UPDATE: Server issues, glitches, maintenance, etc

[Elad]

As most of you probably know, we've had some significant downtime today. Part of this was due to unexpected glitches, but most of it was due to maintenance. Unfortunately I was not able to complete the maintenance, and we decided that it would be best to work on this during late-night hours, and over the weekend, so as not minimize the impact of the downtime.

PLEASE BE AWARE: There will be periods of downtime over the next several days, probably at least through the weekend. I will do my best to make these periods of downtime as short as possible and during slow hours.

Over all, I'm actually very optimistic on the progress we've been making. It may not have seemed like it today, but we're made some significant improvements and I believe we're getting a handle on the problem. We've definitely isolated the two main issues; a) the crashes that result in the site being unavailable for a period of time, and b) the database glitches that produce "bug reports." I do not want to go into technical detail, but again, we do believe we've isolated the source of these problems and I believe we can fix them in the near future. Unfortunately, some of the fixes take a long time to process due to the massive amounts of data stored in our database.

Finally, the admins would like to reiterate that we're just as frustrated as you are with all of this, probably even more frustrated. However, we are dedicated to solving these issues permanently and we're confident that we're well on our way to doing just that.

Thank you all so much for your patience and support.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. I Trust Ya. I Know You Guys Will Have DU Back Better Than Ever.

By all means, take whatever time you need. We'll all be here waiting!

:yourock:

[sniffa]

2. CALL CONGRESS RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!1!!!1!1!

CONYERS NEEDS TO START INVESTIGATIONS IMMEDIATELY!!1!

[Tyler Durden]

26. I'm never gonna live that down, am I?

Back in the "Stone Age" of DU, I got Front Page almost a dozen times, and wrote what I though was some cool shit.

What do people remember?

Yup. Ah me.

[piedmont]

34. Wow! You started that meme?!

I feel like I should get an autograph or something.

[piedmont]

35. .

whoops, posted in wrong place

[Tyler Durden]

42. Guilty

I decided to stop feeling embarrassed about it a while back. I'm too old to be that sensitive, so I might as well take credit for it, since I said it.

[Mind_your_head]

38. Shhhhhhhh.......

Most people prolly don't remember *who* said it.....just that it was funny :hug:

[Tyler Durden]

43. I have to grow a thicker skin anyway.

S'okay. Everyone should be remembered for SOMETHING.

[malaise]

3. We've got your back

Thanks for the info.

[Pithy Cherub]

4. Cue Promises, promises, Promises Muzak!

Keep Swingin for the fences, even when we in the :popcorn:Gallery are whining!

:bounce: Will this emoticon, break it again...:shrug: Nope! :woohoo:

[Bluzmann57]

5. Glad I'm going out of town

That'll make it less painful. And Happy Mothers Day!

[babylonsister]

6. Thank you all for your hard work! We'll be hanging in there with you! nt

[TahitiNut]

7. Hang in there, Elad. You're doing good.

(I know how it feels.)

[EV_Ares]

8. Thanks for the update Elad, appreciate the work and upgrades.

Looking forward to the finished product.

[rubberducky]

9. DU Withdrawal was getting intense!!

Thanks, I know that you are doing your best!! If a fundraiser would help DU`s situation, please let us know.

[Adelante]

10. You're doing great, Elad

Don't worry too much.

[rasputin1952]

11. Thanks Elad...I was wondering if you guys booted me off...

:D

Keep up the good work, and I'll try and keep the withdrawal down to a minimum when you're down...:pals:

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. Irony note: I clicked on this thread 5 minutes ago and got a "website unavailable" response

Hee hee hee....

Elad, I don't envy your job one iota. You do a spectacular job, the site looks great and your efforts are obvious with every hour of DU's operation.

I think it is kind of funny that after being down for 3 hours or so, when i clicked on this thread to learn the explanation, the site was down again!

Man......that sucks!

[question everything]

13. Oh, there are some improvement

At least I am getting a message that a connection cannot be made and if I wait a few minutes, I can log on.

Last week, I think, the wheel was just spinning and nothing was happening.

Thanks, Elad, for whatever you can do.

[karlrschneider]

14. I want instant gratification! Nothing less will do!

Hey, it's all good. :-)

[johnnie]

15. When you guys are done...

Can ya swing by to rotate my tires and change my oil?
Thanks

[Poiuyt]

16. Thanks Elad. I was starting to get the shakes there for a while!

[emilyg]

33. Me2

[Beaverhausen]

17. Thanks Elad. You guys do what you have to do

:loveya:

[EFerrari]

18. When you're done with this, can ya please fix the screen door?

Thanks, Elad.

[Raine]

19. THANKS for all the hard work and

time you give to keeping a great site running. :thumbsup:

[pinto]

20. Thanks for the update Elad.

[iamahaingttta]

21. You guys are the best...

We're not mad at you.
Really!

[never cry wolf]

22. I have a proposal as a makeup and payback

That you guys should provide the most informed message board with the latest news and the most intelligent posters and, get this, you do it for FREE!!!! how about ya try that for a week or so to pay back for the loss of all the.... um... free, informed message board filled with intelligent posters....

oh, nevermind... carry on....

[whistle]

23. I hope you aren't using RNC servers

:hide: :yoiks: I'm glad DU is back up

[BlooInBloo]

24. Thanks for all your work.

[madrchsod]

25. i was forced to go to free republic to get the latest news

but i could`t find any....here`s a good way to get rid of that pesky data

[piesRsquare]

27. Whew! Glad to know it wasn't because of ME!

I was on DU into the wee hours of the morning (California time), and then attempted to post a reply on a message thread...

Wrote my reply, then hit "Post message". Got a bug report, then attempted to go to the home page and got two sentences of garble. Repeatedly tried to access DU (even tried different browsers) and kept getting the same garble.

I was terrified for hours...was afraid I had killed DU!

So glad I didn't!

Thanks for all the work you guys do...love this site!

-Pi

[MGKrebs]

28. It's a bit of a shock to not be able to get here.

And I don't even post that much anymore.

Which gives me an opportunity to thank you guys for building such a fantastic destination.

[Canuckistanian]

29. We appreciate your efforts!

Thanks again.

:hi:

[datadiva]

30. You guys are the greatest

Just bear with us if we show symptoms of withdrawel. :)

[mntleo2]

31. One Neat Thing I Liked Was ...

...when I tried to go to DU, there was a message where DU usually is that told me what you were doing, this helped a lot to determine that it was not my connection, I did not type something wrong, etc. I really liked that and hope you continue to do that. You guys are doing a great job, just wanted to give you that feedback and how much it helped.

Cat In Seattle

[Decruiter]

32. Thanks for the great job you all do. I logged on this evening and

the message about DU being down until 8:30EST this evening and I looked to my SO and said now where I go for real news?

Take care, lots of deep breaths and I have the utmost faith in your ability to fix whatever seems to be ailing DU.

Peace

[piedmont]

36. It was uppityperson's 600-reply megathread, wasn't it? nt

[uppityperson]

45. I didn't mean it, was supposed to be a quick 1-off post.

Attempt to pass blame on to those that replied, like poster being replied to.

Acknowledging minimal posting last day due to inability to write succinctly and pointedly combined with desire to avoid contributing to flamewars elsewhere. In other words, recognizing futility of much of past posting behavior.

[chknltl]

37. Remember what happened after the NY blackout?

In about 9 months there are going to be a whole lot of brand new Democrats!!!! Not quite old enough for the 2026 mid-terms but just right for 2028 Presidential Election...very sneaky there guys, very sneaky! :tinfoilhat:

(Actually I am willing to bet this will cause a small bump in pregnancies among the DUers...a study should be done by someone here)

[Triana]

39. Thanks, Elad and DU Admins...

...for ALL you do to keep this place running!

:hug:

[Kat 333]

40. "absence makes the heart grow fonder"...

:grouphug:

[avrdream]

41. Big Ta!

All the way from Australia, I thank you. I miss American news and tend to go to DU first each day to see what is going on. I missed you yesterday.

[Grateful for Hope]

44. Thank YOU for all that you do for this site

One thing I have been wondering is if the change to the home page has contributed to the problems we are now seeing. It is a very busy home page, and, while it loads quite quickly, the underlying resources required to populate it might be taxing to the server.

Just a thought, and, I am sure, not a thought that you haven't already given consideration to.

Thanks, Elad!

[muriel_volestrangler]

46. The titles of journal entries in the MyDU Journal tracker are now all blank

I still see the name of the DUer on the left, and can click that to get the whole journal; but there's a blank space where the link to the individual journal entry used to be.

Is this intentional, a temporary blip while the reorg is being done, or a bug?