# ASF Downtime



## Joe Blow

Hi everyone...

Sorry about the downtime for the last 75 minutes or so.

The ASF server went haywire for some reason... still trying to find out what the problem is.


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## chris1983

Thats okay.  I forgive u Joe


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## insider

don't let it it happen again...   lol


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## Joe Blow

Should have everything sorted out soon... hopefully. :bonk:


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## CanOz

So it was ASF? I had trouble with IG Market and ASF so i went and gave the IT dude a payout... 

I wonder if something hit both servers? Both sites ok now....weird.


Cheers,


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## Kimosabi

I freaked out and sold all my shares.

I thought it was the end of the world...


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## Realist

Kimosabi said:


> I freaked out and sold all my shares.




Haha... 

 :nosympath


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## Joe Blow

In about three hours time (from approximately 1pm today), ASF will be offline for around 10 hours while the host physically moves all the servers to a new facility.

It has nothing to do with Brexit. 

I apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.


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## trainspotter

ASFexit for 10 hours huh?


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## Joe Blow

trainspotter said:


> ASFexit for 10 hours huh?




Yes, but unlike Brexit volatility will be minimal.


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## Joe Blow

My apologies for that extended downtime over the weekend. It went on much longer than I expected.

It involved a complicated data centre migration and there were a number of technical issues that came up and needless to say things did not go smoothly. However, we are back up now and the good news is I have some hair left after spending a good portion of the weekend tearing most of it out.


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## cynic

Joe Blow said:


> My apologies for that extended downtime over the weekend. It went on much longer than I expected.
> 
> It involved a complicated data centre migration and there were a number of technical issues that came up and needless to say things did not go smoothly. However, we are back up now and the good news is I have some hair left after spending a good portion of the weekend tearing most of it out.




Thankyou for your efforts Joe, as always they are greatly appreciated.


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## Joe Blow

cynic said:


> Thankyou for your efforts Joe, as always they are greatly appreciated.




You are very welcome. There is a website search error that I have just contacted the host about. It should be fixed shortly. If anyone else experiences any issues or problems after the data centre migration please let me know and I will do my best to get them fixed ASAP.


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## Logique

All working well here Joe.

I thought yesterday, has an evil alliance of extreme Rightists, extreme Leftists, Trumpists, Clintonistas, Warmists, Denialists, Remainists and Leavists, finally had enough of the General Chat threads and declared cyber warfare on ASF.

But it was just site maintenance, phew!


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## VSntchr

Joe Blow said:


> You are very welcome. There is a website search error that I have just contacted the host about. It should be fixed shortly. If anyone else experiences any issues or problems after the data centre migration please let me know and I will do my best to get them fixed ASAP.




Was this recent maintennance related to the updates that we spoke of a few weeks/months back with the "like button" amongst other things?
Everything working fine on my end


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## Joe Blow

VSntchr said:


> Was this recent maintennance related to the updates that we spoke of a few weeks/months back with the "like button" amongst other things?




No, this maintenance downtime was just a hosting data centre migration. The software platform change/website redesign is still coming. If all goes to plan that should happen in about a month or so.

Glad to hear all is working well at your end. I have noticed that the page loading times seem to be a little faster this morning.


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## pixel

Joe Blow said:


> No, this maintenance downtime was just a hosting data centre migration. The software platform change/website redesign is still coming. If all goes to plan that should happen in about a month or so.
> 
> Glad to hear all is working well at your end. I have noticed that the page loading times seem to be a little faster this morning.




Thanks, Joe, for all your efforts.
And Thank Goodness, it's all working fine again at my end as well.

Somehow I had missed your forewarning about those "ten hours server migration". Had I known that, I would have automatically considered two days or more  :1zhelp:
I wasn't so much worried about fancy Fabians and Reactionaries, but considered the possibility that some crooked Legal Eagles might have effected a Blockout. Very much relieved to read it's been "the usual" IT hiccup.


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## trainspotter

Joe Blow said:


> Yes, but unlike Brexit volatility will be minimal.




Yeah right (((((shudder)))))  Must be on Mars where 10 hours = 2 days ... All good here Joe 

Site does seem to be running a lot faster as well.


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## ThingyMajiggy

Working fine here too, just curious though, why are you hosting it in California anyway? Just got a good deal there or? Seems odd for "aussie" stock forums, would think it would be here, especially for speed.

Not that the speed is bad at all, was just wondering


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## Joe Blow

ThingyMajiggy said:


> Working fine here too, just curious though, why are you hosting it in California anyway? Just got a good deal there or? Seems odd for "aussie" stock forums, would think it would be here, especially for speed.
> 
> Not that the speed is bad at all, was just wondering




I have been with the same host for 10 years. At the time I first signed up it was a good deal and I found their technicians to be very knowledgeable and quick to respond and fix any problems. Changing hosts is a real pain and I haven't had any real reason to change even though there has been the odd hiccup here and there.


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## Smurf1976

pixel said:


> I wasn't so much worried about fancy Fabians and Reactionaries, but considered the possibility that some crooked Legal Eagles might have effected a Blockout. Very much relieved to read it's been "the usual" IT hiccup.




For a moment there I was wondering if Joe had put all his money in Pounds just before the Brexit vote was counted...... 

Seriously though, good to be back up and running.


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## Craton

All good here Joe and yes, pages do seem to load quicker. Good job!


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## Joe Blow

Sorry for that momentary interruption to service. Not quite sure what happened but we're back now.


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## Joe Blow

Apparently there are some minor teething issues at the new data centre. Everything should be sorted out shortly.


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## Logique

Yep noticed that. Back up now, 11:17 EST


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## Joe Blow

My apologies for that extended downtime last night. Unfortunately I am unable to say why it happened as I have not received a satisfactory explanation from ASF's host. Needless to say, I am now in the market for a new host.


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## pixel

Joe Blow said:


> My apologies for that extended downtime last night. Unfortunately I am unable to say why it happened as I have not received a satisfactory explanation from ASF's host. Needless to say, I am now in the market for a new host.




I have been with https://ventraip.com.au/ for about ten years. Found them very reliable.
While my requirements are but a fraction of yours, it could definitely be worth asking them for a quote.


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## Joe Blow

pixel said:


> I have been with https://ventraip.com.au/ for about ten years. Found them very reliable.
> While my requirements are but a fraction of yours, it could definitely be worth asking them for a quote.




Thanks for the tip Pixel. I am beginning to make a shortlist of possible hosts and will take a good look at Ventraip.


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## captain black

Joe Blow said:


> Thanks for the tip Pixel. I am beginning to make a shortlist of possible hosts and will take a good look at Ventraip.




A +1 for VentraIP here too. I use their "no frills" Zuver web hosting and have nothing but praise for them. Fast, friendly support when it's needed.


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## Joe Blow

Just a heads up that ASF will be experiencing some downtime this evening as we move from one server to another. I expect that the forum will be closed from around 10pm AEDT and should be back online when you wake up tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping everything goes smoothly, but as previous experience with server migrations has taught me, it sometimes doesn't.


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> Just a heads up that ASF will be experiencing some downtime this evening as we move from one server to another. I expect that the forum will be closed from around 10pm AEDT and should be back online when you wake up tomorrow morning.
> 
> I'm hoping everything goes smoothly, but as previous experience with server migrations has taught me, it sometimes doesn't.



Good luck Joe!


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## barney

Joe Blow said:


> Just a heads up that ASF will be experiencing some downtime this evening as we move from one server to another.




Thanks for the heads up Joe …… Current server not up to expectations/other reasons out of curiosity? Cheers.


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## Joe Blow

barney said:


> Thanks for the heads up Joe …… Current server not up to expectations/other reasons out of curiosity? Cheers.




Needed to find a better deal. I've been on the current server for more than two years and it's time for a change.


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## barney

Joe Blow said:


> Needed to find a better deal. I've been on the current server for more than two years and it's time for a change.




Cheers Joe … Hope it works out as planned


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## Joe Blow

barney said:


> Cheers Joe … Hope it works out as planned




Thanks. I'm a little behind schedule but the server migration should start within the next hour.


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## Joe Blow

...and we're back. 

I think we only lost one post, as it was posted after the database was copied across to the new server. Other than that I think everything is intact.

If anyone notices any issues, please let me know.


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## Joe Blow

Hi folks, I made a mistake after the migration completed last night. I reopened the forum on both IP addresses and now we have some new posts that are located in the old database as a result of slow DNS propagation.

The posts I can see right now that are located in the old database are:

One by Zaxon in this thread.
One by Zaxon in the NHC - New Hope Corporation thread.
One by sptrawler in the NHC - New Hope Corporation thread.
Two by leyy in the APT - Afterpay Touch Group thread.
One by Toyota Lexcen in the APT - Afterpay Touch Group thread.
One by ducati916 in the duc's 'Margin of Safety' investment thread.
Quite a few posts by basilio in a number of different threads.

That was a very silly thing for me to have done and I apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

I have closed the forum on the old installation so no further posts can be made over there.


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## Joe Blow

I have just noticed that the forum search function is not working. I will try and get this fixed ASAP.


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## Joe Blow

The forum search index has been rebuilt and is now functioning correctly.


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## basilio

Joe Blow said:


> Hi folks, I made a mistake after the migration completed last night. I reopened the forum on both IP addresses and now we have some new posts that are located in the old database as a result of slow DNS propagation.
> 
> The posts I can see right now that are located in the old database are:
> 
> One by Zaxon in this thread.
> One by Zaxon in the NHC - New Hope Corporation thread.
> One by sptrawler in the NHC - New Hope Corporation thread.
> Two by leyy in the APT - Afterpay Touch Group thread.
> One by Toyota Lexcen in the APT - Afterpay Touch Group thread.
> One by ducati916 in the duc's 'Margin of Safety' investment thread.
> Quite a few posts by basilio in a number of different threads.
> 
> That was a very silly thing for me to have done and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
> 
> I have closed the forum on the old installation so no further posts can be made over there.




It's all ephemeral. After all many of us don't actually need to read anything to know it's not worth reading.


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## qldfrog

And Joe, thanks for your efforts and time


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## explod

This is a wonderful site and has helped me limp through some very difficult times due to my PTSD.  In fact Basilio visited me (physically) as a result of our meeting here (ASF) when I was extremely low. Julia (bless her spirit) was also a great support, we unfortunately never got to meet.
So my pick is:-     Go Joe.


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## Joe Blow

I had no idea that the DNS changes would take so long to filter through to people's ISPs. DNS is a strange and scary beast. Once you make the changes you have no control over it and it takes as long as it takes. All you can do is wait.

I see that there are still quite a few people trapped over at the old ASF installation. It looks like it is going to take a full 24 hours until everyone makes it over here.


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## explod

Joe Blow said:


> I had no idea that the DNS changes would take so long to filter through to people's ISPs. DNS is a strange and scary beast. Once you make the changes you have no control over it and it takes as long as it takes. All you can do is wait.
> 
> I see that there are still quite a few people trapped over at the old ASF installation. It looks like it is going to take a full 24 hours until everyone makes it over here.



Only took a couple of hours for me, that was from about 3.00pm so i'd say all good by tomorrow.


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> I see that there are still a few people trapped over at the old ASF installation. It looks like it is going to take a full 24 hours until everyone makes it over here.




Geez, I took a couple of looks at your instructions and went yeah/nah, going to wait till the son gets back from S.A. he can fix it.
Never to be deterred I decided to try again....bingo, it worked!

You say you are are planning to re-design the whole site....Nooooooo please don't! It is lovely as it is. Don't touch any of the buttons. We all need You and ASF too much, you are the chosen one! 

If you do decide to change please leave it to the professionals. If they fcuk up you can always sue them! 

Final word, what a pity we lost posts from Zaxon a rare poster. We need these people, Zaxon please come back!


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## Zaxon

Joe Blow said:


> I had no idea that the DNS changes would take so long to filter through to people's ISPs.




I've been bouncing between the two versions, sometimes just within the time of going from one page to the next.  And clearing the windows DNS cache had no impact.


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## Zaxon

Ann said:


> Final word, what a pity we lost posts from Zaxon a rare poster. We need these people, Zaxon please come back!




I will do my best to crawl back from the DNS abyss!


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## Joe Blow

Ann said:


> Geez, I took a couple of looks at your instructions and went yeah/nah, going to wait till the son gets back from S.A. he can fix it.
> Never to be deterred I decided to try again....bingo, it worked!




Persistence can bring great rewards! Glad to hear it worked for you.



Ann said:


> You say you are are planning to re-design the whole site....Nooooooo please don't! It is lovely as it is. Don't touch any of the buttons. We all need You and ASF too much, you are the chosen one!
> 
> If you do decide to change please leave it to the professionals. If they fcuk up you can always sue them!




I like it too, but I think improvements can be made. The hard part is figuring out what those changes should be and how to design and implement them. I'm not a revolutionary change kind of person, at least when it comes to ASF. I like small, useful, incremental changes that improve and enhance people's experience here. That will be my aim.



Ann said:


> Final word, what a pity we lost posts from Zaxon a rare poster. We need these people, Zaxon please come back!




I see he's back already!


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## Joe Blow

Zaxon said:


> And clearing the windows DNS cache had no impact.




It was a long shot but sometimes it works. Glad to see you made it here in the end.


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## Ann

Zaxon said:


> I will do my best to crawl back from the DNS abyss!



YAY! Never change your avi...please!


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> Persistence can bring great rewards!




Never a truer word spoken Joe, this is the number 42!





Joe Blow said:


> I like it too, but I think improvements can be made. The hard part is figuring out what those changes should be and how to design and implement them. I'm not a revolutionary change kind of person, at least when it comes to ASF. I like small, useful, incremental changes that improve and enhance people's experience here. That will be my
> I see he's back already!




My suggestion is to get rid of any ratings. They can be used as a weapon. I suffered dreadful bullying on another forum when I was a beginner/prat. It never pushed me off the site but it made me question my thoughts. No one bothered to tell me why I was wrong/or potentially wrong. 
I now know all info can be right or wrong it is just a timing thing. I know who the Bully was on the other site but I always feel their contribution was of value there and still do here but my respect for him is lessened. 

Kindness and respect will always trump arrogance. Thank you Joe, you are the most polite and kind person I can imagine online.


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## Joe Blow

Ann said:


> Never a truer word spoken Joe, this is the number 42!
> 
> My suggestion is to get rid of any ratings. They can be used as a weapon. I suffered dreadful bullying on another forum when I was a beginner/prat. It never pushed me off the site but it made me question my thoughts. No one bothered to tell me why I was wrong/or potentially wrong.
> I now know all info can be right or wrong it is just a timing thing. I know who the Bully was on the other site but I always feel their contribution was of value there and still do here but my respect for him is lessened.
> 
> Kindness and respect will always trump arrogance. Thank you Joe, you are the most polite and kind person I can imagine online.




Thanks for your kind words Ann, and don't worry, I have no intention of introducing a rating system for ASF members. Something like that will create unnecessary division and rivalry in the community and I don't think that's a wise direction to take.


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> Thanks for your kind words Ann, and don't worry, I have no intention of introducing a rating system for ASF members. Something like that will create unnecessary division and rivalry in the community and I don't think that's a wise direction to take.



It has already happened Joe.


Joe Blow said:


> Thanks for your kind words Ann, and don't worry, I have no intention of introducing a rating system for ASF members. Something like that will create unnecessary division and rivalry in the community and I don't think that's a wise direction to take.



Joe, you have done it already. There is a rating thing of "likes" that Skate is working to his advantage, whatever that is ( I think he is a boring moron but whatever). Peter2 is brilliant.  Tech/a as a great example of how not to trade to make money.
I say just get rid of stars and faves and whatever, no ratings. Let the viewing punters come to their own decisions, right or wrong.


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## Joe Blow

Ann said:


> There is a rating thing of "likes" that Skate is working to his advantage, whatever that is ( I think he is a boring moron but whatever). Peter2 is brilliant.  Tech/a as a great example of how not to trade to make money.
> I say just get rid of stars and faves and whatever, no ratings. Let the viewing punters come to their own decisions, right or wrong.




I understand and appreciate your point of view but when it comes to likes we will have to agree to disagree. Although there may be some less than benign effects of them, I see the feature as mostly positive. Liking a post can be a shorthand way of saying, "I agree" and also a way of telling someone that you appreciate the time and effort they have put into creating the post. The pattern of likes a member receives can tell them a lot about the kind of content others like and find useful, encouraging them to create more of it.

There will never be a dislike feature or any way to give a negative rating to anything or anyone (except perhaps for dodgy stocks). I don't think negativity is good for a community. But I'm happy for people to convey appreciation and agreement to others. Those are good things.


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## sptrawler

Ann said:


> It has already happened Joe.
> 
> Joe, you have done it already. There is a rating thing of "likes" that Skate is working to his advantage, whatever that is ( I think he is a boring moron but whatever). Peter2 is brilliant.  Tech/a as a great example of how not to trade to make money.
> I say just get rid of stars and faves and whatever, no ratings. Let the viewing punters come to their own decisions, right or wrong.



Joe, I don't know what you did, but my android tablet choked, it keeps returning to the old site.
So I have downloaded Tapatalk, that had given me access, but now I have to learn how to use it.lol


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## sptrawler

Sorry about the interuption ann


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## galumay

Thanks for the great work in the background, @Joe Blow - I have also had my battles with DNS propogation on sites I manage, its very frustrating. I think your open communication on these tech matters is a very positive aspect to ASF.

I am with Ann on the likes and ratings stuff, personally I think forums are better without it. Its one of the main reasons I dont have a presence on another reasonably new website/forum for investors, despite it being run by an investor I admire. The competitive nature of the whole site structure is very off-putting for me. I think ASF would be better without the ratings for individual businesses and the likes for posts - but its at least inoffensive enough to not overly bother me!

I respect your desire to retain these elements on ASF, and I am sure many members like them.


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## Joe Blow

galumay said:


> Thanks for the great work in the background, @Joe Blow - I have also had my battles with DNS propogation on sites I manage, its very frustrating. I think your open communication on these tech matters is a very positive aspect to ASF.




Thanks. I like to keep people informed, especially about service disruptions. Although I once again underestimated the DNS propagation time. I have come to conclusion that it's mostly a ISP issue with some ISPs updating their DNS records more often than others. Whatever the cause, it turns a relatively simple three hour website migration into a 24 hour ordeal and I like to vent about it.


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## explod

Hunken fckn doooolaaar. love this site Joe, keep it up.


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## tinhat

Joe Blow said:


> I had no idea that the DNS changes would take so long to filter through to people's ISPs. DNS is a strange and scary beast. Once you make the changes you have no control over it and it takes as long as it takes. All you can do is wait.
> 
> I see that there are still quite a few people trapped over at the old ASF installation. It looks like it is going to take a full 24 hours until everyone makes it over here.




DNS is one of the hidden parts of the internet that helps glue it all together. As you note it is rather esoteric.

Once suggestion is to drop the TTL (time to live) setting in the DNS record for your domain name on the server a couple of days before you migrate to a new IP address. That is actually the purpose of the TTL setting in a DNS zone file. Usually, it is set at 14400 (seconds; ie, 4 hours). Drop it down to say 3000 (five minutes). You only need to do this on the DNS server that is running on the old IP address.

But wait, you are now wondering why, if the default TTL setting is usually 14400 seconds (4 hours) why can it take days for some users to switch over to the new IP address? Well,

1. DNS records are cached at each node along a network route. So between the client (forum user) and the forum server there may be anywhere from a dozen or thirty or more hops with each node holding a dns cache. Thus when a change in a domain DNS record is made at the primary DNS server it may take up to the TTL (standard setting 4 hours) for that change to propagate to the next node, another four hours to propagate to the next node and so on along any particular route. So one user may be routed to the new IP address almost instantly (because the old IP is not cached along their network route) and other users might take a couple of days for the DNS caches to refresh along their route.

2. It's the internet. The TTL record that the primary DNS server for your domain name advertises, should always be adhered to by the authorised secondary/slave DNS servers listed for your domain but not necessarily by other dns servers that might be caching the DNS in various nodes along various routes. DNS lookups require a bit of overhead so network operators may implement their own systems for DNS caching to optimize their networks.

It's been quite a few years since I worked in this field and I am pretty rusty on it now. This is a good article:

https://www.varonis.com/blog/definitive-guide-to-dns-ttl-settings/


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## Bill M

Joe Blow said:


> Liking a post can be a shorthand way of saying, "I agree" and also a way of telling someone that you appreciate the time and effort they have put into creating the post.



I like the like button too. Before we had it most people wanted it, now some people don't like it which I don't understand. Why I like it is for the same reasons as you mention, it is like nodding your head for a yes or I agree or just a short cut for saying thank you. Some people like myself don't post as much as others so by liking a post also shows I'm still around listening, learning and enjoying other people's input. Keep it up, ASF is a great forum, thank you.


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## Joe Blow

I have checked the IP addresses of those who are still hitting the old ASF installation and they all appear to be Telstra IP addresses.

Really bad form Telstra. Please update your DNS records more often. 

SirRumpole appears to be one of the last over there.


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## rederob

Bill M said:


> I like the like button too. Before we had it most people wanted it, now some people don't like it which I don't understand. Why I like it is for the same reasons as you mention, it is like nodding your head for a yes or I agree or just a short cut for saying thank you.



On the other hand, the almost opposite is true of *downvoting *or *disliking, *so I hope Joe does *not *introduce it to ASF.
I recently left a US-based forum because a good number of members never posted, but *always *downvoted on topics they simply disliked.  It effectively led to the politicisation of many threads, without in any meaningful way adding to theirs utility.  In fact, it seemed to encourage some pretty radical posting which of itself led to the destruction of some threads that began well - topics were getting *closed *on an increasingly regular basis.


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## SirRumpole

Joe Blow said:


> I have checked the IP addresses of those who are still hitting the old ASF installation and they all appear to be Telstra IP addresses.
> 
> Really bad form Telstra. Please update your DNS records more often.
> 
> SirRumpole appears to be one of the last over there.




Thanks for noticing Joe. I had some problems last night but all seems well now.


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## Smurf1976

Joe Blow said:


> Liking a post can be a shorthand way of saying, "I agree" and also a way of telling someone that you appreciate the time and effort they have put into creating the post.



Agreed.

I've certainly "liked" posts where I don't necessarily agree with the content but do appreciate and value the thought and effort that has gone into putting the idea forward.


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## Ann

I probably seemed a bit negative about the 'like' button Joe, I think it is a great addition to ASF. It gives one an opportunity to acknowledge a post in either appreciation or simply acknowledgement of having read it and agree. I just think the ratings can be skewed by mates dinging mates for every post. There are some amazing posters here who work incredibly hard and offer real and interesting value to the site but get little reward. I think I come at it from a fairness angle and cheap easy dings seem a bit dingy, having said that, I do appreciate this is your site and understand you have the last word which is only appropriate.


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## SirRumpole

rederob said:


> On the other hand, the almost opposite is true of *downvoting *or *disliking, *so I hope Joe does *not *introduce it to ASF.




I think if you dislike a post you have an obligation to argue the point in a reply post, rather than just "disliking" it without reason.

Maybe "likes" are becoming a bit too prevalent compared to replies , but otoh there is little point posting if you are in agreement with a certain post.


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## Smurf1976

SirRumpole said:


> Maybe "likes" are becoming a bit too prevalent compared to replies



For me "liking" a post is often just a way of saying "thanks for your effort, it's interesting and much appreciated, but I don't have anything useful to add at this point in time".


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## SirRumpole

Smurf1976 said:


> For me "liking" a post is often just a way of saying "thanks for your effort, it's interesting and much appreciated, but I don't have anything useful to add at this point in time".




Yes, "Like" and agree.


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## Joe Blow

The main negative of the "Like" feature from my perspective is that it may be responsible for a decline in posting. Before it was possible to like other's posts, people would reply to a post to agree or express appreciation. Sometimes they would add more content to that post and it would generate further discussion. I wonder how many of those posts and discussions have been lost because it is now no longer necessary to post for that purpose.


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> The main negative of the "Like" feature from my perspective is that it may be responsible for a decline in posting. Before it was possible to like other's posts, people would reply to a post to agree or express appreciation. Sometimes they would add more content to that post and it would generate further discussion. I wonder how many of those posts and discussions have been lost because it is now no longer necessary to post for that purpose.



I would suggest quite a few, in the past I would always acknowledge a post out of courtesy whereas now a quick flick 'like' is all I need to do. Yes I think you are right, once people start posting, the temptation is to keep chatting a bit more as thoughts flow. No thoughts flow from a button push. Although way back in the day I tend to remember people being given the suggestion to say more than a few words. I think you spent a lot of effort training us to say more than a simple "Yes, agree".


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## Zaxon

Joe Blow said:


> I wonder how many of those posts and discussions have been lost because it is now no longer necessary to post for that purpose.




I currently use another forum which has an investment section. Their software doesn't have a like button, so I feel I'm in a good position to speak to this. 

If I have a useful thought, I'm going to add that whether there's a like button or not. That other forum feels far less interactive because they're missing a like button.  And I've never once felt encouraged to post to compensate for the lack of giving a like.


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## sptrawler

In my humble opinion, as everyone has said, if I agree and have nothing to add 'like'.
I also use it to thank someone for some positive remark, rather than a written thankyou. I do try to be polite, believe it or not, so if I don't have a like button I will have to pm them. Lol
I do use ASF as I did my workmates, you bounce ideas around, have a bit of banter and the odd political argument.
It does it for me.lol


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## Ann

Do PMs count as posts Joe?


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## Joe Blow

Ann said:


> Do PMs count as posts Joe?




No, PMs do not form part of a person's post count. If they did, we would be well over one million posts by now.


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## Ann

Joe Blow said:


> No, PMs do not form part of a person's post count. If they did, we would be well over one million posts by now.



I would have given you a 'like' then but resisted the urge! Gosh we do a lot of chatter 
underground! 
So can you see a count of people PMing? Or are you just guesstimating?


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## Joe Blow

Ann said:


> So can you see a count of people PMing? Or are you just guesstimating?




Like posts, PMs have a number attached to them that gives you an indication of how many have been sent over the life of the forum. If you open your PM inbox and hover your mouse pointer over any of the PM titles you will see this number at the end of its URL.

A quick check of my recent PMs indicates that more than 64,000 PMs have been sent in the almost 15 years that ASF has existed. That's roughly 4,300 each year.


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## rederob

Joe Blow said:


> A quick check of my recent PMs indicates that more than 64,000 PMs have been sent in the almost 15 years that ASF has existed.



Like the $64,000 questions?


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## Joe Blow

rederob said:


> Like the $64,000 questions?




Indeed.


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## Joe Blow

I just realised that no outgoing emails such as watched thread notifications, PM notifications or new account confirmation emails have been going out since the server migration occurred Friday night due to incorrect settings on the new server. This has now been rectified and all future emails should now be sent out as usual.

Please let me know if anyone encounters any further email related issues.


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## barney

Ann said:


> There is a rating thing of "likes" that Skate is working to his advantage, whatever that is ( *I think he is a boring moron but whatever*).




Seems a bit harsh Miss Anne  ……  but not trying to judge your right to voice your opinion … that is what makes a Forum function 

Irrespective of @Skate 's intentions …. I'm sure you would agree that his thread was/is informative and generated a lot of traffic to the ASF site??  No other point to make … but a little friction/contention is often both enjoyable and productive, so hopefully Skate will be happy to discuss your point of view


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## galumay

barney said:


> Seems a bit harsh Miss Anne




Seems about right, the discussion about @Skate piqued my interest as I couldnt remember seeing him post - once I searched I realised I have him on ignore, thats a fair indication that @Ann was on the money!!


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## basilio

The conversation has begun on the introduction of likes to ASF.

I can see Annes point - to an extent. What it does do, IMO is create a incentive for people to get likes and ticks. Frankly that is just human. Rewarding good behaviour in a classroom. Acknowledging someones good idea or hard work in a project. Encouraging a friend who is having a bumpy time for whatever reason. They are all human ways of encouraging others. 

What I have seen elsewhere, which might be considered, is changing "like" to  "respect" .   I suggest it can work as well and takes in the comments made by other posters recognising they use likes to acknowledge  the thought people have put into posts or their willingness to post on a topic even if they don't necessarily agree.
______________________
PS There can certainly be a downside to wanting likes. Dark, nasty forums can encourage and reward people for being more and more nasty as well as nice.


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## Zaxon

galumay said:


> Seems about right, the discussion about @Skate piqued my interest as I couldnt remember seeing him post - once I searched I realised I have him on ignore, thats a fair indication that @Ann was on the money!!




*Normal*
Breaking up your posts into 2 sentences each with a bold heading is normal somewhere in the world. I just haven't been able to confirm that yet.

*Acquired Taste*
His posting style is an acquired taste.  Perhaps someone appreciates his abundant use of headings.

*This is Important*
Even the most mundane sentence can be broken out into its own heading.  You know, if you really want to.

*Let's Not Forget *(repost)
Always include a comment and remind your reader that it is a repost. This reminds them that your past words really should be published into a book.  Where IS my publishing agent?

OK.  I'm just having fun here, and it's all tongue-in-cheek. Skate can post in whatever style he likes.  But it certainly is unique.


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## Joe Blow

OK, everything seems to be back to normal now.

Sorry about that service disruption folks. More hosting dramas. It was some technical issue at their end that has now been resolved. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Thank you for your patience.


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## Joe Blow

Having some trouble with the server tonight. Apologies folks. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.


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## Joe Blow

Joe Blow said:


> Having some trouble with the server tonight. Apologies folks. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.




Should be all fixed now. Apologies for any inconvenience.


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## Joe Blow

Having some server issues again this morning. Please bear with me. The problem is currently being diagnosed and hopefully fixed.


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## Joe Blow

If all goes to plan, ASF will be changing from one hosting account to another tonight.

This will involve a change of IP address and will therefore mean that the updated DNS settings will need to propagate to different DNS servers around the world. As a result, I will need to close ASF to avoid posts being made on the old installation that won't show up once people start hitting the new installation.

Unfortunately, we will undoubtedly have a few people who spend a day or more hitting the old installation as their ISP doesn't update its DNS very often. It happens every single time.

When the time comes, I will switch ASF to maintenance mode. When you see the forums again, we will be back in business.

I apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.


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## Joe Blow

Getting close now. Almost ready to switch ASF to maintenance mode.


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## sptrawler

As the two Ronnies would say, it's goodnight from him.


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## SirRumpole

And it's goodnight from me. 

Goodnight.


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## Joe Blow

It ain't over until the fat lady sings. Do we have a fat lady?


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## Garpal Gumnut

Joe Blow said:


> It ain't over until the fat lady sings. Do we have a fat lady?



Chelsea Manning.

They and Edward Snowden will have to reroute their attempts to hack ASF.

gg


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## Joe Blow

Garpal Gumnut said:


> Chelsea Manning.







Not fat enough I'm afraid gg. In fact, she looks quite svelte.


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## Garpal Gumnut

Joe Blow said:


> Not fat enough I'm afraid gg. In fact, she looks quite svelte.




To clarify, when I liked your post it was not necessarily liking them in the picture. 

How about FBI Edgar J. Hoover when he used dress up in drag singing a song to the routers.

gg


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## Joe Blow

This has now been delayed until tomorrow.


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## SirRumpole

Has it been done yet Joe ?


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## Joe Blow

SirRumpole said:


> Has it been done yet Joe ?




Not yet. Going to give it another shot in an hour or two.


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## Dona Ferentes

Last night was better than a good book.

(Serves me right for waking up at silly o'clock)


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## Joe Blow

OK, giving it another shot in the very near future.


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## Joe Blow

I think we lost some posts in the last few hours. In the chaos I think I accidentally opened the forum on the old installation and people kept posting over there.

If you can't find a post you made in the last few hours, please post it again. I messed up as usual.


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## sptrawler

Jeez Joe, Im pizzed, I just dont know who to report you to.


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## Joe Blow

Don't worry, I'm good at punishing myself. 

We appear to have lost a couple of posts by @Padowan in the GOR and PME threads, and one by @Value Collector in the Food Scarcity thread.  Ooops! 




Time for bed I think.


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## Dona Ferentes

Since yesterday, SEARCH function isn't working. And Contact Us tells me it's an Error, and to wait 30 seconds.

On both laptop and mobile.


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## Joe Blow

Dona Ferentes said:


> Since yesterday, SEARCH function isn't working. And Contact Us tells me it's an Error, and to wait 30 seconds.
> 
> On both laptop and mobile.




Working on this now.


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## SirRumpole

I was locked out of posting until about 5pm today.

(A blessed relief to all ).

Could I suggest that if this is done again you could give us the new IP address Joe, so we can go there directly until the DNS's catch up ?


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## Joe Blow

SirRumpole said:


> I was locked out of posting until about 5pm today.
> 
> (A blessed relief to all ).
> 
> Could I suggest that if this is done again you could give us the new IP address Joe, so we can go there directly until the DNS's catch up ?




An interesting idea. I hate the agonisingly slow process of DNS propagation but there is nothing you can do about it. Unfortunately getting to the new site is not quite so simple as typing in an IP address. The way the host told me to go about it was to edit the HOSTS file on my PC, which did work well.

However, some people may find that a little more involved than they would like and may prefer to wait it out.

It has been very slow here today. I suspect we had quite a few people locked out. Hopefully they are back now.

OK, back to getting that search engine up and running. Grrr....


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## sptrawler

Joe Blow said:


> Working on this now.



Ahh the joys of running a website, you must love this stuff Joe, it is greatly appreciated but it must be a lot of work on your part.


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## Dona Ferentes

sptrawler said:


> Ahh the joys of running a website, you must love this stuff Joe, it is greatly appreciated but it must be a lot of work on your part.



and, if the thread narrative runs true, will get to do it again in 12 months. oh Joy


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## Joe Blow

Sorry folks, search engine still not working.


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## Joe Blow

sptrawler said:


> Ahh the joys of running a website, you must love this stuff Joe, it is greatly appreciated but it must be a lot of work on your part.




I don't love it, but I can deal with it. Except for days like today when everything goes wrong.



Dona Ferentes said:


> and, if the thread narrative runs true, will get to do it again in 12 months. oh Joy




I bet you're probably right about that.


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## SirRumpole

Joe Blow said:


> Sorry folks, search engine still not working.




Search seems to work ok for me.


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## frugal.rock

SirRumpole said:


> Search seems to work ok for me.



Not working for me, I tested.


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## Skate

Joe Blow said:


> I don't love it, but I can deal with it. Except for days like today when everything goes wrong. I bet you're probably right about that.




Lost my posts & PM's as well..

*Also*
Thumbnails of uploads are not working.. (they have the broken symbol) 

Skate.


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## Joe Blow

Skate said:


> Lost my posts & PM's as well..
> 
> *Also*
> Thumbnails of uploads are not working.. (they have the broken symbol)
> 
> Skate.




You lost posts and PMs? How many?

Did anyone else lose posts or PMs?

Can you link me to a post where the thumbnails are broken?


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## Skate

Sure





Have a look at the image below for the broken thumbnail 

Skate.


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## Joe Blow

I'm looking into this. It will hopefully be fixed soon.


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## debtfree

Hi Joe

What I have found after ASF Downtime.

I put in a search and it returns "Aussie Stock Forums - Error", it doesn't matter what I search for.
*My Profile Page:* "*Recent Activity*" tab, looks ok to me. "*Postings*" tab, it shows up 'The Following Error Occurred, the search could not be completed. Please try again later. 
"*Information*" I tried 'Find All Content by Debtfree' the same error occurred as above.

I knew I put up a post recently that displayed a thumbnail attachment box below the main post so I went back to see if I could see the thumbnail box below it but only found an untitled green line link now. 
See below, I don't know if this is any help. Thanks for your time Joe.


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## Joe Blow

Skate said:


> View attachment 100364




This is now fixed. Still other issues to solve.


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## Joe Blow

debtfree said:


> I knew I put up a post recently that displayed a thumbnail attachment box below the main post so I went back to see if I could see the thumbnail box below it but only found an untitled green line link now.
> See below, I don't know if this is any help. Thanks for your time Joe.




Debtfree, can you link me to this post please.


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## debtfree

Just checked that post Joe and it is back to normal showing the thumbnail picture now, thank you. As you say the other issues are still to solve.


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## Joe Blow

Search engine finally back in action.

If anyone has any hair to donate, please contact me. I have spent the last day tearing mine out. 

Now make me happy by searching the forums as often as possible.


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## Dona Ferentes

Joe Blow said:


> Search engine finally back in action...
> 
> Now make me happy by searching the forums as often as possible.



and clicking on the ads, I suppose.

Thx for yr efforts.


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## debtfree

Search works now, Posting & Information Tabs under My Profile Page are now back to normal as well.

Thanks Joe, appreciate your work and your time.


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## frugal.rock

Joe, You could put an ad inside the login pop up....
down the bottom though...out of the way where we won't see/ click it accidentally though....
Do you only get a royalty if we click on ads?


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## Joe Blow

frugal.rock said:


> Joe, You could put an ad inside the login pop up....
> down the bottom though...out of the way where we won't see/ click it accidentally though....
> Do you only get a royalty if we click on ads?




A while ago, Google had the new option of allowing it to decide where the ads get inserted, and after it was suggested to me a few times I went ahead and let them do it. That's why some ads appear in different places rather than in defined places every time. It has actually resulted in increased revenue, which I suppose is a good thing.

So now I just let Google do what it thinks is best and what you see is the result.

It works like this, clicks definitely help but when an ASF visitor becomes a customer of an ASF advertiser it helps a lot. They know which website the customer came from so they reward you for sending the advertiser a new client.


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## peter2

Search function isn't working for me.


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## Joe Blow

peter2 said:


> Search function isn't working for me.




Search is back up again. Apologies for the inconvenience. It's playing up again.


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## Dona Ferentes

appreciate the maintenance you put in, Joe.


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## Joe Blow

Sorry about the website downtime this morning. For some reason, the disk space on the server got filled up and ASF crashed. Everything is getting sorted out at the moment, and it should be business as usual from now on. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.


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## KevinBB

umm .. there a still some problems. A search (titles only) for WOW gives me this:

Oops! We ran into some problems.
               The search could not be completed. Please try again later.    

KH


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## Joe Blow

KevinBB said:


> umm .. there a still some problems. A search (titles only) for WOW gives me this:
> 
> Oops! We ran into some problems.
> The search could not be completed. Please try again later.
> 
> KH




I've started rebuilding the search index. Please give it 10 minutes and the search feature should be good to go again.


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## SirRumpole

Joe Blow said:


> Sorry about the website downtime this morning. For some reason, *the disk space on the server got filled *up and ASF crashed. Everything is getting sorted out at the moment, and it should be business as usual from now on. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.




Too many posts ?

Good news surely ?


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## Joe Blow

SirRumpole said:


> Too many posts ?
> 
> Good news surely ?




Nothing that exciting unfortunately. It was a case of excess log files being created automatically that I wasn't aware of. Eventually they used up all the disk space on the drive.


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## Joe Blow

Sorry for that 20 minutes of unexpected downtime. The host just informed me that they were "performing some maintenance which caused some network connection issues."

Everything should be back to normal now.


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## KevinBB

Is search working at the moment, or is it just me?
KH


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## debtfree

KevinBB said:


> Is search working at the moment, or is it just me?
> KH



No you're not on your own @KevinBB


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## Dona Ferentes

KevinBB said:


> Is search working at the moment, or is it just me?



Wasn't working for me about 20 minutes ago


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## peter2

I couldn't load ASF for a while this arvo. 
Uploading posts to the forum is much slower.


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## KevinBB

Managed to search by looking for tags.
KH


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## Joe Blow

Sorry folks, there was some downtime this afternoon due to unexpected server issues. Search is back up but the entire search index is currently being re-indexed so it might take a little while for all the threads to show up in the search results.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.


----------

