Site status 12/16/13: Still some connection errors

[ac12]

Thanks guys.
I did not realize that I was "addicted" to the forum until it was down.

[ArtShapiro]

To whom can I direct the not-inconsiderable bill from the detox / rehab facility where I was being treated for Forum Withdrawal???

Art

[cadillacmike68]

I don't even want to know what the heck happened to string this cataclysm together, but I'm glad it's up. Great work Bill & co.

One positive side, was that, in boredom, I popped onto the CMP forum, and the CEO had just announced original Lake City .30 Carbine in boxes, 1,350 rds to a can, all original & matching lots. While i would have preferred clips & bands, this was a great surprise, so i just HAD to get a couple of boxes. I would likely have missed out if this forum was up. My wife's gonna freak when those heavy cans arrive.

[killer]

Thank you, Bill, for sorting out the mess that resulted from a major power failure.

[rkawakami]

Just an FYI: I've been experiencing intermittent slowness in response to page requests this morning and even got a couple of SQL error messages. Please be patient; I'm sure this is being looked into.

[pjk]

Looks like I missed out on the drama, came back here the other day to post a few Q's after it was back up.

Thanks for your efforts, all.

(Re: hosting providers, if you want an outstanding, reliable, helpful hosting provider that runs FreeBSD and has plenty of diesel generator power in the event of a long-lasting power-outage, may I suggest pair.com in Pittsburg, PA. They are one of the "old hands" in the hosting biz.)

[wkw]

Hey, I'm in pittsburgh =3

[EasyMac308]

http://forum.thinkpads.com/ is still down. I didn't even figure out I could get to it through this URL (http://www.thinkpads.com/forum/) until today.

[rkawakami]

Both of those URLs resolve to the same place (IP). If one works while the other doesn't then that's a DNS matter.

[RealBlackStuff]

There's still a major error, which was mentioned previously by puppy (Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:09 am)
You need to type in the full address: http://forum.thinkpads.com/index.php or forum.thinkpads.com/index.php
Otherwise you get the error page!

[rkawakami]

Not true for me, both from work and home. Leaving off the "index.php" still gets me here without any error messages.

edit: I'll have to ask the IT department here at work as to what DNS is being used but at home I believe I still have my router using OpenDNS servers.

[jdhurst]

I had to use the flushdns command on both my computers and one had to be restarted. But everything is back on both. I got one SQL error this morning, but the forum has been working ever since.

Thank you Bill.

.... JDH

[RealBlackStuff]

Even after several flushes on several days and also after several restarts I still get this page: http://forum.thinkpads.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi
unless I add the /index.php

[GomJabbar]

No problem here. Perhaps you need to delete the memory cache of your browser.

[rkawakami]

+1 on the browser cache deletion. I have all my Firefox installations purge the cache upon closing (or run in Private Browsing mode).

Verified that I'm using OpenDNS servers here at home (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220). In the past I've also used the old Verizon (now Level3) servers at 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3.

[dwilsonfl]

Thank you gentlemen. Your forum is invaluable and your work makes it possible.

David Wilson

[nikki605]

Page-to-page response time for me today is very sloooow.

[hwattys]

Same here. Painfully slow, but it does work.

[Insulator_King]

About a 22 second lag between clicking on the post button and the reply page coming up today.

Just FYI

[RealBlackStuff]

I appreciate all the work that's being done to keep the forum going.
But the forum speed is worsening almost by the day!
I have now a 50 second lag between clicking on the post button and the reply page coming up.
The same applies when I press the Submit (a new post) button.
Even just trying to open an existing thread takes ages!
And that is if I'm lucky!

Way too many times I get this error:
General Error
SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ]

Too many connections [1040]

An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists.

Maybe check with the hosting company how many servers there are on the same machine?
That same company didn't even have a proper backup-system (i.e. diesel generator) when the forum went down!
It might have been the right moment to switch outfits!

PS: I have a 5Mb cable connection for internet.

[emtee3511]

I don't know the first thing (or anything for that matter about servers) but there have clearly been connection issues for awhile lately.

But if $$ is any issue in this, is there a way for those of us who use and benefit from this Forum daily (or even weekly) to submit funds for the benefit of keeping the Forum functioning well -- perhaps a voluntary, small monthly fee, or a yearly discounted fee which if enough members utilized would benefit all the members.

I know that regular sellers already contribute a small amount, but even those of us who never sell benefit from this Board, and many of us would be more than happy to have a monthly donation/fee offered to us. I pay waaaaaaay too much $$ for my DSL connection, my phones and my DirecTV; I pay $8 a month to keep Netflix even though I only occasionally have enough time to watch a movie. I actually check the Forum daily just to read, and when I occasionally have extra time to 'play' on my hands, I read the Forum LOTS. I would be very happy to donate my fair monthly (or yearly) 'dues' for the benefit of this awesome forum

[TTY]

... But if $$ is any issue in this, is there a way for those of us who use and benefit from this Forum daily (or even weekly) to submit funds for the benefit of keeping the Forum functioning well -- perhaps a voluntary, small monthly fee, or a yearly discounted fee which if enough members utilized would benefit all the members.
... I would be very happy to donate my fair monthly (or yearly) 'dues' for the benefit of this awesome forum

It's possible to support the forum through PayPal.

[emtee3511]

TTY "It's possible to support the forum through PayPal."

Thanks and done

Is that link a sticky somewhere?

[TTY]

Thanks and done

Is that link a sticky somewhere?

The link is available in the Forum Notices, Questions and Suggestions section under "Announcements" at the end of the Forum donations for upgrades thread.

[RealBlackStuff]

There also used to be a Donate button on top, with the FAQ/Search/Members etc. buttons, but that disappeared when a new forum-software was installed.
It was on the to-do list to re-install, but my best guess is, that it is still sitting there waiting...

[emtee3511]

RBS -- "There also used to be a Donate button on top, with the FAQ/Search/Members etc. buttons, but that disappeared when a new forum-software was installed.
It was on the to-do list to re-install, but my best guess is, that it is still sitting there waiting..."

So I have a question... what do Forum members think about having a Donate Button at the top of the Forum again? Do you think it would be helpful to keeping the Forum up and running? Do you think 'hardcore' ThinkPadders would donate on occasion? Or do you think it might be a turn-off to some (or many) members?

I'm asking because I visit this Forum on a regular basis and have been able to ask LOTS of questions and get LOTS of help, as well as having purchased a few machines here and also sold one or two to Forum members. So for me it's been somewhat of a free ride except for the very few occasions I remembered to ship off a small donation -- I think if there were a donate button, it would make it easier for me to donate when I have a few extra bucks. I don't have any personal website experience, so I have no understanding of what it might take financially to maintain a website like our Forum.

Just asking...

[RealBlackStuff]

My current AWT (Average Waiting Time) just to go from one page to the next is 51 Seconds!
http://www.webpagetest.org/result/130308_AX_EQN/

No offense meant, but the hosting company for this forum STINKS!

You can test for yourself how long it takes: http://www.webpagetest.org/

[jdhurst]

Any chance it depends on some interaction between your ISP and the Forum web host?

I am not seen any delays that you are seeing and right now the forum is very snappy.

.... JDH

[ajkula66]

Any chance it depends on some interaction between your ISP and the Forum web host?

I am not seen any delays that you are seeing and right now the forum is very snappy.

.... JDH

I have an entirely different ISP from RBS and am experiencing the very same thing...

Along with: lack of notifications (for both private messages and subscribed threads), doubled notifications and delayed notifications.

[jdhurst]

When I posted a while back today, the forum was very snappy. Tonight, it is a bit slower, so it took 2 or 3 seconds to load "View your posts", but navigating in here is quite decent in terms of speed.

DNS lookup perhaps? I use my ISP's DNS address as number 1 and 4.2.2.2 as number 2.

Also, a while back, the system was down and I had to do a flushdns command to get back on.

.... JDH