-= Frank Black Forum =-
-= Frank Black Forum =-
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Off Topic!
 Suggestion Box / Website Discussion
 Service unavailable
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 07/22/2013 :  21:57:31  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I regularly get this page that only says "Service unavailable" when I visit www.frankblack.net or forum.frankblack.net. Refreshing doesn't help.
If I return an hour or so later, it works fine again.

Does anyone else have this problem?
And what is it? Why is the service unavailable? Is there anything I can do about it?


it's educational

pot
> Teenager of the Year <

Iceland
3909 Posts

Posted - 07/22/2013 :  22:00:14  Show Profile  Visit pot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Same here.

Tip: Always CTRL+C your post before clicking 'submit reply'
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 07/22/2013 :  22:05:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Heh heh. Good tip.


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2013 :  21:24:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Does anyone else ever get this message? Or is it just pot and me?


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Niue
7441 Posts

Posted - 07/24/2013 :  00:03:36  Show Profile  Visit vilainde's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Nope, happens all the time


Denis


Obsidiana Bijoux
Go to Top of Page

Active Duck
~ Abstract Brain ~

United Kingdom
421 Posts

Posted - 07/24/2013 :  02:08:36  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
All of the time.
Go to Top of Page

Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11687 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2013 :  07:55:41  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Yup. A fact of life on our current service, the eminently shitty Lunarpages. I would've moved us long ago if I had the time and $.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2013 :  14:31:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Considering this is a free forum, it's not a big deal. I copy my replies to be safe. I'm glad this place is here, regardless of whether it goes "unavailable" every so often. Thanks for maintaining it!
Go to Top of Page

pot
> Teenager of the Year <

Iceland
3909 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2013 :  14:38:23  Show Profile  Visit pot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
A free forum where you can talk to Frank Black that goes temporarily down for a few minutes sometimes. I'm not complaining.
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2013 :  15:10:49  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I've said it before but the design is phenomenal. Simple. Easy to read. Tasteful imagery up above. I've been to some terribly designed forums (usually just one visit and I'm out of there) and this one gets it right in every way. Plus there's none of this "need to register to read it", I dislike when sites do that.
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 07/26/2013 :  18:07:36  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Discoking---I usually just wait a few minutes before refreshing and the site usually works.
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 07/27/2013 :  00:06:20  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ok, thanks. I'll give that a try.


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11687 Posts

Posted - 07/27/2013 :  08:06:06  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I appreciate the patience folks. Still, I do hope to move us to a more stable platform at some point. And the design (at least graphically) I have to credit to Active Duck, he did all this for us gratis back in the day.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 07/27/2013 :  12:10:56  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Kudos to Active Duck!
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 03/31/2014 :  21:46:48  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it's been a lot worse with the "service unavailable" warnings lately. everything is also a lot slower.
maybe because of increased traffic with the release of EP3 and the announcement of the new album? i don't know. but i have the impression that's when it started getting worse.

anyway, it's now almost impossible to even read the forums: two, three clicks, and it's service unavailable again. (took me days to get far enough on the forum to post this.)

how much would a move to a more stable platform cost? and does someone have the know-how and time to make this happen?
or do you believe the situation will improve again soon?


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 04/01/2014 :  07:11:44  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I think that's a reasonable assumption Discoking.
Go to Top of Page

picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1874 Posts

Posted - 04/02/2014 :  10:23:52  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hosting problems ? Maybe we (regular users) can help ?

___
"Service Unavailable"
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 04/02/2014 :  23:15:33  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it's really unworkable now.
i can live with the occasional "service unavailable", but there are too many of them now.

is the problem the hosting? what about the forum software? it's really old. dunno.


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

vilainde
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Niue
7441 Posts

Posted - 04/02/2014 :  23:50:56  Show Profile  Visit vilainde's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Yeah that's nightmarish


Denis


Obsidiana Bijoux
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 04/03/2014 :  23:41:33  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it seems to be working better today. hopefully it keeps up.

otherwise it could maybe be considered to move the forum elsewhere? how about something like this? http://www.proboards.com/
they even offer to help importing the old forum: http://www.proboards.com/switch-to-proboards-free-forums
dunno. just an idea. the free hosting of course comes with ads. (although i don't think it's that expensive to get rid of them.)


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1874 Posts

Posted - 04/06/2014 :  09:31:12  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I think this Snitz forum engine is just fine. Very clear, easy to read... and it's open source. But it probably has a few security issues due to its age and lack of an active support community... (went on their website... seems dead !)

Best option would be to migrate to something like PHPBB, which is open-source, runs on LAMP, and has a huge support community. But migrating all the data from an obscure, outdated forum software to anything new looks like a big, time-consuming challenge.

Another option: keep this Snitz 2000 forum in read-only as an archive & creating a new one...

___
"Service Unavailable"
Go to Top of Page

Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11687 Posts

Posted - 04/06/2014 :  10:40:05  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
The service unavailable warnings are an issue with the server package we use. We've run out of donated money and I've not been asking for more since I haven't even been able to keep the site up to date, so it's a question of money and then time.

The forum is great as is (I've never really liked PHP BB, but maybe with some mods it could be more likeable) but not maintained as PicPic pointed out and the migration would be a huge undertaking. I could move us to another server if I dedicated a whole weekend to it, but those are harder and harder to come by. But it would be preferable to maintain the continuity since I think an archive/read-only would eventually not get looked at, and it would require a server with ASP and PHP both (which, to be fair, is increasingly common and in fact is one of the reasons we're on this server because I'd hoped to build a new platform some time ago).


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 04/06/2014 :  23:00:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
thanks for the answers.

how much money are we talking about, for the server package? can i ask that, or is that classified information? is it a monthly or yearly fee, or does it depend on how much traffic there is?
and would paying more money solve the current problems, or will a move to another server be required one day?
i wouldn't mind donating some money.

i understand that migrating the data to a new forum would be far from straightforward, and possibly too big a task to even consider, especially if you don't have a lot of free time. (i guess one could spend days on this, without any guarantee of succeeding.)

it seems to be going a bit better now. i still get "service unavailable" messages, but not as frequent as before. i think it'd be a big improvement to get rid of them altogether though. if that is possible, then i agree, and think the forum is good as it is. it is clearly old and fairly simple, but i don't mind that at all. it does everything it needs to do.


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

ccuadros
* Dog in the Sand *

Chile
1315 Posts

Posted - 04/08/2014 :  02:03:01  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
will be great if we can have a better platform, if you have time someday and could spend some time in this please let us know how can we help, iŽll be glad to do it.
Go to Top of Page

Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11687 Posts

Posted - 04/11/2014 :  03:40:23  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
We would have to get off of Lunarpages altogether, so it's not just a matter of money, it's also time. However, I do plan to do this at some point. I really hate Lunarpages. Right now we're only spending a few hundred a year on the server, it's shared (part of the problem). I'd have to look at how much data and traffic we are using more closely to find another site capable of handling that without the problems and see what it would cost to get rid of it, though. I will certainly look at it and perhaps post here asking for help in doing some of these things to see if we can get that accomplished. Thanks all for your offers and for your concern, good to know that it's still a valuable place in your web surfing experience. :)


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Go to Top of Page

picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1874 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2014 :  10:46:24  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
This forum has apparently been hacked... spam everywhere... obvious security exploits... I'm not even sure my account is secure anymore.

This is the only place to talk about Frank Black. Other Pixies messages board sucks. So,.. what's next ?

___
"Service Unavailable"
Go to Top of Page

Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1036 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2014 :  17:13:41  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Maybe I'm wrong but I think the forum will weather all of this; this is the best place to discuss Frank Black and the Pixies and the Catholics...
Go to Top of Page

Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11687 Posts

Posted - 04/21/2014 :  04:45:17  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
The powers that be at Snitz are working on a new release that I hope will address the issue that allows these bots to register... that is due next month, so for now that is the next step.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
Go to Top of Page

Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1119 Posts

Posted - 04/22/2014 :  23:46:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
go snitz!


it's educational
Go to Top of Page

picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1874 Posts

Posted - 06/15/2014 :  01:16:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Any news about this update ? This forum is still down most of the time & filled with spam (and not even moderated)

I know this is a time-consuming job, but this message board is dying...

___
"Service Unavailable"

Edited by - picpic on 06/15/2014 01:16:28
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
-= Frank Black Forum =- © 2002-2020 Frank Black Fans, Inc. Go To Top Of Page
Snitz Forums 2000