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rowolf
Guard
I found a message mentioning SQL problems: http://ralphus.net/thegimpforum/index.html
prtn
Governor
surely not, I can't either... would it be because of tor?
erminioenel
Executioner
You'are not the only. I'm already in a deep withdrawal crisis.
Rupert_137
Magistrate
It really looks like a malicious attack, there has been no access to 'GIMP' for a few days ... There are always people who think they are morally better than others, even though they are just normal cyber criminals!
Margot
Governor
There was no hack this time. It's an internal issue with MySQL disk capacity. I was under the impression that it was unlimited, but even if the hosting service says "unlimited space" it does not apply to MySQL. That's basic. Once the disk is full the entire thing stops and we get an 1142 error. It gets worse, I couldn't optimize it, nor could I set up an alternative way of communicating other than an index.html page.
There are two ways of solving this, eliminating data, which it is not recommended in my view, or upgrade the hosting plan, which might mean a lot of work because in my experience, when you upgrade your hosting service what you are doing is creating a new site and you have to migrate the entire old site to the new one which includes many steps.
The solution is to upgrade the plan, of course, and the one person that can do that is Ralphus.
The GIMP Forum grew a lot in one year with so many posts and tons of images. If we want to avoid this problem again we'll need unlimited capacity. In addition, we'll have to set up the forum in a a more complex and secure way. We were getting an average of 50 new registrations a day and only one or two were legit.
I set up a temp forum at rfpix, our old domain that we're not using for now, we're setting something up there. I'll put some updates there, hopefully for only a few days:
http://rfpix.com/Forum/viewforum.php
We'll bring back the GIMP soon.
There are two ways of solving this, eliminating data, which it is not recommended in my view, or upgrade the hosting plan, which might mean a lot of work because in my experience, when you upgrade your hosting service what you are doing is creating a new site and you have to migrate the entire old site to the new one which includes many steps.
The solution is to upgrade the plan, of course, and the one person that can do that is Ralphus.
The GIMP Forum grew a lot in one year with so many posts and tons of images. If we want to avoid this problem again we'll need unlimited capacity. In addition, we'll have to set up the forum in a a more complex and secure way. We were getting an average of 50 new registrations a day and only one or two were legit.
I set up a temp forum at rfpix, our old domain that we're not using for now, we're setting something up there. I'll put some updates there, hopefully for only a few days:
http://rfpix.com/Forum/viewforum.php
We'll bring back the GIMP soon.
wulf
God-Emperor
Just so you know, as a frequent flyer over there, I am perfectly willing to contribute financially, and on a regular basis if it will help with security and capacity.
Thank you Margot for everything you do to keep the Gimp forum alive.
bobdarkroom
Onlooker
Margot,
When I click the link for the temp forum I get a page saying "The forum you selected does not exist." Could there be a typo in the link?
Margot
Governor
This link?
bobdarkroom
Onlooker
This link works but it's not the same as the one in your previous message i.e. : http://rfpix.com/Forum/viewforum.php
Thomas Chaser
Governor
GIMP is truly a World Treasure and I'm sorry to see it offline. Like the others already wrote, I need my daily updates!
We've a thread for this question, @Damian .
What happened to "GIMP" ?
Hello, am I the only one who can't access Ralphus' "GIMP" forum?
www.cruxforums.com
Ralphus's site "GIMP Forum" hacked
Hi everyone. I don't know if some of you often go to ralphus.net, but it seems that the site had been hacked a few hours ago. And for obvious reasons, I don't think these 2000$ would end in something like a coronavirus fund... Hope this forum won't get hacked too in a near future... :( SJ
www.cruxforums.com
Margot
Governor
The upgrading of our websites is going interestingly well.
It's hard work, for sure. Too many details have to be worked out in order to migrate the websites to their new home, a more secure home. One very important issue is the migrating of the databases, something like the nerves that connect the brain to the body. They have all the information that has to be connected so the website will behave exactly the same as it was in the old home if not better.
We use three separate applications to work those details and that's before we upload the files to the new hosting plan.
The GIMPs home, ralphus.net, is/was hosted on a very old platform, so it's difficult to work with it because of its limitations. Backing up the entire site is a long process.
When you set up a website in a server, the applications you use, like Wordpress, do most of the work, they help you design it, format it and so on. When you move the created website, you have to make sure that the data will work correctly and to insure that you have to get into the code itself. YES! We're actually reading and working with code. Looooooooong pages of code for one file. Amazing.
We will end up reproducing the entire GIMP site back in the new site... even the old site that was hacked and that's because we're resetting codes. It's kind of exciting to work like that. I only saw stuff like that in movies or television shows where the geeks are working on code and all you see is code running up the screen making things happen.
The first time we got involved in the GIMP site, when Amy reconstructed the site in the way it was, with the guestbook set up, all she had to do was set that app and get it to run. The second time, when the GIMP was hacked, what I ended up doing was setting up a forum, instead of the guestbook, that app was no longer in existence. All I had to do was set it up in the website, and work in its design. Nothing really complicated.
It's different now. We're moving ralphus.net to a better, modern, secure hosting service, and it's no longer a matter of just setting an app and make it run. We're moving everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. The possibilities will be endless.
Below, how our computer screens look like these days.
It's hard work, for sure. Too many details have to be worked out in order to migrate the websites to their new home, a more secure home. One very important issue is the migrating of the databases, something like the nerves that connect the brain to the body. They have all the information that has to be connected so the website will behave exactly the same as it was in the old home if not better.
We use three separate applications to work those details and that's before we upload the files to the new hosting plan.
The GIMPs home, ralphus.net, is/was hosted on a very old platform, so it's difficult to work with it because of its limitations. Backing up the entire site is a long process.
When you set up a website in a server, the applications you use, like Wordpress, do most of the work, they help you design it, format it and so on. When you move the created website, you have to make sure that the data will work correctly and to insure that you have to get into the code itself. YES! We're actually reading and working with code. Looooooooong pages of code for one file. Amazing.
We will end up reproducing the entire GIMP site back in the new site... even the old site that was hacked and that's because we're resetting codes. It's kind of exciting to work like that. I only saw stuff like that in movies or television shows where the geeks are working on code and all you see is code running up the screen making things happen.
The first time we got involved in the GIMP site, when Amy reconstructed the site in the way it was, with the guestbook set up, all she had to do was set that app and get it to run. The second time, when the GIMP was hacked, what I ended up doing was setting up a forum, instead of the guestbook, that app was no longer in existence. All I had to do was set it up in the website, and work in its design. Nothing really complicated.
It's different now. We're moving ralphus.net to a better, modern, secure hosting service, and it's no longer a matter of just setting an app and make it run. We're moving everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. The possibilities will be endless.
Below, how our computer screens look like these days.
Attachments
malins
Stumbling Seeker
looks like SublimeText ...
Margot
Governor
If the regular visitors to the GIMP forum are reading this, then it's time for some pass the blame action.
Ok, it goes like this. We managed to FTP into ralphus.net to download a backup of the entire site. We decided to start with the gimpforum folder, where the entire forum is. There is a way of downloading backups of some of the files directly from file manager, but it was impossible to download the 'files' and other folders directly. Thus the need for FTP.
We began downloading the gimp folder at around 4 pm yesterday, thinking that it will be done in a couple of hours, like it happened with the other sites we downloaded, like pachamamafilms.com and redfeline.com
It's past noon, next day, and it's, still, downloading!! The computer was up all night! Cheezus Crust!
The 'files' folder inside the forum folder is HUGE!
HUGE HUGE HUGE... That's the reason why the forum just couldn't handle it anymore and crashed.
The reason is simple. People went nuts with posting... totally nuts. Sure, it's the admin's fault too for allowing it, for not setting limits to size and number of pictures and so on... but still...
One thing that has become clear is that it doesn't matter if the server is has unlimited capacity. The apps do have their limitations and so when they reach those limits, they die. Simple.
If we complete the downloading of the famous gimpforum folder today, we'll proceed to begin setting it up in the new host. Once we set it up we'll begin uploading and I imagine it will take a day or two, again.
Once that is done, we'll do the work to get it to run and if all goes well, it should be running, in a temp url, in about two or three days... that is if the phpbb app can handle it. We might be force to limit the uploading of the files folder.
After that is done, we'll be moving the entire site ralphus.net to the new host.
Obviously, we have to find a solution to the crazy posting syndrome. If not, we'll have this problem again next year, or next month, or next week. We'll limit the size of the files, the number of pictures per post, the number of posts per day... we will have to do what cruxforums does, they show thumbs of the uploaded pictures, not the entire picture, within the posts, things like that. But that's not all... we'll be setting things up in a way that it will make the website better and fancier. I expect to be announcing the date of re opening of the forum by Monday.
Ok, it goes like this. We managed to FTP into ralphus.net to download a backup of the entire site. We decided to start with the gimpforum folder, where the entire forum is. There is a way of downloading backups of some of the files directly from file manager, but it was impossible to download the 'files' and other folders directly. Thus the need for FTP.
We began downloading the gimp folder at around 4 pm yesterday, thinking that it will be done in a couple of hours, like it happened with the other sites we downloaded, like pachamamafilms.com and redfeline.com
It's past noon, next day, and it's, still, downloading!! The computer was up all night! Cheezus Crust!
The 'files' folder inside the forum folder is HUGE!
HUGE HUGE HUGE... That's the reason why the forum just couldn't handle it anymore and crashed.
The reason is simple. People went nuts with posting... totally nuts. Sure, it's the admin's fault too for allowing it, for not setting limits to size and number of pictures and so on... but still...
One thing that has become clear is that it doesn't matter if the server is has unlimited capacity. The apps do have their limitations and so when they reach those limits, they die. Simple.
If we complete the downloading of the famous gimpforum folder today, we'll proceed to begin setting it up in the new host. Once we set it up we'll begin uploading and I imagine it will take a day or two, again.
Once that is done, we'll do the work to get it to run and if all goes well, it should be running, in a temp url, in about two or three days... that is if the phpbb app can handle it. We might be force to limit the uploading of the files folder.
After that is done, we'll be moving the entire site ralphus.net to the new host.
Obviously, we have to find a solution to the crazy posting syndrome. If not, we'll have this problem again next year, or next month, or next week. We'll limit the size of the files, the number of pictures per post, the number of posts per day... we will have to do what cruxforums does, they show thumbs of the uploaded pictures, not the entire picture, within the posts, things like that. But that's not all... we'll be setting things up in a way that it will make the website better and fancier. I expect to be announcing the date of re opening of the forum by Monday.