Hi Ciaron.
Norries email is norrie@hirford.freeserve.co.uk I live abou 6miles from him but don't have his address or I would give him a call as I would like to borrow the use of his sphere tester as well as talk to him about the forum.
Log onto www.club-xm.co.uk and you will see it is already owned by someone, my Danish friend says it belongs to Chris, as do about 15 others! But when you do log on you are then offered a box to put in you ideal name and they will find if it is used or not. It's by 123.co.uk and they list the prices too £2.50 or there abouts for a Domain name ?.co.uk. org, net and so on are there too at various costs.
I've looked at some of Chris's other sites. citroen-ca.com, citroencarclub.org.uk, nexenservices.com, saxosports.com and trentino.com, I don't see any resembling our forum. WWW.club-xm.co.uk is dormant.
Regards.
Bob.
Full Version Xm Forum Access Problems
Hi all,
Sorry for not getting in touch sooner. I couldn't get back in until Ciaran showed us the back door route. I have tried a mass email but it didn't work.
The problem is that the messages table of the SQL database has crashed. Choosing the repair option does nothing. I have spoken to Chris and he's working on the problem as we speak. Please be patient. The data is not lost but it will prove difficult to migrate to another forum software package. The best hope is that the table can be repaired.
Searching around the net for the specific error message reveals many posts blaming the problem on MYSql5. There are a few patches posted around various websites. We'll be trying a few of those out in due course.
Since the site is entirely non-commercial we can only afford to spend frre time on it at weekends and evenings. This of course makes any maintenance and repair slower than would otherwise be the case.
Do not abandon hope.
Cheers
Norrie
Sorry for not getting in touch sooner. I couldn't get back in until Ciaran showed us the back door route. I have tried a mass email but it didn't work.
The problem is that the messages table of the SQL database has crashed. Choosing the repair option does nothing. I have spoken to Chris and he's working on the problem as we speak. Please be patient. The data is not lost but it will prove difficult to migrate to another forum software package. The best hope is that the table can be repaired.
Searching around the net for the specific error message reveals many posts blaming the problem on MYSql5. There are a few patches posted around various websites. We'll be trying a few of those out in due course.
Since the site is entirely non-commercial we can only afford to spend frre time on it at weekends and evenings. This of course makes any maintenance and repair slower than would otherwise be the case.
Do not abandon hope.
Cheers
Norrie
Hi Norrie,
Cheers for the response (was just about to email you), and very glad to hear Chris is now aware of the problem, hopefully the table corruption isn't too severe and the data can be recovered.
MySQL 5 does have a few infamous flaws, however we've been lucky to be unaffected up until now.
On the site front, I didn't mean to seem impatient or anything like that, I appreciate you look after the site on a voluntary basis, just as everyone contributing useful posts here does so on the same guise. Just with it running on for a number of weeks we were getting concerned.
The whole situation does highlight the contingency of the site and its hosting. If yourself and Chris are willing, I believe it would be prudent to discuss the possibility of giving administrative access to one or more additional members, in case such a scenario should present itself in the future. You nor Chris cannot be expected to be at the beck and call of a free car forum on the internet, however I believe if we could increase the spread of administrators, we could probably negate any outage of this length or severity in future.
Just a suggestion.
Cheers
Ciarán
Cheers for the response (was just about to email you), and very glad to hear Chris is now aware of the problem, hopefully the table corruption isn't too severe and the data can be recovered.
MySQL 5 does have a few infamous flaws, however we've been lucky to be unaffected up until now.
On the site front, I didn't mean to seem impatient or anything like that, I appreciate you look after the site on a voluntary basis, just as everyone contributing useful posts here does so on the same guise. Just with it running on for a number of weeks we were getting concerned.
The whole situation does highlight the contingency of the site and its hosting. If yourself and Chris are willing, I believe it would be prudent to discuss the possibility of giving administrative access to one or more additional members, in case such a scenario should present itself in the future. You nor Chris cannot be expected to be at the beck and call of a free car forum on the internet, however I believe if we could increase the spread of administrators, we could probably negate any outage of this length or severity in future.
Just a suggestion.
Cheers
Ciarán
Hi Ciaran et al,
You're points are valid and well noted. When the site first started I suppose none of use could have imagined how it would grow and how important it became to XM enthusiasts everywhere (globally, to coin McDooms favourite word) in keeping their favourite cars on the road. For that reason not much attention was paid to the forum software and its attendant maintenance requirements (that is not to say that it got no attention at all). Having said that, dont' forget, it has served us well for the last 6 years with only two relatively minor glitches. The last glitch was allocated server space. Such is the success of Club-Xm that it grew in the background and crept up to its space limits without being immediately obvious.
It is obvious now that the forum software needs to be updated, particulaly with security in mind. Things move on in 6 years. The world is a bit more complicated than it was 6 years ago.
Chris started this site and in particular this forum in Aug 2003 and I joined in Nov 2003. After a short while Chris granted me admin rights so that I could perform the day to day maintenance. From that point on Chris pretty much left me to my own devices which was a bit trusting of him I must say. Apart from a period a couple of years back when we were inundated with self-registering bots, the forum has pretty much looked after itself. After fixing the security feature on the registration page we've not had any bots. The recent rogue porn posters are actual real people. There's not much I can do about that other than banning IP's.
From the admin account I can do quite a lot of forum maintenance but no software maintenance. Its up to Chris to do that. To be fair the software, just like windows, warns you of available updates automatically and offers you the option of updating accordingly. Unfortunately now, IPB version 1.2 is no longer supported so thats the main driver to upgrade. Upgrading is not as easy as it sounds. Every forum software uses different table setubs in the database. There is no one standard (as I understand it). Migrating the data from the current database to a new one keeping all of the members registration details, post counts, posts and attachments is fraught with problems, but not impossible.
We will try to fix the existing table to give us a little breathing space. If successful we'll look around for a new forum application. If it fails then the next task is to try to recover the data from the database and migraet it to a new forum application. If anyone has any first hand knowledge of this then by all means wade in. I am reasonably IT literate but have very little knowledge of SQL, although I'm reasonable proficient at MS Access.
For this particular issue and others like it, increasing the number of admin accounts would not have helped. I understand the philosophy of sharing the load but, when running properly, the forum needs very little admin. As a pleasant surprise it doesn't even need much moderation such is the good nature of club-xm's members. In any case its Chris's decision as site owner, not mine. I am simply grateful for the opportunity to administer the site on Chris's behalf, ultimately for the benefit of XM owners everywhere.
As I've said, please be patient. The solution is being worked on.
Cheers
Norrie
You're points are valid and well noted. When the site first started I suppose none of use could have imagined how it would grow and how important it became to XM enthusiasts everywhere (globally, to coin McDooms favourite word) in keeping their favourite cars on the road. For that reason not much attention was paid to the forum software and its attendant maintenance requirements (that is not to say that it got no attention at all). Having said that, dont' forget, it has served us well for the last 6 years with only two relatively minor glitches. The last glitch was allocated server space. Such is the success of Club-Xm that it grew in the background and crept up to its space limits without being immediately obvious.
It is obvious now that the forum software needs to be updated, particulaly with security in mind. Things move on in 6 years. The world is a bit more complicated than it was 6 years ago.
Chris started this site and in particular this forum in Aug 2003 and I joined in Nov 2003. After a short while Chris granted me admin rights so that I could perform the day to day maintenance. From that point on Chris pretty much left me to my own devices which was a bit trusting of him I must say. Apart from a period a couple of years back when we were inundated with self-registering bots, the forum has pretty much looked after itself. After fixing the security feature on the registration page we've not had any bots. The recent rogue porn posters are actual real people. There's not much I can do about that other than banning IP's.
From the admin account I can do quite a lot of forum maintenance but no software maintenance. Its up to Chris to do that. To be fair the software, just like windows, warns you of available updates automatically and offers you the option of updating accordingly. Unfortunately now, IPB version 1.2 is no longer supported so thats the main driver to upgrade. Upgrading is not as easy as it sounds. Every forum software uses different table setubs in the database. There is no one standard (as I understand it). Migrating the data from the current database to a new one keeping all of the members registration details, post counts, posts and attachments is fraught with problems, but not impossible.
We will try to fix the existing table to give us a little breathing space. If successful we'll look around for a new forum application. If it fails then the next task is to try to recover the data from the database and migraet it to a new forum application. If anyone has any first hand knowledge of this then by all means wade in. I am reasonably IT literate but have very little knowledge of SQL, although I'm reasonable proficient at MS Access.
For this particular issue and others like it, increasing the number of admin accounts would not have helped. I understand the philosophy of sharing the load but, when running properly, the forum needs very little admin. As a pleasant surprise it doesn't even need much moderation such is the good nature of club-xm's members. In any case its Chris's decision as site owner, not mine. I am simply grateful for the opportunity to administer the site on Chris's behalf, ultimately for the benefit of XM owners everywhere.
As I've said, please be patient. The solution is being worked on.
Cheers
Norrie
Hi Norrie,
Thanks for that detailed and informative response.
I do agree the forum from a resource use point of a view seems to have become a victim of its own success, which understandbly was never anticipated back in the day, when it was first setup.
With regard to the database issues, I'm quite proficient with SQL if that is any use to you or Chris in resolving the problem. Do you know whats wrong, is it table corruption or simply missing indexes and the like?
On the software front, there are numerous popular forums out there, the two most notable of which being PhpBB (which French Car Forum uses) and vBulletin. These are widely used, well supported with plenty of 3rd party addons, and most importantly, free. They also have a much better feature set than Invision Power Board which the site is currently using. The main driver for considering something like PhpBB is that there are several scripts which can migrate IPB databases to a PhpBB site, and there is a lot of documentation on doing so. Chris may wish to continue with a newer version of IPB of course, but I believe this is commercial software so will obviously incur a cost, where as PhpBB is free, and arguably better.
The migration process is usually straightforward enough (I have done a few), however it does usually require you to have an intact database on your existing forum. That said, if we can't get to the point of having sound tables, it should be possible to modify one of the migration scripts, or analyze the queries its performing and manually recreate the non-volatile data (e.g forum IDs, headers etc, rather than actual post content). I've had to do that on a few occasions in the past and its not as drastic as it sounds, you just have to analyze the table structure of the old and new boards, and its usually possible to work out what format it will want the data in, and write some queries to provide it accordingly.
That's just a thought anyway.
Regarding the administration thing, I realise that's a choice for Chris to make. What I was referring to though was access to the back end and DB itself, not admin on the actual forum. As you say, having additional forum admin accounts wouldn't have prevented the downtime on this occasion, however if we'd had server access then attempts could have been made to repair the database before now, and it wouldn't have been left all down to Chris and yourself to do it.
Cheers
Ciarán
Thanks for that detailed and informative response.
I do agree the forum from a resource use point of a view seems to have become a victim of its own success, which understandbly was never anticipated back in the day, when it was first setup.
With regard to the database issues, I'm quite proficient with SQL if that is any use to you or Chris in resolving the problem. Do you know whats wrong, is it table corruption or simply missing indexes and the like?
On the software front, there are numerous popular forums out there, the two most notable of which being PhpBB (which French Car Forum uses) and vBulletin. These are widely used, well supported with plenty of 3rd party addons, and most importantly, free. They also have a much better feature set than Invision Power Board which the site is currently using. The main driver for considering something like PhpBB is that there are several scripts which can migrate IPB databases to a PhpBB site, and there is a lot of documentation on doing so. Chris may wish to continue with a newer version of IPB of course, but I believe this is commercial software so will obviously incur a cost, where as PhpBB is free, and arguably better.
The migration process is usually straightforward enough (I have done a few), however it does usually require you to have an intact database on your existing forum. That said, if we can't get to the point of having sound tables, it should be possible to modify one of the migration scripts, or analyze the queries its performing and manually recreate the non-volatile data (e.g forum IDs, headers etc, rather than actual post content). I've had to do that on a few occasions in the past and its not as drastic as it sounds, you just have to analyze the table structure of the old and new boards, and its usually possible to work out what format it will want the data in, and write some queries to provide it accordingly.
That's just a thought anyway.
Regarding the administration thing, I realise that's a choice for Chris to make. What I was referring to though was access to the back end and DB itself, not admin on the actual forum. As you say, having additional forum admin accounts wouldn't have prevented the downtime on this occasion, however if we'd had server access then attempts could have been made to repair the database before now, and it wouldn't have been left all down to Chris and yourself to do it.
Cheers
Ciarán
Hi Norrie.
Glad you and Chris are aware of what's been happening and hopefully Chris can get it all sorted out but I do think that Chris should be re-imbursed for the work done on the forum, I know it might not cost the Earth but there hast to be hosting fees and some maintenance costs, if not in cash but at least in time.
I think everyone got a real scare this time round and as you admitted it might be ideal to have extra administrators if Chris and you think thats what's needed.
As far as migrating the whole forum to another platform and the use of SQL I could ask my friend in Denmark for help if you like, she has offered me free help in any way required.
I was going to try and call on you in Avonbridge on Saturday when I was up at Bathgate market but I don't have your address, and you might be too busy too.
Regards.
Bob Halliday
Glad you and Chris are aware of what's been happening and hopefully Chris can get it all sorted out but I do think that Chris should be re-imbursed for the work done on the forum, I know it might not cost the Earth but there hast to be hosting fees and some maintenance costs, if not in cash but at least in time.
I think everyone got a real scare this time round and as you admitted it might be ideal to have extra administrators if Chris and you think thats what's needed.
As far as migrating the whole forum to another platform and the use of SQL I could ask my friend in Denmark for help if you like, she has offered me free help in any way required.
I was going to try and call on you in Avonbridge on Saturday when I was up at Bathgate market but I don't have your address, and you might be too busy too.
Regards.
Bob Halliday
Hi Norrie
Glad to see that work is in hand to try to resume normal service.
It is very frustrating for those of us who would wish to but cannot do anything to help.
Once we are running again the long term future of the site needs to be subject to a prompt open discussion.
John
Glad to see that work is in hand to try to resume normal service.
It is very frustrating for those of us who would wish to but cannot do anything to help.
Once we are running again the long term future of the site needs to be subject to a prompt open discussion.
John
Hi folks,
I'm presuming that given the significant amount of time which has passed, that recovery of the forum database has not been successful / straightforward?
Have you heard anything from Chris, Norrie?
Ciarán
I'm presuming that given the significant amount of time which has passed, that recovery of the forum database has not been successful / straightforward?
Have you heard anything from Chris, Norrie?
Ciarán
Hi to all die hards!
Glad to see some people are still around!
I for one would like and hope to see this site back up and running soon!
---
I've decided to keep my XM going for another year, despite recently being made redundant (another 50 year old IT worker bites the dust).
Changed the front discs and pads and the rear pads. Bought a couple of Firestones and in the process found out that one of the wheels has a deformation of 11mm (never likes those exclusive spoked (monte carlo?) wheels.
Next to mend is the cruise control and then the passenger mirror that has stopped working. Oh yes - the drivers window cable has snapped again! And I guess when all that is done I need to pay someone to do the cambelt.
Well that is part of the fun of owning an XM isn't it?
Cheers
Steve
Have you tried spot the xm on Google street view yet?
Hope to see everyone back here soon.
Glad to see some people are still around!
I for one would like and hope to see this site back up and running soon!
---
I've decided to keep my XM going for another year, despite recently being made redundant (another 50 year old IT worker bites the dust).
Changed the front discs and pads and the rear pads. Bought a couple of Firestones and in the process found out that one of the wheels has a deformation of 11mm (never likes those exclusive spoked (monte carlo?) wheels.
Next to mend is the cruise control and then the passenger mirror that has stopped working. Oh yes - the drivers window cable has snapped again! And I guess when all that is done I need to pay someone to do the cambelt.
Well that is part of the fun of owning an XM isn't it?
Cheers
Steve
Have you tried spot the xm on Google street view yet?
Hope to see everyone back here soon.
I guess you don't need to see this then Steve? 
And I think this is the chap in Knowle who's been selling off a lot of XMs via ebay just recently...
And DrTim was hard to find - because he's only there when you travel down this road - turn round and look the other way and he disappears!
Sadly our street's not on there yet.
And I think this is the chap in Knowle who's been selling off a lot of XMs via ebay just recently...
And DrTim was hard to find - because he's only there when you travel down this road - turn round and look the other way and he disappears!
Sadly our street's not on there yet.
Dr Tim is maybe Dr Who as his tardis is in two places at once! Though maybe the warp core was broken as it is outside Bristol 2cv Garage.
Pristine Dyane caught by chance near the AP Autocare
I used to have one of these and seeing this makes me want to have one again. Believe it or not I used to drive it flat out down the M4 to work and back every day for 2 years - never gave a moments thought to crash safety!!
Cheers
Steve
Pristine Dyane caught by chance near the AP Autocare
I used to have one of these and seeing this makes me want to have one again. Believe it or not I used to drive it flat out down the M4 to work and back every day for 2 years - never gave a moments thought to crash safety!!
Cheers
Steve
| QUOTE (archman1 @ Apr 14 2009, 16:50 PM) |
| Dr Tim is maybe Dr Who as his tardis is in two places at once! Though maybe the warp core was broken as it is outside Bristol 2cv Garage. |
Ha Ha! so that's where he shot off to while my back was turned!
| QUOTE (archman1 @ Apr 14 2009, 16:50 PM) |
| Pristine Dyane ... Believe it or not I used to drive it flat out down the M4 to work and back every day for 2 years - never gave a moments thought to crash safety!! |
Three years ago I drove my '73 Renault 12 along the M4 to and from Reading each working day for 18 months. I'd owned it for eight years by then - the first weeks business mileage claim covered the cars original purchase price.
I'm not giving up on the old girl just yet!!
Even where it now appears every regular contributor has thrown the towel in and
gone where the grass is actually growing if not greener. If there's no motivation to
get it fixed then could you blame Chris for any complacency or interest in spending
the time and getting the front end fixed?
IF THE BULK OF THE FORUM STILL EXISTS IT CANNOT BE LET GO AND WOUND UP!!
Actually, I've been here having a lot of catch up time among the older postings where
I hadn't had the opportunity to read into things and have actually picked up a few
things and nuances missed in the usual manic daily postings. The beauty of the
database here. IT IS FAR BIG A POOL OF KNOWLEDGE TO JUST WIND UP!
What is the position with NOZ and Chris - has anyone got a definitive answer yet in
the state of proceedings? IF Chris cannot be bothered to fix it or isn't in a position
to actually get it fixed, why not be upfront and allow the data to be passed on to
another pair of safe hands that could spare the time to get a workaround sorted?
It's not even that difficult to post and read other postings - just have them bookmarked.
Yes, the larger 'membership' are still out there waiting for it to fire back up. I'm sure
the likes of Techmanagain, Thwartedefforts, Steelcityuk, Jan-hendrik, DoubleChevron,
DrTim, bigjohnh, aengus-xmv6 etc etc etc (apologies if you've signed in here BTW
- I've not been around much myself with ongoing problems/stresses...) would love
to be here chewing the fat about Xm's on the forum and can't!!
Andrew
Even where it now appears every regular contributor has thrown the towel in and
gone where the grass is actually growing if not greener. If there's no motivation to
get it fixed then could you blame Chris for any complacency or interest in spending
the time and getting the front end fixed?
IF THE BULK OF THE FORUM STILL EXISTS IT CANNOT BE LET GO AND WOUND UP!!
Actually, I've been here having a lot of catch up time among the older postings where
I hadn't had the opportunity to read into things and have actually picked up a few
things and nuances missed in the usual manic daily postings. The beauty of the
database here. IT IS FAR BIG A POOL OF KNOWLEDGE TO JUST WIND UP!
What is the position with NOZ and Chris - has anyone got a definitive answer yet in
the state of proceedings? IF Chris cannot be bothered to fix it or isn't in a position
to actually get it fixed, why not be upfront and allow the data to be passed on to
another pair of safe hands that could spare the time to get a workaround sorted?
It's not even that difficult to post and read other postings - just have them bookmarked.
Yes, the larger 'membership' are still out there waiting for it to fire back up. I'm sure
the likes of Techmanagain, Thwartedefforts, Steelcityuk, Jan-hendrik, DoubleChevron,
DrTim, bigjohnh, aengus-xmv6 etc etc etc (apologies if you've signed in here BTW
- I've not been around much myself with ongoing problems/stresses...) would love
to be here chewing the fat about Xm's on the forum and can't!!
Andrew
If there aren't any legs left in this forum why can't the membership and posting databases
be passed onto sombody else who can spare the time and constantly keep the daily running
of the site in trim and in a healthy state?
Otherwise why sit and allow the site to sit here languishing in it's incapacitated state and do
nothing? At least from the outside looking it that's what it seems like; if in fact there is loads
of graft in attempting to facilitate a fix why not keep us posted on ANY progress?? Please!?
Andrew
be passed onto sombody else who can spare the time and constantly keep the daily running
of the site in trim and in a healthy state?
Otherwise why sit and allow the site to sit here languishing in it's incapacitated state and do
nothing? At least from the outside looking it that's what it seems like; if in fact there is loads
of graft in attempting to facilitate a fix why not keep us posted on ANY progress?? Please!?
Andrew
Hi Andrew, it is the problem at the moment isn't it?.
No information as to the state of play, progress, or what direction things are taking.
No one would expect Chris or Norrie to drop absolutely everything and concentrate full time on a fix . But a little information would go a long way.
So , I guess we just pop in here now and again and see if anything changes for the better.
Cheers , Carl G.
No information as to the state of play, progress, or what direction things are taking.
No one would expect Chris or Norrie to drop absolutely everything and concentrate full time on a fix . But a little information would go a long way.
So , I guess we just pop in here now and again and see if anything changes for the better.
Cheers , Carl G.
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