The Return of The Fan Forum

Announcements and instructions regarding the board
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

The Return of The Fan Forum

Post by DrSpooky »

Hi All,

As you know, the site was broken into on November 27. Since that time, I have worked to restore a September backup and rehost the site on another computer that is dedicated solely to hosting The Fan Forum. This has some nice advantages. We now have no limits on bandwidth or disk space consumption.

In setting up the site again, I have made some minor changes.
  • Updated phpBB and phpMyChat
  • Logo on Upper Left Hand Side now rotates. Submit your 300x150 logo and see it there. :)
  • Visual confirmation (type in what you see) required when registering
  • Automated nightly backups to a different machine. This way, there is no human involvement and if this machine dies, we have it somewhere else.
I still have a few things on the TODO list:
  • Links to Amazon (.com and .uk), CD-Now and PayPal so we all can help pay for the site. This will include direct links to EC material on Amazon since that improves the kickback.
  • System News Blog.
  • Users in Chat displayed on top page.
  • Page with complete set of logos shown.
If you have any ideas or notice any problems, please feel free to PM myself or Spooky or just email her.

--DrSpooky
Last edited by DrSpooky on Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:02 am, edited 4 times in total.
User avatar
pophead2k
Posts: 2403
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:49 pm
Location: Bull City y'all

Post by pophead2k »

A million thanks for all your hard work Doc. I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone. Hopefully everyone will find their way back.
User avatar
BlueChair
Posts: 5959
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 5:41 pm
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Post by BlueChair »

I missed you guys. :cry:
This morning you've got time for a hot, home-cooked breakfast! Delicious and piping hot in only 3 microwave minutes.
martinfoyle
Posts: 2502
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 5:24 pm
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Contact:

Post by martinfoyle »

Ditto.
Goody2Shoes
Posts: 1301
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 12:24 pm
Location: bouncing over a white cloud

Post by Goody2Shoes »

I just want to thank Mom and Dad for working so hard to keep the kids together!
It's a radiation vibe I'm groovin' on
User avatar
mood swung
Posts: 6908
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:59 pm
Location: out looking for my tribe
Contact:

Post by mood swung »

ditto that!
Like me, the "g" is silent.
User avatar
Boy With A Problem
Posts: 2718
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:41 pm
Location: Inside the Pocket of a Clown

Post by Boy With A Problem »

pophead speaks for me -

Thanks Dr. Spooky !!
Everyone just needs to fuckin’ relax. Smoke more weed, the world is ending.
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Avatars

Post by DrSpooky »

Spooky just pointed out ot me that no one has avatars. Let me
get home and see what I can do about it. I have eithe rnot restored
them or the board is configured to look in the wrong place.
User avatar
noiseradio
Posts: 2295
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 12:04 pm
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Post by noiseradio »

It's like the Stepford Fans around here--everyone looks like Bobster!
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--William Shakespeare
User avatar
so lacklustre
Posts: 3183
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 2:36 pm
Location: half way to bliss

Post by so lacklustre »

Thanks Dr S.
signed with love and vicious kisses
User avatar
Gillibeanz
Posts: 1697
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 1:28 pm
Location: England

Post by Gillibeanz »

Thanks for all your hard work Mr & Mrs Spooky - and death to the hacker shitbags who have nothing better to do than spoil other peoples fun!! :x
COME ON YOU SPURS!!
User avatar
Tim(e)
Posts: 746
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 5:37 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by Tim(e) »

Nice to be back... it was like being locked out of my own home :cry:

Anyway, thanks Dr S for all of your hard work getting this thing up and flying again.
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Avatars return

Post by DrSpooky »

Thanks to Mrs S, I was able to login remotely and restore the old avatars.
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

testing watching a topic

Post by DrSpooky »

I just started watching this topic.. let's see if I get email when I post.
User avatar
Poppet
Posts: 939
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:49 am
Location: Boston, MA USA

Post by Poppet »

thousands of platonic smooches upon your head dr. spooky!

and more thousands of smooches for mrs. spooky, who does all the wonderful stuff necessary so dr. spooky is able to fix the board!!!


i wuv you guys!!!! **big group hug**
... name the stars and constellations,
count the cars and watch the seasons....
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by DrSpooky »

Thanks for the platonic smooches. :)

And thanks for tripping it so I got an email that the topic had been posted to. I don't know whether people will have to recheck that or not. It definitely works if you check it now though.

What do you think of all the nice logos?
User avatar
spooky girlfriend
Site Admin
Posts: 3007
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 5:19 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by spooky girlfriend »

It's a team effort here at the Spooky house. We're just glad to be back. Hopefully all this will smooth out soon. Don't freak if you guys see a problem here and there - this will still take some work. We're here if you guys need us. :)

My hat is off to the Dr as well. All kidding aside, he is damn near a technical genius. I appreciate all he has done and will continue to do for this site.
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by DrSpooky »

Ahhh Mrs S... you make me blush...

Everyone.. I have setup a "Dynamic DNS" name for the site which will work even if the cable company changes the IP address. You should be able to get here as:

http://ecfans.dyndns.org

If it all works as it claims, our hardware firewall/router will update the address at dyndns.org if it changes. That should reduce some of the pressure.
User avatar
Mr. Average
Posts: 2031
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 12:22 pm
Location: Orange County, Californication

Post by Mr. Average »

It is good to know that the Huntsville area is home to brilliant minds who are not all rocket scientists.

Thank you.
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by DrSpooky »

Rocket scientists are a dime a dozen.. software is where the action is.

As an unrelated aside, I should apologize for losing all the user names that registered since the last backup. Bummer dude!
User avatar
El Vez
Posts: 2085
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 4:44 pm
Location: Heart Attack & Vine

Post by El Vez »

Thanks for everything, Doc & Mrs. Doc.
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by DrSpooky »

No problem. I really just want to get things running smoothly and make the site grow.

Any ideas?
bobster
Posts: 2160
Joined: Sat Jun 28, 2003 12:29 am
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Post by bobster »

I also just wanted to thank you again for doing all this work...and I'm especially happy now that I'm an "original" again!
http://www.forwardtoyesterday.com -- Where "hopelessly dated" is a compliment!
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

Post by DrSpooky »

I am a bit worried about your avatar. I don't see anything now where before you had that great X. Did I miss restoring it? <grin>
User avatar
DrSpooky
Site Admin
Posts: 822
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:31 pm
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Contact:

New Logo Rotation Algorithm

Post by DrSpooky »

I was looking over the access logs for the past couple of days and am impressed. If I am reading the logs correctly, we have had over 250 unique IP addresses hit the site in the past two days! And that's without the real domain name!!

Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues I am tinkering with:
  • Some users have missing avatars. I am pm'ing folks as I notice them in the logs. If your avatar was lost in the Great Crash of '04, then please upload it again.
  • Greater than 50% of our used bandwidth has been due to the frequently changing images. I am now rotating the logo once per hour. This should work better for everyone as your page refreshes should be faster.
If you spot anything, please post or PM me.
Post Reply