ATTN! the forum IS broken - NEEDS FIX

[FALLINGSTAR]

I'm still getting the same error message but at the moment it does seem to post my forum message. I don't think I've seen any of the mods on here for a long time though.

It is making it kind of annoying to post anything. I mean you either have to back up a couple of pages to get past the post or edit page, which is trickier if one has been doing preview then post, or just open up a new tab on the forum and kill the error message!

The facebook pages are getting more hits than the forum nowadays, but I really can't get on facebook due to my ID issues. Has anybody mentioned the forum is broken there? It's been over a month since the last site admin has been shown as active on the forum.

Yes and they don't just post on there and this site also - they desert this site and just post on there.

[lohengrin]

you are all welcome to come over to ast and do some testing. ast uses the same forum software, so i'm curious if folks would get the same problems posting.

[widget]

It may not apply here,but lots of other internet stuff has been wonky nationwide yesterday.
Latge busismess too.

[Zubie]

you are all welcome to come over to ast and do some testing. ast uses the same forum software, so i'm curious if folks would get the same problems posting.

I don't see how that would help, other than making threads about ST that are easier to follow

This whole thing is definitely a server side issue, and until some mod/sys admin who manages this site comes along and actually reads this (and several of the other message threads spread in other places) I don't see much happening to fix it.

[irishtrek]

Has anyone sent Kohn or any of the moderators a PM about this problem??

[Zubie]

Took some time to just plain navigate from one page to another. It's been doing this for quite a few months now, but I thought that was just a slow server. This time actually got this error

General Error
SQL ERROR [ mysqli ]

MySQL server has gone away [2006]

An SQL error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact the Board Administrator if this problem persists.

I'm beginning to think this problem is becoming more serious.

[EVApodman]

Don't know if this will help some people, but if you edit a posting, you then go back to the thread as normal without the SQL error directing you to the menu page.

Solution: type 'blah, blah, blah' and post. Get an error, go to the menu, go to the forum and your post. Start editing it. Submit it and stay in the thread.

Yes, it is kind of round about, but it may help posting now.

[Zubie]

Has anyone sent Kohn or any of the moderators a PM about this problem??

Well, I've PM John twice, but I got an SQL error both times on the "send" and now when I check my sent PM listings, I see nothing. Now maybe it didn't work, or maybe the SQL problem means it isn't updating itself on the "sent" list much like the way notifications aren't happening right now either. So, given I can't seem to e-mail John to his admin address either (if you recall I got a bad address error on that), any suggestions. John logged in sometime in August, but the problem is still here nor any ack on the problem. If it's unfixable or major downtime, fine, we seem to be working around it, but some ack would be nice.

Facebook? (I can't)
It seems the forum contact form has changed (hmmm)
Will try that next.

[Zubie]

Has anyone sent Kohn or any of the moderators a PM about this problem??

Of course, you are not going to get a notification of this (ugh). I could try testing PMs on you (see previous post for context). I suspect PMs might be working but without notification support will it list as received. It does appear it doesn't appear as sent. Interesting question.

So...How Are Things in Glocca Morra?

PM sent

[Thom]

Their children (us) woke up
And they couldn't find 'em (mods)
They left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off and left it all behind 'em
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?

[Thom]

Anyone else getting a '500 Internal Server Error' now, either logging in or just clicking on a post..?

[EVApodman]

Yes, the last two days. is this the latest in a growing series of problems with this forum?

[southwestforests]

Anyone else getting a '500 Internal Server Error' now, either logging in or just clicking on a post..?

Got one once yesterday trying to pull up forum.
Closed tab, waited a few moments, tried again, forum worked okay.

[EVApodman]

It's getting harder to log on. I'm getting the 500 error several times now. Logging on, posting, looking at threads.

[irishtrek]

I'm not getting any such error, not yet anyway. Are the moderators even on here lately and do they even know about these problems?? If not can anyone give one a phone call or send them an email??

[EVApodman]

I think we've been abandoned.

[MillenniumFalsehood]

Yeah, it seems like a progressive issue that keeps getting worse with the server. 500 Error means difficulty in communicating with the servers, so there's something going on server-side that requires maintenance, and the previous errors in posting were being caused by sever-side issues according to the error messages. So the site's got some serious issues that need fixing and there's no indication if it's being done.

I hope that it's being fixed, as I don't want to lose SSM, which has been a stalwart in modelmaking for some time and a place I've come to view as my home for modelmaking, even if activity has slowed to a crawl in the last ten years or so.

Someone who has experience with server-side issues needs to step up and fix these issues, or at least acknowledge the problem and state whether they intend to fix it or let us know the site has been abandoned. I just want to know what's going on.

[EVApodman]

Let's hope it is a fixable problem and not one caused by old software no longer supported.

[EVApodman]

It took me over a dozen attempts to log in, another dozen or so so to get to this thread and post this. I think it will take a dozen or more to post it. This is getting ridiculous.

[irishtrek]

Is there a way to contact Onezero or any of the moderators by email??

[seam-filler]

Yes... onezero@starshipmodeler.net

It's the email address that the "Contact Administrator" link gives when you get the SQL error. It's a;so the address given in the SM Store site.

I've tried but so for nada.

[widget]

The notice on the "Whats New" on the dot cpm site says on vacation. That is dated mid Aug.
Forget about the forums,are John amd Linda OK ? We kinda take them for granted!

[Moonlight SY-3]

Certainly hope John and Linda are OK.
The site seems to be fine right now.

[Zubie]

This near impossible. The current server error makes it very difficult to read or post. I don't dare try posting more than once on the possibility of double or triple posting.

I finally got my facebook account to work and applied for the SM forum to see if I can get any notice of what's going on here over there. Has anybody with the facebook account done that already. I signed up yesterday, but I still haven't gotten in.

I signed up for a group with an old hometown restaurant that was leveled more than 20 years ago and got in right away...go figure.

[irishtrek]

This near impossible. The current server error makes it very difficult to read or post. I don't dare try posting more than once on the possibility of double or triple posting.

I finally got my facebook account to work and applied for the SM forum to see if I can get any notice of what's going on here over there. Has anybody with the facebook account done that already. I signed up yesterday, but I still haven't gotten in.

I signed up for a group with an old hometown restaurant that was leveled more than 20 years ago and got in right away...go figure.

I remembered SSM has a Facebook page this morning and I sent a message to SSM, no reply just yet and it looks like the last time John posted was July 4th. Like Moonlight SY-3 said Hope they're alright.

[Thom]

Yeah, it is getting pretty bad. Which is really sad, because this is my go-to site every day. SSM was also the first modelling I ever signed up to. Will be pretty well bummed-out if it suddenly goes 'poof' one day and I can't get on anymore.

As to the Face, I did post up there about the problems here, with sympathetic replies, but also no answers. Makes me wonder if the Face version is also unmoderated at the moment. This is just really weird.

Anyway, as long as I am still able to get on, I'll keep coming back.

Thom

EDIT (hours later) - on my work computer and it is working a lot better. Still some errors, but nowhere near as bad as home. See how long it lasts...

[Bellerophon]

I'm getting the 500 error on 50% of attempted page loads. Definitely wonky, approaching squonky (the squonk being a creature so ugly it cries all the time, and dissolves in its own tears when cornered).

[Zubie]

EDIT - (hours later) currently on my work computer, and it is working just fine on this one... No General Error of 500. What. The. Hecky?

I'm still getting 500 errors quite frequently. It's more of a hit or miss issue. If it misses I typically have to back up all the way to the initial URL req (click) rather than reload. That may probably be the browser cache, but the error itself is still the server.

500 level errors are always server side issues by def. Having no real idea of the physical set up of this thing, it's hard to say exactly what's going on. Sure, this started with problems with the backend database, but I'm beginning to suspect this is more of a physical thing. From reading the Hostgator 500 error advice page (nslookup shows hostgator as the domain host) it seems that there is offsite plumbing associated with forum maintenance and any one of several issues could be at fault.

The question about John is perhaps a good one. I don't recall issues going on as long as this before being dealt with at least something. I hope any fix won't lose all the data here (particularly on some of the more permanent threads), but I think it's something that could happen.

Still waiting on FB...give it till Fri b4 getting those mods' attention

[EVApodman]

I just logged on and got on as normal right now. Will see if I still get the SQL error.

Self edit. I have managed to get on several threads and post stuff with no problem. The SQL error is still there, but that is minor compared to what I have been going through.

[Wug]

The forum was gone for days in a row. Posting still produces an error message, but the posts appear.