FORDification is BACK ONLINE!

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FORDification
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FORDification is BACK ONLINE!

Post by FORDification »

FORDification is BACK ONLINE!

Hey all! As you can see, we're back! And man, has it been a rough week!

Here's the lowdown on everything that's transpired recently:

Back in April, I was contacted by my web hosts and told that the forums were causing a server CPU overload, using about 25% of the system resources, when it really should have been closer to 2%-5%. Because of this overload, they had to move my account to another server, so that it wouldn't affect the other websites they were also hosting, and told me to correct the problem ASAP or they'd have to disable my account. I made some changes to the forum to minimize items that I felt might cause the problem. Since I never heard back from my host, I thought the problem was fixed.

Fast forward to last Thursday (August 24th). The forum suddenly started spittin' and sputterin', occasionally returning an error message to folks when trying to make a post or a PM. I did some research and was told that it was possible my host had made changes to the security settings on the server, so I contacted my hosts again and asked them if this was so. I was told at that time that the forums were still causing the CPU overload, and that if I didn't correct it immediately they'd have to disable my account.

So I made plans to just do a complete reinstall of the forum software. I made a database backup as well as a complete site backup, and then proceeded to get busy Friday night, working until the wee hours of the morning, but had the basic forum back up again on Saturday morning. The forums were up for most of Saturday while I got started getting the forum mods reinstalled, and during that time several dozen posts were made. In the course of installing the mods, I had to make some minor adjustments to the database. I wasn't really comfortable doing this, since the database is what contains every message and every forum setting since they were started, but I felt I was protected since I had a backup.

Well, as things sometimes go, I messed up something on the database. 'No problem', I thought...'I have the backup.' However, when I attempted to restore the backup database, something went horribly wrong...we lost every single message posted over the past 3 years or so!! I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach!!

Anyway, I contacted my host again and was able to verify that they did indeed have a good backup copy themselves, so after paying a $75 restoration fee, the database was finally restored early this morning....and here we are. :D

Now....I can only assume that one (or more) of the mods I'd previously installed was/were conflicting with each other. However, I have no idea which ones. So here's what's going to happen over the next few weeks. Every couple of days I'll be re-installing one or two mods and then contacting my host to have them check to make sure we're not causing the previous CPU overload. If not, then I'll go ahead and install a couple more and then check with them again...until I install something that the hosts tell me is now causing problems, at which time it will be uninstalled.

What does this mean? Well, it means that many of the cool features you all are used to using will be temporarily unavailable. For the time being, what you see is what you get. You will not have the ability to attach pictures to a forum post, for example. Some of the other popular features like SpellCheck, the Quick Reply box, flags under each user's names, etc will not available for a little while. Please be patient, most (if not all) of the previous mods WILL eventually be reinstated over the next month or so, but it's going to be a slow process, since after each mod install I'll have to contact my host and then wait for a reply, which doesn't always happen as quickly as I'd like. Once I get the 'all clear' from them, I'll continue installing forum features.

Over the past few days I've received nearly a dozen donations from forum members to help with the costs of getting things back online, and I want to extend a HUGE thank you to you! I can't begin to tell you how much that means. You folks are definitely worth all the pulled-out hair and loss of sleep I've endured over the last week! ;)

Hopefully this'll never happen again, but as we all know, s**t happens occasionally. However, one thing I did do to make sure any future downtimes are minimized was to sign up for my host's Premium Restore Service. It costs an additional $1.50/month, but in the event of another failure like this one, there's no restore fee and I'll get pushed to the front of the waiting line by their tech support.

Oh....one final item: after posting this message I plan to spend a little while checking things out on the forum to make sure everything's back where they're supposed to be. However, I believe the only casulty of the database failure were the posts made on Saturday while the forum was back up for a few hours...sorry, but there's nothing I could do about that. Considering what we COULD have lost, I consider ourselves very lucky! If you posted something on Saturday, please feel free to repost it.

Finally, I just wanted to apologize for the inconvenience to you all, and again thank everyone who offered support, either financial or moral. Both were instrumental in getting things fixed and running again. :D
____| \__
-O-----O- Keith
'67 F-100 2WD SWB ~ '69 F-100 4WD SWB w/7" chop ~ 1975 F-250 Ranger XLT Supercab Camper Special
ImageImageImage
My '67 restoration video
-> Posting and you! <-a MUST watch for all!!
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FORDification
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Post by FORDification »

Well, already I can see there are minor problems. When attempting to post that message, I got the same error message we'd been getting earlier. Therefore, there will be no further mods reinstalled until I can get to the bottom of it.

One thing I found out last week: for some reason, quotation marks seem to have some effect on whether a post can be made or not. The message above had some quotes in it, and when I attempted to post it I got the same 'Forbidden' error message. When I removed the quotes, the message posted fine.

Therefore, until I can find out WTF is going on, if you try to make a post or a PM and get the 'Forbidden' error message, try doing a minor edit of your post and see if that works. I'll let you all know what I find out.
____| \__
-O-----O- Keith
'67 F-100 2WD SWB ~ '69 F-100 4WD SWB w/7" chop ~ 1975 F-250 Ranger XLT Supercab Camper Special
ImageImageImage
My '67 restoration video
-> Posting and you! <-a MUST watch for all!!
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FLATBEDFORD
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Post by FLATBEDFORD »

Good luck. We all appreiciate your hard work and your dedication to the site and, in effect, all of us.
Steve

1970 F350 DRW Factory 9' Platform/Stake, 360, T18.
Passed on to new care taker July, 2013

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Post by dcbullet »

FLATBEDFORD wrote:Good luck. We all appreiciate your hard work and your dedication to the site and, in effect, all of us.
Absolutely! I concur. Thank god the forums are back and thank god we didn't lose 3 years of amazing reference material.

Thanks for all your hard work!
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Post by Fordfool »

Take your time! I know how these things can be frustrating and stressful. We are in no hurry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by fordman »

keith i've never been allowed to use quotation marks when i post. and thats been almost a year now. but i usually used the quick post thing on the bottom of the page too. almost always.
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67merc
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Post by 67merc »

Thanks for all your work
Becca

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Post by 67merc »

Just had trouble posting that, no quotes
Becca

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bluef250
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Post by bluef250 »

Keith, I appreciate your dedication. This is from ebay email, "No HTML, asterisks, or quotes." Is it relevent to the Fordification site?
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heep70
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Post by heep70 »

Great job Keith!!!!!!!!! This site ain't going anywhere while you are in charge!
Greg

1971 F250 "Highboy". SOLD to "Highboy_Firefighter_71"
2000 Subaru Outback limited.
2000 F250 4X4 PSD SuperDuty Crew.
2010 Polaris 800RMK Dragon 155"
2013 Polaris Pro 800 RMK 163"
1980 Built Toyota "Trail Rig".
My last 1971 "Highboy" pics
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Post by Tallboy »

Keep it up Keith. Your doing a great job
72 F250 4x4 Ford GT Red.
FE 428 Trust me it goes....
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cathynkeith
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good work

Post by cathynkeith »

thanks keith, sure glad your back up.....
http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n292 ... type=local
Life is good...... when nothing is wrong that money can't fix.
1969 f100 flareside
1962 ECONOLINE TRUCK (done)
1975 Nova (almost done)
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The Good Humor Man
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Post by The Good Humor Man »

Your hard work is greatly appreciated. Thank You
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Post by SportCustom »

I need this site as I am starting to reassemble the truck ....thanks for all that you do!
1970 F-100 Sport Custom
390 FE
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Post by 72hiboy4x4 »

Fordification is back!! 8) Life is good! :D
you dont know how much we've missed the time spent on here! I almost had to re-learn my spouse's first name! (I did find out it isn't 'Dammit woman! )
In life many men take the path of righteousness, some take the path many others follow (G.M. owners, for example), some take a more arduous path, some a simpler path. I, sir, took the PSYCO-PATH!!
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