Tuesday Oct 14
Because several people are having difficulty getting back on the message
board since the move I am copying the tips that we have placed on the board
about cookies, temp files & history settings here for ease in locating.
If you follow ALL PARTS of these instructions and still
cannot access the message board at
www.bobforum.com - you will need to email me with very specific details
about how you are trying to get there (from a bookmark or typing the address in
or clicking on the link right here - try it both of the latter ways before
emailing me please - but not from a bookmark as that WON'T work). I will need to
know what browser you are using (IE, what version, Netscape, what version, etc),
what version of Windows your computer is (XP, 2000, 98, ME, etc), and how you
connect (dialup, cable, DSL, satellite, home, work, etc). I will also need to
know if you are getting TO the board, just not staying logged in, or if you are
seeing some forums but not all (and which ones you are not), and above all -
your screen name.
About the cookie problem - ("it keeps telling me to log
in when I am already logged in"
You will likely have to empty temp files & cookies and
then log on again to set a new cookie because we literally moved to a
whole new IP AND new domain.
In addition - if you have firewall settings that
prohibit cookies - you will need to be sure to set it to accept cookies
from the domain "bobforum.com" (the forum is a completely separate domain
now than the rest of the "bestofboards.com" website.)
Here are the specific instructions:
1. In Internet Explorer: Tools; Internet Options
2. Edit the WebSites settings on your Privacy Tab to
allow the new domain "www.bobforum.com"
3. Delete Cookies and Temporary Files
4. Go back to
www.bobforum.com and try logging in again.
5. If you are running a software or hardware
firewall, then you very likely will need to perform similar steps for your
firewall to allow the www.bobforum.com
domain.
If you are on Windows XP, you STILL may be having
problems even after doing EVERY step. I have two machines side by side on
the same router, same ISP, one is a Win 2000 machine, one is XP Pro, and
the Win 2000 machine has had ZERO problems since the move, but the XP
machine has been a royal PAIN IN THE BUTT - I have been able to surf the
board easily using Netscape on the XP machine, but NOT in IE until
tonight. (And they are the same versions of IE on both machines - with the
same security & privacy settings to the letter, go figure).
However - as of this evening - the XP machine seems to
be humming along just fine and whizzing through the message board with no
glitches whatsoever - so I am leaning toward this being a DNS replication
issue that simply takes time to resolve itself. (That's a whole 'nother
technical essay in itself - but the long and short of it is - there's not
a darn thing you can do to speed up DNS issues - there are as many reaons
why it takes less time or more time as there are service providers).
Again - please follow ALL instructions one by one, to
the letter - and if you still can't get logged back on the message board -
THEN email me with the information requested above. ~
Belinda@bestofboards.com
Friday Oct 10
The BoB Forums move is COMPLETE! There is a new,
shorter URL to use if you want to bookmark the forums directly - it is
www.bobforum.com and it is live
now, with no lost content. Thank you all for your continued patience over
the past several weeks. ~Belinda
Thursday October 9
Just a heads up - I will be turning the main
message board off on Friday morning while we do a new backup of the
content and complete the move from one server to the other. The
technicians are confident that we are ready to finalize this at this point
and I know you all will be as glad as I will be when it is finished.
As before - the temporary message board at
www.psforms.net/forum
will be available for those of you who can't bear to be without it :) And
the chats will not be impacted by the move as they are already on the new
server and have been for weeks. The vendor board is unrelated to this
move.
I am hopeful that tomorrow goes much
smoother than last week and that the downtime will be not more than an
hour or two, perhaps even less. ~Belinda
Friday Oct 3
11:30 a.m.
Happy to report that the chats, temp board, and private vendor forum are
all up and running again. However, the primary BoB board will remain up
and accessible throughout the weekend due to the fact that I will be on a
scout campout and cannot be available for troubleshooting on the
continuing process of migration to the new server. That move is again on
hold but we WILL be doing a current data dump at the time of the final
move after all.
9:00 a.m.
During the initial test move of the main BoB board to the new server yesterday, I made a disastrous boo-boo (really no other word for it), causing the temporary board, the chats, the vendor private forum, all things mysql database-related to cease functioning. When it became apparent that the solution would not be quick or simple, I reinstated the main BoB board on the old server for the time being. As with other problems - the DATA itself on the boards was not affected - just the accessibility.
We continue to work the server issue this morning and are hopeful to have the chats and private vendor board back up very soon.
It is likely at this point that once we get the main board installed, migrated, and working on the new server - it will be from the most recent full backup - which is yesterday, October 2. What that means is that all the thread content on the main board from the time I reinstated it late last night to the time we actually shut it off - will NOT be moved to the new board. It's an all or nothing backup - and due to the size of this board and the complexity and the sheer magnitude of installation issues - I am not going to go through it a second time if the first one works. Thanks for your understanding. ~Belinda
Thursday Oct 2
Still working on the move of the large BoB message board to the new server. The Temporary Board at
www.psforms.net/forum
continues to be up and functional until the old board is restored to 100%. You will need to register on the temporary board - the two boards are completely different system and the user database for the large BoB board does not work on the temporary board.
September Server Notes:
Tuesday morning
Still no estimate on time to be back to normal on the message board. As a temporary fix, you can access a temporary board at
www.psforms.net/forum
. We have not lost the other board - all the data is there, it's still reachable by the backend of the server - but it may be a day or two still before I get it restored due to the fact that I have to be at a client office all day today. Thanks everyone.
Belinda
Monday evening
I'm sorry - we are once again experiencing serious technical issues on the message board. I do not at this time have an estimated time for it to be back up. The chats are functioning.
Belinda
Chat Time?
Candle Chat:
http://psforms.net/candles/phpMyChat.php3
Bunny Chat: http://psforms.net/bunny/phpMyChat.php3
General Chat:
http://psforms.net/phpchat/phpMyChat.php3
belinda@bestofboards.com