Missing 24 hours of posts - Site went down. Sorry

[Lightning Rod]

we had a technical glitch today

sorry for the inconvenience

we thought we had lost the whole site

you know, like the Library of Alexandria was burned down

but it's back now

sorry that we lost some posts

we had to use the backup from yesterday

but at least we are back on the air

remember that the internet is temporary like all things

lr

[judih]

first there is a mountain
then there is no mountain
then there is


glad to see you.
there is a studio 8
then there is no studio 8
then there is.

[Doreen Peri]

Now we have no banner again.... which is how this whole thing started yesterday.



I've been changing the banner every day for over a year and now it stops working.... so I decided to do the upgrades yesterday and screwed it up royally somehow.

We finally got the site restored from backup by our host.

We had bennie's train banner up there. I woke up happy... the site was back. OK, I said to myself, now let's try to change the banner again.

And I tried.

No banner. Same routine, same file name, same directory... it worked for a year. Now it doesn't work.

I need to hire technical help.

Until then, I don't know what the problem is but we will have to carry on without a banner for a while because I'm not going to attempt to do the upgrades myself 'cause I don't want to screw up again and lose the whole site.

At least the site is up and running.

Hopefully later, we'll have our banners back.

Decorate the place with images in the visual arts forum or anywhere else.

I'm baffled and frustrated.

[Zlatko Waterman]

Now this is NOT a complaint, my dear:

Good heavens-- I have so much fun on StudioEight, and it helps me to keep my prose in shape now that I'm not marching students around and forcing them to shape up theirs . . .

But just a little tittle, which probably won't help anything, but I hope it doesn't hinder either, and I'm pleased that the site is back up, of course:


When you first opened StudioEight and I signed in, I checked the little box that says something like:

"Sign me in automatically each time I visit . . ."

And it worked, perfectly, each time.


But for the past four or five months, it never works.

I don't mind, of course-- signing in is no effort.

Just an observation.

with affection for Doreen and StudioEight,


--Z

[whimsicaldeb]

I thought I had caused it when I posted my last post with links in it ... and then came back last evening to check on the reply. There was all kinds of weird stuff/ things ...

and then this morning I thought perhaps one of those links that I had posted had some how cause all this, had some new type of "Cootie" embedded or something that cause the whole damn board to go goofy!

I had such a guilty conscious! I wrote Doreen, and she told me … No, it’s not you!

… what a relief! I’m glad it wasn’t me, and that S8’s back!

Thank Dor for getting it all going again ... this place is special.

[whimsicaldeb]

"The original build a cootie bug game. Kooky and colorful - what a hoot! Start with a body, a head, and a hat. Lickin' lips, antennae, twirly tongue...look at that! Hundreds of ways to build'em. They're never the same. Finish your Cootie first and you win the game."
http://www.hasbro.com/pl/page.viewprodu ... efault.cfm

~~~~~

Okay, who finished their cootie first?

[whimsicaldeb]

oh yes ... and let's not forget Cootie Catchers! Everyone get their cootie catchers out ...


http://www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/games ... atcher.htm


(...don't mind me, I've gone nuts!)

[Doreen Peri]

heh.... cooties! I remember them!

No, couldn't have been links posted, Deb.... it was just little old ignorant me doing something wrong while trying to upgrade.

Finally today, I fixed the banner problem. That turned out to also be my problem. My Photoshop wasn't writing the .jpg code right. With a little help from my son, we figured the problem was with my files, not anything on the site. So, I logged outa my Mac, logged back on (because I remembered this fixed an earlier problem with Photoshop rendering my type jaggedy) ... and Voila! Now I can upload banners again and they work. Whew!

Zlatko - yeah, I've heard of this glitch before. As a techie dummy, I'd never know how to troubleshoot it! You could try another browser... I recommend Firefox if you don't use that already. Just an idea. There's also a glitch where some people have to log on 3 times before it takes. Somekinda web"master" hahahaha I am, eh? I wouldn't have one glimpse of an idea of how to troubleshoot any of these problems.

I'm in the market for technical help so if any of you know anybody who is technically proficient and very familiar with the phpBB software, send them my way. I'd rather pay for their time than stress myself out and screw things up.

Thank you all for being here and for your patience.

(Save your posts if you want them! There are really no guarantees in this life. We hope to be around for a long while to come, but I don't have any idea if that dream will come true. We're trying!)

I'm thrilled to have the banners back! I'm going to celebrate! Anyone want to play a game of Scrabble with me online?

[hester_prynne]

Funny Deb, I was worried it was me somehow causing it....I'm that computer ignorant! Glad to know it wasn't from a studio eighter too. I wonder why I always blame myself or worry about being to blame so much. I gotta work on that one.....Heh.

I do think I have been very lax in saving my work, so i'm gonna start doing that pronto...go back and just save my poetic renderings on my hard drive. I did that at shitkicks and had a good habit of it. I need to get the habit again. Some of the stuff I saved from shitkicks though, didn't save very well....Is there a way to save them that is best?

Doreen, this site is so fantastic. These little glitches could never spoil it! I think it comes with the territory and I am so grateful that you keep us going, despite them.
If I ever win a big lottery, or if I ever get rich and famous, you're gettin a million bucks right off the top! I mean that.

H

[e_dog]

i don't want to sound like a complainer because i am truly grateful for the great work you do here.

but i ws just wondering about how secure and permanent this site is -- 24 hours loss is inconvenient but obviously it would really suck if we lost it all -- so, like, how secure exactly is the backup system? (Not that i expect too many details, i don't know nothin bout conputers, besides that would compromise security!)

what will happen to data when the host decides to close shop?

[Doreen Peri]

Hest - You are a delight and a joy and having you participate here and be part of this community is a wonderful thing! Thank you so much for your support and kind words. If you get that extra million and want to skim a few dollars off the top, we wouldn't mind at all accepting your donation. But your donation of your time to participate and your voice and songs and spirit are just as dear to me! Thank you!
--------------

Hi e-dog. Thank you for being here, too. And for caring enough to ask these questions. I'm really glad you brought these questions up because it gives me the opportunity to give my take on it.

First off, who knows how secure anything is? Can you be secure when you walk down the aisle and marry somebody? Do you know that that person will be with you 20 years later? 10 years later? 5 years later? I just look at the web like part of life and it all changes. There are no guarantees. Not like anybody's participation on Studio Eight is anything like a marriage or anything... lol... that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that life, by it's very nature, is about change and nobody knows what's going to happen. That's what makes it exciting.

But to answer the exact questions you asked.... I shopped for a LONG time for a host. Months and months. I finally found one which I thought would suit our needs because the price was right (read - inexpensive enough for my almost empty pocketbook) and they offered software on their server which I thought was an excellent package.. open source free software ... these phpbb boards being part of the package.

They back up the entire site every 24 hours, so the MOST we would ever lose is 24 hours worth of data. However, there are responsibilities that I myself have, as the person who decided to put this site together to begin with, which may put us in a position of losing data. What I'm saying is, this time and the 1 time before when I made errors in handling files and updates which took the site off the air for a certain period of time... really what they did in restoring it for us was a favor, not necessarily a requirement of our hosting contract. It is my responsibility to back up data, also, as well as theirs, and it's still not clear to me exactly where the line is drawn.

All that being said (and don't you hate that ridiculous introductory clause... "that being said"?), we have a dream and we're not going to be able to handle it all ourselves. We're going to need some help because first off, there just isn't enough time in the day and also, there are skills which are lacking. How secure are my skills? Now that's a question I need to ask myself.

The dream includes developing the other parts of the site which are outlined here - http://www.studioeight.tv/ - and where we only have content on the artists pages and writers pages. Those pages took me a long time to put together and the site cannot grow and develop to include additional artists and writers at this pace. Not one page at a time. So, we purchased some Content Management Software but I need someone to help me set it up and get it launched because we want people to be able to log in and upload their own images and music files and essays and stories, etc., sort of like posting here only with the artists and writers and musicians and philosophers like you having their own areas where hopefully later there will be public comments added just like there are here.

Will any of that info be safe and secure once we develop it? I hope so! I have so far been quite pleased with the host we have here but they do certainly offer a lot for the money and at one point, our site was slow slow slow slow slow and that's because we are also on a server with other sites. It was most inconvenient during that time because we were having a Word Jam that day or an Image jam or something ... can't remember... and members could barely get a page to load. Other than that time, where the site went down for a time (not due to my inexpertise... is inexpertise a word? sigh) but due to the host having too much activity on one server to handle it, I've been quite pleased with their responsiveness and service.

This is not to say that we won't ever change hosts. But I need help. I need technical support. I need people who are experienced in handling a growing site to offer their time and expertise to help develop it. Do you know any techie person who loves the arts? If so, please send him or her my way.

You said you weren't asking for too many details and maybe I'm giving too many. Apologies. I just want to address what you asked because it's important.

Bottom line ( and don't you just hate that unnecessary preface "bottom line"?)... I don't know the answers.

What happens if the host goes out of business and I haven't been diligent, talented, or savvy enough to have backed up all my files from the site? What happens if the database isn't available to me any more?

What happened when Litkicks closed its boards? Did they archive it all? Is it searchable? No and no.

What happens when you get fired from your job and you didn't back up all of the files you created which you could have used to start your own business?

I don't know.

I truly don't know.

All I can say is, save your work, thank you for being part of the community AND ... we are doing our best to build a site which will last as long as it is destined to last and grow to incorporate a venue where artists, writers, musicians, theater people, spoken word poets, philosophers... and all creative people who like to be part of something... join in to make it an experience which will be worthwhile to them.

I don't know how else to answer.

We hope to grow and last as long as the site is worth something to the members because the site is about those who participate. It's all about you. And everyone else who comes here. It will become what it will become and last as long as it needs to last but just be aware that I am not like some other webmasters who are also computer programmers and technically educated and experienced.

I'm just a person who loves the arts and wanted to have a place where people who enjoy a lot of different types of arts can come together to share their ideas & projects and get some exposure and maybe collaborate with each other.

Whew! I rambled. Sorry about that.

I have no answers other than what I've typed here. We are doing our best and we could use some help to keep doing it.

Keep your eyes crossed and fingers focused.... er, I mean, your fingers crossed and eyes focused.... or something.

Thank you again for being part of this site.

When more problems arise (which I'm sure they will), I hope we will be able move forward to deal with them in a way which protects the input of all those participating.

Do you think we need a S8 Homeland Security team? sighhhhhhhh... maybe we DO!

[Doreen Peri]

To hest

You asked
"Is there a way to save them that is best? "

What I always do is type into a text document then save my writing in individual text documents giving them names and dates. On PC, there's Notepad which you can use for this. Or you can use Word.

Don't get me wrong, I've lost a LOT of spontaneous writing I've failed to save written on one forum or another.

But I keep archived folders which go on for about 6 months each with everything I wrote during that period, each piece of writing titled and dated. (I TRY to do that anyway.)

LR has a running file going all the time. I get lost in there. Essentially, it's everything he writes ... including emails, looks like to me, responses to people on the web in various forums, etc... and it just keeps going until he decides to create another one. Like a journal? I donno. I can't follow that type of archiving. But everybody's different.

Definitely, I suggest saving your work using an extraneous program, not just typing it into the box in a posting window and never seeing it again.

Hope that helps!

[whimsicaldeb]

My Photoshop wasn't writing the .jpg code right. ~ Doreen

Ahhh ... so that's where the cootie was playing!


I wonder why I always blame myself or worry about being to blame so much. I gotta work on that one..... ~ Hester

Ditto!

[tinkerjack]

I wonder why I always blame myself or worry about being to blame so much. I gotta work on that one

Gee whiz Hester you don't look Jewish.