TheBigZaboon Posted September 5, 2023 at 07:10 AM Report Share Posted September 5, 2023 at 07:10 AM Am I the only one??? These forums have been unavailable to me, at least, for about 48 hours. This is probably the third time in the last four to six months. But when I'm able to access the site again, there's absolutely no mention of the problem at all, no mention by anyone. Usually I get a "something went wrong" message like "access denied" or "connection failed." Once I got a supervisory web app that analyzed each step of the connection from my computer to the forum gateway, telling me my part was OK... But it's like there's a parallel universe, and I'm not in it... Anybody else have this problem??? TBZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted September 5, 2023 at 09:07 AM Report Share Posted September 5, 2023 at 09:07 AM You are not the only one. The hosting has been flaky, and I'm not online as much as I used to be (or at least not checking in here) so it's easy for problems to go unnoticed. Then there's a bit of ping-pong with the hosting support, then even when the hosting comes back up there might be a database table needing a repair or something. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshen Posted September 5, 2023 at 09:32 AM Report Share Posted September 5, 2023 at 09:32 AM Quote You are not the only one. The hosting has been flaky, Roddy, maybe you can give several of the regulars who do check in here often an email address where we can send you a notification that the site is offline? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suMMit Posted September 5, 2023 at 12:14 PM Report Share Posted September 5, 2023 at 12:14 PM Aslo something off with the blog views numbers I think, mine has: 650,467 views ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted September 6, 2023 at 01:31 AM Report Share Posted September 6, 2023 at 01:31 AM On 9/5/2023 at 2:10 AM, TheBigZaboon said: Anybody else have this problem??? I've noticed it too. Every few days. "Something went wrong" message. Then my browser gives up trying to open the website. May not be related, but I've also noticed the last several months that tasks inside the forum website seem to proceed much slower than I would expect. Posting a reply, for example. The website hesitates and struggles before carrying out the task. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhouhaochen Posted September 6, 2023 at 11:24 AM Report Share Posted September 6, 2023 at 11:24 AM Things didnt work at all for me for four days. Now works again, but everything is pretty slow. Last week I spent half a day writing a reply to a thread and when I pressed sent it took like 15 minutes until it was submitted. Got pretty scared that the internet had just eaten the whole thing. It worked in the end though and was posted correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenzero Posted September 6, 2023 at 08:24 PM Report Share Posted September 6, 2023 at 08:24 PM Lurker here - same on my end. Full disconnects seem rare, but the lag for page loading and searching is very visible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigZaboon Posted September 9, 2023 at 01:04 PM Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2023 at 01:04 PM Last coupla days, it's been "on again, off more often," so if anyone's taken any steps to improve access, they haven't worked... TBZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted September 10, 2023 at 04:29 PM Report Share Posted September 10, 2023 at 04:29 PM On 9/9/2023 at 8:04 AM, TheBigZaboon said: Last coupla days, it's been "on again, off more often," so if anyone's taken any steps to improve access, they haven't worked... Doubtless there's some good explanation, but it does give the impression that management no longer takes an interest in the health of the forum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Finster Posted October 12, 2023 at 06:22 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2023 at 06:22 PM Dear Roddy, thank you for working on improving the forum's performance and doing all the maintenance work. Is there any chance you could find a way to communicate what is going on in case of long outages? E.g. send an updates by email, post on Reddit (Chinese Language subreddit), etc? This forum is not my life, but I found the recent long outage a bit disconcerting and was wondering if: a) you had health problems or were even alive? b) if you closed down the forum due to financial issues c) if we should organise a new forum d) etc Do you have a continency plan in case you were to be unvailable due to illness? Can Imron take over in the meantime? 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tomsima Posted October 12, 2023 at 08:11 PM Popular Post Report Share Posted October 12, 2023 at 08:11 PM Same concerns from me, very happy to find the site back up and running, but these last few weeks made me realise there are so many people here that I could no longer contact if the site were to remain down indefinitely, not to mention the invaluable archive of Chinese learning resources and advice for future students. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted October 12, 2023 at 09:18 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2023 at 09:18 PM I'm very glad the forum has returned from the dead. Thank you to Roddy for getting it going again. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerpetualChange Posted October 12, 2023 at 09:34 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2023 at 09:34 PM On 10/12/2023 at 4:11 PM, Tomsima said: Same concerns from me, very happy to find the site back up and running, but these last few weeks made me realise there are so many people here that I could no longer contact if the site were to remain down indefinitely, not to mention the invaluable archive of Chinese learning resources and advice for future students. I think maybe a thing to do would be having a Discord Channel. Not sure who all would be interested in something like that, but I found that a few other forums I frequent have some kind of auxiliary Discord server that does not really take away from the form activity but also provides a secondary point of contact and also a venting room for small talk and things like that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicklinjm Posted October 13, 2023 at 07:49 AM Report Share Posted October 13, 2023 at 07:49 AM I for one that the forum has been revived, I don't post much but it is one of the few resources I used when I first started learning Chinese 20 yrs ago and love that it is still going - thanks Roddy! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magelita Posted October 13, 2023 at 07:51 AM Report Share Posted October 13, 2023 at 07:51 AM (edited) On 10/13/2023 at 9:11 AM, Tomsima said: Same concerns from me, very happy to find the site back up and running, but these last few weeks made me realise there are so many people here that I could no longer contact if the site were to remain down indefinitely, not to mention the invaluable archive of Chinese learning resources and advice for future students. Yes, I was also concerned about what was happening with the site. I click onto Chinese Forums routinely and the outage left a vacuum. I was definitely concerned about all the high quality content built up over so many years. For me the website was offline for nearly a week. Perhaps we could have a mirror website on which updates could be posted. I don't know whether the website has been backed up at all, but I would imagine that the web hosting service would have at least one version. Unless it is a question of finances? @roddy thank you for keeping care of the website. It is really important to many of us, even if we don't post often or at all. I wonder if the burden can be shared out. I understand there is a core group of moderators and long time members that might even know each other outside of the forum. Edited October 13, 2023 at 07:58 AM by Magelita wanted to add thanks to Roddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markhavemann Posted October 13, 2023 at 08:59 AM Report Share Posted October 13, 2023 at 08:59 AM Nice to see that it's not just regular posters that missed the site. +1 for some kind of site mirror/Discord channel/WeChat group as a backup. Maybe creating a Chinese-Forums subreddit could be an option too, since it would be much more findable through Google? On 9/5/2023 at 5:32 PM, Moshen said: Roddy, maybe you can give several of the regulars who do check in here often an email address where we can send you a notification that the site is offline? On 10/13/2023 at 2:22 AM, Jan Finster said: Do you have a continency plan in case you were to be unvailable due to illness? Can Imron take over in the meantime? What about seeing about getting some more regulars involved in admin/moderation of secondary channels and having a bit more of a direct line to Roddy/Imron? to ensure continuity and stability in case admins don't have time or means to carry things on? Seeing about hosting a mirror of the site would also be great, since there really is a lot of really valuable information on the forums. If admins didn't have the time for creating a sub reddit or whatever, and nobody else wanted to, I'd be willing to volunteer to set things up. Edit: Here you go: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinese_Forums/ I'll be happy to hand this over to the site admins, just let me know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singe Posted October 13, 2023 at 10:24 AM Report Share Posted October 13, 2023 at 10:24 AM Good to see all the positive comments/concern here. I was surprised how much I missed the site recently during the recent outage. I guess I'm checking in a lot more often than I used to. I really appreciate those who make such an effort to keep sites like this running. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted October 13, 2023 at 12:33 PM Report Share Posted October 13, 2023 at 12:33 PM On 10/13/2023 at 3:59 AM, markhavemann said: Maybe creating a Chinese-Forums subreddit could be an option too, since it would be much more findable through Google? Sounds like a good idea, @markhavemann. I create less content than when I lived in China and was actively learning the language. Still, I find myself returning several times a week to look things up or see what others are doing. It's a very useful resource. Would be unhappy if the forum were to just vanish. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lu Posted October 16, 2023 at 08:18 AM Popular Post Report Share Posted October 16, 2023 at 08:18 AM I think one of the (many) valuable things about these forums is that it is independent, so not dependent on a large corporate site like Reddit or Discord or what have you. There's this line of the internet these days consisting of "five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four", unlike in the 00s, when all kinds of forums flourished. Of course, the downside of that independence is that the forum's survival depends on Roddy and Imron keeping up with the technical side of things, and they are only two people, with their own things going on. I sincerely hope that Chinese-forums can continue to survive as the independent site it is, without moving to Reddit or needing members to also join Discord. Incidentally, the forums' admin email address is admin@chinese-forums.com, but a reply of course still depends on Roddy or Imron having time. On 10/13/2023 at 10:59 AM, markhavemann said: What about seeing about getting some more regulars involved in admin/moderation If any regulars are interested in this, please do let me or the admins know! I'm happy moderating, but I don't have the knowledge to run the technical side of things. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted October 16, 2023 at 12:22 PM Report Share Posted October 16, 2023 at 12:22 PM @Lu-- Just wanted to comment that I appreciate how you have stepped in to keep the forum conversations and discussions on track day to day. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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