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theboz

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2013
355
0
United States
I have recently not been able to visit the site or forum from anything but my phone. I've tried on two computers and multiple browsers. All I get is a " Red Hat Enterprise Linux Test Page". I believe it is a local problem, any ideas on what's going on? I really don't want to rely on my phone for this.

 

4noggins

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 11, 2013
233
4
No problems from my end. I use both a Windows computer and a Mac.
Try rebooting or cleaning the cache of your computer.
Rich

4noggins.com

 

theboz

Can't Leave
Mar 12, 2013
355
0
United States
Well I just got it fixed, it wasn't the computer, I had to restart the router and modem. I was worried that it was a n issue with my ISP.

 

ghost

Lifer
May 17, 2012
2,001
4
Roth, I also couldn't access this site a few times this afternoon. I'm sure it was down for a bit. I just took it as a sign to get back to work...

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
Yeah, this afternoon there were problems. For a while, the site just wouldn't load and later on all the links to individual threads would take you back to the main forum page.

 

pchitti

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 26, 2013
193
1
Central Texas
yeah there was a database issue earlier. Took down the entire domain. Back up now though so im guessing they figured it out.

 

05venturer

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
1,622
2
Amery,WI
Same problems as roth explained just in the last 1/2 hour or so. Glad I gave it one more shot to get on here before giving up for the day.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,323
11,094
Maryland
postimg.cc
No problems until a short while ago.
I also noticed this afternoon, my email notification for favorite threads changed (I have an Outlook Rule setup) to a slightly different sender.

Was: anonymous@srv371.rackco.com

Now: root@srv371.rackco.com (both also have "on behalf of; Pipes Magazine [support@pipesmagazine.com]"

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
The album feature isn't working either. There seems to be an inordinate amount of glitching going on with the site in the last couple of months.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,863
554,157
I agree with Rothnh. I've been having trouble with accessing the site at various times for a while now, and I know it's not my computer. Not only that, I had to wait ten minutes before I could get back to the site inbetween writing and trying to post this response. Hopefully, Kevin will get the problem fixed soon.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
"Giving up for the day" is not a good business plan for Kevin.
Agreed, but remember, we are not his target customers. There is an "endless" supply of people to join the site but only the sponsors make him any money directly. A simple announcement of technical difficulties does wonders to silence grumbling a bit but what do I know.

 

flyguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2012
1,018
4
Yep, the site was down intermittently through the late morning and afternoon. I even got a virus alert warning one time while accessing.

 

admin

Smoking a Pipe Right Now
Staff member
Nov 16, 2008
8,764
4,932
St. Petersburg, FL
pipesmagazine.com
This is going to be a double post since we have two threads running.
There seem to be several separate issues being talked about at once, and being confused as the same thing.
I'll address generalities first, and specifics second - as far as what happened this week.
We do have some occasional issues with the server getting bogged down, and they usually last a few minutes. I catch it and fix it. That's when you see "Internal Error", for example.
It's like when your PC gets bogged down and you need to re-boot it. Same thing here.
It seems to happen once about every 6 - 8 weeks, and lasts a few minutes.
Since the inception of PipesMagazine.com in early 2009, we have upgraded to bigger, better, faster servers 3 times.
I'm looking into the possibility of doing so again.
Reading through theses 2 threads, I see some things being complained about that are likely user error, or just features that some people haven't figured out how to work - like how to use the emoticons. That's not a website or server issue.
The site is once again becoming a victim of its own success. Our traffic is at an all time high of 15,000 unique visitors per day and about 1/4 of a million page views daily.
Regarding this week -
Mon - Tues - everything was fine.
Wed - Murphy's law. I decide to take the day off and go to the beach. I'm normally on the site all day and catch any issues before the monitoring system does.
Lawrence actually caught it and called my mobile and sent me a text. I didn't see it right away since I was out for a swim.
When I did see it, I contacted the server tech who found the issue, corrected it and made some changes to the server configuration to try to avoid the problem from happening again.
We were down for about 30 - 40 minutes on Wed, 9/11 somewhere between noon and 1 pm eastern USA time.
It took about 24-hours later to realize that the new server configuration had broken other functionalities - anything that had to do with photos and thumbnails.
@captainsousie

The album feature isn't working either.
I think this should be working now.
Uploading new avatars was broke, and the thumbnails for the most popular articles list was broken as well.
All of the above has been fixed since about 3 pm eastern USA time yesterday, Sept 12.
Be prepared for the site to break this afternoon (Friday) as I plan on going to see a movie.
Seriously though, thank you all for being participating members in the community, and thank you for your patience and understanding while we experience some growing pains.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,323
11,094
Maryland
postimg.cc
Kevin:

I hope you enjoy your movie, I'm sure you earned it! (and the day at the beach: what, no pictures???, well for a different thread).

I hope that I didn't come across as complaining, I was just confirming something odd had occurred. I have much appreciation and gratitude to you and the other admins for the work you/they do daily to keep this site running smoothly. Glitches like you described are just part of an online forums day-to-day activities. Most member are seldom aware there was a issue or interruption in service, that is never an accident, but hard work by an admin/owner. Thanks for what you do for the pipe community, I have no complaints here!

 
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