What's up with SF?

[Mr_Jeff]

The title says it all. Out of service the last couple days. Just wondering what was going on.

 

[Richard Burley]

San Francisco has finally bought it? That's a shame; it was such a charming city in many ways. So where's the coastline now, Fresno or what?

 

[Carlos]

I haven't been over there recently. Everyone has trouble occasionally. Maybe a software upgrade or server glitch. I am confident they will sort it out.

 

[Anonymous]

What this penchant for letters instead of words?  

It is limiting for those of us that weren't born with a pipe catalog up our -- ehh-err -- hands.  But, here too?

SF?
San Francisco
State Farm
Sein Fein
Security Force
Safety Factor
Small Forward

Well, need ONF PDQ.  Need to pack it in.

Meantime...what u talkin bout boy?  Title don't say she-it.

P.S. If you've a penchant for FMOTP would you at least put the full name in the title.  Might turn visitors into registrants.

 

[HCraven]

They're moving the site to a new server, and probably upgrading the software. Art posted a thread about it earlier in June, and said the transition meant that they would be offline for about three days, though I think it's been closer to five at this point.

 

[ZuluCollector]

Some weeks ago, Smokers Forums' administrator posted a notice that the forum would be down for several days while they re-imaged the servers, whatever that means. Evidently, some server work was required to keep the site functioning.

Given that the Forum has been down longer than anticipated, it appears that something went wrong. There is an apology on the home landing page letting people know that they are working to get the site up as soon as possible.

I wrote a couple of folks to try and find out what's going on so I could make an informational post on my blog, but I haven't received a response yet.

 

[riff raff]

Some weeks ago, Smokers Forums' administrator posted a notice that the forum would be down for several days while they re-imaged the servers, whatever that means. Evidently, some server work was required to keep the site functioning.

Given that the Forum has been down longer than anticipated, it appears that something went wrong. There is an apology on the home landing page letting people know that they are working to get the site up as soon as possible.

I wrote a couple of folks to try and find out what's going on so I could make an informational post on my blog, but I haven't received a response yet.

I think it went down on Monday (maybe Sunday evening). I, for one, miss it. The Streets of London social group is a small, but passionate group and unique among pipe forums. Some of the the worlds most knowledgeable collectors (like Mr. Roan!) and pipe makers are participating members. To me, that kind of interaction is priceless.

 

[Mr_Jeff]

Thanks for the serious replies. Hopefully they'll get their issues figured out.

 

[Bub]

The site was up but I could not register or send email

 

[Brewdude]

Actually I've never visited SF. Heard good and bad things about it.

Last thing I want to do is establish myself on another board. Life is too short, and I'm already all in here as well on commitments to another board.

:?:

Cheers,

RR

 

[riff raff]

Ok, the site is back but you have to re-register. See this message from Art:

Please read

all of our data has become so corrupt that it will take months to put right, so in the meantime we have created a new Smokers Forums so our community can once again enjoy our hobby, we apologise for the inconvenience and hope that one day Smokers Forums will become as good as ever. Perhaps a new and better beginning!

This means that all posts are gone and members must all start over..We have been trying to reload from backups but the hackers did a job on the files and I do not know if it will ever get sorted. So we will just start over again..

Here is the new URL. I did register and receive the email confirming my registration.
http://www.smokersforums.co.uk/forum.php

 

[Brewdude]

Ok, the site is back but you have to re-register.  See this message from Art:

Please read

   all of our data has become so corrupt that it will take months to put right, so in the meantime we have created a new Smokers Forums so our community can once again enjoy our hobby, we apologise for the inconvenience and hope that one day Smokers Forums will become as good as ever. Perhaps a new and better beginning!

   This means that all posts are gone and members must all start over..We have been trying to reload from backups but the hackers did a job on the files and I do not know if it will ever get sorted. So we will just start over again..

Here is the new URL.  I did register and receive the email confirming my registration.  
http://www.smokersforums.co.uk/forum.php

WOW!

All posts gone. Major league hacking.

Bad juju.

:no: 

No Cheers,

RR

 

[riff raff]

Yes, sad. There was a wealth of information on that board.

 

[earl]

Yes, sad.  There was a wealth of information on that board.  

Yes, just checked in and re-registered. It's all gone, blank slate. Much of value lost. Unless it's retrievable, don't see myself hanging around there much in the future. But, then again, perhaps I'll start hangin' here again. :lol: Earl

 

[Harlock999]

I'm sure BoB can accommodate the SF refugees...:cheers: 
If they can acclimate to our...unusual ways...:affraid:

Disclaimer: I have no official status with BoB, and I am barely tolerated here myself.  

 

[sisyphus]

Christ on a cross, they didn't keep backups??????????

Any web site owner should back up weekly and keep the last two backups on a remote device, that way if this sort of thing happens worst case scenario is you lose a few days of content. This is horrible news, the resource at SF can't be remade the way it was, there were what, 50k members and 10x as many posts as the rest of the pipe forums put together? So bummed.

 

[Mr_Jeff]

Crazy situation to be in for them. I wonder if they will recover.

 

[Carlos]

A forum is an online community. It will be fine. Some minor growing pains is all. The loss of historical info is a tragedy, but the community will go on. When BoB was created we knew that the old Knox board had a limited number of days before it too disappeared. People come and go, but the community survives.

:sunny: 

 

[planetary]

Well, don't forget that SF let posts age out.  Their archives only ever went back a number of months.  I had a number of conversations with the admins about this, but they never budged, indicating that data retention was neither very important to the community, nor a technical priority.

Mind boggling.

 

[mark]

I'm sure BoB can accommodate the SF refugees...:cheers: 
If they can acclimate to our...unusual ways...:affraid:

Disclaimer: I have no official status with BoB,  and I am barely tolerated here myself.  

:lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: :lol!: