Moderately Speaking

Discussion of administrative issues
John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Trouble posting a message

Post by John »

If you're having trouble posting a message ...

If you've been sporadically running into problems posting messages for
the last couple of weeks, I've figured out what the problem is.

The technical description is this: Network Solutions, the web site
provider, has a bug in its Apache configuration where it's providing
the wrong time of day to web site software. When phpbb receives an
incorrect time of day, it may assume that your logon hasn't been
active for a while, and it logs you out, even if you're in the middle
of a posting.

I reported this bug several weeks ago, and they finally fixed it, but
then the bug came back last Friday. I'm really pissed off.

Here are some things you can do to work around the problem:

(*) Check the "Automatically log me in" checkbox when you log in.
That way, if you're logged off, you'll be automatically logged in
again.

(*) When you post a message and click "Submit," if it doesn't get
posted, then hit "Back" on your browser and click "Submit" again.

I've been having this problem, and these two workarounds have
been pretty successful for me.

As usual, if you're having other difficulties posting, let
me know.

A couple of times in the past, people have had trouble posting and
assumed that I've locked them out. I've never locked anyone out
except spammers. Some workplaces use web filters that prevent
employees from posting on any forum or any social web site. I have no
control over that.

John

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by John »

The entire web site was almost completely down since about 6 pm
ET, but now seems to be back up. The problem was with
Network Solutions, whose service is becoming increasingly
worrisome.

John

jdcpapa
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by jdcpapa »

John wrote:The entire web site was almost completely down since about 6 pm
ET, but now seems to be back up. The problem was with
Network Solutions, whose service is becoming increasingly
worrisome.

John
Is there an alternate solution?

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by John »

jdcpapa wrote:Is there an alternate solution?
If, by "alternate solution," you mean move the web site to another
service, that's pretty much a nightmare. I did that three years ago
when the service at web.com got so bad that I did move to Network
Solutions. Now the service at Netsol is degrading, but moving is a
lot of work that I don't want to go through. And anyway, where would
I go? How could I be sure that the service is any better there?

jdcpapa
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by jdcpapa »

I understand. I am not really up to speed on web pages, etc. I have a blog on wordpress that appears as a web page. If I can help, let me know. Happy Holidays. Regards,

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by John »

Well, the entire web site was down again, from
10:30 am to 12:30 pm ET today, due to problems at
Network Solutions. I am not happy.

John

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by John »

And then there's the other problem that I described a few postings
back, where my web site code asks the server for the time of day, and
gets incorrect results.

I've reported this problem twice, and both times I received a message
that it had been fixed, and both times it WAS fixed, and both times
the problem came back the next day.

I don't know what the hell is going on, but Network Solutions IT
appears to be collapsing. I'm watching this situation with increasing
anxiety, and I'm mentally preparing myself if I have to move to
another web service provider, though I absolutely dread doing so.

If you have trouble posting messages, take a look at what I wrote a
few postings back, and that gives you a workaround.

John

jdcpapa
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by jdcpapa »

Speaking for my own belief system, I operate on worst case scenarios. I would be building another site with a different provider while maintaining the continuity of the existing site. When I finally had enough I would transition. Wordpress is free.

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by John »

jdcpapa wrote: > Speaking for my own belief system, I operate on worst case
> scenarios. I would be building another site with a different
> provider while maintaining the continuity of the existing site.
> When I finally had enough I would transition. Wordpress is
> free.
And then what? Just abandon the 5 millions words of articles posted in
articles on the Generational Dynamics web site? Just abandon my other
web sites? Just abandon the tens of thousands of postings on the
Generational Dynamics forum? Just start over again from zero with a
free blog?

Not something I'm about to do.

Look, if I have to move, I can back up the entire web site in a few
hours and restore to a new site in another few hours, and be back up
and running in a couple of days. I don't need weeks of advance
preparation. But it's a nightmare to do, and there's no guarantee
that things will be any better anywhere else.

John

jdcpapa
Posts: 190
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Re: Moderately Speaking

Post by jdcpapa »

John wrote:
jdcpapa wrote: > Speaking for my own belief system, I operate on worst case
> scenarios. I would be building another site with a different
> provider while maintaining the continuity of the existing site.
> When I finally had enough I would transition. Wordpress is
> free.
And then what? Just abandon the 5 millions words of articles posted in
articles on the Generational Dynamics web site? Just abandon my other
web sites? Just abandon the tens of thousands of postings on the
Generational Dynamics forum? Just start over again from zero with a
free blog?

Not something I'm about to do.

Look, if I have to move, I can back up the entire web site in a few
hours and restore to a new site in another few hours, and be back up
and running in a couple of days. I don't need weeks of advance
preparation. But it's a nightmare to do, and there's no guarantee
that things will be any better anywhere else.

John
Well then that's the worst case scenario isn't it? I do not expect that you would abandon all of your work product and data. But you having to worry about web issues is the last thing that should happen given your gift to all of us. There is a postive solution.

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