OVF problems - an update

[robf]

I deleted an FTP account on Thursday and without any warning the "deletion" meant that all data uploaded to OVF was deleted (to my obvious horror).

 

I've pretty much had to rebuild the site including recreating the blog and the forum and then moving content from one database to anotehr (not an easy task as I had to get a special tool to do it). AS a result:

 

* 640,000 forum posts have been moved across

* Over 6,000 user profiles

* 46,500 private messages

and lots more

 

But to do all the above I did have to take the forum offline for much of Tuesday.

 

The forum is nowhere near sorted nor is the blog. Among the problems you may encounter are:

 

* Broken links

* Broken images (I lost over 3,000 images and some cannot be replaced)

* Features missing (the "on this day" feature is also completely gone)

 

So, it's been a bit of a nightmare but at least we are back in some sort of order.

 

Please expect LOTS of work from me as I try to add features back and try to be patient as some things won't work.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[robf]

Thanks for the comments.

 

It does have it's own dedicated server and I did restore from back-ups.

 

They are stored on external drives and on the cloud. But the problem is that the forum alone took eight hours to restore and that was excluding non-essential things like avatars. The issue is that 20 years of data and so on is so massive it's a huge job to bring it all back.

 

When I say some things cannot be restored that is because they were uploaded after the last back-up which was some weeks ago. So, unfortunately some things will be gone forever.

[Vital Spark]

Is this why OVF is not working on Tapatalk?

[robf]

Is this why OVF is not working on Tapatalk?

 

Yeah. Sorry - it is on the list but first priority was to restore all the posts and blog posts (otherwise every message and PM would have been lost). Tapatalk is on a list to do but yesterday it took eight hours just to restore the forum so I haven't had time yet.

[valiantlad]

Rob keep up the good work. Is the swear filter goosed? Oh bollocks!! Just testing!

[Vital Spark]

Yeah. Sorry - it is on the list but first priority was to restore all the posts and blog posts (otherwise every message and PM would have been lost). Tapatalk is on a list to do but yesterday it took eight hours just to restore the forum so I haven't had time yet.

 

No worries, I thought it was my phone on the blink.

[robf]

Tapatalk *may* be working again - I am awaiting confirmation from their end but feel free to test it and let me know if it is (or isn't).

[Vital Spark]

Tapatalk *may* be working again - I am awaiting confirmation from their end but feel free to test it and let me know if it is (or isn't).

 

Unfortunately, it's still not working for me Rob. Also having general problems logging into normal web page site, as I'm having to log-in three or four times.

[grebovale]

Yes Tapatalk is now working

[robf]

Unfortunately, it's still not working for me Rob. Also having general problems logging into normal web page site, as I'm having to log-in three or four times.

 

Try clearing all cookies and browser history. As the site settings have changed any old OVF cookies (storing things like passwords) can interfere with it all.

 

If it is any consolation, I have a login problems too but I find that it does eventually log me in (I have disabled the usual five incorrect password attempts and you are locked out because I realised this may be a problem).

 

As this was a rush to reinstall I think over the coming days and weeks most problems will go away as things are restored/settings tweaked but do bear with me.

 

In a week or so I will come back on and see if any problems remain outstanding.

[robf]

Yes Tapatalk is now working

 

Great. I have reinstalled it but have asked Tapatalk to double-check my settings. When I get official confirmation that it is back I will put a note on the OVF homepage.

[mbycars]

Hi Rob, since the site has come back online I am getting all the adverts again. I realise you have had a mammoth task restoring the site and you may not have had time to sort out the add free members or maybe there is another problem?

[robf]

Hi Rob, since the site has come back online I am getting all the adverts again. I realise you have had a mammoth task restoring the site and you may not have had time to sort out the add free members or maybe there is another problem?

 

Hi,

 

Thanks and apologies for seeing the adverts.

 

Yeah the original message (now expired) when the site was down said that the ad-free option was one thing that did break.

 

In short - this was done after the last back-up so all the code (which was very complex) has been lost and will have to be recreated.

 

I will therefore be doing one of two things:

 

1. If it looks like I can restore it I will add extra free time to your subscriptions to account for this time with adverts

2. If it isn't possible to restore I will refund existing ad-free users

 

However, I would anticipate the adverts will be in place for AT LEAST THE WEEKEND so apologies for that.

 

p.s. I am going to pop up a notice which only advert-free users can see stating this too.

[PVTony]

I know that you are really frustrated my friend, but your time and hard work is getting the forum slowly back to where you want it to be.

Good luck and thank you.

[robf]

I know that you are really frustrated my friend, but your time and hard work is getting the forum slowly back to where you want it to be.

Good luck and thank you.

 

Cheers. I think if I had the whole week I could get it done quicker but obviously work and family have to come into play too.

 

Hopefully, bit by bit it is coming back...