Folks,
The site was down for 1.5 hours or so due to my mistakes. Mea culpa.
In more detail, after re-applying our customizations to the newly-updated theme files, I realized that the site was not working correctly as the theme had changed internally in ways that our changes were affected.
I then tried to use our repository to go back to a previous version of the files and it went ka-blooey. Permissions issues, but beyond my control to fix and not easy to diagnose before the problem happened.
Luckily, John has a great hosting provider – Hosting Matters – and they helped restore the site. It just took a bit of time.
So should you be considering a new site host for your small, medium, or large site – WordPress or other – please consider them. Their support is top-class, always responsive, friendly, and the definition of technical experts.
I’ll be working on the test server to apply the new changes Tuesday and shall go from there, so there will be some updates coming, but not so dramatic!
Open Thread.
mai naem mobile
Josh Marshall has a tweet saying Comey and Lumpy hugged each other at a get together at the WH today. Hope they both end up in Leavenworth as cellmates. Fuckers. Also Leni Reifenstahl says Lumpy is not going to release his taxes.Mofo. Also also, Leni autocorrects on my phone to Lenin. I think my keyboard is trying to tell me something .
Baud
Or a test run for Trump seizing control of the internet.
What do the Russians have on you, Alain? Or should I say, Alainski.
schrodingers_cat
Good to know that it was you not Big Brother!
raven
Don’t feel bad, I’ve been fooling with this new SSD all day! I decided to watch the Falcons eviscerate the Pack and call Tech Support in the morning!
Alain the site fixer
@Baud: I have actually met KGB guys – stereotypical with fur hats – back in the early ’80s. One of the perks of growing up in DC and attending a prep school and having friends with important/interesting connections.
But truly, the first rule of kompromat is that you never discuss kompromat, so I deny everything and note that I do like ice-cold Russian vodka and ice fishing, but that’s just a coincidence, I swear!
SiubhanDuinne
I was at the movie theatre watching ballet all afternoon, so the downtime didn’t affect me. But I notice now that, while we still have the Up arrow on the right, the Down arrow on the left has disappeared (desktop version, iPad, Safari). When you do the next round tweaks, I’d be grateful if you could restore it. Thanks, Alain! You do great work on behalf of the jackals!
JPL
@raven: It is amazing.
amygdala
Thank you for the update!
raven
@JPL: The Bears stole the Packers uniforms!
debbie
And if the scroll buttons could be added to the mobile version…
Yarrow
Thank you for taking care of the site, Alain.
Elizabelle
Thanks, Alain. Comrade.
Mary G
Thanks for the fix.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mai naem mobile: Looks to me like Trump tried for a bro-hug and Comey really wasn’t into it. Comey knows he put this man in the Oval Office, and probably doesn’t want the video to make him look like a willing accomplice.
Alain the site fixer
@debbie: that was going to be my little happy for the site today while I was doing the other stuff but that plan went up in smoke when the site went down. Tuesday, they’ll be there and working correctly.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@mai naem mobile:
Lamh36 had a video link downstairs. Trump and Comey.
Nicole
Me: Oh god! The Trump camp has come for balloon-juice!
(2 seconds elapse)
Me: Or, maybe the site is just down and will be back up later.
This has been a demonstration of the power of the lizard brain to react, incorrectly and moronically, with fear.
Gindy51
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Too late for that…
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Looking at that video, what strikes me is the weird combination of obsequiousness and glee that Comey has in being recognized by Fearless Leader. Creepy.
p.a.
YOU were the Reichstag fire!!!
Corner Stone
How the fuck do you get a delay of game on a kickoff after TD?
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack (tablet): Disgusting. Comey looks delighted to see Trump. Jackhole.
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: seriously. have never seen that before in decades of watching football.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
WOW! Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you, Alain!
Raven
Run it down their fuckin throats!
Roger Moore
FWIW, you don’t seem to have fixed everything; the back button is broken again.
Corner Stone
That’s a bullshit call on Packer D.
Raven
@Roger Moore: He hasn’t fixed the Packers D either.
trollhattan
@Alain the site fixer:
Cool! What were Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings really like?
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore: Back button hasn’t worked for me for months.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore:
I was wondering if it just wasn’t working for me.
Mike in NC
Anybody get that tacky Parade magazine packaged in their Sunday newspaper? Today’s has ads for both a gold commemorative Trump coin (very classy!) and a commemorative collectible Trump figurine. The hands aren’t small enough and he is way too slender.
Roger Moore
@Raven:
I think he has a bit more control over one than the other.
Calming Influence
Alain, please stop covering for Cole. You’re better than that. We all understand who you’re working for, and are sympathetic. But John won’t achieve full recovery until he admits that he is unable to control his need to do site upgrades for which he is not qualified. Stand strong.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
It’s the stupid smooth scrolling on internal links thing that breaks it. That seems to replace a regular html link with some Javascript that scrolls the page around. Browsers know how to follow links forward and backward, but the Javascript trick keeps them from knowing what you’ve done, so using the back button takes you to the previous page rather than the previous link.
Raven
How ya like that call HA HA?
JanieM
Hi Alain, because of prior recommendations from you, I recently transferred a domain name I acquired last year from Network Solutions (always trying to sell you something) to Hosting Matters. The transfer isn’t final yet, but at every step of the way HS has been prompt, helpful, patient, and friendly. I told them right off that you had recommended them. :-)
mai naem mobile
@Steeplejack (tablet): I tell ya Juicers are always ahead of me. I didn’t even know there was video of it. Disgusting. I have no words for Comey. And his reaction to being called over is like of a hs freshman girl being called over at the school dance by her senior jock crush.
Hal
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m buying my first laptop since 2007. My last Dell XPS died in 2011 and since then I have used smart phones, and eventually a tablet. Just an amazon fire tablet, nothing special, because I’m cheap.
What’s weird for me is I loved my laptop and used it nonstop. But it took me two days and two cancelled orders of other laptops before I settled on my old Dell. I read reviews, looked up coupons, ordered two different laptops and then immediately cancelled, and finally settled and went with order number three.
Now I feel like I missed out on the full computer experience and have fallen behind. I’ve been meaning to try out coding and I need to get back to something robust enough to act as a fully capable information/work station, so I’m actually excited.
Oh, I bought the Asus F55UA.
PPCLI
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It wasn’t just the semi-hug and air kiss that was damning, it was Comey’s simpering grin walking over, upon being called out and praised by Trump.
Corner Stone
@Hal: It seems like maybe you have some commitment issues?
Shell
The only one Id consider buying is one you can stick pins in.
debbie
@Alain the site fixer:
Good enough. Thanks!
schrodingers_cat
@Hal: I just bought myself a Dell XPS15, so far I love it.
ETA: Its as good as husband kitteh’s MacBookPro and at less than half the price. I bought it from Dell Outlet, it was refurbished. It has two hard drives, one of which is 1 TB.
schrodingers_cat
@Shell: May I suggest knitting needles.
schrodingers_cat
@PPCLI: That’s what struck me too. Eeww.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Roger Moore:
That’s the kind of pointless, “cool” feature that drives me nuts—especially when it breaks something else. From the same mentality that put tail fins on 1950s cars.
Alain the site fixer
Yeah so I see some other issues I’ll need to solve on the mobile site post-recovery so once I get that all done I’ll get those buttons working. For now, it works good enough until I can dedicate time and focus Tuesday. ‘Night all, I’ve got food to cook and stuff to watch.
Emerald
@mai naem mobile:
Exactly. That video is infuriating. Can’t wait till both of them are in jail. Not that it will ever happen.
Suzanne
Thank you, Alain. That narrow column width was making me crazy.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Javascript is mostly evil.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Alain the site fixer:
Could you at least duct-tape the back button so that it doesn’t close the current tab send you to the last one?
Corner Stone
Just too much.
Steve in the ATL
Beat. Down.
Rise up!
You may now return to bitching about site updates.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: What is?
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Falcon’s offensive weapons. They are brutalizing the Packers like a Trump admin member treats the truth.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore: Thanks. I noticed the smooth scrolling thing was back too.
Corner Stone
That looked like a facemask but he may have just had a grip on the inside pad or collar.
Corner Stone
No challenge? That would have finished this one.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone:Football? If yes, I am as qualified to comment as T is to president.
JPL
@Corner Stone: The Packers got away with a fumble
JPL
At least the knees are down that time.
Corner Stone
@Yarrow: Isn’t Smooth Scrolling a great cover band name for like Beach Boy era music?
cosima
If you aren’t watching the football you should watch this. I was chastised in the last thread for not providing a link, so here’s one to his site: http://roger-waters.com/
That had to sting. Guess the US won’t be having any Roger Waters concerts for a while. Epic. No punches pulled, absolutely brutal.
Hal
@Corner Stone: I’m one of those people that will nickel and dime myself out of money over multiple days, but completely balks at spending one large some of money.
150 bucks on two weeks of groceries? No thanks. I’ll just spend 20 dollars a day on breakfast and lunch.
Buying a laptop was traumatic.
Hal
@schrodingers_cat: My last laptop was a Dell outlet “scratch and dent”. The dent was the size of a ball point pen tip and I got 400 dollars off.
Colm
Considering that “Alain the site fixer” is clearly an anagram for “Netflix arise hi tea”, I don’t think it’s safe to conclude that they are distinct entities.
schrodingers_cat
@Hal: My last Dell laptop was a refurbished Dell too. I made it work for 10 years. Its still going strong. Its fan needs to replaced.
amk
Thanks Alain.
Now to sue Adam.
SWMBO
@Mike in NC: How big were the hands? Is the hair detachable?
amk
also.too. the back button is back to being borken.
amk
now back button is back. thanks, Alain.
fuckwit
Always stage your production deploys.
Always.
Also, stage your production deploys.
Before you deploy them.
Also, test them first. Before you deploy to production.
Test your production deploys, in staging, first. Stage your production deploys.
To not do so is madness.
HeartlandLiberal
I recently brought a new email server for my personal domain back online, so I could move my email back from the gmail cloud. This time, being retired, I had time to do it right. There is a production server, and a backup server that is a clone. I did every step on the backup/clone first. And a good thing. An attempt to install Spamassassin went haywire, and almost destroyed the clone. I thought I was going to have to reinstall, and here I was at last step of three weeks work. That bad experience made me take an old Dell server I had which had been retired from my final consulting gig, and install a THIRD image of Fedora 25 LINUX on it, so I have a pure test bed to try dangerous stuff in FIRST.
Anyway, I have done a little with WordPress, too, for a few personal blogs for me and my wife, so I know how insanely complicated it can be, especially implementing themes and customizing them. So I feel for Alain.
But I am glad to see reference to a test server. ALWAYS do full tests there, and let people use them if at all possible.