Unplanned Server Outage May 4, 2018 5:22 PM Subscribe
The site had an outage today for about 6 hours. It wasn't planned and I'm sorry that it happened.
What happened was more or less this:
What happened was more or less this:
- A hard drive failed on the SQL server. (The backups drive)
- This was not immediately obvious, because by all monitoring we had going, the SQL server was chugging along fine. In actuality, it was trying to write to a broken drive and doing that rather than responding to SQL queries.
- I fixed the SQL server
- It takes a while to get up and running properly because rebuilding the indices takes a long time. It takes hours if people are trying to access the site, so I kept the site offline for that time.
- While the server was trying to load stuff into memory, it was also trying to do the backup that failed before, so was unhelpfully doing two resource-intensive tasks at once.
The most nerve-wracking thing, by the way, was that a storm hit at the same time, and the lights kept flickering. Then I got texts that the power was out in other parts of Waterloo. I was really scared that I was going to lose power somewhere in the middle of all of this.
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:34 PM on May 4, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:34 PM on May 4, 2018 [36 favorites]
Thank you for the quick fix! :)
posted by reductiondesign at 5:36 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by reductiondesign at 5:36 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, in a comedy of errors, the status blog to which the site's error page points is as several people rightly pointed out not actually up at the moment.
Which is entirely my bad; pb had run the old one for years, and kept it up nominally for us after he left, but stuff was expiring on the domain forwarding there and when he checked in with me recently to see whether to renew it or let us take over the whole thing, I opted for the latter. Which makes the most sense in the long run, but I had rainy-day'd actually getting it done, on the reasoning that, y'know, we don't expect any downtime soon.
Pretty sure there's a cognitive bias describing that.
Anyway, we'll get that fixed up shortly.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [59 favorites]
Which is entirely my bad; pb had run the old one for years, and kept it up nominally for us after he left, but stuff was expiring on the domain forwarding there and when he checked in with me recently to see whether to renew it or let us take over the whole thing, I opted for the latter. Which makes the most sense in the long run, but I had rainy-day'd actually getting it done, on the reasoning that, y'know, we don't expect any downtime soon.
Pretty sure there's a cognitive bias describing that.
Anyway, we'll get that fixed up shortly.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [59 favorites]
NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN METAFILTER.
posted by Justinian at 5:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [91 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 5:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [91 favorites]
Thanks too for telling us what happened. FWIW, the level of detail you provided was perfect!
posted by carmicha at 5:38 PM on May 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 5:38 PM on May 4, 2018 [22 favorites]
Not sure if it's no longer used or what, but just wanted to mention that status.metafilter.com no longer seems to be working.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:38 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 5:38 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thanks Frimble!
posted by kimberussell at 5:39 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by kimberussell at 5:39 PM on May 4, 2018
*genuflects to frimble*
Well thank the internet lords that that crisis passed. Everyone ok? Roll call!
posted by freya_lamb at 5:39 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well thank the internet lords that that crisis passed. Everyone ok? Roll call!
posted by freya_lamb at 5:39 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you're having trouble loading the site, try other subsites -- Ask is the slowest to come back up. You may just have picked a laggy subsite.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Hooray!
posted by lazaruslong at 5:41 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 5:41 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yay, you're back!
posted by peppermind at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by peppermind at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Thank Christ. How can I discuss politics with my relatives without Metafilter telling me what to think??
posted by Melismata at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [25 favorites]
Ironically, the one thing I had planned out to do this afternoon was to write a (farm)work-related Ask.Me so I am officially the only person in the history of the universe *not* paid by metafilter who was less productive when the site went down.
Thanks for getting it back. Well done!
posted by stet at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Thanks for getting it back. Well done!
posted by stet at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yeah, things will still be eaaaaasing back up to speed for a while, so don't be surprised at some ongoing sluggishness the next while.
We bring down the DB server basically never when we can help it because unlike an Apache reboot, which usually takes all of two minutes and don't need any real spooling up after, the SQL Server setup has a lot of startup involved in getting everything loaded into memory to support the normal level of load on the site. Once's it's up and humming it does good for months at a time.
Normally we'd only bring it down for maintenance, and do it in wee hours on a weekend when traffic is already low, but an unlucky cascade of hardware failures forced the issue this time.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
We bring down the DB server basically never when we can help it because unlike an Apache reboot, which usually takes all of two minutes and don't need any real spooling up after, the SQL Server setup has a lot of startup involved in getting everything loaded into memory to support the normal level of load on the site. Once's it's up and humming it does good for months at a time.
Normally we'd only bring it down for maintenance, and do it in wee hours on a weekend when traffic is already low, but an unlucky cascade of hardware failures forced the issue this time.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Might wanna take a peek at https://status.metafilter.com. Thanks for getting Metafilter back up.
posted by valkane at 5:55 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by valkane at 5:55 PM on May 4, 2018
Thanks so much, Frimble!!
posted by purplesludge at 5:55 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by purplesludge at 5:55 PM on May 4, 2018
*hugs MetaFilter*
*gently strokes MetaFilter*
“There....there....you're ok now.”
posted by Fizz at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
*gently strokes MetaFilter*
“There....there....you're ok now.”
posted by Fizz at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
Wow, I thought it was me! It never occurred to me that Metafilter could not be there. Whew!
Thanks, for the fix, and, you know, for EVERYTHING.
posted by LaBellaStella at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks, for the fix, and, you know, for EVERYTHING.
posted by LaBellaStella at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
And sorry, posting comments/posts is probably going to be the last thing to shake out as the server comes back up.
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018
I forgot to check Chat, was Chat down? I passed out from lack of MeFi.
posted by rhizome at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by rhizome at 5:56 PM on May 4, 2018
If I forget thee O JRun ...
posted by octobersurprise at 5:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 5:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!
posted by thelonius at 5:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 5:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Chat runs on a different server and different database, but may have been unavailable through the web interface (I didn't check) after I blocked everything but my IP at the firewall level – I did that to get things up again with less load before opening the floodgates, not to have the site all to myself. It's lonely and echoey without the little (number) appearing next to page titles.
posted by frimble (staff) at 6:01 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by frimble (staff) at 6:01 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
I thought for a minute it might have been the trumpengruppen coming for the megathread, and almost went to defcon 1, but then I had to fix dinner so I settled down and just kept punching reload.
posted by valkane at 6:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by valkane at 6:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
Can we have Patrick Stewart do a dramatic reading of the SQL server's final log entries, like he did with the Chinese moon rover's tweets
posted by XMLicious at 6:11 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 6:11 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Now I kinda regret mailing dog sh*t to Putin, Zuckerberg, and Ajit Pai.
Wait, what? MetaFilter was down today?
posted by sexyrobot at 6:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wait, what? MetaFilter was down today?
posted by sexyrobot at 6:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
When Metafilter went down, I left work early and had a nap at home.
posted by porpoise at 6:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 6:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I had rainy-day'd actually getting it done, on the reasoning that, y'know, we don't expect any downtime soon.
Pretty sure there's a cognitive bias describing that.
"Insufficient Fatalism", perhaps?
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:14 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Pretty sure there's a cognitive bias describing that.
"Insufficient Fatalism", perhaps?
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:14 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
posted by ashbury at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by ashbury at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Thank you!
Since I had nowhere to ask if it was safe I just went ahead and ate that Greek yogurt that I accidentally left on my engine manifold all week. I hope I'll be ok.
posted by bondcliff at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [46 favorites]
Since I had nowhere to ask if it was safe I just went ahead and ate that Greek yogurt that I accidentally left on my engine manifold all week. I hope I'll be ok.
posted by bondcliff at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [46 favorites]
I missed you guys.
My favorite thing I heard while we were down almost applies: I hear your points and it's really good to hear you make them.
posted by Stanczyk at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
My favorite thing I heard while we were down almost applies: I hear your points and it's really good to hear you make them.
posted by Stanczyk at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Manifold Farms Artisanal Feta
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Seems to be firing on all cylinders now. I love this ship.
posted by valkane at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by valkane at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was hooked up to electrodes at the hospital today and wanted to tell you all about it here on metafilter! But I had to wait!
So: I am still hooked up to electrodes but in the comfort of my own home. It’s just monitoring and I am totally fine but to pass the time I’m pretending I’m younger and prettier and dangerously psychic and being studied by worried scientists in a 1980s movie.
posted by mochapickle at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [54 favorites]
So: I am still hooked up to electrodes but in the comfort of my own home. It’s just monitoring and I am totally fine but to pass the time I’m pretending I’m younger and prettier and dangerously psychic and being studied by worried scientists in a 1980s movie.
posted by mochapickle at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [54 favorites]
I didn’t know what to do at work all afternoon. Welcome back!
posted by porn in the woods at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by porn in the woods at 6:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you don't want me to make FPP's then just say so.
Today's action was childish and melodramatic.
posted by bongo_x at 6:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Today's action was childish and melodramatic.
posted by bongo_x at 6:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
What kind of jobs do you people have where you can just sit and read MeFi all day? I mean when I'm at work I have to -- oh.
OH.
Do I ... do I have clones?
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:20 PM on May 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
OH.
Do I ... do I have clones?
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:20 PM on May 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
So: I am still hooked up to electrodes but in the comfort of my own home. It’s just monitoring and I am totally fine but I’m pretending I’m younger and prettier and dangerously psychic and being studied by worried scientists in a 1980s movie.
Coincidentally, that’s what the SQL server was doing today!
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:20 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Coincidentally, that’s what the SQL server was doing today!
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:20 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Thanks frimble! I had a productive afternoon, and my only complaint is that you didn’t take Twitter down too.
posted by zachlipton at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
I slept through most of it so my trauma is minimal. Hooray for time zones!
posted by h00py at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by h00py at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Many thanks, frimble for the troubleshooting and cortex for the Twitter updates—which kept me from freaking out at the prospect of an Internet without Metafilter.
At one point to keep my mind off things, I amused myself with this classic Youtube video.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
At one point to keep my mind off things, I amused myself with this classic Youtube video.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
It actually seems snappier to me now
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
(Is this the Airplane quote memes thread? Can I throw in a "Nothing to see here" from Naked Gun?)
Anyway, your hard work is appreciated, MetaAdmins. Keep on frimbling...
And don't call me Shirley.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
(Is this the Airplane quote memes thread? Can I throw in a "Nothing to see here" from Naked Gun?)
Anyway, your hard work is appreciated, MetaAdmins. Keep on frimbling...
And don't call me Shirley.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
If you don't want me to make FPP's then just say so.
Today's action was childish and melodramatic.
Nah, melodramatic was when I made an FPP where I was like, 'I could see this one going poorly,' to cortex. Then did my first-ever reboot of the SQL server, thereby taking the site offline for about three hours.
posted by frimble (staff) at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
Today's action was childish and melodramatic.
Nah, melodramatic was when I made an FPP where I was like, 'I could see this one going poorly,' to cortex. Then did my first-ever reboot of the SQL server, thereby taking the site offline for about three hours.
posted by frimble (staff) at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
I bow to your commitment, frimble.
posted by blurker at 6:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by blurker at 6:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Well, I wasn't worried at all!!
I was SO worried!
posted by briank at 6:25 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was SO worried!
posted by briank at 6:25 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
It is perhaps not a great sign of the times that when I couldn't reload, I immediately consulted The Guardian to see if something so insane had gone down that the megathread crashed the server. Relieved it was just the same old trash people doing their regular level of corruption all day. You all are great.
posted by lauranesson at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by lauranesson at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
Guess we need http://status.status.metafilter.com
posted by jouke at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by jouke at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [32 favorites]
Good to see the site back; I tried loading MeFi at work and since it didn't load, I automatically assumed that the uni wifi was on the blink!
posted by dhruva at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by dhruva at 6:26 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thank you for making things right again, frimble!
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:27 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:27 PM on May 4, 2018
Dear Penthouse,
I am still hooked up to electrodes but in the comfort of my own home.
posted by AFABulous at 6:27 PM on May 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
I am still hooked up to electrodes but in the comfort of my own home.
posted by AFABulous at 6:27 PM on May 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
Melismata: "Thank Christ. How can I discuss politics with my relatives without Metafilter telling me what to think??"
You can email me directly for hot takes on state legislative special elections.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:29 PM on May 4, 2018 [34 favorites]
You can email me directly for hot takes on state legislative special elections.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:29 PM on May 4, 2018 [34 favorites]
(Again I say I would subscribe to a Chrysostom daily politics newsletter! (As long as he kept posting to mefi too of course!))
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:30 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:30 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
On the bright side, I got a ripping start on that gigantic rubber band ball I've always intended to make.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by mudpuppie at 6:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
I worried for a bit there that MetaFilter's servers were housed in a data center on the slopes of Kilauea.
Thanks for the quick work, frimble!
posted by biogeo at 6:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thanks for the quick work, frimble!
posted by biogeo at 6:37 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Frimble your recap gave me and a I expect the rest of the techies a outloud lol chuckle of sympathy, it is why folks just would often let some old crufty software just chug along knowing it needs a fix or review or... but touch it so very gently and something else will break too. Good show hackerdude!
posted by sammyo at 6:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 6:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks, frimble.
Thimble.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Thimble.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:40 PM on May 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
I was actually relieved when I got home and Metafilter was still down - the IT guy didn't just block Metafilter on the work network.
posted by porpoise at 6:41 PM on May 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 6:41 PM on May 4, 2018 [24 favorites]
Lurker for well over a decade, member for a few years, this is the first outage I ever noticed: awesome work!
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:42 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:42 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Metafilter: It's lonely and echoey without the little (number) appearing next to page titles.
posted by Melismata at 6:44 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 6:44 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Among the number to state that when Metafilter didn't load, my first thought was of course that my Wi-Fi was down. Or perhaps my mobile device was failing.
Just goes to show once again how reliable support is for this site! Well done!
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 6:46 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Just goes to show once again how reliable support is for this site! Well done!
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 6:46 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Commiserations on your shitty day of things breaking shittily.
Ah, the web.
posted by Artw at 6:50 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ah, the web.
posted by Artw at 6:50 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I woke up at 5 this morning and the two options were to do a bit of the work I have piled up for the weekend or check Metafilter. So I actually finished one major task before going back to sleep. Thanks, Metafilter! You always have my back.
posted by tavegyl at 6:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by tavegyl at 6:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
/hugs MetaFilter tight, tears coursing freely down face
posted by mwhybark at 6:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 6:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's crazy how much of a hole this place leaves when it's not there. Glad you guys were on it, hope it wasn't too stressful. We missed you, that's for sure.
posted by OHenryPacey at 6:54 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 6:54 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I thought it had something to do with Trump.
posted by MtDewd at 6:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by MtDewd at 6:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I too thought I had missed the beginning of the trumpocalypse.
Glad things are back up. Thanks frimble and cortex!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Glad things are back up. Thanks frimble and cortex!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Considering the date it happened, I was considering blaming Kylo Ren. (You're going to name the SQL server Luke, right?)
I thought it had something to do with Trump.
Well, if it had happened on the 5th (Cinco de Mayo), I would've suspected he'd built a FireWall.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I thought it had something to do with Trump.
Well, if it had happened on the 5th (Cinco de Mayo), I would've suspected he'd built a FireWall.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
The other factor here was that I was at home alone with a three-year-old while this was going on.
"I'm really sorry. I have to work."
"Why?"
"Because things are broken at work and I need to fix them."
"Why?"
"Um, so that people can argue on the internet?"
"Why?"
"Because people have fun arguing?"
"Yeah."
"Are you done yet?"
"No, I'm really sorry."
ten seconds later
"Done now?"
"No..."
"THIS IS SO ANNOYING"
(If it makes it funny: I translated - the child was speaking German)
posted by frimble (staff) at 7:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [69 favorites]
"I'm really sorry. I have to work."
"Why?"
"Because things are broken at work and I need to fix them."
"Why?"
"Um, so that people can argue on the internet?"
"Why?"
"Because people have fun arguing?"
"Yeah."
"Are you done yet?"
"No, I'm really sorry."
ten seconds later
"Done now?"
"No..."
"THIS IS SO ANNOYING"
(If it makes it funny: I translated - the child was speaking German)
posted by frimble (staff) at 7:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [69 favorites]
SaltySalticid: "Lurker for well over a decade, member for a few years, this is the first outage I ever noticed: awesome work!"
Ah, for the days of JRUN errors.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Ah, for the days of JRUN errors.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Hugs offered frimble. This stuff is hard.
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:05 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Annika Cicada at 7:05 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ah, for the days of JRUN errors.
“When we were noobs, metafilter used to go down like the Titanic! And we liked it that way!”
posted by octobersurprise at 7:12 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
“When we were noobs, metafilter used to go down like the Titanic! And we liked it that way!”
posted by octobersurprise at 7:12 PM on May 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
"And Matt shut down the site for two weeks so he could go on vacation!"
posted by Chrysostom at 7:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 7:13 PM on May 4, 2018 [21 favorites]
I was getting panicky for a few minutes refreshing. And then I went back to my minimum wage job and forgot thankfully. I was spared some upset.
posted by starlybri at 7:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by starlybri at 7:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
We had to take our vacations at Plastic.com!
posted by octobersurprise at 7:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 7:17 PM on May 4, 2018 [19 favorites]
(If it makes it funny: I translated - the child was speaking German)
That would be hilarious in either language, and I'm sure the child knows the German word that describes that situation. ;D
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
That would be hilarious in either language, and I'm sure the child knows the German word that describes that situation. ;D
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Does 10 hours break the record for longest time with no new posts on the front page?
posted by straight at 7:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by straight at 7:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
It is difficult to describe how frightened I was when I tried to go to the status page and it said the domain had expired. Oh no not this, not now.
Thank you thank you thank you frimble and cortex, for all your hard work. We're all depending on you. (Sorry.)
posted by Lyn Never at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thank you thank you thank you frimble and cortex, for all your hard work. We're all depending on you. (Sorry.)
posted by Lyn Never at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thanks for the explanation, and the fix! Took the opportunity to check up on oil drummers: Euan Mearns is still at it.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018
posted by JoeXIII007 at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018
break the record...?
Probably not. Metafilter's (first) FPP was in 1993. *edit: 1999. Although the First Poster there has a profile with a 2000 join date (FPP post date is July 14, 1999)
posted by porpoise at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Probably not. Metafilter's (first) FPP was in 1993. *edit: 1999. Although the First Poster there has a profile with a 2000 join date (FPP post date is July 14, 1999)
posted by porpoise at 7:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought we were all being put in time out because of the politics thread. Glad we're back!
posted by TwoStride at 7:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 7:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Do we need to get tracicle to bring MonkeyFilter back, just in case?
posted by TedW at 7:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by TedW at 7:22 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
MonkeyFilter
If MetaChat still a thing? The domain is super neoLib capitalistic WebWannabe2.+.
I remember being an angsty mid-20s on there with a lot of really good peeps providing support. Mudpuppie and jonmc and the whole crew.
posted by porpoise at 7:27 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
If MetaChat still a thing? The domain is super neoLib capitalistic WebWannabe2.+.
I remember being an angsty mid-20s on there with a lot of really good peeps providing support. Mudpuppie and jonmc and the whole crew.
posted by porpoise at 7:27 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.
I know I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
posted by notsnot at 7:33 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I know I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
posted by notsnot at 7:33 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
MetaChat still exists, in very very nominal form; there's a post today about the outage, heh. Key thing is it's a .org; whatever that is at .com is unrelated nonsense.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:33 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:33 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I blamed (Australia's) NBN. First time it didn't deserve it. Welcome home, Metafilter, I missed you.
posted by b33j at 7:42 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by b33j at 7:42 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Our power has been out here in Toronto after a crazy windstorm, so of course as soon as MetaFilter came back online my phone was down to 2% battery. Currently postponing the inevitable by charging from my 70% battery laptop. Wife is already asleep so I guess I could either just stare at a candle or go to bed.
posted by chococat at 7:44 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by chococat at 7:44 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Nice work everyone. In every life a little rain must fall along with losing a few nines.
posted by GuyZero at 7:52 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by GuyZero at 7:52 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Let's just blame Coldfusion on this one, for ol' time's sake!
posted by slater at 7:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by slater at 7:56 PM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Then again, if only half the site disappeared, we could have blamed Thanos. (I'm glad we've reached the post-crisis point where dumb jokes are possible)
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
It was you? I thought it was me.
Thanks guys.
posted by mule98J at 7:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thanks guys.
posted by mule98J at 7:58 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am so sorry you had to spend your Friday afternoon/evening like that. However, I never knew how reliant I was on the blue and the green until they were gone. DON'T LEAVE!
posted by missmobtown at 8:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by missmobtown at 8:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's not you, it's us. We mean that sincerely. It's not a brush-off. It has nothing to do with your incredibly poor choice of dates, like to see Gone Girl or the one where you stripped naked as soon as we entered a room*. We'd like to still be friends. Just the kind of friends who lose each others' numbers and block each other on facebook, you know?
*actual thing that happened on first and last date
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
*actual thing that happened on first and last date
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:02 PM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
downforeveryoneorjustme.com said it was up so I was mumbling imprecations at Verizon. It wasn't until I asked on Twitter that the full extent of the horror was revealed.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
This'd never have happened if mathowie was still in charge!
posted by slater at 8:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by slater at 8:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Key thing is it's a .org
Whoops! Sorry. Totally forgot it was http://metachat.org/
posted by porpoise at 8:05 PM on May 4, 2018
Whoops! Sorry. Totally forgot it was http://metachat.org/
posted by porpoise at 8:05 PM on May 4, 2018
Every Metafilter needs a hug.
posted by blurker at 8:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by blurker at 8:18 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Metafilter server DOWN during Infrastructure Week, of all weeks! What next? Dr. Oz named the nation's top health advisor?
Ahahahhahaha. J/k, j/k that would be ridiculous
posted by triggerfinger at 8:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Ahahahhahaha. J/k, j/k that would be ridiculous
posted by triggerfinger at 8:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Saw the site was down, switched tabs and continued Tehhunding my way through the megathread. (Sometimes reading them "from the future" can be fun. Like, it was delightful reading the speculation of Cohen's third client and gleefully thinking "Oh no, you're never going to guess." This was not a comment about politics. It was a comment about reading Metafilter. We now return you to your regularly scheduled MeTa post.)
Thanks for getting it back up so quickly and the excellent explanation of what happened!
posted by Ruki at 8:34 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks for getting it back up so quickly and the excellent explanation of what happened!
posted by Ruki at 8:34 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I caught up on Westworld and The Expanse today and then there was no Fanfare!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:45 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:45 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
My first thought was, Oh, no there has been some event so aweful that discussion of it has overwhelmed the MeFi servers.
posted by straight at 8:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by straight at 8:51 PM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
No I didn't, there's a 4th episode of The Expanse. Thanks again!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:57 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Is this the new metatalktail thread?
posted by runcifex at 9:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by runcifex at 9:04 PM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I had to go and find something to do offline.
posted by vickyverky at 9:12 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by vickyverky at 9:12 PM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
We bring down the DB server basically never when we can help it because unlike an Apache reboot, which usually takes all of two minutes and don't need any real spooling up after, the SQL Server setup has a lot of startup involved in getting everything loaded into memory to support the normal level of load on the site. Once's it's up and humming it does good for months at a time.
I love every one of these metaphors. It’s like frimble is heating up the cones and Cygnus Centauri is our next stop.
posted by notyou at 9:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I love every one of these metaphors. It’s like frimble is heating up the cones and Cygnus Centauri is our next stop.
posted by notyou at 9:24 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
You know frimble, I hear that goats are the next big thing in server maintenance...
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Speaking of metaphors, a more pun-tastic person than I suggested that we've been undertipping our server.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:16 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wonderful job frimble! It's always good to hear that this place is in very safe hands.
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 12:03 AM on May 5, 2018
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 12:03 AM on May 5, 2018
Omg I was dying at work because it was a slow day. I had to resort to making jokes at Cortex's expense on Twitter. Like the best jokes you can make for somebody you love.
posted by numaner at 12:14 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 12:14 AM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Omg you guys, I had to go to Twitter. I don’t like it there very much...
You know how when you lose power and you keep forgetting? Like, you go to watch TV, but there’s no power, so you think “Okay, I’ll just microwave some... damn it!” And then you’re like “Alexa! Play Pando-son of a...!”
Today was like that. “I’ll just check AskMetafilter real quick... oh yeah. Right. Okay, well, let’s just check in with the politics megathre.. Oh. Right. Shit. Wonder what’s going on with Metafilter? Bet they’ve got an update in MetaTalk. Oh, yeah. Right. Okay.... (2 minutes later) I’ll just check AskMetafilter real quick.... Shit!”
posted by Weeping_angel at 1:11 AM on May 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
You know how when you lose power and you keep forgetting? Like, you go to watch TV, but there’s no power, so you think “Okay, I’ll just microwave some... damn it!” And then you’re like “Alexa! Play Pando-son of a...!”
Today was like that. “I’ll just check AskMetafilter real quick... oh yeah. Right. Okay, well, let’s just check in with the politics megathre.. Oh. Right. Shit. Wonder what’s going on with Metafilter? Bet they’ve got an update in MetaTalk. Oh, yeah. Right. Okay.... (2 minutes later) I’ll just check AskMetafilter real quick.... Shit!”
posted by Weeping_angel at 1:11 AM on May 5, 2018 [27 favorites]
vickyverky, I need that jigsaw. I'm stuck on one about the life of Moses and it is no fun. Mostly clouds and mountains.
posted by paduasoy at 2:43 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 2:43 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would like to thank everybody in chat who made the GREAT METAFILTER SHUTDOWN of 2018 bearable.
posted by Pendragon at 3:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 3:15 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
"THIS IS SO ANNOYING"
(If it makes it funny: I translated - the child was speaking German)
That would be hilarious in either language, and I'm sure the child knows the German word that describes that situation. ;D
Frimblespielverlust? Frimblenervtgefühl?
Actually wondering: what’s current 3jahralt for “annoying”?
posted by progosk at 3:31 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
(If it makes it funny: I translated - the child was speaking German)
That would be hilarious in either language, and I'm sure the child knows the German word that describes that situation. ;D
Frimblespielverlust? Frimblenervtgefühl?
Actually wondering: what’s current 3jahralt for “annoying”?
posted by progosk at 3:31 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just figured you all had left me at the rest stop as a “prank.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:36 AM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:36 AM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Actually wondering: what’s current 3jahralt for “annoying”?
„Anstrengend“
posted by frimble (staff) at 3:52 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
„Anstrengend“
posted by frimble (staff) at 3:52 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I had a question I wanted to ask; it figures that the one time I would beat my lethargy to actually post something, the site goes down.
Thanks for getting the site back up. :)
> metachat.org
I probably signed up there at a bad time but I never got my confirmation email. Because of that I kind of figured that they were winding down site operations or something and weren't accepting new members because of that.
posted by redrawturtle at 4:03 AM on May 5, 2018
Thanks for getting the site back up. :)
> metachat.org
I probably signed up there at a bad time but I never got my confirmation email. Because of that I kind of figured that they were winding down site operations or something and weren't accepting new members because of that.
posted by redrawturtle at 4:03 AM on May 5, 2018
I mean, I'd be happy if it turned out not to be the case. But I didn't see a reason to make a fuss, so I never bothered to ask anymore about it. And then I just forgot.
posted by redrawturtle at 4:09 AM on May 5, 2018
posted by redrawturtle at 4:09 AM on May 5, 2018
Psht, what kind of downtime is six hours? Why, in my day, downtimes were long enough that we could call our mothers, write a novel, help a stranger and solve a crime.
posted by notquitemaryann at 4:48 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by notquitemaryann at 4:48 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
frimble: The other factor here was that I was at home alone with a three-year-old while this was going on.
Nothing like a three-year-old for turning the server recovery difficulty level up to 11.
"I pushed a button for you when you got coffee. I did good helping!"
posted by clawsoon at 4:59 AM on May 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
Nothing like a three-year-old for turning the server recovery difficulty level up to 11.
"I pushed a button for you when you got coffee. I did good helping!"
posted by clawsoon at 4:59 AM on May 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
The other factor here was that I was at home alone with a three-year-old while this was going on.
And it only took you 6 hours get everything back up?! Either your 3 y.o. is preternaturally calm or your tech deity status has just risen above Mt. Olympus. In either case, color me awed.
posted by romakimmy at 5:34 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
And it only took you 6 hours get everything back up?! Either your 3 y.o. is preternaturally calm or your tech deity status has just risen above Mt. Olympus. In either case, color me awed.
posted by romakimmy at 5:34 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Your kid's just three and already speaks German? Amazing!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
I just sent another donation to MetaFilter. I encourage others to do the same.
posted by SPrintF at 6:26 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 6:26 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Great work, frimble. Thank you.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:35 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:35 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
When I woke up to it this morning, I assumed Metafilter had finally made it onto the Great Firewall exclusion list.
So hooray! And stop talking about [redacted] and [redacted] OK?
edited to not by my own idiocy get Metafilter onto the Great Firewall exclusion list... duh.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:58 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
So hooray! And stop talking about [redacted] and [redacted] OK?
edited to not by my own idiocy get Metafilter onto the Great Firewall exclusion list... duh.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:58 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
"I was actually relieved when I got home and Metafilter was still down - the IT guy didn't just block Metafilter on the work network."
Ha! My thoughts exactly. Combine that with the fact that I was in the process of writing a book-length comment at the same time my boss called an all-hands meeting on Monday, and I was sure they found out how much time I spend here.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:12 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Ha! My thoughts exactly. Combine that with the fact that I was in the process of writing a book-length comment at the same time my boss called an all-hands meeting on Monday, and I was sure they found out how much time I spend here.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:12 AM on May 5, 2018 [6 favorites]
Admittedly, it was rough hours when I couldn't post or read in the Avengers: Infinity War.
Tried that "outdoors" thing. It's not bad! Tried to mix it with the "talk to real human beings" thing and was considerably less successful.
Luckily Netflix didn't abandon me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:42 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Tried that "outdoors" thing. It's not bad! Tried to mix it with the "talk to real human beings" thing and was considerably less successful.
Luckily Netflix didn't abandon me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:42 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Pendragon: the GREAT METAFILTER SHUTDOWN of 2018
Remember the Massacre of Bowling Green, Blue, Grey, Purple and so on.
Brandon Blatcher: Tried that "outdoors" thing. It's not bad!
Nah. The resolution is pretty good, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:50 AM on May 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Remember the Massacre of Bowling Green, Blue, Grey, Purple and so on.
Brandon Blatcher: Tried that "outdoors" thing. It's not bad!
Nah. The resolution is pretty good, but the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:50 AM on May 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
Omg you guys, I had to go to Twitter. I don’t like it there very much...
Twitter: for emergency use only.
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 7:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
Twitter: for emergency use only.
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 7:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
...so, now, LearnedLeague is down. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE??!?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
> It never occurred to me that Metafilter could not be there.
N00b! Back in the day... oh, never mind, I have to retie this onion to my belt.
Of course, this is all cortex's fault; I move we vote him off the boat.
posted by languagehat at 8:45 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
N00b! Back in the day... oh, never mind, I have to retie this onion to my belt.
Of course, this is all cortex's fault; I move we vote him off the boat.
posted by languagehat at 8:45 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's still spotty. Just had to wait 5 minutes before I got to load the site again :-(
posted by Pendragon at 8:51 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 8:51 AM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yeah, some significant CPU spiking in the last half hour, not sure what's up but taking a look.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:07 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:07 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
It should be back to normal now – there was a scraping bot not following our robots.txt and grabbing many user activity pages per second. Which is something that happens on a regular basis, but where I check out each one manually, because it would be bad to, e.g. block Google (which is constantly crawling MeFi) from grabbing pages.
posted by frimble (staff) at 9:44 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by frimble (staff) at 9:44 AM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks guys! I appreciated the tweet letting me know it wasn’t just me.
posted by Iteki at 9:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Iteki at 9:56 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I went outside. Turns out it is now summer.
posted by srboisvert at 10:11 AM on May 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 10:11 AM on May 5, 2018 [13 favorites]
All the I missed you sooooo much and It turns out there's this place called outside comments have been covered. I am calm about this because I was actually doing other stuff, so thanks for the timing, and thank you, Frimble, for working hard when I presume you were meant to be hanging out with Littlefrimble and not working.
posted by theora55 at 10:31 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 10:31 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
It was May 4th. I blame Star Wars.
posted by JanetLand at 11:26 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by JanetLand at 11:26 AM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Hokey code and ancient hardware are no match for a good frimble at your side, kid.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:32 AM on May 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:32 AM on May 5, 2018 [14 favorites]
who're you calling failed disk-read/write headed
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:36 AM on May 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:36 AM on May 5, 2018 [7 favorites]
And it only took you 6 hours get everything back up?! Either your 3 y.o. is preternaturally calm or your tech deity status has just risen above Mt. Olympus. In either case, color me awed.
Not calm at all. Very annoyed that I was working (and understandably so). Normally, I work when the child is sleeping because, well, I had toys thrown at me and had to talk the child out of destroying things, because I had to split my attention and couldn’t focus on them.
posted by frimble (staff) at 11:49 AM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Not calm at all. Very annoyed that I was working (and understandably so). Normally, I work when the child is sleeping because, well, I had toys thrown at me and had to talk the child out of destroying things, because I had to split my attention and couldn’t focus on them.
posted by frimble (staff) at 11:49 AM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
You bastards!
(thankyouthankyouthankyou! Mwah! Mwah!)
posted by petebest at 2:54 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
(thankyouthankyouthankyou! Mwah! Mwah!)
posted by petebest at 2:54 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I do have to say that it says something about how well-run this site is that even when I'm at work, with a great internet connection and rare problems, my first instinct was still to blame the connection when I discovered that Metafilter was timing out.
Thanks again for the hard work!
posted by Aleyn at 4:59 PM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thanks again for the hard work!
posted by Aleyn at 4:59 PM on May 5, 2018 [3 favorites]
SHHHHHH!!! You'll make the server crash again!
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:04 PM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:04 PM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thank you for your hard work. I saw the status page results and was scared Metafilter was Gone Forever, and it hit me how much I love and would miss you all! So glad to have everyone back.
posted by corb at 7:21 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by corb at 7:21 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
> Melismata:
"Thank Christ. How can I discuss politics with my relatives without Metafilter telling me what to think??"
Seriously glad no one died of food poisoning during the downtime. I mean, really, I understand downtime happens, but people need to understand, this CAN be a matter of life or death.
posted by Samizdata at 8:25 PM on May 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
"Thank Christ. How can I discuss politics with my relatives without Metafilter telling me what to think??"
Seriously glad no one died of food poisoning during the downtime. I mean, really, I understand downtime happens, but people need to understand, this CAN be a matter of life or death.
posted by Samizdata at 8:25 PM on May 5, 2018 [5 favorites]
I just ate everything in sight, food or not, unrestrained, because how was I to know?
It was ugly.
posted by bongo_x at 8:43 PM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
It was ugly.
posted by bongo_x at 8:43 PM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Seriously glad no one died of food poisoning during the downtime.
Regrettably, one Mefite was trapped in their bedroom for the duration due to a stuck knob and no community support.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:57 PM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
Regrettably, one Mefite was trapped in their bedroom for the duration due to a stuck knob and no community support.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:57 PM on May 5, 2018 [8 favorites]
don't miss the list of other communities to check out :(
Half Bakery still exists?!?
posted by contraption at 9:36 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Half Bakery still exists?!?
posted by contraption at 9:36 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
I never noticed that Metafilter was down. I was at work and I always keep the political megathread open. I read snatches of it during the waits for Photoshop to render pages. Since I never got near the end of the thread, I never updated the page. It remained cached. and I never noticed the server was down.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:29 PM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:29 PM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]
a humble nudibranch: I never noticed that Metafilter was down. I was at work and I always keep the political megathread open. I read snatches of it during the waits for Photoshop to render pages. Since I never got near the end of the thread, I never updated the page. It remained cached. and I never noticed the server was down.
Maybe the politics megathread needs an "unplanned shutdown" for a couple of hours every day so that people can catch up.
Or an extra $5 if you want to post to it...
posted by clawsoon at 5:04 AM on May 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Maybe the politics megathread needs an "unplanned shutdown" for a couple of hours every day so that people can catch up.
Or an extra $5 if you want to post to it...
posted by clawsoon at 5:04 AM on May 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
Burn
posted by unliteral at 5:11 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by unliteral at 5:11 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just ate everything in sight, food or not, unrestrained, because how was I to know?
It was ugly.
On the upside, that plate of old salmon lasagne that used to be under my laundry pile seems to have gone now.
posted by flabdablet at 6:37 AM on May 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
It was ugly.
On the upside, that plate of old salmon lasagne that used to be under my laundry pile seems to have gone now.
posted by flabdablet at 6:37 AM on May 6, 2018 [8 favorites]
(Search for that, it’s worth it.)
posted by Melismata at 11:18 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 11:18 AM on May 6, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's so rare now that we have MeFi outages that when it did go went down, keeping in mind the several JRUN errors of old, I was inspired to compose a tiny ditty, sung to the tune of the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron"...
I saw -400 on a website and my heart stood still
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN
The error message told me that it was fatal
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN.
Yeah, it caught my eye
Shook m’head and said, “Why oh why?”
Waited forever for it to come back 0
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN.
posted by Lynsey at 1:22 PM on May 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
I saw -400 on a website and my heart stood still
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN
The error message told me that it was fatal
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN.
Yeah, it caught my eye
Shook m’head and said, “Why oh why?”
Waited forever for it to come back 0
JRUN RUN RUN RUN
JRUN RUN RUN.
posted by Lynsey at 1:22 PM on May 6, 2018 [10 favorites]
I... guess I am happy that I was busy grading during most of this and thus didn’t really notice (other than a cursory “stupid university WiFi is being stupid again”).
Nah, I still hate grading. And our WiFi is pretty stupid.
posted by nat at 1:49 AM on May 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nah, I still hate grading. And our WiFi is pretty stupid.
posted by nat at 1:49 AM on May 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
...so, now, LearnedLeague is down.
In case any MeFite LLamas missed it, LearnedLeague is very down indeed.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:42 AM on May 7, 2018
In case any MeFite LLamas missed it, LearnedLeague is very down indeed.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:42 AM on May 7, 2018
I have feelings about this as a site reliability engineer. (Hours to start up? *shudder*)
One way we've handled high availability for databases is to have read replicas or database clusters; writes go to the main one, and changes get propagated to the others. Backups and other batch processes can hit the others. In case of issues, you can promote one of the others.
I hate writing with inexact terminology but I have no time right now to write this properly...
posted by Pronoiac at 2:28 PM on May 7, 2018
One way we've handled high availability for databases is to have read replicas or database clusters; writes go to the main one, and changes get propagated to the others. Backups and other batch processes can hit the others. In case of issues, you can promote one of the others.
I hate writing with inexact terminology but I have no time right now to write this properly...
posted by Pronoiac at 2:28 PM on May 7, 2018
One way we've handled high availability for databases is to have read replicas or database clusters; writes go to the main one, and changes get propagated to the others. Backups and other batch processes can hit the others. In case of issues, you can promote one of the others.
That’s a totally fair thing to bring up and something that’s been in the back of my mind for a bit, especially as it fixes a few other problems for me.
The main restricting factor there is the number of work hours in a week. It’s been on my plate as would-be-nice for ages, but those are the things that end up sacrificed to need-to-do when it comes to allocating hours in a week.
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:38 AM on May 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
That’s a totally fair thing to bring up and something that’s been in the back of my mind for a bit, especially as it fixes a few other problems for me.
The main restricting factor there is the number of work hours in a week. It’s been on my plate as would-be-nice for ages, but those are the things that end up sacrificed to need-to-do when it comes to allocating hours in a week.
posted by frimble (staff) at 5:38 AM on May 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Frimble, the solution is obvious: Train your three-year-old!
posted by clawsoon at 6:31 AM on May 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 6:31 AM on May 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by samthemander at 5:31 PM on May 4, 2018 [54 favorites]