Getting the avatar problem fixed

[pisovig]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I’m really sorry about the missing avatars and images. I know they’re part of what gives the forum its personality, and it’s really frustrating to see things not working properly.

The issue started after the developers, who host this site for free, made some server changes on 22 January while trying to improve performance for this website and for others running on the same server. Unfortunately, it looks like those changes removed some forum assets, including avatars and certain attachments. I've spent a lot of time looking into this, much like someone might consult a wrongful death attorney when dealing with a complicated situation, and talking to the developers about how to fix this, and ultimately we have two options:

1. Roll the forum back to 22 January

This should restore avatars and attachments.

The downside is that we would lose all posts and threads created since that date.


2. Leave things as they are

All recent posts and discussions stay intact, but avatars and some older images would remain missing unless we commit more development time (and money) to investigating a deeper fix. This would likely not take place until April.



Before making a decision, I’d genuinely like to hear what you’d prefer. This is your forum, and I don’t want to take a step that causes more frustration than necessary.

Please reply below with your preference:

• Restore avatars but lose the past month’s content
• Keep the past month’s content, even without avatars

For the record, I'm leaning towards option one, rolling the forum back, since this is the quickest fix and the one that will ensure the stability of the software moving forward. Option two would require a lot of time and development and is not guaranteed to fix the issue. It's your forum though, so let me know what YOU prefer.

Thanks very much for your patience and understanding while we figure this out.

Michael

I’d definitely choose option two and keep the recent posts and discussions. Avatars and older images are nice to have, but losing an entire month of new content seems like a much bigger problem. If there’s a reasonable chance the missing assets can be restored later, I’d rather keep everything that has already been posted and give the developers more time to investigate a permanent fix.

[George 1978]

Great that we are back - I hope that mine doesn't go part-time on me again.

[Heather74]

Yay! Hopefully for good this time

[sixtyten]

And we are back!

[George 1978]

It's been handed over to the developers.

Sounds like someone involved in building houses.

[Heather74]

It's been handed over to the developers.

[George 1978]

That was short-lived, wasn't it? Avatars stand out on the page a lot more than member's names do, and at first glance, sometimes it can be difficult to see which posts are mine and which ones are other people's.

I do feel sorry for all the members on here who have such great avatars and now they have gone again. Hopefully they will return very soon.

[Heather74]

Aghhhhhh reported. Thanks.

[sixtyten]

Gone Again!

[davidthomas27]

I've also changed my avatar to a brighter, better quality version (the old one was from my camera phone).

[George 1978]

It's fixed now George but before the fix we couldn't actually upload new ones.

I am just pleased I have my existing one back, never mind a new one.

[sixtyten]

Looking grand

[Heather74]

It's fixed now George but before the fix we couldn't actually upload new ones.

[George 1978]

All I can I say that I am just grateful that the avatars have returned, and even then, it's not the end of the world - I just could have downloaded mine back again or have chosen another one.

[Heather74]

You've probably all noticed the developers have managed to get most of the avatars and photos back. If yours is still missing they are still working on finding them. Alternatively you can just upload it again (I have).
This means no need for Rollback.

Also they found over 1 million Chinese Bots on the forum which have been removed and blocked, so the forum itself is now working much more smoothly and the lagging has stopped.
Thank you Remember and the Team for sorting things and getting the forum back to looking like home.