, sadly, just as I was about to head out the door on Thursday I said to myself "I better check the forums one more time...". And, when I did, they literally had the same problem that occurred last Monday right in front of my eyes (that will teach me to browse the forums!). So I ran the Vbulletin routine that brought them back the first time, and it fixed the fact the forums weren't displaying. But, it sounds like my hypothesis about it causing the subscriptions to disappear is correct.
I'm taking a look into it now and we're also working on the database corruption issues we had this weekend as well.
Eric
Danke.Hi All,
Yes, sadly, just as I was about to head out the door on Thursday I said to myself "I better check the forums one more time...". And, when I did, they literally had the same problem that occurred last Monday right in front of my eyes (that will teach me to browse the forums!). So I ran the Vbulletin routine that brought them back the first time, and it fixed the fact the forums weren't displaying. But, it sounds like my hypothesis about it causing the subscriptions to disappear is correct.
I'm taking a look into it now and we're also working on the database corruption issues we had this weekend as well.
Eric
Thanks for the heads up Eric.
I know that it is an off-topic question of epic proportions, but what's the future of the WotC web presence? Is it going to stay a "jury-rig" (combining PHP and ASP under a single sign on), or is it going to be remade from the ground on a single technology one day?
And where (and more imporantly: how) does DDI enter the stage in that whole drama? Apparently, at least the DDI Compendium seems to be designed to be integrated into the main website...
Thanks again for all your patience, I really appreciate it.
Eric
I really appreciate it.
Eric
We appreciate the updates, Eric. Thanks for taking the time to check in regularly.
Any updates?
I just ran a routine to identify and correct subscriptions that were improperly set. Could you let me know if: 1) all your subscriptions have returned, 2) if you are subscribed to any threads you shouldn't be (thread was deleted, archived, etc). and 3) if you're getting update notifications again.
I'm hoping that fixed the initial problem, but I'm still worried about the Vbulletin forum rebuild process that seems to randomly modify subscriptions. If we need to run that again, I'll need to try and identify subscriptions that got modified by it and investigate further.
Eric
Greetings All,
I just ran a routine to identify and correct subscriptions that were improperly set. Could you let me know if: 1) all your subscriptions have returned, 2) if you are subscribed to any threads you shouldn't be (thread was deleted, archived, etc). and 3) if you're getting update notifications again.
I'm hoping that fixed the initial problem, but I'm still worried about the Vbulletin forum rebuild process that seems to randomly modify subscriptions. If we need to run that again, I'll need to try and identify subscriptions that got modified by it and investigate further.
Eric
I've got some of my subscriptions back, but not all. I believe I got the ones back that I had resubscribed to after originally losing them a few weeks back and then lost again. But considering that I've had to hunt and search and that I'd lost my subs several times I'm too confused to know for sure.
Thanks for keeping after it, Eric. Is this problem related to the issue that's been popping up in the past week where the forums are unreadable?
As a control (sort of): mine are unchanged. But I wasn't experiencing the problem for some reason.
Thanks for keeping after it, Eric. Is this problem related to the issue that's been popping up in the past week where the forums are unreadable?
If you mean the one where you try to go to a forum or thread and it says you don't have permission (or alternatively, no forums show up on the main forum page), then I think so yes. They're doing some strange when we need to run that process and I'm not sure why...yet.
Eric
I've got some of my subscriptions back, but not all. I believe I got the ones back that I had resubscribed to after originally losing them a few weeks back and then lost again. But considering that I've had to hunt and search and that I'd lost my subs several times I'm too confused to know for sure.
Do you remember any that you had subscribed to before you lost them first time and that you haven't resubscribed to? I can try to locate them in the database and see if there's some other problem at work here. You can PM them to me if you remember any.
Eric
Greetings All,
I just ran a routine to identify and correct subscriptions that were improperly set. Could you let me know if: 1) all your subscriptions have returned, 2) if you are subscribed to any threads you shouldn't be (thread was deleted, archived, etc). and 3) if you're getting update notifications again.
I'm hoping that fixed the initial problem, but I'm still worried about the Vbulletin forum rebuild process that seems to randomly modify subscriptions. If we need to run that again, I'll need to try and identify subscriptions that got modified by it and investigate further.
Eric
FWIW, I still have all the subscriptions that I had before. However, like Zherog, I never lost any in the first place, so I don't know how helpful that it.
Greetings All,
I just ran a routine to identify and correct subscriptions that were improperly set. Could you let me know if: 1) all your subscriptions have returned, 2) if you are subscribed to any threads you shouldn't be (thread was deleted, archived, etc). and 3) if you're getting update notifications again.
I'm hoping that fixed the initial problem, but I'm still worried about the Vbulletin forum rebuild process that seems to randomly modify subscriptions. If we need to run that again, I'll need to try and identify subscriptions that got modified by it and investigate further.
Eric
I note 80 of 81 subscriptions have returned to my subscription list counted and all accounted for but the one. No telling what it was because someone may have merged it into the megathread, so there is no way to tell if ALL subscriptions have returned or not as threads should NOT have been merged when the database was being worked on in this fashion.
As for notification I will only know after someone posts, but I am about to bump a thread or two to see if it will entice someone to post in it.
Sorry for delay, was down in the DDI general forums arguing prices....
Do you remember any that you had subscribed to before you lost them first time and that you haven't resubscribed to? I can try to locate them in the database and see if there's some other problem at work here. You can PM them to me if you remember any.
Eric
Actually, I think I have them all back but I'm not sure. I only signed up a few months ago and didn't come here often. So I didn't have that many to deal with. Sorry, I couldn't be more help. But if they're not all back I'm sure that others that come here more often probably noticed that they are missing some. Plus, on the hope that this problem is over I just did a search and subscribed to some threads that may have been the missing ones. I'll PM those to you, but I've already resubscribed.
If you mean the one where you try to go to a forum or thread and it says you don't have permission (or alternatively, no forums show up on the main forum page), then I think so yes. They're doing some strange when we need to run that process and I'm not sure why...yet.
Eric
Yes, that's the problem I was referring to.
As for notification I will only know after someone posts, but I am about to bump a thread or two to see if it will entice someone to post in it.
Sorry for delay, was down in the DDI general forums arguing prices....
If you post a link to one thread here, I'll make a post for you to see if notification is working.
I note 80 of 81 subscriptions have returned to my subscription list counted and all accounted for but the one. No telling what it was because someone may have merged it into the megathread, so there is no way to tell if ALL subscriptions have returned or not as threads should NOT have been merged when the database was being worked on in this fashion.
As for notification I will only know after someone posts, but I am about to bump a thread or two to see if it will entice someone to post in it.
Sorry for delay, was down in the DDI general forums arguing prices....
Cool. Yeah there must have been a merge or something with the one missing one (or something else wrong) since I've been using your subscriptions to test with and you had exactly 80 in the database.
Someone posting here will help me tell if notifications for new posts in subscriptions will help.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1053133
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1052549
or
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1048646
Also a new post in the [thread=419536]All about Autocarding[/thread] will probably tell about OLD threads working or not for subscriptions again as it is the OLDEST thread I am subscribed to.
Seems all is working from my end... as for other settings like email notifications and automatically subscribe to threads posted in I didn't use those.
Seems like you got it done Eric. Hope all others subscriptions have returned too!
EDIT: Yup just subscribed to this very thread and it accepted it. So seems all is working that I can tell.
I posted in the first one you listed as well as the autocarding thread. Hope it worked right.
Oh, okay, so it's not you who was subscribed to that thread after all. That was a bit of a weird moment: "Wait, Zherog doesn't play Magic. WTF is he doing subscribed to this thread?" :P
Autocarding thread has some neat BBCode in it or I would not be subscribed to it either zammm.
Thanks Eric!
EDIT: Just figured out which thread I had subscribed to that was missing, but I wont comment on the conspiracy of the reasoning that thread was missing, I will just say the one that was missing from my subscriptions was.....
[thread=960704]Concerns and Criticisms about Community Management[/thread]
All about autocarding shows new posts on the subscription page, as does Half-elf is half what!
Seems all is working from my end... as for other settings like email notifications and automatically subscribe to threads posted in I didn't use those.
Seems like you got it done Eric. Hope all others subscriptions have returned too!
EDIT: Yup just subscribed to this very thread and it accepted it. So seems all is working that I can tell.
If only... ;) As you all know, there's still tons of work to be done on the forums. I appreciate all the help I've got with this problem though. I'm still going to try and figure out why that process mucks with them.
Eric
If only... ;) As you all know, there's still tons of work to be done on the forums. I appreciate all the help I've got with this problem though. I'm still going to try and figure out why that process mucks with them.
Eric
Some have mentioned not being able to find archived threads lately and the URL they are looking for seems odd. If I can find the post again I will let you know where, maybe a change in the archiver is the root cause...
EDIT: [thread=1051993]This is the thread with a strange URL for the archived posts.[/thread]
Some have mentioned not being able to find archived threads lately and the URL they are looking for seems odd. If I can find the post again I will let you know where, maybe a change in the archiver is the root cause...
EDIT: [thread=1051993]This is the thread with a strange URL for the archived posts.[/thread]
Yes, please that'd be great. Also, I checked on the one missing subscription and it's in the database, so you must have re-subscribed to it. A bunch of people are subscribed to it still, so it's not like it was mass unsubscribed ;) . Lets hope it was just a fluke.
Eric
EDIT: Ironically, almost right after I posted that, the "problem" came back...
Yes, please that'd be great. Also, I checked on the one missing subscription and it's in the database, so you must have re-subscribed to it. A bunch of people are subscribed to it still, so it's not like it was mass unsubscribed ;) . Lets hope it was just a fluke.
Eric
The link is there in that post using the thread tag. ;)
I think somehow the forums decided it did not want me to know where the C&C forums was so I DID re-subscribe since you finished when I found it again. I guess the forums themselves jsut don't like me and want me to stay out of that thread. ;)
Don't know if the linked thread there will help you track down archiver problems but the wotc_archive folder seemed a bit odd to me compared to the ones I have seen.
Maybe it is a leftover from switching from boards1.wizards.com ro forums.gleemax.com and one of the forums servers isn't in sync. Odd how the Wizards Community Maintenance message also still appear on boards1.wizards.com rather than the new domain name....
Maybe time to kill that redirect in the domain name servers and just make everything go to forums.gleemax.com and lose the old boards1 subdomain. But I don't like nested aliases and nested virtual domains with Apache.
Nothing worse than when your httpd.conf gets mad at you. ;)
Autocarding thread has some neat BBCode in it or I would not be subscribed to it either zammm.
What code is it you're interested in?
Funny thing is Gatherer could be used for DDM also.
I just watch it for new BBCode and hidden forums tricks. ;)
The link is there in that post using the thread tag. ;)
I think somehow the forums decided it did not want me to know where the C&C forums was so I DID re-subscribe since you finished when I found it again. I guess the forums themselves jsut don't like me and want me to stay out of that thread. ;)
Don't know if the linked thread there will help you track down archiver problems but the wotc_archive folder seemed a bit odd to me compared to the ones I have seen.
Maybe it is a leftover from switching from boards1.wizards.com ro forums.gleemax.com and one of the forums servers isn't in sync. Odd how the Wizards Community Maintenance message also still appear on boards1.wizards.com rather than the new domain name....
Maybe time to kill that redirect in the domain name servers and just make everything go to forums.gleemax.com and lose the old boards1 subdomain. But I don't like nested aliases and nested virtual domains with Apache.
Nothing worse than when your httpd.conf gets mad at you. ;)
Thanks for showing me that other thread. It seems to be a separate problem with forums that are missing/deleted. I'm pretty sure a ton of things would break if we got rid of that redirect unfortunately.
Eric
Thanks for showing me that other thread. It seems to be a separate problem with forums that are missing/deleted. I'm pretty sure a ton of things would break if we got rid of that redirect unfortunately.
Eric
Bummer. Too bad you couldn't just go through the files and have a script run on them to replaces all occurrence of boards1.wizards.com with forums.gleemax.com.
Oh well, at least the error message is spellchecked now for nightly maintenance at least. ;)
Good luck with those missing archives.
However, I now have only 75 instead of 79, despite several of the threads I did post in the meantime being added to the list. From a rough estimation, somehow around 10 threads disappeared.
Also, i'm getting swarmed by "database errors" again and need to use the URL workaround to view any threads.
Thanks, WotC_EricB.
Eric, I will PM you with the URL of the one I know of.
Chris
Mine are gone again.
For the third time.
Don't expect me to come back.
This is pathetic.
EN World for the win.
And today I lost _most_ of my subscribed threads, for the 2nd time. Only 4 out of 16 left :-(
Chris
All mine are gone again, too.
It seems that maybe if you are online doing something whent he archiving happens this may be a cause of the problem.
All 83 of mine are there.
ENWorld huh? Hmmm, maybe.
I do have a serious suggestion, in spite of the way it sounds. When I'm programming and I run into something like this, whether I caused it or there's an outside cause I:
1. Try a couple workarounds.
2. After a few repeated problems, I determine that fixing it isn't worth the time.
3. I recreate the offending program or section of code from scratch, as this is typically faster in the long run.
So in this situation I would:
1. Find an alternate forum system.
2. Announce a total forum shutdown on X date for X days. Add a couple extra days to your estimate and take as much time as required to do the following steps, even if it turns out longer than your estimate.
3. Archive every bit of data from Gleemax. Both as an exact copy in the original format and a converted form for the new forum system. Naturally keep all old backups as well. If a program to convert the database doesn't exist, I'm sure a programmer could write one.
4. Boot up the new forums. Never speak of Gleemax again.
I'm tempted to slip the repair script into the nightly maintenance process, but I'd rather determine why it's happening and fix the root problem.
Eric
All my subscriptions disappeared recently.
Mine are still there.
[...] So in this situation I would:
1. Find an alternate forum system.
2. Announce a total forum shutdown on X date for X days. Add a couple extra days to your estimate and take as much time as required to do the following steps, even if it turns out longer than your estimate.
3. Archive every bit of data from Gleemax. Both as an exact copy in the original format and a converted form for the new forum system. Naturally keep all old backups as well. If a program to convert the database doesn't exist, I'm sure a programmer could write one.
4. Boot up the new forums. Never speak of Gleemax again.
The problem is that apparently the "powers that be" have less interest in the forums but rather concentrate the tech staff on getting Gleemax/DDI up and running.
Also, running the website in ASP, the forums in PHP, and the DDI apps in (iirc) C#/.NET and trying to combine all that with a single sign on technology has probably opened more than one pandora's box.
My personal preference would be:
#1: Hasbro gives the WotC tech staff a 6 to 7 digit budget for a complete remake of the WotC online portal and web presence (including new servers and software)
#2: The Gleemax and forums database are archived and made available through a plugin in the new portal
#3: The completely new web presence runs under a single technology: ASP.NET
However, highly doubting that #1 is ever going to happen, I think we have to run with the current setup. Also, see the first line of my sig. :P
// Edit:
Thanks for the info, Eric. Good to know that you guys are doing your best. Good luck with your bug hunting. ;)
The problem is that WotC won't pony up the money for additional manpower to actually do all the online stuff they want done. Michelle stated that many thing like Chat was neglected for MtGO and DDI.
What was the point of creating Gleemax and all the problems they knew would be coming with it if they had all these other things that they KNEW had to be done and given priority and then neglect the stuff you just created that is breaking.
WotC execs seems to have no sense in this matter.
KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid.
Stupid is not just execs, but programmers as well. It means the more you try to add at once then the more will break down. Get one thing working correctly before you add more crap to it!
They should have not even messed with Gleemax, and left everything else alone and got MtGO done first as they knew new card sets for Magic come out every 3 months.
Then work on DDI to get it working.
Then create Gleemax and move everything around on it and get it working.
THEN switch the existing forums over to it and add DDI to the WotC site if it must in some way connect to the forums or Gleemax.
DDI really shouldn't but is for now beacuse the forums accounts nee Gleemax accounts are used for access to the D&D website.
I could care less about having a Glemax account. I don't have a MYSpace or FACEBook account, nor any of those other silly dating sites. I just need a forums account to chat on forums.
Well....they don't have enough people to do the tasks they set up and probably didn't listen when the programmers told them these deadlines are impossible. Welcome to the fantasy world the suits live in. That is why you hire people that know about computers because you are inept to do it yourself, so it is high time one company actually listened to the people they hire if they want a job done right and blow every other software involved company out of the water with actual resutls for a change. This means don't make deadliens you think or just want something to be done by. Hire enough people to do the job is you want it done quicker.
Corporate execs need to grow up and realize they are living int he real world, and not some fantasy world where they wave a magic wand and things jsut appear out of thin air.
EricB, DM, others.... take your time and do it right! Just let us, the users, know what is going on while you are working because any information given to the suits falls on deaf ears. They don't even use the software you make, just earn dividends off your sweat and blood. So let us users know what is going on and the forums will become a much happier place.
Find a happy place. Find a happy place. Find a happy place. Find a happy place. Find a happy place. Find a happy place.
Eric: Mine are still there. Love the new avatar, Wish we could fork you for a time to get all the forum bugs worked out so you could have plenty of time and help to get them taken care of. Too bad it is only an interrupt.
I've restored the missing ones again. We're still investigating why they are disappearing.
I'm tempted to slip the repair script into the nightly maintenance process, but I'd rather determine why it's happening and fix the root problem.
Eric
Thank you, I've got mine back.
And again, what I said was meant for WotC's benefit not mine (though others have mentioned the complication of switching). I'm happy to get whatever free forum I get. OTOH that doesn't mean Gleemax doesn't have serious problems or that I won't switch if it became too much of a pain to use. I got two backups already
.Forums and 34 subscriptions.
Yup something done went screwy again.
Cheers,
Necro
Somethiing in it has broken!
Thanks again Eric!
I restored the subscriptions again. But, is there a specific time interval you noticed them disappear between (i.e. 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM)?
Thanks,
Eric
With the frequency I actually check subscriptions vs walking through threads, when I finally do check subscriptions I have been coming directly here to report them missing.
I will start checking more often to see IF there is a specific time that it occurs or if it is just intermittently happening.
I know they dropped yesterday when the forums went missing.
83 of 85 returned, this very thread is not among them...
With the frequency I actualyl check subscriptions vs walking through threads, when I finally do check subscriptions I have been coming directly here to report them missing.
I will start checking more often to see IF there is a specific time that it occurs or if it is just intermittently happening.
That's understandably very frustrating/annoying. It turns out we did have to "rebuild" the forums last night (I checked and it happened around 6:30 PM PST) so that would coincide with when they disappeared.
I hate to say this, but I'm still working on it. I'm not as inept as it sounds, just don't have enough time to put this thing to bed.
I did notice the fact that changes to the code was made and made a thread around here about that, but don't know when the postcount changed....
At least you are doing something about the problems and instating rollbacks of saved copies of the user subscriptions.
Thanks for al the tiring work on such a small bug so it doesn't cause widespread panic.
The Subscription Devourer is back! It happened at around midnight CET, which probably would be 7:00pm EST.
For like 5 or 10 minutes the forums website was empty (no forums showing, subscriptions empty), and when the forums themselves came back online the subscriptions were still gone.
It happened at around midnight CET, which probably would be 7:00pm EST.
For like 5 or 10 minutes the forums website was empty (no forums showing, subscriptions empty), and when the forums themselves came back online the subscriptions were still gone.
They should be back. I was away from my desk when someone told me they needed to rebuild the forums and forgot for a few minutes to update the subscriptions.
Eric
They should be back. I was away from my desk when someone told me they needed to rebuild the forums and forgot for a few minutes to update the subscriptions.
Eric
Yay! Thanks, everything back.
I never noticed a thing!Seems like you got the quick fix ready to go in a flash EricB!
Now if only you can run that fix from your mobile phone on the go you would be set to get paid no matter where you are! :evillaugh
Did they give you your raise yet for solving this problem?
Hmmm... I'm back to 0.
Yep, ditto. Really sucks, because the boards seem to slow down when people don't have subscriptions with which to keep track of their threads. We get a whole weekend of sluggish conversation because nobody'll be in to give the servers a kick 'til Monday.
Have you been able to track down the problem? I hope it's not so severe that the whole database will go "legs up" one day.
;)Keep up the good work!
-Concerning the 'Subscription Devourer': If you see that the boards are having those problems (for example, on the main log-in page, the boxes for the different games don't appear), don't click anything. If you click 'View My Subscriptions', they won't appear, and every subsequent time you do it, the number will go down. If you see the boards are having the problems, and don't click anything, when they resume functioning, the subscriptions will be fine. I, of course, learned this the hard way, but...
This is - indeed - why it's happening. Vbulletin *thinks* you don't have access to the forums your subscriptions are in when it checks (also why that permission denied error shows up when you try to view the thread), so it updates all your subscriptions. When the forums show up again, the subscriptions are still alienated thus the script that fixes the alienation. We're working on ensuring that the forums don't always have to be rebuilt like that. It's most likely related to the additional front end servers we've added but are tweaking things here and there to keep it from happening.
Eric
This is - indeed - why it's happening. Vbulletin *thinks* you don't have access to the forums your subscriptions are in when it checks (also why that permission denied error shows up when you try to view the thread), so it updates all your subscriptions. When the forums show up again, the subscriptions are still alienated thus the script that fixes the alienation. We're working on ensuring that the forums don't always have to be rebuilt like that. It's most likely related to the additional front end servers we've added but are tweaking things here and there to keep it from happening.
Eric
With the demise of Gleemax,will that free up more techs to to fix the ofrums or more techs to work on DDI and MOL?
With the demise of Gleemax,will that free up more techs to to fix the ofrums or more techs to work on DDI and MOL?
Since none of the forum issues were really appearant until Gleemax came around, there is little doubt in my mind that its demise alone will fix many, many problems.
This is - indeed - why it's happening. Vbulletin *thinks* you don't have access to the forums your subscriptions are in when it checks (also why that permission denied error shows up when you try to view the thread), so it updates all your subscriptions. When the forums show up again, the subscriptions are still alienated thus the script that fixes the alienation. We're working on ensuring that the forums don't always have to be rebuilt like that. It's most likely related to the additional front end servers we've added but are tweaking things here and there to keep it from happening.
Eric
Thanks for the update Eric. Good to know you guys are working on this. Hope you soon get your well deserved XPs for killing that bug. ;)
This is - indeed - why it's happening.
How long ago did you know this? I appreciate all the work you're doing to get the forum to stop
ing itself every couple of days, but this helpful "don't check your subscriptions while the forums are ing themselves" tip would have been great to have heard -- from WotC rather than a helpful user -- about a half-dozen forum-s ago.As much as I hate vBulletin, even it works best at what it was made to do...BBS, not some replacement for IMs and conferences calls, mixed with some refrigerator magnets.
Good work still EricB, even though the forums are a bit laggy now as the corpse of Gleemax is being excised from the living flesh that remains of a workign forum structure.
How long ago did you know this? I appreciate all the work you're doing to get the forum to stop
-Don't know about you, but I figured it out myself like the second time it happened. Ain't that hard...;)
-Don't know about you, but I figured it out myself like the second time it happened. Ain't that hard...;)
You probably use the forums differently from me. I sit on the sub screen and refresh to watch my threads 95% of the time. Every time the server
itself, I was sitting on that screen and didn't know about the crash until I refreshed it, at which point the subscription count dropped straight to 0.You probably use the forums differently from me. I sit on the sub screen and refresh to watch my threads 95% of the time. Every time the server
I used to do that as a lurker. Find thread I liked on a forum and just read them then return to the subscription page after reading the latest.
Hopefully the death of Gleemax will allow things to revert back and archiver problems to no longer exist.
You probably use the forums differently from me. I sit on the sub screen and refresh to watch my threads 95% of the time. Every time the server
It's definitely different from how I use it. I only subscribe to threads that aren't active that I want to be able to find at a later date. For example, I subscribe to the Hero Craftsman master index thread, because every six weeks or so I need to find it and update it.
You probably use the forums differently from me. I sit on the sub screen and refresh to watch my threads 95% of the time. Every time the server
-Yes, yes it is. I just check my subscribed accounts, and then go to the actual main screens when I've replied to all of my subscribed threads, to see what's new.
I don't know whether to be annoyed or angry or what.
What happened?!
It's a known problem that happens every time the forum crashes in a particular manner. There's a thread on this forum about it somewhere.
Oh ok. Thanks. This is the first time it's happened to me and I had a quick look for another thread but didn't see one.
Oh ok. Thanks. This is the first time it's happened to me and I had a quick look for another thread but didn't see one.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1054423
Whatever happened recently to the forums during the downtime ate 25 of my subscriptions, all being from 08/19/08 and later.
Bump.
Whatever happened recently to the forums during the downtime ate 25 of my subscriptions, all being from 08/19/08 and later.
Same here.
Bump.
Whatever happened recently to the forums during the downtime ate 25 of my subscriptions, all being from 08/19/08 and later.
Even better! I just subscribed to a thread and it doesn't show up...
Even better! I just subscribed to a thread and it doesn't show up...
Yep, after posting on a thread it didn't show up. I had to go an manually subscribe. This site is pretty screwed up.
Yep, after posting on a thread it didn't show up. I had to go an manually subscribe. This site is pretty screwed up.
Agreed, my newer subscriptions are gone as well.
Peace,
Necro
Because of the recent downtime, some of the subscriptions did get alienated again. I restored them, but can you let me know if they're all back?
We did a ton of database work to improve the forums stability, but we've still got this one lingering problem with the forums cache getting screwed up which causes your subscriptions to go away (if you try and visit the forums while it's broken). I was hoping that the database work fixed it because it hasn't occurred since we've done the improvements (about a month ago now) ... until this weekend, so I don't think it's completely fixed.
Eric
Hi All,
I restored them, but can you let me know if they're all back?
Eric
Nope. Still gone. Only what I subscribed to yesterday are there. Missing about 10.
Hi All,
Because of the recent downtime, some of the subscriptions did get alienated again. I restored them, but can you let me know if they're all back?
We did a ton of database work to improve the forums stability, but we've still got this one lingering problem with the forums cache getting screwed up which causes your subscriptions to go away (if you try and visit the forums while it's broken). I was hoping that the database work fixed it because it hasn't occurred since we've done the improvements (about a month ago now) ... until this weekend, so I don't think it's completely fixed.
Eric
Sorry to say so, but I'm still missing all my old subscriptions from 08/19/08 till today.
But still, congratulations for keeping the boards stable. It's been a very long time since I've seen that "down for maintenance" screen.
Anyway, can you tell us a bit about when the forums will get reorganized due to the "death" of Gleemax? I seem to remember an announcement or something like that telling that the boards would go down somewhere in September when the Gleemax stuff was finally completely removed.
Nope. Still gone. Only what I subscribed to yesterday are there. Missing about 10.
Hi Kursk,
Could you PM me a few threads you were subscribed to, but aren't anymore so I can look into those specific ones?
Thanks,
Eric
Hi Kursk,
Could you PM me a few threads you were subscribed to, but aren't anymore so I can look into those specific ones?
Thanks,
Eric
I don't remember them. I was gone for a week and count on the DB to track them. I don't keep them in my head. No worries. I'll search and resubscribe to the ones I can find.
When is Gleemax going away and a new site being introduced?
I don't remember them. I was gone for a week and count on the DB to track them. I don't keep them in my head. No worries. I'll search and resubscribe to the ones I can find.
When is Gleemax going away and a new site being introduced?
Understandably so, but if anyone does remember any subscriptions that went missing and have not returned, feel free to let me know. It's helpful as it allows me to actually look in the database to make sure they're still there and, if so, why they're not showing up for you.
I can't say when the Gleemax skins are going away, but I do know it's being worked on. We also want to do a ton more forums maintenance (skins, Vbulletin upgrade, etc.), but we've been really busy (have you seen the new Magic site
? ). Eric
Understandably so, but if anyone does remember any subscriptions that went missing and have not returned, feel free to let me know. It's helpful as it allows me to actually look in the database to make sure they're still there and, if so, why they're not showing up for you.
Eric
Here's one. http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1078056
I can't say when the Gleemax skins are going away, but I do know it's being worked on. We also want to do a ton more forums maintenance (skins, Vbulletin upgrade, etc.), but we've been really busy (have you seen the new Magic site
Eric
no i don't vist Magic,i'm still wiating for the D20 Modern site to be updated
Eric
Alright, how about now? There were still a ton that needed fixing.
Eric
A couple just showed up in my list...
A couple just showed up in my list...
I noticed that the one you posted is not in the database at all for you, so you'll want to resubscribe to that one. When did you subscribe to that one? When did it disappear?
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it,
Eric
I noticed that the one you posted is not in the database at all for you, so you'll want to resubscribe to that one. When did you subscribe to that one? When did it disappear?
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it,
Eric
08-31-08 is when I subscribed. I just got back in town this Saturday and noticed...
Alright, how about now? There were still a ton that needed fixing.
Eric
Hey, thanks!
All missing subscriptions are back for me.Hey, thanks!
Mine are all gone again.
Mine were back a couple of days ago, and they've poofed away again. Seriously, this is the third or fourth time this has happened in as many months. This never happened up until this year. What the heck is going on on the back end to be doing this to the forums?
Same here. They were gone for a bit a while back, reappeared sometime last week, and now are gone again as of last night.
Edit @ 2008.09.15 16:49 EST: S'all good now.
[...] Edit @ 2008.09.15 16:49 EST: S'all good now.
Well, I'm missing around 60 subscriptions again, down to 88 from around 140.
Well, I'm missing around 60 subscriptions again, down to 88 from around 140.
You're killing me.
No, they should be back hopefully. I need to double check to make sure we're restoring the subscriptions when the forums throw up all over (I'm not the only one that fixes them).Eric
EDIT: Oh subscriptions. My old account doesn't work. I tried "forgot my password" but it didn't recognise my e-mail address. So I had to open a new account (though I couldn't use my old name).
crashy75.
You're killing me.
Eric
They're all back. Thanks.
But I wonder, the boards have been running smoothly for the last weeks without any "unplanned maintenance" or lost subscriptions, why is that suddenly flaring up again? Is it related to the removal of Gleemax? Or is vB breaking down again?
Anyway, thanks for the hard work of keeping the boards running.
For reference sake [thread=1080766]this thread[/thread] is one of the threads whose subscriptions was lost.
-Just figured that I'd share: the same symptoms of the problems that we experienced during the summer/fall (pages not loading, etc.) have been happening again, and just last night, I was given the "Lord Karsus, you do not have access to..." page, and this morning, I noticed about 25 of my subscribed threads were missing. So, the funky problems seem to be starting up again.
Yes, we did have an incident of the forums cache corrupting last night, so some subscriptions got hidden. They should be back though now.
Eric
The "You don't have permission" error popped up all morning for me. I don't use subscriptions extensively, but I'll go ahead and assume that those who do are having the problem they always have when the permission error pops up.
Hi Zherog,
Yeah, that's exactly right. What happens is that when the forums cache gets corrupted that permissions error pops up because vBulletin thinks you don't have access to the forum/thread you're trying to view. When it does that, it also updates all your subscriptions to reflect the fact you don't have permission to view the forum the subscription is in. But, in reality, you do have permission it's just because vBulletin can't get the info out of the cache it assumes you don't.
Forums cache should be fixed and subscriptions restored.
Eric
The techs have a script they can run that will restore subscriptions removed this way; they ran it, which brought your subscriptions back.
That make things clearer?
What do you mean lock-out crash?
The permissions on the forum get corrupt. The forum tells users that they do not have appropriate permissions to view the forum. You will either see the box telling you "you do not have permission to view this.." or you will see theindex page with no boards available.
During this time if you view your subscriptions the forum software says "hey you don't have permissions to view these threads" and hides them from you, so they appear to have been deleted.