software update

[Betsy]

I'll be dropping in a new update probably Sunday 2/26 sometime. I'll update once it is done. Afterwards, if you have any problems logging in, please clear your browser and restart it and then log in again being sure to tic the remember me button.

At the time of the update, I'll also try to get the missing images fixed. There's only a couple but I hate seeing those red x boxes.

[Betsy]

This is done. Sorry for the database errors you were receiving if you stopped by while I was pounding my head and swearing at the windows in order to figure out where I went wrong. It turned out that I accidently wrote over a file that I should not have. All better now.

[Priestess]

This is done. Sorry for the database errors you were receiving if you stopped by while I was pounding my head and swearing at the windows in order to figure out where I went wrong. It turned out that I accidently wrote over a file that I should not have. All better now.

Hi Betsy,
I fear that this newest software update may be requiring more processing power than the blo server can reliably give. For any given activity that I might attempt, such as viewing posting etc, there seems to be about a 65 percent chance of it failing with a message that the server is too busy. And sometimes this has been while there were relatively few users connected.

So far, it has taken 16 tries to post this message ...

[Betsy]

It's not related.

[Betsy]

FYI...

Hello Betsy,

The HUGO server has been hit with a number of high speed spiders in the past few days, a bit more than normal, causing the Server Guardians to kick in which will limit access for some, usually only for a few seconds to a minute.

We have been taking steps to reduce the spider activity on the server as well as relocate a couple of very spider attracting sites to other hosting solutions to reduce these guardian issues.

Our apologies for any inconvenience but be sure we are aware and are taking proactive steps to resolve this issue.

Thanks,
Bob

[Priestess]

Just in curiousity, how do you tell if some unknown connection is a spider? I've been thinkng of putting up a small forum and server on a spare pc, and I'd like to keep the spiders out altogether while still allowing public viewing by real people.

[Betsy]

You have to look at stats. This particular forum has the ability to track IPs so it's done on that with known information from the bots. However, this is not simply this site...it's the entire server which we share with many other sites.

Keeping all bots out btw will also keep your site invisible to the rest of the world since they won't know how to find it. It won't show up in any search engines.

[Priestess]

Oh, okay. I'll have to make sure that whatever board software I choose is able to track ip address. If I work things through to completion perhaps I'll be able to find a list of bot ip addresses to ban.

It's not so bad if doing that would make the site invisible to search engines. The idea wasn't for a high profile, more just a way to coordinate a little fun and communication between friends. And the hardware/bandwidth I'd be able to provide is a bit more meager than here. Too many simultaneous hits could easily break things.