**** A Note About Missing Posts/IMs - What Happened ****

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A short while ago I learned from our host that the reason several posts and IMs are missing from the forum is that they had a problem that required them to reboot (shut down and start over again ) the server that the forum is stored on. They then reinstalled all the files from their most recent backup, which, unfortunately, had been done last night (yesterday afternoon for most of us - they're 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time/8 hours ahead of Pacific Time).

Normally I backup the forum twice a day - as soon as I get up and then again just before I go to bed. But wouldn't you know that yesterday I was away from my computer most of the day (yes, contrary to popular belief, I DO have a life beyond the forum ) and didn't get to finish my first backup until 7:36pm et/4:36pm pt, so I didn't do the second.

Now, I *might* be able to restore some of the things that were lost, but that's going to require me to shut down the forum later tonight (probably sometime after 11pm et/8pm pt) so that I can go through every file in the backup with yesterday's date and compare its contents with the file's current contents. I have no idea just how long that might take or how long it might take me to restore whatever I find that's currently missing. Expect the forum to be down for some time. But if you made any posts or sent/received any IMs after 7:36 et last night and the time our host reinstalled their backup today, they're gone forever.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I *might* be able to restore some of the things that were lost

Well, unfortunately, I wasn't able to restore very much. A few posts on the "Testing. 1, 2, 3..." board, and a handful of IMs. Though I do have to say that restoring some of the IMs was most enlightening. Normally, out of respect for people's privacy, I would have merely checked dates to be sure I was catching everything that was missing. But my eyes also happened to catch a few references to me, and, hey, I'm only human.

Signed "P" (the "hired hand," who's (not in any particular order or referring to the same people) glad someone thought it was "funny," but has to admit to being less amused, as the person you were IMing with could surely attest - who will find future requests for certain additions to be made to the forum from you and/or your friend to be very amusing - who may or may not have something "hideous" in store for you (but if you know anything about me, you know that making you wait and wonder will give me great joy ) - and who is so happy that he was "allowed" out of the house and released from his "chain" - and not even the kinky kind, at that.)  

[Cassandra]

Hi MB,  I just wanted to take the time to say Thanks to you and Midnite for all you're doing here for us.:-)

I had tried to get on to the board earlier this evening but found the message about the Forum being offline. However, once I cleared out my browsers cache (yes, I finally learned how to do that too!!:-) )  I was able to access the board.  Anyway, Im glad that it's up and working again.

Signed C, (who's glad she didn't send any IM's in the last 24 hours) ;-)

[Bobubas]

Normally, out of respect for people's privacy, I would have merely checked dates to be sure I was catching everything that was missing. But my eyes also happened to catch a few references to me, and, hey, I'm only human.

So Big Brother is watching .....heh? ;-)  Both you and Midnite deserve a round of applause for the devotion you both have to making this Forum the best on the internet.  Bob (Who is also glad he wasn't doing any IM'ing the night in question :-)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So Big Brother is watching .....heh? ;-)

Well, not quite. Given the way the system stores IMs, noticing mentions of myself while I was checking dates to see if any that I'd backed up were missing was pretty much unavoidable. For example, here's a copy of an IM I sent out to people who were using the forum just before I shut it down last night:

Daphne|Re: Forum Closing Down|09/25/02 at 03:24:01|Time to start wrapping up whatever you're in the process of doing, folks, because the forum will be closing down VERY shortly. |103292424130821|..??.|1

As you can see, the system stores who it was sent to, its title, the date and time it was sent, its text, an internal code to identify it, the sender's IP address (which I've replaced in the example with ?s), and another code that's actually useless for IMs (but which is used for posts to indicate whether or not a post is normal (1) or sticky (0) - it's only included in IMs because the same script that controls the posting of messages on the boards also controls the sending of IMs).

Bob (Who is also glad he wasn't doing any IM'ing the night in question :-)

LOL! But no one actually has to worry that either Midnite or I is reading their private messages. Besides the fact that there are way too many of them sent out every day for us to keep up with, we have NO desire to invade people's privacy. The ONLY reason I happened to catch the comments that I did was because I was trying to restore IMs that went missing after our hosts had to reboot the server. And hopefully something like that won't be happening again any time soon. And the only reason I publicly posted the info I did from the IMs I'd seen was because I wanted to joke with the people who'd made the comments. Believe me, they know who they are, and they know exactly why I did it. There was never any sort of malicious intent in what they'd said or in my letting them know I'd seen it.

[jennifer]

Mb just wanted to say:-*
jennifer
and yes i tried to clear my browsers cache don't know if i did it right but the forum was back so?