05-29-2018, 10:05 PM
Quick question:
Did CRVL send out a mass mailing that they're back online?
I registered there at the end of March, and haven't received anything.
Up until a half decade ago DDoS-for-hire was expensive.
The price has dropped dramatically, such that one of the most infamous DDoS of all time only cost a "few hundred bucks" (the 2016 attack on Pulitzer Prize winning cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs' site).
As has been discussed here, there's enough folks who are ticked off at BW, that it's not impossible that somebody might have paid a wee worm to attack CRVL.
It merely feels unlikely, and there's no apparent evidence to support the claim.
frater secessus noted seeing DB error messages, which he could only see if the site was running. That alone is unimpeachable counter evidence.
QFT:
Excellent step-by-step of how to do a backup!
Small forums are easy & quick to backup. Huge ones, mean noticeable downtime, which means whining by the non-patient, which tempts casual web teams to cut corners.
One simple approach is to program the forum to make incremental backups (e.g. as each post is made, it would first be saved to its own flat file, and if there's a catastrophe, a separate program would recreate the full db from all the tiny individual post files).
I don't know if any popular forum software includes that option.
Generally, you're doing great.
As a charter member of the Internet Smiley Liberation Front, I give you bonus points for not having any silly limit on the number that can appear in a single post.
Minor stuff...
Eventually, for email notifications, you should consider using an email address on your domain, rather than GMail. It's not a high priority, just something to keep at the back of your mind. The main reason is "deliverability", which tends to be an issue with less patient types, which seems not to be the demographic here, thankfully.
When that time comes, give me a shout, and I'd be happy to help you with SPF & DMARC DNS records.
Much more critical, keep an eye out for spam bots swarming your forums.
You'll know when it happens. It'll be obvious.
To prepare for that, research how to disable link posting by new users. Some forum s/w has it built in, some require an add on.
That'll discourage most bots, however once they become aware of your forum, they'll continue, like mosquitoes and other insects.
Did CRVL send out a mass mailing that they're back online?
I registered there at the end of March, and haven't received anything.
(05-22-2018, 05:34 PM)MN C Van Wrote: Kaylee, is a Vandwelling website something anyone would waste those types of resources on?Excellent point/question!
Up until a half decade ago DDoS-for-hire was expensive.
The price has dropped dramatically, such that one of the most infamous DDoS of all time only cost a "few hundred bucks" (the 2016 attack on Pulitzer Prize winning cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs' site).
As has been discussed here, there's enough folks who are ticked off at BW, that it's not impossible that somebody might have paid a wee worm to attack CRVL.
It merely feels unlikely, and there's no apparent evidence to support the claim.
frater secessus noted seeing DB error messages, which he could only see if the site was running. That alone is unimpeachable counter evidence.
QFT:
(05-04-2018, 06:49 AM)frater secessus Wrote:You sir, won the best estimate prize!(05-01-2018, 01:35 PM)Kaylee Wrote: When using free forum software on a lesser powered server, backing up a large live forum is non-trivial. I expect they will have lost several hours or even days of postings.
Do admins not schedule that kind of maint anymore?
I've been out of that game for a while so maybe it's done differently now.
- take the forum offline in the deep night
- allow the db to quiesce
- make the backup/dump (and run any other maint you want)
- restart the processes.
- do any compression or off-site movement in the background
I'd be shocked if the ${CLUELESS_HOSTER} didn't clobber more than a week of posts.
Excellent step-by-step of how to do a backup!
Small forums are easy & quick to backup. Huge ones, mean noticeable downtime, which means whining by the non-patient, which tempts casual web teams to cut corners.
One simple approach is to program the forum to make incremental backups (e.g. as each post is made, it would first be saved to its own flat file, and if there's a catastrophe, a separate program would recreate the full db from all the tiny individual post files).
I don't know if any popular forum software includes that option.
(05-22-2018, 07:02 PM)Gary Wrote: Kaylee,if you see any issues with this site ,let me know,i really dont have a clueGary:
Generally, you're doing great.
As a charter member of the Internet Smiley Liberation Front, I give you bonus points for not having any silly limit on the number that can appear in a single post.
Minor stuff...
Eventually, for email notifications, you should consider using an email address on your domain, rather than GMail. It's not a high priority, just something to keep at the back of your mind. The main reason is "deliverability", which tends to be an issue with less patient types, which seems not to be the demographic here, thankfully.
When that time comes, give me a shout, and I'd be happy to help you with SPF & DMARC DNS records.
Much more critical, keep an eye out for spam bots swarming your forums.
You'll know when it happens. It'll be obvious.
To prepare for that, research how to disable link posting by new users. Some forum s/w has it built in, some require an add on.
That'll discourage most bots, however once they become aware of your forum, they'll continue, like mosquitoes and other insects.
"Cause how you get there is the worthier part." Shephard Book to Kaylee, Firefly
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