What is it? Why did it happen?
I’m not a mod, but my understanding is this:
A hardware problem on the server where the board software and data was loaded took the server down. A faulty backup meant that when the server was fixed and the board was back up, several weeks worth of posts were not available to restore.
So it was like picking up where we had been a few weeks before the hardware problem took us down, as if the messages that never got backed up never happened.
Pretty close. As I understand it, it was a malicious software attack that took the boards down, and damaged the software index in the process – and the last full backup was some weeks previous, without good incrementals. Recovery from this took extensive time – several weeks. As a stopgap, the puissant and pulchritudinous TubaDiva, with assistance from others, generously sponsored a “Straight Dope Light” board on some multi-board-hosting server. (Gaudere and Arnold von W. were immensely helpful in getting that set up – leading to them becoming administrators when boards.straightdope.com/sdmb finally was back on the Net.)
Let us mention that OpalCat’s Board was helpful for many of us, who needed to keep our sanity.
Credit where credit is due…
DOH! (smacks forhead)
Thanks, Polycarp. I had forgotten it was a hack that caused the problem. I guess being a programmer I’m too ready to blame the hardware!
Here’s a partial archive of the temp board:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bb.bbboy.net/straightdope
Thanks!
I still miss that smilie with a hammer.
There’s a Bobby Ewing joke in here somewhere…
Actually, I’m thinking almost 3 months of data was lost. If you look at join dates about here, you’ll notice there are none in January or February 2002 – the WOOMC. I’m thinking the dates lost were early December 2001 until the board was set up again in early March 2002.
As a programmer you’d know that the real problem was a faulty backup procedure. The hacking only exposed the fault, it didn’t cause the lost three months.
If I’m not mistaken, right before we were hacked, the admin had just banned a huge troublemaker, who kept flaming users right and left-wasn’t that person one of the ones responsible?
You’re welcome.
IIRC correctly, I had to re-register once SDMB got better again. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
Thanks! Did I miss something? He wasn’t animated. The rating is 9.75, what would it be if they showed it in action? :eek:
In my original post, I had incorrectly cited a hardware failure for taking the server down, and my comment was specifically referencing that, not the data loss.
And since I also specifically said “A faulty backup meant that when the server was fixed and the board was back up, several weeks worth of posts were not available to restore.” I believe I made clear the reason for the data loss was the faulty backup.
IMHO, the real problem was the hacker. If someone steals my car and trashes it I don’t think the real problem is that I don’t have insurance. It’s part of the problem, sure, and definitely my own fault. But not the real problem.
To phrase it as if the hacker was blameless and the problem was really caused by a faulty backup is ignoring the larger part of the problem, and to me it looks likes someone just wants to blame the Reader and their staff for everything possible.
Wow. Jump to conclusions much?
As Dex would say----TWEET! Time out!
RJK Ugly and Futile Gesture.
Take it to the pit.
Quit yer bitchin’ in this forum.
samclem [Moderator mode ON]
Only a few (2 or 3, if memory serves) weeks of posts were lost. The rest of the 3-month delay was waiting around for the folks in charge to get the software updated and the boards open for business again. The bbboy board filled the gap for 4-5 weeks, IIRC.
Smashie! God, I’ve missed you!