Hiccups this morning!

[Anona.Mouse]

Apologies to anyone who tried to get in this morning - and instead of our cheerful smiling faces, they were met with a strange NO ACCESS message!

(Along the lines of: "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in /home/httpd/vhosts/slarti.myfreeforum.org/httpdocs/phpBB3/myffcms/com_userinfo.php on line 56")

This was caused by some major updating that myfreeforum HQ are working on at the moment, involving some new security measures as well as updates to the main forum software.

They do try to do these things, normally, during the night when not many of us are on board, but sometimes things take a little longer than anticipated, with the results which some of you saw today.

I know that some people have tried again a bit later and got in all right - thank goodness! - but can I assure you that this is always the best thing to do when you meet a problem on here. We have never had a downtime here that has lasted longer than an hour or two - and that has only happened once or twice as far as I remember, in nearly ten months. Which isn't at all bad, for this kind of web site.

So, if you do happen to meet a strange message, often including the words slarti, ford, zaphod, arthur or other "Hitch-hiker" references - the glitch is higher up than just us, and will be fixed very soon. Try again in ten minutes, or an hour, and all will very probably be well again.

It happened on other boards this morning, to my knowledge - probably on all myff boards, in fact. But we all seem to be back in business now.

[Anona.Mouse]

Yes, there have been some more problems during the day - sorry!

Anything which mentions SQL in an error message is higher up than me, I'm afraid, and is to do with the ongoing work at HQ. So if you meet one of those - and Refresh / Reload doesn't clear it - try again in half an hour or so. Go and do our quiz while you're waiting, if you like.

I know it's a pain, but I don't expect this upgrading to go on for ever, honestly. Everything will be lovely when it's finished - just you wait and see.

[spry]

I don't mind ------ I know it'll be sorted out eventually!

[Anona.Mouse]

I haven't checked with the Support Forum tonight - they're generally very open and honest about what's going on - but it all seems to be running much more smoothly now.

Fingers crossed!

[Anona.Mouse]

Since the hiccups mentioned above, I've noticed an occasional blip when I first arrive here, or try to turn a page.

It doesn't happen every time, in fact it's quite rare, but if you only come in every couple of days and are unlucky . . . well, you'll get a left-hand portal, and the top of the page, down to where the advert should be. But instead of the advert, you'll get something a bit like this:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare findcountry() in /home/httpd/vhosts/slarti.myfreeforum.org/httpdocs/phpBB3/altad.php on line 32

It seems to be connected to the change in adverts, because recently we have had fewer Googlies and more ethical / green ads, and I'm sure it will be fixed soon.

But in the meantime, should you find yourself staring at this:

Image1-2009-07-17_crop (Small).jpg

Just click on Reload / Refresh in your browser, and you should be back to where you want to be almost instantly. It's worked for me every time I've done it, up to now.

[Anona.Mouse]

The glitch mentioned above should now be all better - but please let me know if you see it again.

If it does happen, click on Refresh / Reload, and then drop me a note, and I'll take it up at the Support Forum again.

[spry]

OK, Anona. I don't think it's happened to me yet but I'll bawl out loud if it does!

---