WotC Web Forums down all the time!

[Michael Morris]

When last I worked with WotC they had convinced vbulletin to run in a 4 server configuration that still hurts my head to think about. It was running well until they decided to unify the logins. That was a very big mistake in my opinion.

It would also seem that there's no redundancy to the layout. If one machine goes down it takes the others with it kicking and screaming.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

It's all the trolls over there. They pretty much don't moderate, which is why I lurk here now. I think they're down so much because of all the threads they keep rearranging. It could be messing with the database integrity. They could also be trying to get the forum upgraded for better moderation. Conspiracy theorists might say that they pull the forums offline so they can clean up all the trolling from the day before and avoid new posts clogging up the works. I've never seen trolling as bad as the WotC forums.

 

[Steely Dan]

I've never seen trolling as bad as the WotC forums.

Yeah, it's been pretty vile over there lately, but it looks like it's slowly getting better.

..There are a few voracious under-the-bridge-dwellers whose names I won't mention, but I'm sure you know.

 

[Michael Morris]

It's all the trolls over there. They pretty much don't moderate, which is why I lurk here now. I think they're down so much because of all the threads they keep rearranging. It could be messing with the database integrity. They could also be trying to get the forum upgraded for better moderation. Conspiracy theorists might say that they pull the forums offline so they can clean up all the trolling from the day before and avoid new posts clogging up the works. I've never seen trolling as bad as the WotC forums.

The machine doesn't care about the contents of the post. The thread moving could be problematic if they didn't fully test their database mirroring.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I believe they have a randomizer that decides when they are up. Every hour, it is consulted, and on an instance of "1" out of "20", they boot the servers, otherwise they stay down. At least that is how I imagine it works.

So, you think the software is called "Message Board d20!"?

 

[EATherrian]

So, you think the software is called "Message Board d20!"?

Well, they had extra d20 stickers and needed to find something to do with them...

 

[Shemeska]

Those boards have problems, and it's an open question who the blame falls on. The other night the forums vanished. Gleemax was online, but no forums were apparent or capable of being viewed even through links to specific forums. Someone seems to have screwed up permissions forum-wide, and the WizOs were just as clueless as to what happened as anyone else (the current ones I have contact with anyways via a former WizO). They seemed to have been out of the loop entirely.

I suspect the various groups in charge of things over there really don't have the level of communication they need to have with a forum that large. The lack of uptime reputation is solidified at this point, which is sad, because two years ago it wasn't a problem at all, even a year and a half ago (honestly, once WotC_Mel moved departments, things got bad).

 

[Nebulous]

When the forums are actually working they're pretty darn good. But i've also noticed how they crash a lot. Annoying, that.

 

[Nifft]

Its weird, for the last year, the forums have (unless down for maintenance) worked far better for me than say ENworld, which has been extremely slow most of the time. I still come here, since it is the best place on the interweb (for D&D stuff anyway), but WotC's forums have worked just fine. Until now that is ><

Their daily maintenance thing is part of why I judge them worse than EN World. The fact that what they're able to do with that budget is even comparable to EN World is damn sad on their end, and worthy of much praise (for the guys who run EN World).

Cheers, -- N

 

[pogminky]

I believe they have a randomizer that decides when they are up. Every hour, it is consulted, and on an instance of "1" out of "20", they boot the servers, otherwise they stay down. At least that is how I imagine it works.

Duuuuude.... 4e: the Forum!