# Winter of Missed Content
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [January 16, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954 "2005-01-16T01:51:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/1 "2005-01-16T01:51:14Z")
What is it? Why did it happen?
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### Author:  [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/2 "2005-01-16T02:13:53Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/3 "2005-01-16T02:41:49Z")
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](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb) finally was back on the Net.)
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/4 "2005-01-16T02:52:39Z")
Let us mention that **OpalCat** ’s Board was helpful for many of us, who needed to keep our sanity.
Credit where credit is due…
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### Author:  [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/5 "2005-01-16T02:57:41Z")
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!
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### Author:  [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/6 "2005-01-16T02:58:02Z")
Here’s a partial archive of the temp board:
[http://web.archive.org/web/\*/http://bb.bbboy.net/straightdope](http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bb.bbboy.net/straightdope)
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### Author:  [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/7 "2005-01-16T03:24:13Z")
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/8 "2005-01-16T05:45:48Z")
😃
**I still miss that smilie with a hammer.**
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### Author:  [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/9 "2005-01-16T16:16:46Z")
> [@RJKUgly](#):
>
> 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.
There’s a Bobby Ewing joke in here somewhere…
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### Author:  [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/10 "2005-01-16T16:49:49Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/11 "2005-01-16T17:07:12Z")
> [@RJKUgly](#):
>
> I had forgotten it was a hack that caused the problem. I guess being a programmer I’m too ready to blame the hardware!
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.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/12 "2005-01-16T17:19:30Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/13 "2005-01-16T17:57:02Z")
> [@kniz](#):
>
> 😃
> **I still miss that smilie with a hammer.**
[Oh yeah?](http://img10.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img10&image=smash7dg.gif)
You’re welcome.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/14 "2005-01-16T19:10:09Z")
IIRC correctly, I had to re-register once SDMB got better again. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/15 "2005-01-16T19:31:14Z")
> [@The Mermaid](#):
>
> [Oh yeah?](http://img10.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img10&image=smash7dg.gif)
>
> You’re welcome.
**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:
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### Author:  [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/16 "2005-01-16T19:51:32Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/17 "2005-01-16T23:48:40Z")
> [@RJKUgly](#):
>
> 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?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/18 "2005-01-17T00:04:25Z")
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]
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### Author:  [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/19 "2005-01-17T05:21:11Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#):
>
> The hacking only exposed the fault, it didn’t cause the lost three months.
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.
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### Author:  [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-of-missed-content/284954/20 "2005-01-17T12:36:15Z")
> [@Berkut](#):
>
> Here’s a partial archive of the temp board:
> [http://web.archive.org/web/\*/http://bb.bbboy.net/straightdope](http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bb.bbboy.net/straightdope)
Smashie! God, I’ve missed you!
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