crash and burn?

[wilebill]

Looks like the place crashed and burned over the weekend. Don't know the number of casualties yet, as reports are just now trickling in.

It appears now that a day or so of posts have been lost in cyberspace somewhere. Noway has been transported to the hospital with withdrawal symptoms, but is resting comfortably on a respirator to keep his breathing even.

:smt118

[Wayward]

Welcome back, Aaron.

[aaron]

It has definitely been one of those weekends where I wonder why I do this to begin with. From what it looks like to me, someone hacked into the site, and replaced tiny bits of code with other bits of code just to produce errors. No databases or files without a certain programming language were touched. I have been hacked a few times before over the years, but nothing like this. They usually want to make a statement on the home page and maybe even mass email all of my members. Nothing like that took place here. On top of that, I had problems convincing my web host that this was indeed a hack (they insisted that I had changed something in my files), and by the time they did believe that it wasn't my fault, all the known backups of the site had been replaced by backups of the hacked site. So, basically I'm having to re-upload the site piece by piece, and that is a painstaking process when you have thousands and thousands of files and scripts that I had forgotten were even on this site. I've added something new almost monthly for the past two years. I've got the forums almost done though, so it should be ok.

[Wayward]

Yep. Sounds like you're having an interesting time, Aaron.

I notice that if I go to ...
http://www.myhattiesburg.com/forums/index.php?
... it goes to the forums ok.

I notice that if I go to ...
http://www.myhattiesburg.com/
... the result is this error message:

There seems to have been a problem with the database.
Please try again by clicking the Refresh button in your web browser.

An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, whom you can also contact if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.
I'm no .php expert but the error messages during the outage looked like someone had messed with some .php code. As you said ... not your typical "hack."

Good luck pulling the pieces back together. Ain't technology grand? :(

[aaron]

I'm still uploading, and 13,000 files through FTP takes a while.

[wilebill]

From what it looks like to me, someone hacked into the site, and replaced tiny bits of code with other bits of code just to produce errors.

Maybe they mutated? :smt102

[beggingforrelief]

I wonder if some of DuPree or Fairley's elfs sprinkled pixi dust on the site?

[wilebill]

I wonder if some of DuPree or Fairley's elfs sprinkled pixi dust on the site?
I figure it's soh causing mischief.

[jmb]

I'm still uploading, and 13,000 files through FTP takes a while.

Thanks, Aaron! We appreciate all your time and hard work. :)

[noway]

I had calls emails from everybody wondering what the deal was? It was a boring weekend had alot of topics to bring up and nobody to talk to..

Look out folkes :smt070

[MSQueen]

yes, a BIG thank u to Aaron!! :smt038:smt038 if it weren't for all of ur hard work and dedication to this site, what would all of us do with our time?? :smt102

i, too, didn't realize how much i looked forward to coming to this site until i couldn't!! i didn't know i was "hooked" until i started having withdrawals... continually thinking of things to discuss, but nobody to discuss them with. then i started thinking about all the great folks i've met on this site and realized if this site were gone, i'd probably never get to talk to them again.:( i would really miss lots of them (some maybe more than others) :-D. also where would i be able to keep updated on all the inside "scoop" about the wonderful Mayor Dupree, his Master, Rev'rend Fairley, and the many other colorful characters who make up the 'Burg!

[lamarrebel]

I wonder if some of DuPree or Fairley's elfs sprinkled pixi dust on the site?

Either that or Judge Dale's posse :smt102 LOL

[wilebill]

How come this thread doesn't show up in a "new post" search?

[geezerjoe]

Did your hosting service upgrade from one version of php to another? Just curious.

I had parts of my site crash after an php upgrade from 4.x to 5.x. After finding the errors, I'd have to go into each file that was generating the error and change the bit of code generating the error (something like databasecall=(databasecall(foo)) which I guess is not allowed in php 5, but correcting the problem was as easy as databasecall=(variable=(databasecall(foo)). Stupid computers and their specific syntax ;)