Sunday, August 23, 2009

When will we be back?

I have poked at the server every way I know how. It will have to wait till I get back.

I am arriving in Toronto at 3:45 pm EST on Sunday, September 6th. It is American Airlines flight 4068 if you want to track it to know when it lands.

Add an hour to get through customs and get my baggage. I then have to catch a bus back to Hamilton. I should arrive back at McMaster around 6 pm EST. Add 30 minutes to get back to my apartment. If it is a simple solution the server should be back on by 7 pm EST September 6th. If there is something more going on I will post here by 7pm to let everyone know.

It sucks that it went down. I am disappointed but its not the end of the world. Everything will be back and working well within 14 days from now.

I hope it is not to terrible for anyone, and might provide a nice break for a few people.

If this downtime has shown RW to be of particular importance to you it might be worth it to consider tossing some financial support our way. I will use that to invest in infrastructure to allow better remote maintenance options in the future.

66 comments:

  1. Thanks Trent, we're doing great at Teflpedia for now. http://teflpedia.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

    I'll try to be online when you get back, as I'd like to export and import some of the pages at Teflpedia to RationalWiki, and that's best done before any massive editing takes place.

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  2. As far as I'm concerned, there's no huge rush. It comes up when it comes up, no need to put yourself out the moment you get back to the Big Smoke.

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  3. Look on it as a bonding experience:
    "We lived through the great crash of 2009"

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  4. Hey, Kels: I like it that you're the only one with an icon. Although I didn't recognise Barak's nose at first glance.

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  5. Just a note to any latecomers: we're in temporary housing at http://teflpedia.com.

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  6. Dude, it's nice to know when you will be back on the case, I and I know RW is important to you, but you forgot to add "stopping at Subway for a sandwich" to your itinerary.

    Jebus on an easter stick, you don't have to race to the server and get it running again your first eleven seconds back in Canada. Just fix it up before you go to sleep ;)

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  7. Trent, have you considered a servo-controlled leg-foot apparatus controllable from the intertubes so you can kick the server while on vacation? Fifty percent of the time it would probably work most of the time.

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  8. TK will miss us - so, don't rush...

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  9. Don't forget to hit it with a hammer.

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  10. Trent, you are a diamond, but do bear in mind what Human said - there's no rush, so don't lose sleep over it, we're all doing fine. When you get home, relax, have a cup of tea and whatnot, do some Canadian stuff (I'm not familiar with stereotypes other than "eh?"). No rush, mate.

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  11. It'll be back - that's all that matters. Until then...improvised mime.

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  12. Don't bust a gut Trent. A few more hours (or days) won't make a lot of difference. The important thing is that it is restored properly and that Nx can import tefl.

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  13. If anyone is interested, please post instructions on how to build a backup/mirror/whatever you call it so those of us who is self-employed/unemployed/retired can get a backup/what have you set up and have it running when the main one is down. Sounds good?

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  14. Gonna be curious to see the stats from CP during the RW downtime. No better way to keep people from going to CP than to have WIGO taken out.

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  15. Better than a CP boycott. At least there is no awkward conversations

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  16. I haven't gone to CP other than to follow a WiGO in months, honestly. And even that I don't do all that often. Frankly, it's gotten boring again to me, although the discussions about CP can be cool sometimes.

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  17. Yeah, I think we're doing OK, and yes, I think I will write a check for something. Yeah, we can wait until morning. Actually, we might get rid of some of the less desirable contributors at RW this way (although we could lose some good ones too!).

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  18. @Sterile. I don't think we have any contributors we would want to get rid of, although if this makes our few trolls lose interest and go away we can look at it as a plus.

    However, we should use this as an opportunity to go forwards and ask ourselves, why is RationalWiki important to us and what do we want to actually do with it?

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  19. @ Pi,

    We want to slap it with a trout. I miss copyediting and reading all the cool things people add to the mainspace. I miss the place, and although we are on life-support at teflonwiki, it's not the same.

    I want both - the project and the experience of working on it, and the community and the camaraderie it provides.

    Oh, yeah, and daffodils.

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  20. Wow, I never kinda realised how comforting it was to have RW around to maintain some sanity on the web, especially now that Conservapedia is becoming more and more bat-shit crazy every day (has anyone read the news items on Ted Kennedy...the subtext is pretty much "rot in hell you stupid liberal"). Hope to see the website up and running soon guys :-)

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  21. @Thieh,

    The idea of a mirror is good in theory but as Bob is finding out, it can be costly in regards to bandwidth.

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  22. Well, I was prepared to mirror it, and I've got the equivalent bandwidth of saturating a T1 for a month to play with, so that wouldn't have been a problem.

    There was talk some time ago of there being a backup available to me online such that I could restore RW in times of crisis, but I'm not sure what happened to that idea.

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  23. The online backup lacked scaleability. At a dollar a gigabyte and the rate of growth of the site I moved to onsite backup. Unfortunately, the backup is only accessable through the server.

    One of the structural changes I plan to make is to make the backup accessable through the bot server as well.

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  24. Hell, if you want somewhere to host nightly backups, I can do that for you free and gratis.

    I can probably give you a 100GB quota no problem, which probably ought to be enough space for at least a month's worth of weekly backups.

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  25. Next chance you have to grab a cheap PC set up a third machine? A backup server?

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  26. An act of God, perhaps? lol! Couldn't have happened to a more deserving website.

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  27. ^Don't worry, Terry, we'll be back. Plus we've been watching you... we're always watching after all... just like the Giant Ceiling Cat.

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  28. oh, sorry, it's Jinx, not Terry. Hey Jinx, how's it going with getting your rights back?

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  29. I don't want them back. What makes you think I've been trying to get them back?

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  30. Oh, come on Jinxy, you know you miss us, after all, who can you run crying to, the next time TK screws you over. By the way, how is Andy's investigation going... bit slow isn't it?

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  31. @Jinx The current leading theory of the metaphysical nature is that it was a coven of witches we challeneged to curse us. We do have interests outside Conservapedia and the Judeo-Christian religions.

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  32. TK and I are on great terms. Want me to prove it to you?

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  33. I'd like to see that...

    Jinx - TK! The vandal site members are being MEAN to me!
    TK - So? The first rule of Conservapedia is you don't talk about RationalWiki.
    New User - Ah! Ah! You said it!
    TK - (swings banhammer) liberal atheist socialist fascist!

    That's how moron-y your website has got. You need some intellectual articles on RationalWiki where we welcome substantive contributions. Petty squabbling aside Jinx, have you heard the song "Have I The Right?" (Dead Kennedys version here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbzwxyVmz1g) great song.

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  34. Good terms? Really? Then why hasn't he gone to Andy and said, "I made a mistake in blocking Jinx, please restore his rights." Because, Jason, he doesn't give a shit about you, other than that your another pawn for him to play with. "Good terms" don't apply where TK is concerned, they never do with sociopaths.

    That said, yes please, I would love you to prove it to me. I could do with new material for a blog post. Oh, I didn't catch your full name, Jason.

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  35. argh. I fail at English on a Sunday.

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  36. Ta for the update. Was worried that something nasty had happened.

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  37. If you're really interested in the proof, it isn't difficult to come up with. I shared a bath with Terry at Ken's place a few weeks back, and pictures were taken. If you are interested, I could email them to you. We are all on great terms.

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  38. Successful troll is successful ^

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  39. Wow. Good side of this is it seems to have had a semi-boycott effect of CP. It's the first time I've seen CPs weekly average drop out of the top 100,000 at Alexa, with the 1 month and 3 month averages falling nicely too.

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  40. Teflpedia just ate its bandwidth for the month.

    It should be back up tomorrow.

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  41. Well that seems to have blown Bob's bandwidth.

    Just to while away the time I've started a blog at http://regina-talks.blogspot.com/. Not that I've a lot to say - just joining in with the rest.

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  42. Hi Bob,

    Sorry we broke your wiki :(

    Think it will be back up at 00:00 GMT Tuesday? Or will your provider be lazy and wait until 8 or 9 AM to "flip the switch"?

    ...withdrawal now getting severe...

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  43. My assumption is that it will be back up at after 24.00 GMT.

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  44. I'd just like to say, for the record, that I didn't do it.

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  45. Thanks for letting us use your interpipes, Bob!

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  46. Wow. How many wikis can RationalWikians kill in one month? At least two~

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  47. @Anon The last time it spent this long out of the top 100,000 was during their server crash. Active editors (people who have edited in the last wee is down to just 65 - about 90 before RW went off-line). Looks like Fox was right, the only reason CP is still alive is because we nailed it to our wiki.

    @Human way back up. I must say the community is sticking through this quite well. Here and there they are popping up in clusters, doing their usual thing of arguing and laughing at fools.

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  48. The management at Teflpedia would like to apologise for the interumption in service. Normal service has now been resumed.

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  49. CP active users = 59

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  50. Down to 56. It is kind of fun watching it spasm as it dies.

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  51. Good terms? Really? Then why hasn't he gone to Andy and said, "I made a mistake in blocking Jinx, please restore his rights."

    What exactly makes you think he hasn't? My rights not being restored? If so, that's pretty weak proof. I reasonably certain why my rights haven't been restored (it's got nothing to do with TK) and equally certain I could get them back if I wanted them back. But at this point in time, I don't want them back, thus I have not done what I'm sure I need to do.

    Because, Jason, he doesn't give a shit about you

    Oh, and you do? Are you willing to stand by the statement that he "doesn't give a shit about" me?

    other than that your another pawn for him to play with.

    Pot, I'd like you to meet kettle.

    I would love you to prove it to me.

    Shall I quote emails TK and I have exchanged? You probably will think I made them up, so I doubt I'll want to bother.

    Oh, I didn't catch your full name, Jason.

    My full name is Jason Nunov Yurbiznez.

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  52. the only reason CP is still alive is because we nailed it to our wiki

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/rationalwiki.com

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  53. Hmm, looks like God has struck the wicked. CP is down again. HA! How does that feel?

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  54. Oh well Jinx, don't say we didn't warn you. How is the blog going, been getting lots of votes lately?

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  55. I, for one, look longingly forward to a few days from now when we will all be reunited on our delightful homeland.

    Gawd, I miss editing RW articles.

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  56. I hear that, and I have a question that has been bugging me. One of those philosophical ones. I will post it when we are back.

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  57. Post it here. It is not like this thread isn't already completely off topic.

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  58. Ok, lets see. I have been studying book burnings for a future article. Historicly, these burnings have been a way to eliminate knowledge. Such knowledge is becomes forbidden. Forbidden knowledge led me to the fruit of the garden of Eden.

    Since knowledge can further people from God (as it is claimed), would it have been right for Adam and Eve to have destroyed the tree, as they were only instructed not to partake in the fruit? If so, a little arson could have spared mankind all its suffering lol. That brings me to my second point. Could this fable have been an early Judeo-Chrsitian way of gaining approval for the destruction of knowledge?

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  59. Hmmm Interesting idea about about chopping the tree down, although would you be able to chop a tree down in a perfect world where there is no pain and suffering?

    The story of Adam and Eve is pretty much the same story as Pandora's box, women does something she is instructed to do and unleashes evil into the world. It does have a few uniquely Jewish traits to it though. Such as the link of words and knowledge to power.

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  60. Not to spoil the discussion, but I think that although it's sometimes interesting to think deeper on some topics, thinking deeper on the story of the garden of eden will only reveal how stupid and superficial it really is, and then you're pretty much done.

    Same thing with the concept of heaven, really. Like this oldie but goodie illustrates: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1397

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  61. What would they chop the tree down with?

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