Moronika
General Boards => News and Announcements => Topic started by: Dunrobin on June 12, 2014, 05:17:09 PM
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It was just a little over a year ago that ThreeStooges.net was shut down due to unreasonable demands on the server's resources. This week it happened again.
On Monday, June 9th, I got a notice from the hosting company saying that they had shut down the site due to heavy overloads on the server's CPU. When I investigated it seemed that something about using the forum's API to blend the forum into the main site was causing the problem, although I wasn't able to narrow it down further than that. Ironically, this is essentially the same issue as last year; I thought everything had been worked out, but apparently I was wrong.
Fortunately, as soon as I saw that it was the forum interaction that was causing the problem, I was able to cut the links between the site and the forum fairly quickly, although it took a while to get the okay from the hosting company. (I guess they had to test the load for a few hours to make sure it was resolved.) ThreeStooges.net, sans forum, was backup and running by Monday evening.
Needless to say, this is frustrating, since I used the members info from the forum to authenticate users on the main site, so you could post reviews and rate the episodes, etc. - not to mention enabling the admin functions for the Team Stooge members.
Fortunately, I think I've found a solution that was designed for the coding framework I use to develop ThreeStooges.net. I think I can install and adapt it to take the place of the forum's API without too much trouble. I can import the members' data from the forum database into the new system on ThreeStooges.net, although there is one drawback:
- The passwords are encrypted and can't be copied over, so everyone will have to request a password reset before logging in the first time. A nuisance, but I don't see away around it. The password reset will get sent to the email account used for the forum, and you should be able to just reset it to the password that you use for the forum.
I'll be looking at the steps to integrate the new system into the site tonight, and should have it done this weekend (if not sooner.) I will post an announcement here and on the Facebook page to let everyone know when it's ready for use.
For the forum, I decided to go bare bones with a fresh install of the latest version of the software, with only one mod (to fight the spammers) and, obviously, a new theme. I imported the database from ThreeStooges.net and copied over the various attachments, avatars and special smileys, so we should be good to go, but please let me know if anything seems "broken." (Previously added-on forum features, like the picture gallery and the games arcade, were deleted deliberately and probably won't be restored.)
It's a bit of a drag to have the two features separated like this, but the alternative is a dedicated server, and frankly that is too expensive. The links to the forum will still be on the ThreeStooges.net menu, and I added a link back to the .net site on the forum's menu bar, above, so it shouldn't be too hard to move back and forth. :)
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By the way, although I hope you'll like the new forum theme, you can choose to use a different theme instead. Right now there is only the original default "Curve" and "Core" themes available besides the new one ("Vertex",) but I'll be looking at adding others.
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Glad everything's OK now. Is everyone else back?
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Glad I saw this thread in regards to the forced password reset. I deleted the e-mail address associated with my username close to 8 or so years ago. [pie]
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I'm here. Very happy to see the site back. I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm cool with the forum/site separation. I'm just happy we still have a forum. :)
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Glad I saw this thread in regards to the forced password reset. I deleted the e-mail address associated with my username close to 8 or so years ago. [pie]
If anyone needs to update their email address here on the forum, now is the time to do it, as I will be copying the appropriate info from the forum database this weekend. If you miss the opportunity, however, all is not lost as long as you can log in to the forum: just send me a PM with your correct email address, and I will update it manually so you can then request the password reset for ThreeStooges.net.
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I'm here. Very happy to see the site back. I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm cool with the forum/site separation. I'm just happy we still have a forum. :)
Fortunately, this time it was fairly easy to separate them again, since I had anticipated the possibility the last time I merged the two portions together again. It's a shame to have to separate them, but not the end of the world.
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Forgive me if I missed something--I'm not exactly tech savvy. Are we going to need new passwords to log into the main page of threestooges.net?
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Looks good to me, Rob!
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Forgive me if I missed something--I'm not exactly tech savvy. Are we going to need new passwords to log into the main page of threestooges.net?
Yes, since ThreeStooges.net will be using a separate user management system. I won't be able to import your existing passwords, so once the new login is available on the .net site you will have to request a password reset the first time you try to log in. You'll be able to set the .net password to be the same as the forum, however, to make it easier to remember. :)
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Looks good to me, Rob!
Thanks!
Since the forum is separate again and doesn't have to have the same styling as the main site, I installed a few other themes for the forum as well. To check them out, go to your profile page and look for the "Look and Layout" link under "Modify Theme."
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So far, so good, as I logged in here with my original password.