Finally, good news to give TGP members

[Brian Scherzer]

Our old provider, Data393, still has our data from right before the move was made to our current provider. Assuming that there is nothing wrong with the data, what this means is that the only stuff that will be lost are the many tweaks that Alec made to the software, registrations, and posts that were done AFTER the move. That means that we lose roughly 3 weeks worth of stuff. Again, assuming that the data is in good shape (a pretty fair bet), we only have to start off where we were less than a month ago. To me, this is wonderful news!

Our timetable to reopen TGP remains approximately May 15th. There are many things that have to be done before we get the site back online for use by members. This includes organizing an effective backup system with multiple backups on different computers (just in case), updating the vbulletin software so that it functions better than before (including the search function that wasn't working well), making tweaks to the software , and redoing the FAQ to reflect changes in rules. The admins have some serious discussing to do regarding changing the rules. We would rather have fewer rules that we enforce on a consistent basis than to have so many rules that it becomes confusing......which is where we were when the server crashed.

I do have a favor to ask. I'm not sure how many emails Scott and Alec have received over the past couple of days, but I know that I have gotten a huge number of them. I appreciate the offers of help and support, but we need the next two weeks to get a lot of work done. Hang onto your thoughts, or express them here, rather than email us right now. That will help us get things done a bit faster!

[Braciola]

Awesome news Brian!

[splattercell]

most excellent, b:
good work!
dt / spltrcl

[Balance]

That's great news! Thanks to you and all the other mods who are working their asses off to get TGP back up!

[Curly]

cool!

[Scott Peterson]

And that indeed is the good news.

Whew. :D

[PaulEdWagemann]

Can't wait! I knew you guys could do it!

[rwe333]

Wonderful! Good luck...

[tms13pin]

Cool! Email sent! (Just kidding.)

--Tom

[bluessyndicate]

awesome..!

That is just a tremendous amount of intellectual gear content (and some not so intellectual!) that will be preserved....truly great news.

I feel relieved enough to remove the strings of garlic I've been wearing around my neck! I'll still leave the beard growth for Sharks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs....

Congrats.

[Ben C.]

THANK GOD FOR SMALL MIRACLES!

You guys got really lucky, and I'm as overjoyed as anyone that TGP is only loosing a few weeks worth of stuff, not the motherload of info that had been built up there.

Congrats guys,

-Ben

[bluesdoc]

Oh man, that's sooo good!!!!!!!! Surprise redemption :) Couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of chiefs, mods, and the rest of us riff raff :)

jon

[DanR]

Woo Hoo.......... ( 8^(I) .........:D


:dude:

Brian and all of the others associated with admistrating TGP, thanks again for all of the effort!!!

That's definitely good news!

[fatback]

http://members.aol.com/yakvette/Images/quagmire.jpg


T minus 12 days and counting....

[DanR]

And seeing that I've registered here and everything.....maybe I'll hang out here some, too, if y'all don't mind.

[cr8z4life]

Cool.....its like you cured gear page altzheimers!!! :dude:

[Cap'n Fingers]

Sweet Mother of all that is good and Holy! Congrats guys!

[Scumbag]

Awesome...truly awesome. Hope the data is there...and still works. Three weeks ain't $hit...three years, though... :rolleyes: Good luck, gents!

[Thwap]

Must be all that good Karma, that's great news guys.

[WCR]

I'm not suprised. I kinda knew it still had to be somewhere (conceit, I know...), and there was never a doubt in my mind that you guys would find it and fix what's broke.(That's called Keepin' the Faith Baby!).

I'm prouda you boys!!:dude: :dude: :dude:

[Crazyquilt]

Fantastic!

I was really dreading the infinite do-over of the past infinite do-overs of Tag vs. Dave. :D

Now we just have the infinite future do-overs. :dude:

The only question remaining:

What's the prize for being first to start a Dumble thread on the new TGP? I think it should be a John Mayer CD.

[NuSkoolTone]

Awesome man. Then this whole scare turned out to be a GOOD thing. Kinda like when you're a kid and do something reckless and almost lose a limb. The scare is enough to keep you from doing it again.


This scare will ensure there is always a backup plan in place for now on. Not to mention I think it has become clear to the Mods that if more contributions are necessary to safeguard this data, it will come. 3,000 members x $10 = $30,0000. Perhaps I'm ignorant, but I would hope that (even half!) would be enough to keep everything swingin nice. For $10 to do my share, I'd certainly do it.

[mwoeppel]

Fantastic news! all that wisdom - still intact!

keep up the good work, guys.

[CDaughtry]

Man...so much of what I said in the last 3 weeks was so insightful and deep....:D

[ducmike]

What a relief. I have been laying low hoping TGP would be up soon, but looks lilke I'll start posting here in the mean time. I do owe a review of my new Greer CAM18, the crash happend right after I picked it up.

[Michael Patrick]

Suh-weet!!!:dude:

[George Johnson]

I just heard a collective sigh of relief.

Great work, Gents. :dude:

[gkelm]

Great news. Three cheers for Data393. :)

All the best to the admin guys in their work of restoration:

Extreme Makeover: TGP Edition


Greg

[Play By Tone]

Great news. Three cheers for Data393. :)

Greg

+11111111

Please take your time and do everything you have wanted to do but were afraid to take the board down for :) Do your MySQL updates, backup and upgrade the forum software, check your redhat patches, blah blah blah.

BTW, I know you can't afford to pay for the RAID controller, so why not buy another HD and set up a software RAID? (In some cases the performance is actually better) It might not have the fault tolerance of a dedicated controller but you would have a clean real-time backup if another drive failed.

[JMintzer]

And there was much joy in Mudville...

:dude: :dude: :dude:


Jamie

[sanhozay]

Eggsellent news. I heart the CEO and all the Gear Page cronies.

:tearsofjoy:

[Brian Scherzer]

At this point we are working on an overall plan of action. I would think that we can accomplish a lot during the next few days. For instance, we have become aware of just how many computer and software techies we have among our membership. I paid for a year in advance on APlus in order to save a few hundred dollars in setup fees. BaM seems to have fared well since an early crash, so I hope that we have simply had an isolated bad experience with the company that won't be an issue in the future. Regardless, we are likely to form a member committee of IT guys about 3 months before our lease ends on APlus. That committee would be asked to review the many possibilities for future web hosting and would serve as an advisory board to help us make a decision on everything from co-hosting to dedicated server possibilities. We have the expertise among our membership and we should make good use of that.

We have also obtained the services of an attorney who is a member of TGP. I have recently asked another attorney if he would be willing to contribute his time and advice for certain matters so that we always have someone to turn to when potential legal questions arise.

The admins will be getting together to seriously discuss a set of rules that aims to keep TGP friendly to members, liability-free, and makes common sense. We will draft a plan on how we should respond to issues that come up, and how to communicate with members in a non-confrontational manner. If that doesn't work, the thinking is that the member isn't willing to live within the rules and a ban would be put in place. The key is to make sure that the FAQ contains our rules in an easy to understand manner, and that the rules are applied equally by all admins and mods to all members.

Although the crash of the server was inconvenient, it is something that can be turned into a plus if the end result becomes an improved TGP....for all of you and for the admins and mods. We are already working on a future that I think will make TGP more appealing than it used to be.

[duffyguitarman]

Once again, thanks for all the time, worry and effort put in by all the Admins. and Mods. Regardless of how much or indeed if none of the old stuff is retrieved, the new rev. of TGP will be just fine.


Best of luck in the coming days during the process.

Peace all,
duffy

[Adam]

That is excellent news. While the thought of everything starting fresh was intriguing to me, I couldn't help but lament the loss of so many great threads and resources.

Besides, it took me three years to get 500 posts and I didn't relish the thought of the slow climb back up again. :)

I think of it (the crash) like a full body purification. During the process there is a lot of sweat and sh1t to deal with, but in the end you have a cleaner, healthier system. Data Colonics, I think I'll call it.

[Roccaforte]

This forum finally let me in! How's everyone?
Good I hope. Doug

[tedm]

Great work Brian, Alec, Scott and all!!

I'm probably in the minority here, but I prefer the older version of the phpbb/vbulletin sw, like what is here on BAM or even older. It's snappier IMHO. But whatever, GREAT NEWS!!

[Moe45673]

Although the crash of the server was inconvenient, it is something that can be turned into a plus if the end result becomes an improved TGP....for all of you and for the admins and mods. We are already working on a future that I think will make TGP more appealing than it used to be.
The only way the TGP could be more appealing is if there was an even higher postcount per minute than there currently is. I need my minutely TGP fix!!

[digisequencer]

Great to hear of that, I am glad for you all to not have lost every bit of information.

Isn´t it hilarious that a current provider doesn´t have a backup when the old one from where you moved away some weeks (?) ago and even told them "okay we don´t need anything any longer now, you can go delete" still has most of what you lost ? Just feeling glad this turned out well.

[hw2nw]

awesome awesome! Thanks mods, IT team and legal crew!

[Frankenstrat2]

Good news indeed. Congratulations gents!
See you on the new (old) site.

[jato]

Great news...there were alot of gems strewn throughout the flotsam and jetsam of the GP.

Good work, guys...now quit posting here and get back to work raising that shipwreck!

:D
:dude:

S.
j

[mprvise]

No longer bummed at all! :) Thanks guys, and keep us posted on when you will be accepting contributions again.

[A440]

great news !!!

:dude:

[Lanceaman]

Kudos to the previous service provider.

I'm interested applying for membership in the IT committee. I've been in the business for over 24 yrs on a large variety of levels & applications. Resume available.

[SuperReverb2]

GREAT news!! Keep up the good work guys!


:)

[908ssp]

Good News? The way everybody had been talking about how great it was going to be starting over I was getting convinced. Now everybody is saying this is good news. I am so confused. :(


Whatever. ;)

[SuperReverb2]

In a sense we will be starting over, as it looks like there's going to be new rules and possibly a new logo, but it's REALLY good news that all the data from years gone by hasn't been lost. That would have been a real shame.


:)

[Jim Soloway]

Good News? The way everybody had been talking about how great it was going to be starting over I was getting convinced. Now everybody is saying this is good news. I am so confused. :(


Whatever. ;)
The really good news is that Brian, Scott and Alec are willing to stick it out when they could just as easily turn their backs and walk away. Given the amount of work it takes and that they don't make any money for their efforts, that definitely quialifies as good news regardless of the outcome.

[Dana Olsen]

The really good news is that Brian, Scott and Alec are willing to stick it out when they could just as easily turn their backs and walk away. Given the amount of work it takes and that they don't make any money for their efforts, that definitely quialifies as good news regardless of the outcome.Truly Jim.

Brian, Scott, Alec - and all the Moderators:

I think you guys all do a GREAT job. It's hard to be perfect, stuff happens.

So no worries, we'll all be back as soon as TGP is up and running, and we'll all donate more to cover costs - right, Gear Pagers?

I appreciate the excellent and passionate job you all do. It greatly improves the quality of my life.

Thanks, Dana Olsen