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Thread: WHAT is going on with the board?

  1. #1
    HB Forum Owner JB57's Avatar
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    WHAT is going on with the board?

    Dear Board

    So what is happening with the board? For the past few days, my browsers kept timing out whenever I tried to access the board. I managed to access it today because I used Firefox, but was unable to post anything. I'm now doing this on my Apple computer, but even that took several minutes to get onto the site and then almost a minute to enable me to gain the access needed to write this thread. Is this just a problem with me? Or are others having this difficulty? If the latter, then this is getting out of control. XP, could you let us know what is happening? If the HB service continues to deteriorate in this way, I think that we seriously have to consider some kind of alternative arrangement or hosting service.

    Thanks for your attention to this.

    JB57
    JB57

  2. #2
    MaskedSuperstar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    Took more than a dozen tries to even get this reply box to show up. The reality is that the content here has been in free fall for years and the last year of the board itself has been a train wreck. The Steven guy who runs it does little more than try and pocket $150 a month while farming out the elementary level coding to the cheapest option possible. There's no excuse for the failed content recovery, there's no excuse for using a physical server in 2018 for something like this, and there's no excuse for the absolute refusal of the folks running hostboard to respond to anyone about the problems with their entire system.

    At some point XP needs to either shut it all down or admit that it's been a horrible decision to stick with this amateur hour outfit and move to another host. I'd gladly pay a few dollars a month for something that works with a responsive team in place that actually tries to fix things.

    I'm guessing it will take several tries to get this to actually post, if it does at all. I'm even more sure that sticking with shitboard will continue on with the old posts lost and nothing done to recover them.

  3. #3
    HB Forum Owner
    WHAT is going on with the board?


    apenman's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    It isn't just you, JB. I have not been able to sign on for two full days now, with a MacBook.

    An while I have no knowledge of how a board or a web hosting site like this works, I will say that I have not encountered such difficulty on any other site. It's frustrating and enough to make me consider posting elsewhere...despite the fact that I do love this small community of posters, readers and writers.

    I hope that XP, Steven et al can do something else other than claim they are "working on it." Also, I have contributed money (not a lot) and would be willing to send more except that I don't see any change for the better.

    It's a shame...I would hate to loose this.

    Sincerely,
    A. Penman

  4. #4
    Senior Hostboard Member 44automag's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    For the past 2 days, I got a "This site is offline" but uses the Always On Cloud thing to display an archived version, does that clear anything up?

  5. #5
    HB Forum Owner JB57's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    Quote Originally Posted by 44automag View Post
    For the past 2 days, I got a "This site is offline" but uses the Always On Cloud thing to display an archived version, does that clear anything up?
    Not really; it depends on how current the archived copy is. I was getting the same message, but I did not try to get the archived version.

    I've asked Anubis if he is interested in assembling an email list, so that those of us who wish to continue writing and exchanging stories will have a way to contact each other, if the board goes down or becomes unusable. He has indicated he is interested in starting this.

    JB57
    JB57

  6. #6
    Senior Hostboard Member catfightlover40's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    Dear JB,

    I'll address the bull in the china shop, regarding our options. If in nothing else, XP and/or Steve should comment on whether or not these lags are attributable, as suspected to past shortcomings, a development after the death of net neutrality, or a mixture of both. Now that AT and T (whose predecessor Mama Bell was broken up under Reagan of all people to prevent sector monopoly) grew so large it owns HBO, things aren't looking too good for small business.

    In any case, regardless how the community decides, beyond hosting fees, it should matter how customer service works (and I worked in that, so I know how understaffed that can be, plus the IT personnel is rarely trained to be customer oriented) and how the speed is.

    P.S.: It's strictly me, but when I'm unsure if my PC acts up, my browser does or it's on the other end, I always check the website's availability. That has the added bonus of seeing what other sites people searched for so some rare gems can be found without relying on SEO.
    The home of my multi-part work: [URL]https://www.patreon.com/powelltothepeople[/URL]

    The place where I can be commissioned: [URL]https://www.fiverr.com/cflover40[/URL]

    What I use to "feed my birds": [URL="http://"https://twitter.com/powelltothepeo1/"]https://twitter.com/powelltothepeo1/[/URL]

    Finally, the one where I'll post my e-books: Lulu, once I post the complete first episode of my story

  7. #7
    Senior Hostboard Member calla242's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    we have to find an alternative quick before we lose contact of each other

  8. #8
    HB Forum Owner JB57's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    Ok, I kid you not, it has taken me the past THREE HOURS to get to the point that I can actually post this message. Obviously, that is impossible. Until this board is fixed, I am going to stop coming here. Someone can do me a favor and send me a message at [email protected] when the board is usable once more.

    Someone earlier suggested that this problem has something to do with net neutrality becoming unenforced in the US. I don't think that is the case for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that this is the only site I frequent where this is a problem.

    XP, you just simply have to get this fixed. As I said, I am going to stop coming here until the board is fixed. I cannot be the only person having this problem. I note that whenever I logon, a large number of people seem to be logged on at the same time - just now, there were two members and 17 visitors - but I know that I would have been indicated as logged on for hours while I was trying to get any kind of usable access to the board.

    This board is going to die very quickly and unceremoniously if this problem is not fixed immediately. Expecting people to waste hours just to get in is, obviously, completely unreasonable and unsustainable. Thankfully, I had other things I could do while the connection circle spun. But I can't begin to describe the level of frustration that this situation has created.

    To the best of my knowledge, there has been no communication from anyone re: what the board's problems are. I don't think that XP has posted any explanation or any indication that he is contact with admin; admin has not said anything. Again, none of this is sustainable.

    So, I've left people with my email address. Hopefully, Anubis is putting together that mailing list and it will be possible to maintain contact with people who contact him and give him their information.

    It will be incredibly sad to see this board die, but this level of disservice cannot possibly work to sustain a community. For myself, I know of nowhere else to go to publish my stories. If anyone has any alternative venues, please let us/me know.

    Thanks,

    JB57

    I edited back my previous post; the many repetitions of my post were the result of me trying to post and then getting no indication that my message had actually posted. Eventually, I gave up. At any rate, I'm hopeful that things on the board are getting a bit better, though it has taken me about 30 minutes to get to the point that I could put up this message. Hopefully, it will post. Again, this is unacceptable. I'd be happy, at this point, just to get an acknowledgement that the HB admin knows there is a problem and is doing something to fix it.
    Last edited by JB57; June 26th, 2018 at 06:02 AM.
    JB57

  9. #9
    HB Forum Owner JB57's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    OK, so I managed to access this site and now post this message (hopefully) and, so far, the whole process has taken "only" five minutes - so, with any luck, that is an indication that the board may be fixing its problems.

    I received a message from XP, who indicated that he has not been able to login for the past week and has been unable to contact the people in charge of HB. He is very upset over what is happening but has not been able to clear matters up. I promised him I would convey his frustrations and concerns to the board, if I was able to logon.

    Let's keep our fingers crossed that this situation is now in the process of being corrected. However, I think we can all agree that HB is becoming unreliable and difficult to use. This recent situation, combined with the inability to access past stories cleanly, means we should probably be considering other options.

    JB57
    JB57

  10. #10
    Senior Hostboard Member indris's Avatar
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    Re: WHAT is going on with the board?

    For the past four days I haven't even been able to open Hostboard.com; constantly getting a Clourdflare error... It could be they couldn't secure enough funding for the monthly upkeep, and so hosting is running at diminished capacity.

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