Outage & Server Upgrade

adorshki

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dklsplace said:
Well that wasn't any fun. :?
This time, without any warning at all, they simply took the sight off line. The only way to get back up & running was to agree to upgrade to a dedicated server plan at a cost of $49.95 per month. I'm not at all pleased with the way this was handled.
Don
Not to belittle the problem but, "Funny how this happened on CYBER Monday, eh?" Having just caught up to this thread I will put in my vote for voluntary donations at the administrator's request. Even dues spread out over the membership would have to be relatively miniscule. However I could see this driving away lurkers who could become members.
The issue of how the service was handled is a hot button for me as I am in the service business. Taking Don's description of the events at face value, they don't deserve the business.
On the other hand, perhaps what exists here is in fact a valuable target group for specialized advertising. I know nothing about how that works, but I'd put up with a few pop-ups. Maybe the shoe could be put on the other foot and Don could threaten the current provider with the loss of shared advertising revenue?
Wish I could offer something more constructive but perhaps this will spark more thought in others who can.
 

fronobulax

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JerryR said:
Boy - have I had difficulty getting back on the site - I type in 'www.letstalkguild.com on my home computer and keep getting the domain provider's web-page - had to get in via Google :!:
That is actually to be expected :)

Sorry for the geek talk...

Under the hood everything on the internet has a numeric address. 67.201.47.46 is one such example and is the address of letstalkguild.com. These numbers are hard to remember so there is a mechanism that translates words into addresses. It is called the Domain Name System or DNS. You type in letstalkguild.com and your computer asks DNS what the address is and then uses the answer to contact the site. Usually addresses do not change. To reduce the load on the DNS servers and keep traffic down, there is caching. Caching basically remembers the numeric addresses and gives you the same answer you got last time rather than contact a DNS server to get the current answer. Normally this is A Good Thing and speeds things up. However, if an address changes then using a cache will give you the wrong answer. Typically data is cached with an expiration time but until the cache is flushed you will not be able to access the site by name. Somewhere in Don's explanation is the comment that LTG was moved to a new server and thus given a new address so it will take a day or two for all the DNS servers and associated caches to get the new address. Workarounds are: to find the numeric address from some other source and type it in, rather than the name; flush all caches under your control (<insert toilet or water closet joke here>); or use a search engine which often allows you to bypass caches that have not updated.
 

cjd-player

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fronobulax said:
JerryR said:
Boy - have I had difficulty getting back on the site - I type in 'www.letstalkguild.com on my home computer and keep getting the domain provider's web-page - had to get in via Google :!:
That is actually to be expected :)

Sorry for the geek talk...

Under the hood everything on the internet has a numeric address. 67.201.47.46 is one such example and is the address of letstalkguild.com. These numbers are hard to remember so there is a mechanism that translates words into addresses. It is called the Domain Name System or DNS. You type in letstalkguild.com and your computer asks DNS what the address is and then uses the answer to contact the site. Usually addresses do not change. To reduce the load on the DNS servers and keep traffic down, there is caching. Caching basically remembers the numeric addresses and gives you the same answer you got last time rather than contact a DNS server to get the current answer. Normally this is A Good Thing and speeds things up. However, if an address changes then using a cache will give you the wrong answer. Typically data is cached with an expiration time but until the cache is flushed you will not be able to access the site by name. Somewhere in Don's explanation is the comment that LTG was moved to a new server and thus given a new address so it will take a day or two for all the DNS servers and associated caches to get the new address. Workarounds are: to find the numeric address from some other source and type it in, rather than the name; flush all caches under your control (<insert toilet or water closet joke here>); or use a search engine which often allows you to bypass caches that have not updated.
Does that have anything to do with the reason that some of the avatars are not appearing to everyone?
 

fronobulax

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cjd-player said:
Does that have anything to do with the reason that some of the avatars are not appearing to everyone?
Not sure. I am seeing avatars that I am pretty sure were uploaded to LTG. I am not seeing avatars that are hosted elsewhere but that is because the nanny software is blocking them and it did that before the upgrade. Having done several server migrations myself it seems that there is always some dumb little configuration setting that gets overlooked and my guess is that is what happened. The fact that mail notifications are having issues strongly suggests that. For example I once had mail servers locked down so that they would only accept mail to be sent from certain trusted computers. (Kept me from being an inadvertent source of SPAM). I change the address of one of my trusted computers and it cannot send email until I remember that I have to tell the mail server about the change, too.
 

capnjuan

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adorshki said:
... On the other hand, perhaps what exists here is in fact a valuable target group for specialized advertising. I know nothing about how that works, but I'd put up with a few pop-ups ...

Hi Al; at the end of the day, it's how Don wants to do it ... I mean technically it really isn't up to us ... we are effectively non-dues-paying members and maybe this ought to become a thread of its own but here are a few examples of how other BBs do it:

The Gear Page: 50,000+ members and is funded by mfr's ads that are confined to their own forum and Supporting Memberships; people pay to support it and, without either a Supporting Membership or sufficient posts that evidences a person's genuine interest in the BB, nobody can post in the Buy/Sell forum. Connected to several other major forums including Old School Guitar to which one of our LTG pros contributes but access to it is restricted.

The Vintage Amp Forum: 15,300 members supported by advertising interspersed in the threads. No Buy/Sell section but it has an OT section where members BS and have run up huge post totals.

I formerly belonged to a Yahoo-driven BB with the endless advertising in the margins; home loans, dick drugs, on and on ...

The mechanics, accounting, and headaches of paid membership are serious stuff; endlessly notifying members that they owe dues/subscription money, keeping track of it, what to do with Lurkers ... what about existing members who no long visit or post ... do they pay?

Nevertheless, I'd rather pay than be exposed to relentless pop-ups and, I know you didn't mean it that way, but I certainly don't want to be targeted by marketing companies with focused econometric-based advertising: "Are you saving enough to retire?" ... "Are you ready when she is?" ... "Wanna save a buck or two on car insurance?" Speaking for myself, I'd pay not to look at that stuff and I don't think I'd care that somebody who didn't chip in got a 'free ride' so long as they didn't act like jerks.
 

Graham

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capnjuan said:
Nevertheless, I'd rather pay than be exposed to relentless pop-ups and, I know you didn't mean it that way, but I certainly don't want to be targeted by marketing companies with focused econometric-based advertising: "Are you saving enough to retire?" ... "Are you ready when she is?" ... "Wanna save a buck or two on car insurance?" Speaking for myself, I'd pay not to look at that stuff and I don't think I'd care that somebody who didn't chip in got a 'free ride' so long as they didn't act like jerks.

Good work John and I'd rather pay than the alternatives you cite!!
 

capnjuan

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Graham said:
... I'd rather pay than the alternatives you cite!!
Hi Graham; it's been a long sweet (free) ride and you and I have had a lot of fun here. At some point ... which sort of seems like now ... those of us who get so much out of it are going to have to put something back in. Exactly how that gets done ... eh ... :? :D
 

Graham

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capnjuan said:
Graham said:
... I'd rather pay than the alternatives you cite!!
Hi Graham; it's been a long sweet (free) ride and you and I have had a lot of fun here. At some point ... which sort of seems like now ... those of us who get so much out of it are going to have to put something back in. Exactly how that gets done ... eh ... :? :D

You sir are a valuable contributor!! I, on the other hand, slide in with the cute remarks and comments,at least I think so.

Can we establish a hierarchical plan or a join in, pay one price deal?
 

capnjuan

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Graham said:
Can we establish a hierarchical plan or a join in, pay one price deal?
Thanks Graham but I probably have 5 times as many boffo posts as most people have OT posts :oops: My suggestion would be something like 'Supporting Members'; if somebody wants to be one - they want the BB to continue more or less as it is - they pay Donnie $100 or so and get a tag like The Gear Page under their avatar that says 'Supporting Member' ... that's it.

Donnie gets a pot of money to work with ... 15-20 or so such memberships would carry him for a couple of years. If the money runs lows, Don would put out a gentle solicitation for new Supporting Members ... some people who hadn't put in before do so ... and the solicitation acts like a prompt from Don to the existing Supporting Members that the kitty is running low.

Despite a membership of 1,000 people, at any given time, there are only 35-50 people actively posting. If it works and Don can sustain a modest surplus, then maybe he gets in touch with that Canucquois who, a couple of years ago, had these really neat Guild headstock pins made up ... flip those around as thank yous for the financial carry.

Finally if Don decides he's had enough and runs off with the money and books himself into the Bon-Ton motel with a cold case of Colt 45 malt liquor for a few days ... well ... that will have been that. :wink:
 

Graham

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capnjuan said:
Graham said:
Can we establish a hierarchical plan or a join in, pay one price deal?
Thanks Graham but I probably have 5 times as many boffo posts as most people have OT posts :oops: My suggestion would be something like 'Supporting Members'; if somebody wants to be one - they want the BB to continue more or less as it is - they pay Donnie $100 or so and get a tag like The Gear Page under their avatar that says 'Supporting Member' ... that's it.

Donnie gets a pot of money to work with ... 15-20 or so such memberships would carry him for a couple of years. If the money runs lows, Don would put out a gentle solicitation for new Supporting Members ... some people who hadn't put in before do so ... and the solicitation acts like a prompt from Don to the existing Supporting Members that the kitty is running low.

Despite a membership of 1,000 people, at any given time, there are only 35-50 people actively posting. If it works and Don can sustain a modest surplus, then maybe he gets in touch with that Canucquois who, a couple of years ago, had these really neat Guild headstock pins made up ... flip those around as thank yous for the financial carry.

Finally if Don decides he's had enough and runs off with the money and books himself into the Bon-Ton motel with a cold case of Colt 45 malt liquor for a few days ... well ... that will have been that. :wink:

Always an entertaining read John.

Thank you. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

Jeff

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Entertainment value here goes on 24/7. A few bucks from those that can, to make things easy till a better plan is developed seems a no brainer.
 

Graham

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capnjuan said:
Despite a membership of 1,000 people, at any given time, there are only 35-50 people actively posting. If it works and Don can sustain a modest surplus, then maybe he gets in touch with that Canucquois who, a couple of years ago, had these really neat Guild headstock pins made up ... flip those around as thank yous for the financial carry.

Finally if Don decides he's had enough and runs off with the money and books himself into the Bon-Ton motel with a cold case of Colt 45 malt liquor for a few days ... well ... that will have been that. :wink:

What a great idea John. $50 a year includes a Guild hat pin. I'll buy the pins!!
 

capnjuan

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Graham said:
capnjuan said:
Despite a membership of 1,000 people, at any given time, there are only 35-50 people actively posting. If it works and Don can sustain a modest surplus, then maybe he gets in touch with that Canucquois who, a couple of years ago, had these really neat Guild headstock pins made up ... flip those around as thank yous for the financial carry.

Finally if Don decides he's had enough and runs off with the money and books himself into the Bon-Ton motel with a cold case of Colt 45 malt liquor for a few days ... well ... that will have been that. :wink:
What a great idea John. $50 a year includes a Guild hat pin. I'll buy the pins!!
I think the pins are pretty cool ... how Don wants to handle it ... that's for him to say but I'm sure there are enough active members to make something like that work ... and the pins :wink: J
 
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