DU DOWNTIME 11/5/18 Appx 2:30 ET

[Skinner]

This discussion thread was locked by Skinner (a host of the Announcements group).

Democratic Underground had a brief period of downtime from approximately 2:00 to 2:30 pm today. This was due to an error caused by our hosting company during an upgrade.

We have fixed the problem, and are now double-checking our servers to make sure everything is ok.

In case it isn't clear: The site was NOT hacked. This was a totally innocent glitch.

Thank you for your understanding.

Skinner, EarlG, Elad
DU Administrators

[LittleGirl]

1. OMG, I about had a heart attack.

I was so upset in 2016 when you got hacked and thought, here we go again.
Thanks for the post!
Yikes.

[Maeve]

2. Just don't scare us like that again!

I know, not your fault, totally innocent, but...day-um!

[Leghorn21]

3. Whew, thank you Skinner!!

whewwwwwww

[Equinox Moon]

8. I second that Whewwwwww

[Maven]

4. Glad to hear that it was not a hack.

Hopefully the upgrade was to make the site more secure for tomorrow.

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Hosting company be like...

[GentryDixon]

6. Scary.

I ran over to twitter to see what was going on. Glad we are back up. After last time it was quite a shock.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Thank you, Skinner! It was unreal, this close to the election! n/t

[lamp_shade]

9. I'm glad I was out running an errand. I would have panicked. Thanks Skinner.

[Control-Z]

41. So was I, and greatful for it. eom

[mucifer]

10. thanks for doing more upgrades!!

[louis c]

11. Thanks

[FakeNoose]

12. Hurray for tech support!

[SWBTATTReg]

13. For a job well done, and a job that is always well done, my hat is off to you all! nt

[sagesnow]

14. DU Admins:

Thank you for keeping your fingers in the dike at DU!!

[wildman76]

15. Ok

Ok I was worried 😯

[Kali]

16. !

[byronius]

17. I thought the whole goddamned world was coming to an end.

Maybe I should get out more.

[renate]

18. I thought this meant the Russians were going to mess with the election again

Now I feel a little silly for panicking, but after finally starting to become a little more reassured about tomorrow's results... seeing DU down made me worry we'd be experiencing election night 2016 all over again.

Thanks so much for the explanation! What a relief!

[PatSeg]

19. Thank you

Everyone is a little nervous right now.

[diane in sf]

20. That's a relief!

[lark]

21. I was online here when it happened.

So weird. I'm just super glad it wasn't a hack job and that DU isn't down for an extended time! I'm so looking forward to coming here and rejoicing with fellow Dems tomorrow.

[grantcart]

22. OMG They got to Skinner. We are doomed!!!

[Delmette2.0]

23. Oh thank goodness we are back up.

A big THANK YOU to all the IT staff and experts who keep this site up and running.

[NBachers]

24. Deja vu all over again

[Vinca]

25. Phew! Panic was setting in. LOL.

[dewsgirl]

26. Scary!

[Scruffy1]

27. I was afraid of losing my sanity.

That is, if I have any. No, I don't post often because most subjects are pretty adquately covered by those that post, but it is an Island of sanity in a sea of craziness. I spent a lot of time here reading posts and have found it to be the most informative site there is about the issues we as a people face. I remember the hacking of 2016 all too well. I felt all alone.

[narnian60]

43. +100

[AllaN01Bear]

28. we copy you on the ground eagle , you had a bunch of guys about to turn blue.

[H2O Man]

29. Recommended.

I was a bit nervous for about 25 minutes.

[Gregory Peccary]

30. Why does it seem like.....

........ upgrades and other maintenance are always scheduled around the busiest possible times for traffic. The day before the election, lol!

[Ligyron]

31. Whew! I almost deleted all my cookies.

Then I was going go to advanced settings if that didn't work, lol.

Luckily, you guys were up and running before I did any of that.

[Texin]

32. That's a relief! I was afraid we were going go through everything like two years ago.

And it wasn't entirely clear that this was just a glitch, as on my web browser, the message that was on my screen was to the effect that Google wasn't entirely certain that the site was secure.

[mnhtnbb]

33. I was on DU when it happened. One minute I was posting in the Photog group from my phone

and the next I was getting this scary error message. Went over to my laptop on the desk and got the same message.

Went to facebook DU right away and connected with some others--so we knew it wasn't just our computers!

Next time could we please have a glitch like that at say, 4 am, and not on the day before a critical election?!?

[liberal N proud]

34. That caused a flash back type of trauma

[Journeyman]

35. Seems an odd time to upgrade something, be it the server or the software . . .

Couldn't the host hold off on this until Thursday?

[Marcuse]

36. Is this from the real Skinner, EarlG and Elad? 🤔

[klook]

37. Have you tried...

[warmfeet]

38. Thank you for the explanation Skinner.

I was freaking the hell out. Yikes, not again.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

39. tell 'em they gotta remember to feed the hamster!

Hosting companies are always trying to save money by cutting back on the hamster pellets. No pellets, no electric juice type stuff, and nobody uses coal-fired computers any more. There oughta be a law! Will no one think of the hamsters?

[hostalover]

40. I, too, was extremely worried!

[Control-Z]

42. IIRC, the hack and length of time DU was down

was enabled, in part, by the absence of a backup copy of the site? If that was the case, you guys now have like 9 or 10 back up copies, just in case, right?

I am probably remembering the whole traumatic event wrong. But, either way, I trust you guys have things under as much control as is humanly possible.

Thank you for all you do to keep this amazing place up and running!

[Brainstormy]

44. Freaked ME out! n/t

[ailsagirl]

45. Thanks, Skinner

We know you're (all) on it!

[ismnotwasm]

46. I was at work

Didn’t even notice.