Is PSOW In Trouble?

[AzureBlaze]

I mean, as a website, is this place in trouble?

I see the Guntz topic that is stikey'd at the top, but even the new links work irregularly. Many times, when I try to go to regular PSOW, it says it's not working. A lot of people I see on actual PSO (and elsewhere on the web) are saying they don't come here anymore because it is so "Shabby and Broken and Lazy"

I am not going to jump to any conclusions or fling accusations about, but I am curious and worried.

I know that a server/network of the host got messed up, but is it still messing up -right now-?

If it isn't, what is preventing repairs to the images and front page? I do have my own site, and it has gotten messed up before...and I know that re-linking images is a hassle, but it is not infinitly hard unless something you're not in control of is ruining it/not allowing. Is PSOW short handed some how in staff, or is something on the host out of control?

To make it look 'healed' and attractive again, most of the changes would be small and cosmetic only, such as restoring the little forum icons/gadgety images and tearing down the contest, 'current site news' thing on the front page that is months and months old.

Someone, somewhere is probably paying money to someone else to keep this place running. Is this person getting severly swindled because the host's thing crashed and rather wrecked most of the content?

Will PSOW go down, if not enough people keep coming? The forums are slow because BB is a hassle for non-jps, and not many people like card. Ep 2 is slow, and (by this point repetative) Most of the message board population doesn't even seem to actually play any of the games any more. Are we in danger of being out of a site?

I really value(ed) this place, it's got tons of stuff that you can't find elsewhere (printalbe Cmode maps, really extensive mag guides etc. Really fast news updates) I don't want anything bad to happen to it!

I don't know if anyone looks in this board anymore, but if there's anyone mod-wise that's 'in the know' I hope to at least get a chance to have these answered.

[Dhylec]

well, there is not much we can do about the server being unreasonable
i have heard that we still having image problem with the server
it's unfortunate, but the best we can do is hope for it to be fixed soon

[exeq]

But I see that planetdreamcast itself, hosted by the same group, is working fine. So this make me suspicious. But myself, after a thing like this happening on server, I would activly look for another more reliable hosting company.


*edit* If the graphics and such is stored in one of the servers that is currently down, the graphics and such would not show up. Unless if gamespy says "All graphics and such all in one place for you(or ever one with us)".

I hope they make a couple of backups directories of the stuff or have a mirror site just in case of more troyble at least.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: exeq on 2004-12-04 08:04 ]</font>

[Solstis]

The reports of PSOW's death have been greatly exaggerated.

By that I mean true.

And by that I mean untrue.

Take out of that what you will.

[KodiaX987]

OK.

Gamespy.

One of their networks went down. FOR A FUCKING MONTH.

The PSOW admin had no access to his own account because it was broken.

Gamespy/IGN took a while to get to him because they were already neck-deep into other matters.

The pictures don't show up because half of the database was corrupted in the process.

Be fucking glad the website is back on so soon.

[AzureBlaze]

I did not accuse anyone of being bad or lazy.
I also did not complain about a lack of things on the site or say that it was not doing a good job. I was worried because I really like the place, and while a lot might still not be working, I am quite glad to be able to access the stuff that is (IE boards, most of the front page news etc) and I don't want anything bad happening to it, or for anyone to give up on it as some kind of 'lost cause' because the population is dwindleing.

However, I did not not know that a whole database worth of stuff got corrupted and lost. As far as I know, no one made a post that really said the extent of the damage, which was basically what I was after. (Sort of a status update and a "Why")

Thank you sortof for your sweariffic yet informative response, it was what I was looking for. I'd offer to help with things if I knew more about making websites or restoring things. I am mostly graphics....I wish everyone involved in the restoration encouragement/good luck.

[exeq]

On 2004-12-08 22:21, AzureBlaze wrote:
I did not accuse anyone of being bad or lazy.
I also did not complain about a lack of things on the site or say that it was not doing a good job. I was worried because I really like the place, and while a lot might still not be working, I am quite glad to be able to access the stuff that is (IE boards, most of the front page news etc) and I don't want anything bad happening to it, or for anyone to give up on it as some kind of 'lost cause' because the population is dwindleing.

However, I did not not know that a whole database worth of stuff got corrupted and lost. As far as I know, no one made a post that really said the extent of the damage, which was basically what I was after. (Sort of a status update and a "Why")

Thank you sortof for your sweariffic yet informative response, it was what I was looking for. I'd offer to help with things if I knew more about making websites or restoring things. I am mostly graphics....I wish everyone involved in the restoration encouragement/good luck.




I agree. Myself I was just ststing that should of been a backup of the information on this site, just incaes of someting like what happend. I know that it is impoible to get acces to a website that cannot be accessed thur a downed server. And I was just sugesting on anyother ideas that might be alternatives.

[geewj]

Err that's not exactly the problems.

A combintaion between gamespy, and a lack of time to deal with gamespy is what the problem is.

We are just gonna have to wait.

[exeq]

Sounds better than everything got corrupted. And sounds more on what us users want to here. I hope that everything gets done soon.

[Tomeeboy]

Hey all. We appreciate the concern, and we're hoping to get things all back to normal soon. Whatever happened on Gamespy's end really messed things up, and they basically said that it's now our mess to clean up. They've helped get things up and running again, but whatever happened caused many other problems (as you can see). I've been in contact with them regarding the broken images and other problems, and we're trying to get it all sorted out. The site is so huge and there are so many files, that it's not just a clear-cut matter of making a couple little changes and fixing the entire site.

As for finding a more reliable host, as a couple of people mentioned... Gamespy hosts the site at no charge to us, and they're one of the largest gaming communities on the web. They aren't as reliable as a professional web host, in my opinion, but this site generates no money to PAY for a professional web host. In other words... beggars can't be choosers http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif It takes a lot of people to run a site of this size, and they are all volunteers doing this out of their own spare time. As far as I'm concerned, all of the PSOW staff has already done more than can be expected of them for free.

I just received some additional info from Gamespy recently and will hopefully be getting with erupt in the next day or so to look it over. I'm hoping we can at least get the broken images fixed up in the next week or so. Like I said, though, when you're running a site with volunteers and working with no budget whatsoever, things like this are just going to take a little more time than if we were some big commericial site.

Be patient and we'll do our best to get things all patched up. I don't think anyone has any intention of letting the site self-destruct, and you can probably expect some updates and improvements as we get closer to PSOU as well.

[Hrith]

Awesome, simply awesome.

You have all our support.