Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
- Midsize Jake
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- kołdry
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Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
We had about, ehh, I'm gonna say 9 hours of downtime today due to a false positive in a malware scan that was done by our hosting company. Apparently our blog post from April 1, 2015, "Facebook login to be enabled on Wikipedia," was illustrated with an image file of the Facebook logo, which is now officially a no-no as it might now be interpreted as a phishing attempt. (Though I daresay we might have gotten away with even that, if the blog post itself hadn't contained lines like "Use of Facebook accounts to log in to websites or services is becoming more common because it benefits both users and providers").
Needless to say, the big irony here is that Wikipedia never did enable Facebook logins, so the blog post ended up being largely worthless, until today when it became an actual liability. So, I'm going to delete the post in question completely, and just cross my fingers and hope there won't be any similar surprises waiting for us down the road.
Anyway, sorry for the inconvenience - it took an hour or two to resolve and I should have seen it earlier, but these days I often don't even look at a computer or TV screen until 1PM or so. Hopefully things will improve after the next US election!
Needless to say, the big irony here is that Wikipedia never did enable Facebook logins, so the blog post ended up being largely worthless, until today when it became an actual liability. So, I'm going to delete the post in question completely, and just cross my fingers and hope there won't be any similar surprises waiting for us down the road.
Anyway, sorry for the inconvenience - it took an hour or two to resolve and I should have seen it earlier, but these days I often don't even look at a computer or TV screen until 1PM or so. Hopefully things will improve after the next US election!
- Dysklyver
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Well there was us thinking that someone had sued you for a million dollars and forced it all offline.
Globally banned after 7 years.
- Midsize Jake
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
I know, sorry about that. We got Graaf all excited for nothing...Dysklyver wrote:Well there was us thinking that someone had sued you for a million dollars and forced it all offline.
Still, there's a valid criticism to be made here that in addition to our overly-optimistic blog-post illustration choices (this one was Hersch's doing, though how was he to know that 4 years later this would happen) we need a more robust internal comms setup. The nice thing about having Gomi/Greybeard in charge of the hosting account was that he never actually slept. Apparently this was some sort of bizarre X-Men superpower thing he had... Anyway, not only is my ISP much worse than his, I pretty much do have to sleep, I was asleep when this happened, and what's more I generally keep the phone muted until well into the late morning hours. Ideally, I should rig up some sort of monitor alarm that attempts to load a Wikipediocracy page every 10 minutes or so, and if it fails maybe try a few more times (in case it's a local ISP problem) before sounding a loud buzzer which would wake up my cat, who would then wake me up. But who goes to that much trouble? It sounds like a lot of fuss to me. Also, my cat would probably hate me.
- Kumioko
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
I just thought Greg forgot to pay the webhosti g fees or something.
- Midsize Jake
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
That's an understandable reaction, given what used to go on over at Wikipedia Review...Kumioko wrote:I just thought Greg forgot to pay the webhosti g fees or something.
As long as we're discussing this sort of thing though, until about a year ago Greg was the domain owner and Gomi/Greybeard paid the hosting fees. Both of them are now essentially "out of the picture" unfortunately, and Zoloft is now the domain owner and I'm paying the hosting fees. Admittedly I'm not as well-off money-wise as Gomi, but as long as there aren't a lot of lawyers involved and our bandwidth usage doesn't somehow rocket up into Alexa Top 1,000 levels, I can pretty-much sort-of afford it - so, when I took over I paid us up in advance for two years, which means we've got another year left before we're on the hook for more hosting cash. Also, the domain was up for renewal and could have expired literally this very week if Zoloft had decided to go into a medically-induced coma (apparently he does this occasionally just "for kicks"). But he didn't, so that too has been taken care of (though I don't know for how many years).
- Salvidrim
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
One.Midsize Jake wrote:Also, the domain was up for renewal and could have expired literally this very week if Zoloft had decided to go into a medically-induced coma (apparently he does this occasionally just "for kicks"). But he didn't, so that too has been taken care of (though I don't know for how many years).
Domain Name: WIKIPEDIOCRACY.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.domain.com
Updated Date: 2019-02-28T15:16:17
Registrar Expiration Date: 2020-03-16T11:43:10
Registrar: Domain.com, LLC
Reseller: FatCow
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.domain.com
Updated Date: 2019-02-28T15:16:17
Registrar Expiration Date: 2020-03-16T11:43:10
Registrar: Domain.com, LLC
Reseller: FatCow
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
- Randy from Boise
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Maybe we can run an eBay auction of a t-shirt soiled with dubious-stains-vaguely-associated-with-Midsize Jake on ebay to cover expenses for the year when things come due.Midsize Jake wrote:That's an understandable reaction, given what used to go on over at Wikipedia Review...Kumioko wrote:I just thought Greg forgot to pay the webhosti g fees or something.
As long as we're discussing this sort of thing though, until about a year ago Greg was the domain owner and Gomi/Greybeard paid the hosting fees. Both of them are now essentially "out of the picture" unfortunately, and Zoloft is now the domain owner and I'm paying the hosting fees. Admittedly I'm not as well-off money-wise as Gomi, but as long as there aren't a lot of lawyers involved and our bandwidth usage doesn't somehow rocket up into Alexa Top 1,000 levels, I can pretty-much sort-of afford it - so, when I took over I paid us up in advance for two years, which means we've got another year left before we're on the hook for more hosting cash. Also, the domain was up for renewal and could have expired literally this very week if Zoloft had decided to go into a medically-induced coma (apparently he does this occasionally just "for kicks"). But he didn't, so that too has been taken care of (though I don't know for how many years).
I pledge to supply the shirt, others will have to contribute to their best abilities.
RfB
- Randy from Boise
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Ironically, "Fat Cow" is the name I have long imagined I would give my racehorse, if I owned a racehorse... Can you imagine how hilarious that live call would be?Salvidrim wrote:One.Midsize Jake wrote:Also, the domain was up for renewal and could have expired literally this very week if Zoloft had decided to go into a medically-induced coma (apparently he does this occasionally just "for kicks"). But he didn't, so that too has been taken care of (though I don't know for how many years).
Domain Name: WIKIPEDIOCRACY.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.domain.com
Updated Date: 2019-02-28T15:16:17
Registrar Expiration Date: 2020-03-16T11:43:10
Registrar: Domain.com, LLC
Reseller: FatCow
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
RfB
P.S. And while we are on the subject, this video can not be viewed frequently enough...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM&t=216s
- Salvidrim
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
The branding of https://www.fatcow.com is really dubious innitRandy from Boise wrote:Ironically, "Fat Cow" is the name I have long imagined I would give my racehorse, if I owned a racehorse... Can you imagine how hilarious that live call would be?Salvidrim wrote:One.Midsize Jake wrote:Also, the domain was up for renewal and could have expired literally this very week if Zoloft had decided to go into a medically-induced coma (apparently he does this occasionally just "for kicks"). But he didn't, so that too has been taken care of (though I don't know for how many years).
Domain Name: WIKIPEDIOCRACY.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.domain.com
Updated Date: 2019-02-28T15:16:17
Registrar Expiration Date: 2020-03-16T11:43:10
Registrar: Domain.com, LLC
Reseller: FatCow
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
RfB
- Kumioko
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Looking at the edit history of the article for Wikipediocracy (T-H-L) someone already tried to announce our demise and according to comments on the talk page there were several in the community that were glad to see us go.
On that note, that shows how truly accepting the Wikipedia community is and how they respect others opinions yet continue to do abusive things. They don't like us because we call attention to their hypocrisy and lies. They say good riddance, I say here we are!
On that note, that shows how truly accepting the Wikipedia community is and how they respect others opinions yet continue to do abusive things. They don't like us because we call attention to their hypocrisy and lies. They say good riddance, I say here we are!
- rhindle
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
That IP has already been blocked by Toni Ballioni for "Long term abuse" but no evidence of whom this person is besides signing "E" to their name. I only see 2 edits now but it appears IP's edits do not show up on edit history over time. Quite the "Quick draw Mcgraw" type of blocking there.Kumioko wrote:Looking at the edit history of the article for Wikipediocracy (T-H-L) someone already tried to announce our demise and according to comments on the talk page there were several in the community that were glad to see us go.
- Kumioko
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Yeah it's no surprise they would block that IP. I mean really, who outside someone from this site would want to go to update that page? [Sarcasm intended]rhindle wrote:That IP has already been blocked by Toni Ballioni for "Long term abuse" but no evidence of whom this person is besides signing "E" to their name. I only see 2 edits now but it appears IP's edits do not show up on edit history over time. Quite the "Quick draw Mcgraw" type of blocking there.Kumioko wrote:Looking at the edit history of the article for Wikipediocracy (T-H-L) someone already tried to announce our demise and according to comments on the talk page there were several in the community that were glad to see us go.
Frankly it's just an excuse for Tony (or anyone really) to block someone who obviously had an interest in this site...the enemy of Wikipedia they would have people believe. Tony had to put "something" and saying long term abuse is just an easy copout without having to really do anything. No one is going to investigate an anon IP with 2 edits and even if they did, there is nothing anyone is going to do about it even if they found out Tony was in error.
Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
aww man. I was hoping that the outage would drag on for a few days so that you'd be forced to show up on my site. Then I would give you all degrading nicknames and spend my days baiting and needling.
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
My read seems like it was baiting/trolling. A random IP trying to see who would go along with just saying this site is gone forever because it was offline for a few hours. The IP geolocates to Cornwall for what that's worth. Seems to me there's somebody here from Cornwall, who's old WP user name begins with an E and who seems to mention fairly regularly that they are evading a ban.....
information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom
- Vigilant
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Dude, you couldn't say anything in a succinct way.Abd on Wikipedia Sucks wrote:Because the basic structural issues were not addressed in setting up wikipediocracy, it replicated very similar problems: star chanber process, no development of community structure that could actually find genuine consensus with efficiency, a Luddite dislike of reasoned and evidenced discussion, and preference for snark and lulz -- if by insiders. If by an outsider, off with his head!
You are like the Grandpa Simpson of WO/WP/WS.
Hello, John. John, hello. You're the one soul I would come up here to collect myself.
Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
You mean that guy whose everipedia autobiography says he's a 22 year old lawyer, yet his earliest claimed wp account was created in 2006 and edited like an adult?Beeblebrox wrote:My read seems like it was baiting/trolling. A random IP trying to see who would go along with just saying this site is gone forever because it was offline for a few hours. The IP geolocates to Cornwall for what that's worth. Seems to me there's somebody here from Cornwall, who's old WP user name begins with an E and who seems to mention fairly regularly that they are evading a ban.....
- Dysklyver
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
You mean me?tarantino wrote:You mean that guy whose everipedia autobiography says he's a 22 year old lawyer, yet his earliest claimed wp account was created in 2006 and edited like an adult?Beeblebrox wrote:My read seems like it was baiting/trolling. A random IP trying to see who would go along with just saying this site is gone forever because it was offline for a few hours. The IP geolocates to Cornwall for what that's worth. Seems to me there's somebody here from Cornwall, who's old WP user name begins with an E and who seems to mention fairly regularly that they are evading a ban.....
No of course I wouldn't troll the Wikipedians...
That would be mean.
Globally banned after 7 years.
- Jim
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Sometimes even Abd makes me smile:
In case you're watching, Mr. Abd, don't worry, your reputation is intact, this was early in your post and I was, as usual, pushing out Zs long before its unreachable end...
I guess he uses so many words in general that it's inevitable that, once in a blue moon, he happens to hit the odd gem. But breathlessly was so simple, yet so very apt and so evocative...Abd, on the one true criticism™ forum wrote:Someone had already breathlessly reported it as defunct on Wikipedia. [↗]
In case you're watching, Mr. Abd, don't worry, your reputation is intact, this was early in your post and I was, as usual, pushing out Zs long before its unreachable end...
- Poetlister
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
Yes, that happened to the Wikipedia Review article every time Selina was late paying the fees and the site was suspended. Wikipedians can be very consistent.Kumioko wrote:Looking at the edit history of the article for Wikipediocracy (T-H-L) someone already tried to announce our demise and according to comments on the talk page there were several in the community that were glad to see us go.
"The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly" - Nietzsche
- Zoloft
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
The domain is on autorenew for each year, and I have another party who will pay it if I die or am disabled.
My avatar is sometimes indicative of my mood:
- Actual mug ◄
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- Kumioko
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
You know what this means though right, whether they want to admit it or not and whether they are actually commenting, they are still watching this site actively.Poetlister wrote:Yes, that happened to the Wikipedia Review article every time Selina was late paying the fees and the site was suspended. Wikipedians can be very consistent.Kumioko wrote:Looking at the edit history of the article for Wikipediocracy (T-H-L) someone already tried to announce our demise and according to comments on the talk page there were several in the community that were glad to see us go.
- Poetlister
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Re: Sorry about that unscheduled downtime
We certainly know that many active Wikipedians are posters here (disproving the common canard that it is a site only for blocked users), and that there are others who never post but do act on problems mentioned here.Kumioko wrote:You know what this means though right, whether they want to admit it or not and whether they are actually commenting, they are still watching this site actively.
"The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly" - Nietzsche