RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Fortress of Awesome Chat RKMB press conference

...con-fer-ence... thats spelled right, yes?

unimportant.

*ahem* ladies and gentlemen of the rkmbs.

this past halloween, we suffered some major outages on these message boards. tremendous downtime followed by unexplained losses.

troubling for you, headachying for me.

the past:

the reasoning behind the failures is the company that hosts this wonderous site, powweb -- the same name you've probably heard me belittle before, during other rkmb explosions.

without direct or progressive notice of any kind, they relocated my site and hundreds of other clients from one server (computer) to another.

at "best," that would have caused downtime of roughly 6 hours -- the downtime the majority of my site sufferend. at "worst," that would have screwed up aspects of the site that rely heavily on databases, codes, ecommerce, scripts (etc); namely, these forums.

in panic mode, i made many phone calls, many complaint emails, many ftp backups in order to save what i could, utilize what i could, and restore what i could.

the present:

some 48 hours later, the boards, allbeit clunky, were back online.

there were significant and noticeable damages, including the loss of an entire folder, thousands of threads in the comic book forum and off topic forum, certain avatars, specific member status tags, the ability to edit posts and create voting polls, etc, etc. some of these can be fixed; some already have.

one major problem:

powweb's new server has a file limit of 15,000 files. im safely within their bandwidth and file size limits, however, these boards push me over that 15,000 limit, as each thread is its own file.

just to get back online yesterday, i had to delete roughly 8,000 threads, mostly from the off topic, comics, and womens forums.

rest assured, i have back ups of them all.

however, with the limits in place, i can't restore them. further, with the posting pace on these boards, even with all the space that we have now, we'll surpass that limit within a few months, maybe weeks, and things will be shut down again.

the future:

we (i) have some options here.

barring the hope that my host will eliminate, or at least increase, this file limit... i'll either have to (a) find a new server home for these boards or (b) "upgrade" to a new, but similar, infopop boards system, which uses a meatier database (essentially, it keeps everything in a few files, instead of creating an individual file with every thread).

the (a) option:
this would involve me finding another host, backing up every file, transferring every file, resetting every file's permissions and a shitload more hassle. it could also mean i'd be shelling out more money on a monthly basis, getting less in return, or dozens of other unknowns.

my current host might not have the best reliability, but its not that expensive and you get a lot for your money. the pros are much higher than the cons, which is a rarity with web hosts.

as always, i'm shopping around, anyway.

the (b) option:
i use the term "upgrade" in quotes because i'm relatively unfamiliar with the new program. its still infopop, so everything will be very similar. odds are, the learning curve will be small -- as different from these current boards as these are from the old DCMBs.

the program is called ubb.threads (this one is officially called ubb.classic). check out some screen shots here

all posts and member accounts, from what i know, can safely be brought along to the new boards, so we wouldn't lose much of anything (again, as far as i know). things would generally look, work, and act the same, with the potential for newer and cooler features (such as text color options, and such)

neither choice is a favorite of mine, nor one that i would make (at this time) if i didn't have to (and yes, we have to).

all i can promise is that there will be an RKMBs, there will always be an RKMBs, it will always be free of charge to you, and assanine conversation coupled with boobellic imagery will always be the norm.

thank you, and rob bless.

i'll take a few questions now:

Are you wearing a smoking jacket and slippers?

am i!

next question, please:

Will any nukes be used?

How much file space did we have before?

the file space wasn't an issue. i'm permitted 1,000 MBs (1 GB), but we were only using 40-45%.

the file amount is what became the issue. they shut down sites with over 15,000, and my site was at 25,000 or so. the boards, alone, were around 22,000.

next question, please:

Can you condense them into a file that contains multiple files?

yes and no.

in the current set up, there are ways to archive threads. that would group a bunch together into one huge file. however, it makes them read-only -- meaning no 2-year anniversary bumping or drunken bsamsing or whatever. sorta defeats the purpose of having them.

next question, please:

Can I get back my avatar:

avatars have "issues" right now, and are currently not a priority. they will be addressed "soon."

next question, please.

It really sucks that you have to deal with all of this, Rob. If it helps, I took a look at the link you provided above, and the layout of what the boards will look like with option (b) looks more or less the same.

So, thanks for the boards, sorry about the crap, and good luck with whatever you have to do to keep the RKMB's up and running.

that wasn't a question! bastich!

Those boards look faggish. So with you deleting files,does this mean that we won't have as many Llance pics to splurt to?

avatars will be back, its just not currently a priority. i'd rather have the boards working solidly, first.

the look of the ubb threads is their default look. the colors and icons and such are similar to the default of this board. all the gray tones and neat-o buttons were things i later added (and could later add there). dont judge it by its weak style.

next question, please

What the hell is wrong with the Steelers this season?!?!

I just don't understand why we've only won two games.

Should we at Hero Headquarters be concerned about losing some or all of our story threads?

BTW, if you wanted to, the completed stories that are in the "locked" position could easily be moved into the same archive folder. I know that's not much help, but it's an option. Unlike most forums, when we close a topic at HHQ, it stays closed for miscellaneous reasons.

How long will Mr.JLA be moderator of the off topic forum?

Cant you just ban him & pretend the server change is at fault?

Have you seen my baseball?

How many chucks would a woodchuck chuck if a
woodchuck could chuck wood?

Animalman and Nobrainman show off their obsession with me, by turning another thread into a discussion about me.

I guess I should feel flattered.

Will the new RKMB's allow us to travel back in time? And if so, will Betty Page sleep with me? and if so can I finally be cool? LMAO! nonono, okay the last question was just to fuck with ya. We all know I'll never be cool.

Once your "upgrade" or move is completed/done, will our missing posts/threads and PMs be restored?

SUCK MY HAIRY COCK

My avatar is back. Thanks Rob!

RACK bsams.

Out.

I am that damn good. Keep up the good work Gob.

Rob-El, kneel before ZOD?!!

Upgrade, Rob-El, so that Zod can make pretty colors with his words! Pretty, pretty colors! Wooooooooooo... Zod is drunk for your information!

KNEEL!

Yes, I have a question: How thrilled are you that I have finally decided to grace these boards with my magnificence?

Is it just Zod or does Rob-El look like a younger Donald Rumsfeld?

(insert annoying right-wing bashing here)