Ship of Fools: Weirdness in Today's active threads

Thread: Weirdness in Today's active threads Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=026284

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

At the moment, Welease Woderwick's OP in Purgatory ("The dangers of philosophy") is showing up twice (although with two different timestamps) and the body of Starbug's post #93 in the Hell thread "Park this" is showing up under comet's name as post #92. Is this a sign of the eschaton, or maybe just of the impending need for maintenance?

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

Starbug is now showing up correctly as the author of the body of post #93, but Welease Woderwick still has two entries for his opening post.

Posted by Cthulhu (# 16186) on :

THAT'S BECAUSE I PLAN TO EAT HIM.

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :

Oh great. Visits from demonic dimensions are exactly what we need to stop the Ship's code from teetering closer to oblivion.

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

@Cthulhu: I'm impressed: you managed to post that without showing up as a recent visitor!

[ 19. September 2013, 06:40: Message edited by: W Hyatt ]

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

quote:
Originally posted by W Hyatt:
@Cthulhu: I'm impressed: you managed to post that without showing up as a recent visitor!

You don't need to be from a different dimension to do that, just know your way around. Even a technopeasant like me can do that.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

The real, answer, Wyatt, is that weird stuff has been happening, specifically with double posts lately and we still ain't sure what is going on. Except it seems to be harmless.

We'll clean up the wonkiness.

Posted by passer (# 13329) on :

The infrastructure continues to crumble. Each day, something else cracks. The response times become increasingly erratic. Some default fonts and dialogue boxes seem to have changed, some of the posting/logon procedures appear to have been tweaked. We all know that the directory structure is fucked - posts in threads moved to Limbo now appear to be double-counted in Recent Posts for instance, in the latest bug. Somewhat ironically, the only section in the Wiki entry for UBB Classic is entitled End of life.

The people who built and maintain the Ship grow more remote from what is essentially a hobby-site as their own lives progress. Recruiting people with adequate skills to maintain and support (don't even think of Develop) without recompense a platform based on redundant software in a network environment which advances relentlessly without regard to legacy code is a non-starter. Moving to a current software platform requires a decision to be made, but making a decision to lift and shift the contents of the boards without the acquiescence of the site-owner is a non-starter.

Pointing this out non-apologetically serves only to alienate the messenger from the recipients because of the general sense of helplessness which seems to pervade attempts to apply yet another patch on top of a patch. Spitting back with “Well, if you can do better” or “Why are you complaining – it’s free” or “If you don’t like it you don’t have to log on” or “Show me the colour of your money” or “Praise be unto the gallant volunteers” remediates the situation not at all. But this situation isn’t going to go away, or get better. It will only deteriorate.

Easiest thing to do is to make light of it and one day we’ll wake up and find it all gone, as the accretion of bug-barnacles reaches a critical point and the Ship loses all stability and sinks.

Why not have a Technical Info thread containing the current list of flaws and any attempts being made to fix them. And a Change history. Are we on new servers recently? Or has the server software been upgraded? You may think I don’t need to know this sort of thing, but if I knew it I wouldn’t have to waste everyone’s time by asking it and being told to piss off because it’s none of my business.

I believe it’s been said before that a discussion on the way forward would not benefit from being conducted in the open on the board due to the sensitivities surrounding the finance and the links to the magazine, but an indication that such a discussion is taking place might be comforting. We all know that Simon is the ultimate decision maker, but is anyone actually talking to him about it, and if so, who?

▲

[Video link checked - Tubbs]

[ 19. September 2013, 11:59: Message edited by: Tubbs ]

Posted by computergeek (# 17826) on :

Good words passer.

If the site is kept going by goodwill, why are the PsTB not tapping into the available expertise among members? At this rate, the Ship deserves to sink.

[ 19. September 2013, 10:24: Message edited by: computergeek ]

Posted by Tubbs (# 440) on :

The Ship’s software is pre-historic and it’s currently being held together by love, prayers, duct tape and regular swilling of the bulge tanks. The creaks and the leaks are frustrating for everyone – Crew and Shipmates.

Simon and pease are currently looking at various upgrade options – and once a suitable plan has been devised then it will be announced on the Ship. Then we can talk about how it’s going to be funded and supported.

It’s a bit of vicious circle – until the plan is nailed down, we can’t tell you much apart from, “We know about it and are working on it” – because that will shape the resources we’ll need to make it happen.

Tubbs
Admin

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

Crossposted with Tubbs...

quote:
Originally posted by passer:
But this situation isn’t going to go away, or get better. It will only deteriorate.

Believe me, we know.

quote:
Why not have a Technical Info thread containing the current list of flaws and any attempts being made to fix them. And a Change history. Are we on new servers recently? Or has the server software been upgraded? You may think I don’t need to know this sort of thing, but if I knew it I wouldn’t have to waste everyone’s time by asking it and being told to piss off because it’s none of my business.

You're assuming that we know what's going on. Half the time we don't.

Though I suspect that most if the issues are ultimately down to the sheer size of this bulletin board, especially with Oblivion. Every time a thread is moved to a different board we're theoretically supposed to reindex the whole thing and update the user post histories, but when doing that takes about six hours (during which time the boards have to be closed) it's easy to see why we tend to skip that step.

quote:
We all know that Simon is the ultimate decision maker, but is anyone actually talking to him about it, and if so, who?

The Admins. Hopefully we'll have something to report soon.

[ 19. September 2013, 13:47: Message edited by: Marvin the Martian ]

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

I do think that we should decide on what to do at that final moment when we're desperately bailing the last bucket of water out of the scuppers. Gin is required of course. But I suggest we'd also decide on a sinking song.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
I suggest we'd also decide on a sinking song.

"Nearer My God to Thee" has an honorable legacy.

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Huia:

quote:
Originally posted by W Hyatt:
@Cthulhu: I'm impressed: you managed to post that without showing up as a recent visitor!
You don't need to be from a different dimension to do that, just know your way around. Even a technopeasant like me can do that.

Care to divulge the secret?

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by W Hyatt:

quote:
Originally posted by Huia:

quote:
Originally posted by W Hyatt:
@Cthulhu: I'm impressed: you managed to post that without showing up as a recent visitor!
You don't need to be from a different dimension to do that, just know your way around. Even a technopeasant like me can do that.
Care to divulge the secret?

In your profile, set "hide from recent visitors?" to yes.

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

Ah, I remember now - thanks. Shows how long it's been since I looked at my profile settings. It also shows how easily impressed I am.

Posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom (# 3434) on :

I keep getting the following message:

quote:
Error: No board selected

» Please use your browser's back button to return, unless you got this because of flood control, in which case the back button will just try to screw with you. Sorry about that.

Just so you know.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

When do you get it, when you try to access a thread?

Posted by Arabella Purity Winterbottom (# 3434) on :

Intermittently when I try and access a thread, a board or, on one occasion, the boards home page.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

Wow, that's a new one.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0