Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Sciencemadness.org Down

BromicAcid - 11-4-2005 at 11:40

Don't know if anyone here noticed but the main page is down. I tried to access it from school but found I got a 404 error, too bad I didn't have the link to this page. Now that I'm home everything is all fine and dandy. But does anyone, probably Polverone want to shed some light on when/if we'll have our main page back or why it's down?

mick - 11-4-2005 at 12:05

I had to re-google to get through.

mick

Darkblade48 - 11-4-2005 at 13:12

Ah, the miracles of bookmarking the main forum page :)

Polverone - 11-4-2005 at 13:45

Our old web host, Bravidio, controlled our domain name, which was registered by Bravidio on my behalf through directNIC. I asked for them to unlock their directNIC account so the domain could be transferred to a new registrar, but they never unlocked it nor replied. I have had to send a letter and documentation proving my identity and ownership of sciencemadness.org to directNIC to get them to unlock the domain without Bravidio's cooperation. In the meantime, the domain name has expired because Bravidio didn't renew it or allow me to renew it with a new registrar. Now I wait for a reply from directNIC or Bravidio to advance the plot of this little drama.

BromicAcid - 11-4-2005 at 13:47

Hopefully everyone has the new page bookmarked or at least knows someone outside of this forum that does. Maybe you should send one of those mass update e-mails, might generate lots of traffic ;)

I am a fish - 14-4-2005 at 03:08

If I was you, I'd complain to DirectNIC, using the tough sounding but totally noncommittal phrase "will seek legal advice", and then carbon-copy the complaint to Bravidio. DirectNIC will probably do nothing, but Bravidio will be sufficiently worried about DirectNIC taking your side, that they'll be spurred into action.

A similar thing happened to me, when some punk ripped off my "Readily Available Chemicals" website. I complained to the web host, but they did nothing. I then complained to the host's ISP, carbon-copying the complaint to the host. The ISP sent me a form-letter, that amounted to "Sue us or shut up". The host however, removed the page immediately.

neutrino - 14-4-2005 at 13:28

A minute ago, right in the middle of reading the day’s new posts, I an error telling me that “the connection was refused when attempting to contact” the site. A quick flush of the DNS fixed this. It might be a freak accident, or there might be some problem with the board’s software. Has anyone else have this happen to them?

Esplosivo - 14-4-2005 at 13:43

Well yes, a couple of times during the day. I don't know what is happening though, hope the forum will gain the stability of before (... should it decrease it's entropy? :P)

Esplosivo - 15-4-2005 at 07:23

Got this message when trying to login a few minutes ago.
Quote:

Database connection error!!!

A connection to the Database could not be established.
Please check your username, password, database name and host.
Also make sure config.php is rightly configured!

When connecting, the database returned:
Error 1203: User sciencem_xmb1 has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections

cyclonite4 - 15-4-2005 at 07:29

Notice the phrase 'max_user_connections'?
It means what it sounds like, you can't connect because the maximum amount of users the board can accept is logged on, I've gotten the same message several times before, even long before SM shifted hosts.

Esplosivo - 15-4-2005 at 08:12

Yeah well I noticed that, but it surely never occured before, at least in my case. And what is the maximum number of users which can log on simultaneously here? I doubt that a few minutes ago there were more than 10 users, although I don't now the number of guests to be honest. Well if that's simply it, then its OK.

Finally!

Polverone - 15-4-2005 at 19:35

DirectNIC received my letter and transferred the domain name to me. It appears that sciencemadness.org is currently resolving correctly on at least some networks (my campus's, for example) but not not all (not on my local Verizon DSL). I imagine that by tomorrow all the DNS information should be correctly propagated, and we can go back to using the actual domain name. Then I'll see if the other problems still crop up and, if so, see about getting them fixed.

Edit: because of how the board software works, you will have to re-login when visiting the board via the domain name instead of the IP address. Further, I'll have to switch the board back to using domain name instead of IP address.

[Edited on 4-16-2005 by Polverone]

vulture - 16-4-2005 at 13:09

Working fine in rusty old Europe...;)

It's good to be back.

The_Davster - 16-4-2005 at 17:08

Glad to see we are back. :)

I have, however, been noticing a strange problem. A few times today and yesterday I have been browsing the forums, while logged in, and suddenly I am no longer logged in. If I close firefox and reopen it, I am again logged in, without me entering my username and password.

login problem

Rosco Bodine - 16-4-2005 at 17:40

The science madness dot org address refuses my login even after clearing all cookies and the browser cache .

I had to go back and use the temporary address to login so I could post this message .

UPDATE : Well now it seems to be working fine after trying it again .

Close out all of your browsers and try
again after a couple of minutes .

[Edited on 17-4-2005 by Rosco Bodine]

Darkblade48 - 16-4-2005 at 17:46

Quote:
Originally posted by Rosco Bodine
The science madness dot org address refuses my login even after clearing all cookies and the browser cache .

I had to go back and use the temporary address to login so I could post this message .


I noticed the same thing. I ended up giving up, getting a new password sent to me, and for some reason, that worked and I can log in again. I changed my password, and then logged out again, and I could log in fine afterwards.

BromicAcid - 17-4-2005 at 08:58

Twice in the last 24 hours my login status as BromicAcid disappeared. When I went to the main page it said I was logged in still so I closed the browser and re-opened it and I was logged in again. Strange.

sparkgap - 18-4-2005 at 04:00

To anyone concerned:

Any idea why MSDB was inaccessible for the past few hours? I got a "max_user_connections" error first, and then, the site could no longer be resolved. :(

sparky (°_°)

Polverone - 18-4-2005 at 11:33

There were database problems on the server, fixed by a hard restart of the database. This obviously doesn't address whatever the underlying problem was. Micfo is looking into the problem now, so hopefully it will be prevented in the future. I think this may be the source of the max connections errors people have seen in the past as well.

Edit: I know the site worked after Micfo informed me of the database restart, but that wouldn't explain why the site didn't resolve at all. How mysterious. I will continue to ask our host what went wrong and how they can fix it.

[Edited on 4-18-2005 by Polverone]

neutrino - 19-4-2005 at 12:58

I also got the error this morning. Whatever they did didn’t fix the problem.

The_Davster - 19-4-2005 at 17:13

Hmm, this problem is not solely random, the same effect can be produced if one under 'who's online' clicks any link to 'browsing the index', they are instantly signed off. Refreshing and viewing threads, does not regain logged in status, however pushing the back button untill one is logged in again works.

EDIT: most threads being viewed under 'who's online do not result in being logged out, but a few do, such as the 'toluene --> benzaldehyde' thread.

EDIT2: Being logged out also results from the 'MgSO4-->H2SO4' thread, perhaps it has something to do with the ">" symbol, as under 'who's online' the '>' symbol is viewed as a '&gt'. ('& gt' but without the space in between, the board turns it into '>' )


[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

Polverone - 19-4-2005 at 20:18

Can you clarify? I don't know what you mean about viewing threads under who's online. What sequence of actions causes you to be logged out?

The_Davster - 19-4-2005 at 20:36

'who's online' button(just below the detritus section), then clicking on any thread being viewed by someone online that is either 'browsing the index' or any thread that has '-->' in the title will log you out when you click the link to it. In the 'Who's online' page a thread with a --> in the title will appear as '--& gt' (except remove the space between the '&' and the 'gt', if I do not put the space as I type this, the post will automaticaly convert it to a '-->' )

I hope this makes sense.

EDIT: Strange, clicking a link to 'browsing the index' no longer logs me out.

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

Polverone - 19-4-2005 at 20:42

I didn't realize until that description that Who's Online was actually clickable and showed what it shows. Did this bug show up before the move?

The_Davster - 19-4-2005 at 20:47

By bug do you mean being able to click the 'who's online' button or the problem of being signed out when certain threads are clicked?

If the latter, I do not remember any problems with being logged out when clicking threads before the move. It is possible that I just never bothered clicking the links to 'browsing the index' or the certain threads in question with the '-->' in the title before.

EDIT: Now this is strange, even threads like the toluene--> benzaldehyde one, which would previously log me out upon clicking, now do not log me out.
Strange....

EDIT2: Strange, the same effect is back today, however with diferent types of threads. '/~sciencem/talk/' causes me to be logged out, as well as assorted other threads with nothing in common. The threads that logged me out yesterday no longer do today. Strange.
[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by rogue chemist]

a glitch

Polverone - 22-4-2005 at 10:15

Your heart may have leapt momentarily like mine did this morning when I attempted to visit the board and got a 404, followed by "no website at this address" for the root Sciencemadness URL. This is a side-effect of browsers storing and using old DNS information, and it cleared up for me after closing Mozilla, reopening it, and refreshing the page. The reason things changed is because I bought a dedicated IP address for the site last night thanks to the highly successful donation campaign. As soon as I figure out how to use these OpenSSL tools, Sciencemadness can have an SSL certificate, offering HTTPS connections for your encrypted browsing pleasure.

Rosco Bodine - 22-4-2005 at 12:55

Hopefully you will still allow regular http
access since many proxies are not allowed
https connections .

Polverone - 22-4-2005 at 17:00

Regular http access will remain in place.

ChemPhile - 23-4-2005 at 05:19

Quote:
Originally posted by mick
I had to re-google to get through.

mick

me too

[Edited on 23-4-2005 by ChemPhile]