# FA Down Again?



## Charrio (Dec 23, 2007)

Hey all FA is down again i think, it definitely wont load up for me, been trying for a bit now


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## Yuki_Fox (Dec 23, 2007)

Same thing for me and I'm using Firefox and it's saying it's taking too long to respond. I wonder what's goin on.


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## Allan (Dec 23, 2007)

Charrio said:
			
		

> Hey all FA is down again i think, it definitely wont load up for me, been trying for a bit now



Yeah, same here. It WAS up again for a couple of hours, but it went pffffft again.

I want my FA !!:shock:


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## duo2nd (Dec 23, 2007)

Same thing happened to me also. And I'm pissed off on how it bug down.


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## Charrio (Dec 23, 2007)

Man, talk about bad timing so close to Christmas


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## vappykid5 (Dec 23, 2007)

And JUST when I was gonna pm someone......


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## Ceceil Felias (Dec 23, 2007)

I'm assuming the servers got completely knocked out, possibly by a power outage or something. The coders as far as I can tell haven't even been able to switch it over to the temporarily-down notice like most other times.

The FA forums were down for a while because the MySQL server croaked for some time, too. Coincidence?


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## xids (Dec 23, 2007)

Whew I glad its not just me!! I couldnt figure out what was going on!


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## Darkin38 (Dec 23, 2007)

you and me both so what happened? did the power die or something?


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

I only hope it's not some kind of horrible Christmas present. >.> 

But as everyone says, it was down for a while earlier, then back up for a few... and now it's down again. It's been a little too common lately that FA goes down... but am I mistaken to notice it seems to be on weekends...?


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## Charrio (Dec 23, 2007)

Takara_kitsune said:
			
		

> I only hope it's not some kind of horrible Christmas present. >.>
> 
> But as everyone says, it was down for a while earlier, then back up for a few... and now it's down again. It's been a little too common lately that FA goes down... but am I mistaken to notice it seems to be on weekends...?



That would truly suck if this became the norm on weekends, and if this was un-noticed for the whole holiday weekend.


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## Ceceil Felias (Dec 23, 2007)

I just checked to see if the data server was even up. It's out entirely as well.

This is no run-of-the-mill blanked-RAM drive error. This looks like something went down big-time. :


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## Charrio (Dec 23, 2007)

Ceceil Felias said:
			
		

> I just checked to see if the data server was even up. It's out entirely as well.
> 
> This is no run-of-the-mill blanked-RAM drive error. This looks like something went down big-time. :



Oh god could you imagine if it was something like a Pepsi on the server and someone just knocked it over and shorted it all out, lol just clumsy furs, lol


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

Charrio said:
			
		

> Takara_kitsune said:
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Well... as far as weekends, though... I'm pretty sure it has been every weekend... I remember because I was working on online tests when there was downtime... I wouldn't have otherwise attributed it to any specific time... times like this made me wish I had some cash... I'd totally help fix things up if I had any money. ^^; 

Overall, though... the new server and coding hasn't seemed to help with much... I hate to say it's almost worse... maybe. I wouldn't blame anyone, though, since I'm a network technician in-training. ^^; Meaning: I don't know a whole lot, but I do know these issues aren't connected to an exact science. There are literally millions of variables here. ^^;


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## cYbEr_PaNdA (Dec 23, 2007)

lol what a Shame i guess they are down, i wouldnt blame them this time if its cuz of the damn weather must of been a major power outage over the night cuz of the cold heh i wish they could have multi server spots around the nation so if one goes down another can back it up XD where i live it rarely gets that chaotic with the weather so poweroutages are one in a 1000 lol they only happen 2 to 3 times a year...even in the summer monsterous weather our neighborhoods have smart GENerators in the allies behind houses that kick in even before the storm knocks the power because of smart weather sensors they have somekind of wireless signal where they recieve important weather data from the Radar base not far although im not sure if that base is still up, oh well.

If this just keeps up i might just leave FA >> for their server incompetence and find myself another site to put my art up.


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

I've got no intent to leave. ^^; Yes, the interruptions suck. A lot. But... I like the community here. One of the few places I don't have to hide my true self. Not to suggest that the community here doesn't have some issues of it's own... but seriously, it's my Internet-home. 

And I've only been coming here since May... for me to declare it my Internet-home so fast... well, that means something! ^^;

Now... as far as the possibilities with the actual server... if it IS down, and has to be approached physically for repair... then I can almost guarantee, no FA for Christmas. ;_; As far as I can determine, a lot of folks aren't working Monday... and those working in server facilities are no exception... that's rather disappointing. Too bad there isn't an easy way to fix things remotely if they're turned off. Can't really remotely access what doesn't have power, can you? ^^;


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## Jurann (Dec 23, 2007)

Huh, FA's been down all day for me and my friends, that's over 12 hours now, and still no notes from admins as to what's up... ? *sigh*


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

I agree with Takara. 
Besides, threatening to leave FA is not going to fix anything, so why bother even mentioning it?
You should keep that kind of stuff to yourself or you sound like a whiny, impatient, immature little pup. :0P

It sucks, yes. I have things to post, yes. No, I don't like it. But there's not a lot we can do about it except suck it up and wait. I belong to other art sites, and yes, I post there...but as Takara said - it's the community.

Also, before you whine too much, you might remember the site is free and relies on donations to stay afloat. If they got more $$ then they might be able to afford a backup server....so....before anyone whines or decides to leave or anything like that - you might ask yourself "How much $$ have I donated to FA?"


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## Charrio (Dec 23, 2007)

Dakimov said:
			
		

> Also, before you whine too much, you might remember the site is free and relies on donations to stay afloat. If they got more $$ then they might be able to afford a backup server....so....before anyone whines or decides to leave or anything like that - you might ask yourself "How much $$ have I donated to FA?"



I so think FA needs a Donation area for Art, where We can Donate Commissions, and the Payment is sent to FA, i asked about this earlier but seem to get snubbed by the Admins.


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## Allan (Dec 23, 2007)

After the holidays, I hope to save enough $$ to make a donation to FA, to help keep things running smoothly, I hope.


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

Charrio said:
			
		

> I so think FA needs a Donation area for Art, where We can Donate Commissions, and the Payment is sent to FA, i asked about this earlier but seem to get snubbed by the Admins.



It might be that they've been too busy fixing problems to address it yet *wry grin*


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## AngelOD (Dec 23, 2007)

While I agree with Dakimov and Takara here, I have to say that one of the things I respect the most about FA, is the attitude that seems to be with some or all of the admins, in that even though it's a free service, there is still a certain service level that should be upheld, and they work to ensure that this level is reached.

Sure, I know that level might seem far off sometimes, and it seems to be endless patching upon patching.. But that's just it. It's patchwork, and nothing more with the current codebase. They're trying to spend less time working on the current codebase, which they know is going to be replaced anyway, and instead focuses their energy on the new code. Now, I have absolutely no idea when this new codebase will be ready, but I do know that as annoying as these downtimes might be to anyone of you, they're quite likely a LOT more stressful for the admins who have to work out why, and getting it back online, while figuring out where the problem came from, and then trying to prevent it from happening again.

Naturally I cannot tell people what to do or not do, but I would like to agree with the notion that if you want to leave FA you should do so, but please don't post it as a threat in an attempt to get a better service out of FA.. If the admins could get you a better service that easily, don't you honestly think they would have by now? 

Anyway, I'm just talking out of my.. Ear.. Or something.. Right now. I shall leave you good folks be now. ^^;;


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

Allan said:
			
		

> After the holidays, I hope to save enough $$ to make a donation to FA, to help keep things running smoothly, I hope.



Way to go, bud! Now -this- is the attitude we need!
I'm with Allan. After I get Christmas out of the way, I plan on donating any extra $$ I might have to FA

The only bad thing is....FA needs to be up and running on order for me to donate. Sort of a catch-22. :0)


			
				AngelOD said:
			
		

> Naturally I cannot tell people what to do or not do, but I would like to agree with the notion that if you want to leave FA you should do so, but please don't post it as a threat in an attempt to get a better service out of FA.. If the admins could get you a better service that easily, don't you honestly think they would have by now?



Excellent point. I couldn't have worded it better. :0)


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## cYbEr_PaNdA (Dec 23, 2007)

Takara_kitsune said:
			
		

> I've got no intent to leave. ^^; Yes, the interruptions suck. A lot. But... I like the community here. One of the few places I don't have to hide my true self. Not to suggest that the community here doesn't have some issues of it's own... but seriously, it's my Internet-home.
> 
> And I've only been coming here since May... for me to declare it my Internet-home so fast... well, that means something! ^^;
> 
> Now... as far as the possibilities with the actual server... if it IS down, and has to be approached physically for repair... then I can almost guarantee, no FA for Christmas. ;_; As far as I can determine, a lot of folks aren't working Monday... and those working in server facilities are no exception... that's rather disappointing. Too bad there isn't an easy way to fix things remotely if they're turned off. Can't really remotely access what doesn't have power, can you? ^^;



No i  can't access it neither and its the emphasis that i get when this happens very often he he, and Yes dear your right, i guess i sometimes forget that emotion, to feel welcomed, to feel accepted and to feel comfortable there and not to mention the community must mean you have a lot of friends there or have a lot of people you respect and love their art but i guess is much about the gathering of people that are just like you, to bad i am just an apathetic being that never did seemed to fit anywhere, even here where i thought i would because i was my own person but oh well over a year and yet i guess its just plain Karma that is my only factor.


			
				Dakimov said:
			
		

> I agree with Takara.
> Besides, threatening to leave FA is not going to fix anything, so why bother even mentioning it?
> You should keep that kind of stuff to yourself or you sound like a whiny, impatient, immature little pup. :0P
> 
> ...



Yes i supposed if it was a pay site i would be a member like the clubs outside my house i guess i would expect to have quality with price he he i must be guessing the owners of this community must all have to deal with many issues asides maintaining the site that im guessing because of their busy schedules their not even aware its down, and with unexpective outages their budgets are bled dry and sometimes money can be short, heh i guess your right i haven't donated anything because my father thinks its a waste of money, but heh waste isn't compare to his dumb investments of buying homes in Dubai...


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## Ceceil Felias (Dec 23, 2007)

What we need is someone who's able to get ahold of the people in charge of the server maintenance and ask them what's going on. We also need someone who can get ahold of the admins IRL, because I haven't seen a bit of them on the forums all day. Are they even aware the servers went down entirely? o.o


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

AngelOD said:
			
		

> While I agree with Dakimov and Takara here, I have to say that one of the things I respect the most about FA, is the attitude that seems to be with some or all of the admins, in that even though it's a free service, there is still a certain service level that should be upheld, and they work to ensure that this level is reached.


_*nodnods*_. All told, from February/March through October/November this year has been pretty good and the growth in the community has reflected that. The last month or so has been somewhat problematic as FA scales up yet again, but compared with the problems there were this time last year, hopefully will be moving back in the right direction relatively quickly.

Early Sunday morning is, unfortunately, usually not a good time to get things fixed, especially if it's a non-trivial matter.



			
				Dakimov said:
			
		

> The only bad thing is....FA needs to be up and running on order for me to donate. Sort of a catch-22. :0)


Good try, Dakimov! The link is here _(the typo proves it's genuine )_
Donations ain't the be-all and end-all, but they sure do help. Thanks in advance for any and all such. 

Regards (and fingers crossed will be back up and running in the not-too-distant future),
d./uncia


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

Ceceil Felias said:
			
		

> What we need is someone who's able to get ahold of the people in charge of the server maintenance and ask them what's going on. We also need someone who can get ahold of the admins IRL, because I haven't seen a bit of them on the forums all day. Are they even aware the servers went down entirely? o.o



The admins are normally very good about responding, but I'm afraid the holiday weekend may have something to do with it. With schools being on break, and many businesses closing for several days and people taking time off. For example, my last day at work was Friday, and I don't go back until next Thursday.
I have a feeling if it wasn't a MAJOR holiday weekend we would have heard from the admins by now


			
				uncia said:
			
		

> Good try, Dakimov! The link is here _(the typo proves it's genuine )_
> Donations ain't the be-all and end-all, but they sure do help. Thanks in advance for any and all such.



Thanks Uncia! :0) *wag* But I dont pay online, and the info I need is saved in a PM on FA..... :0P *sigh*


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

Dakimov said:
			
		

> I have a feeling if it wasn't a MAJOR holiday weekend we would have heard from the admins by now


Tech side was around immediately after the lengthy (9 hour) forum outage last night, just as things were deteriorating again on the mainsite, but no news since then, afaik.


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

uncia said:
			
		

> Dakimov said:
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I appreciate greatly what the FA techs do, and I certainly don't know what is going on behind the scenes (and I'll be the firs to admit I'm not the most technical person out there)...but I know that there are a lot of variables, and being a major holiday weekend is just bound to throw in a few more 'variables' that might not be there otherwise.
I have much faith in the techs. :0)
Mainly because I know they know a heck of a lot more than I do about it. X0D


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

Dakimov said:
			
		

> Thanks Uncia! :0) *wag* But I dont pay online, and the info I need is saved in a PM on FA..... :0P *sigh*


*g*. There always has to be one. 
'Tis all good stuff, however that's sent through: not paying online will save on Amazon's relatively moderate fees, too. If the mainsite doesn't come back quickly enough, will just have to prod yak to query the database, I guess. _Or something like that... *ducks*_ ^^

(aside: If anyone (over 18 - catch-all even for the clean board, alas) is getting withdrawal symptoms already, fchan is just back online again following their server move - for those who ain't opposed to that on moral grounds or somesuch).

Thanks again,
David.


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

uncia said:
			
		

> *g*. There always has to be one.



X0D lol


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## KMakato (Dec 23, 2007)

uncia said:
			
		

> (aside: If anyone (over 18 - catch-all even for the clean board, alas) is getting withdrawal symptoms already, fchan is just back online again following their server move - for those who ain't opposed to that on moral grounds or somesuch).



heh, Xenofur(sp?) over there gave a nice 2-3 day expected wait, and was up in a day. I lol'd to say the least 8)


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

Elliey-sama said:
			
		

> Takara_kitsune said:
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Hey, I didn't intend any kind of offense, really. ^^; Actually, I was truly only saying I had no intent to leave. ^^; I'm mostly only on FA for the art... and I make a few friends along the way. I don't have much of a life offline, though... so therein lies the reasoning I won't leave. I'm online enough that I'm not just going to stop coming... in fact, I'm liable to check on FA out of habit. I even have a hard time not doing that in public places. (Is it luck, or is it a bad thing that I am never without wireless internet access...?)

Anyway... I'm sure you fit in here, too. I made friends here and I don't even post anything... I mostly favorite art, then comment on it... sometimes put a watch on someone... my talents are in technical skills rather than artistic skills. So... point being... I think there's a place for everyone on FA. Well... if you're a furry, that is. ^^; Or a furry in denial... know a few of those, too... ^^;


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## robomilk (Dec 23, 2007)

Hrrrrm.... this downtime is really bugging me. Might go on another website and post up all my stuff there, just for backup - got no intent on leaving what is such a lovely community (when they can be arsed.)

I know the site is growing quickly and all, but maybe we're getting problems like this because they're trying to upgrade everything _too_ quickly? Slow down a bit, jeez.


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

KMakato said:
			
		

> uncia said:
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Started as 24 hours, IIRC, was revised to an additional 2-3 days, then delivered in one... Good for them. 
There's a lesson in there somewhere, I'm sure, when it comes to setting targets. 

Have just managed to check via admin., btw: there's no-one tech side around at present, but messages have been left.


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## marmelmm (Dec 23, 2007)

Welp, given the long holiday weekend, I'm not expecting FA to be back up until Wed. at the earliest, myself.

So, go relax and do something else.  I plan to!  

-MMM-


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## Taralack (Dec 23, 2007)

Aw well. I had a couple of festive arts to share, but I guess not.  Will keep checking though.


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## Ceceil Felias (Dec 23, 2007)

uncia said:
			
		

> Have just managed to check via admin., btw: there's no-one tech side around at present, but messages have been left.


Hurrah! o/ Some level of progress, however minor, is good.

Here's hoping the tech personnel will be able to look into it in the morning.


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## NerdyMunk (Dec 23, 2007)

Charrio said:
			
		

> Hey all FA is down again i think, it definitely wont load up for me, been trying for a bit now



yeah, its kind of down for me too. They'll probably post something bout it


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## yak (Dec 23, 2007)

My sincere apologies that no updates have been posted up to this time.

Please see http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=15637 for the details.


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## sevenstarfire (Dec 23, 2007)

Yep, down for me too  But wouldn't it be nice to think of it not like a problem or an inconvenience?  It could be very well that all these downtimes may have to do with the FA staff upgrading the server to make it better for all of us, but of course we won't actually know until the staff tells us what's going on.  I don't mind waiting though, it gives me time to draw more arts to post when it's up anyway =^_^=


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## Lt_Havoc (Dec 23, 2007)

Great, somone sended you The Ping of Death.......


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## yak (Dec 23, 2007)

UPDATE
My sincere apologies that no updates have been posted up to this time.

Please see http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=15637 for the details.


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## rednec0 (Dec 23, 2007)

yep, sounds like the typical elitist /b/tard who hates furs is behind the whole grand scheme of things again...and right around the christmas too. $10 says their gift is "merry christmas furfags" or something around those lines. hope thye get an inoperable malignant tumor around the base of their spine >:[


ya people need an angry faic emote btw


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## Lt_Havoc (Dec 23, 2007)

I read the update!


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

Hey; I'd've carried that forward to the new page, if no-one else did.... 
_OK, I'm slow again... -v-_

Thanks, yak. ^^
d.



			
				yak said:
			
		

> UPDATE
> My sincere apologies that no updates have been posted up to this time.
> 
> Please see http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=15637 for the details.


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## marmelmm (Dec 23, 2007)

yak said:
			
		

> My sincere apologies that no updates have been posted up to this time.
> 
> Please see http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=15637 for the details.



Thanks for the update!   

-MMM-


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## TakeWalker (Dec 23, 2007)

I had no idea you could donate to FA through Amazon! That's so cool!

Now, to get monies. Thanks for the link, Uncia!


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## MMind (Dec 23, 2007)

The one thing that I would like to do, is make a donation to FA... I haven't made a donation yet (feels ashamed  ), but there are two things that bothers me.... I live a whole country away, and have no idea on how to donate to FA from our currency to dollars... Also I do not own a a credit card (Don't want one, to much trouble ), so making a donation using Amazon isn't going to work..... Isn't there a place were I can maybe find a direct account that I can pay the donation to?
The reason why I ask this, is because I feel partly responsible for not making a donation to a site that has given me so much... that has made a little place for me were I can breath and be who I would like to be. FA has given me new friends, and maybe a new life partner... I feel ashamed that I haven't shown my gratitude towards all the admins and techs out there that's busting there furry buts off to keep FA alive. I can understand that it must be one hell of a job to try and keep a server running on only donations... as well as keep up with the demands that comes with the server. Thank you admins and all the technicians, and to whom ever else help to keep FA up and running, for giving me and all the other furies a place were we can be who we want to be....
I really hope that I don't bother anyone for posting something like this here, but I feel that it fits well with the situation...
If any of the admins, or mods, or whom ever has the info on were I can make the donation to, can you please PM them to me, if it's not to much trouble.
Thanx again for everything, and I hope that you can get the server back up.... *fingers crossed*


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

TakeWalker said:
			
		

> uncia said:
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*g*. That's just the link from the donation button, but how many people click on donation buttons?  



			
				MMind said:
			
		

> The one thing that I would like to do, is make a donation to FA... I haven't made a donation yet (feels ashamed  ), but there are two things that bothers me.... I live a whole country away, and have no idea on how to donate to FA from our currency to dollars... Also I do not own a a credit card (Don't want one, to much trouble ), so making a donation using Amazon isn't going to work..... Isn't there a place were I can maybe find a direct account that I can pay the donation to?


Hiya MMind! 
You're in the 99%+ majority, but that's the way it usually goes. And I know and fully understand that many people simply _aren't_ in the position to be able to donate.

I'm unsure about anything currently set up for direct account transfers, unfortunately, save that internationally those are normally somewhat expensive to carry out. Preyfar was previously able to accept money orders, but with any luck he might have both those methods open if possible. Or else have trustworthy individuals in those countries who can pass on the payment.
If you could please drop him a PM, that would probably be best. And much appreciated on that!



			
				MMind said:
			
		

> The reason why I ask this, is because I feel partly responsible for not making a donation to a site that has given me so much... that has made a little place for me were I can breath and be who I would like to be. FA has given me new friends, and maybe a new life partner...


*yay*. Very easy to "take FA for granted", I guess, and thank you for sharing all that. Trusting things might turn out for the best there. _*claws crossed*_ 

Kindest regards,
David.


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## nightmask (Dec 23, 2007)

So looks like the holiday grinches are showing their tails again, since cowards like that never show their faces, demonstrating that all they can do is destroy and commit negative acts because they're too lazy and cowardly to commit themselves to things that make things better for others and do constructive, positive things.


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## uncia (Dec 23, 2007)

nightmask said:
			
		

> So looks like the holiday grinches are showing their tails again, since cowards like that never show their faces, demonstrating that all they can do is destroy and commit negative acts because they're too lazy and cowardly to commit themselves to things that make things better for others and do constructive, positive things.


Aye, that it is. Thankfully our community is smart enough not to rise to the bait and give them the pleasure of seeing any meltdown and mass drama here. (Cheers, y'all).

Tech-side is still working on matters now.
d.

=====

<clip> from previous page, for general ref., since they're back online sooner than expected.


			
				uncia said:
			
		

> (aside: If anyone (over 18 - catch-all even for the clean board, alas) is getting withdrawal symptoms already, fchan is just back online again following their server move - for those who ain't opposed to that on moral grounds or somesuch).


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## Lt_Havoc (Dec 23, 2007)

uncia said:
			
		

> nightmask said:
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What Tech side? Its friking sunday and 2 days before chistmas, there isnt anyone working today in that business. They are all on vecation until next year, so no FA until 5th 2008


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## KMakato (Dec 23, 2007)

You never know though, it could be one of those places with someone "on call" if the host has "high-priority" clients... possible??? *rubs paws nervously*


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## coffinberry (Dec 23, 2007)

Ceceil Felias said:
			
		

> I'm assuming the servers got completely knocked out, possibly by a power outage or something. The coders as far as I can tell haven't even been able to switch it over to the temporarily-down notice like most other times.



last time there was an outage it was around a major holiday. i don't think it was a power outage.


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## blade (Dec 23, 2007)

The one who has been watching over the tech has been quite good about things. 

Though I do hope things'll get better, though I shouldn't worry too much since it always has gotten better.


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## Andromalius (Dec 23, 2007)

Last night when I tried getting in, I couldn't even get in the forum. Something about a MySLQ error.


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## Midnightwolf (Dec 23, 2007)

Well I have had some weird stuff happen. Like it lets me to the site, but everytime I go there it is logging me in as someone else. Its showing me how many new watches, submissions, favs, ect. they have, and it wont let me log out so that "I" I can sign in. Is anyone else haveing this going on, cuz its freakin me out.


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

This is unfortunate... I had suspected the worst when it went down, but... large UDP packets? >.> 

When I had said earlier, "I hope this isn't some kind of terrible Christmas present" or something like that, I was hoping it wasn't what it is. Of course, that explains why the data server was inaccessible, too... I'm wondering why they went through such trouble. Although... sad part is, easier to set up an army of zombie terminals and create a DDoS attack than it is to fix it. Worst part of this is, the attack could even be using the computers of actual FA users for said DDoS attack. So... I guess... everyone, remember to use proper protection... I mean! Use a firewall! ^^; (Had to say something dumb to lighten the mood. ^^; ) 

Actually, chances are high some of the zombies belong to the attacker(s). Anyway... I'm left wondering if dissecting the attack will actually come up with a solution... but... I guess it won't really. >.> I still question why one would bother attacking the same place so many times, though. Do we harm them in any way...? Then... why harm us?


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## Dakimov (Dec 23, 2007)

Takara_kitsune said:
			
		

> I still question why one would bother attacking the same place so many times, though. Do we harm them in any way...? Then... why harm us?




Because those type of folks have no life - so they borrow ours so they have something to do :0P ....unfortunately.


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## Bladewing (Dec 23, 2007)

While I realize this is the favorite community of all here, or at least most of you... take a second and remember, FA is still young! It's growing exponentially, probably well past expectations. It's two days before Christmas Day, but Yak is still giving us info. I'd say that's pretty damn responsible. He could be sitting down with his feet up saying "screw FA this is my Christmas, they can wait till the 27th" but he's not.

I don't think some of you realize how helpless someone feels when they have to be in the position these people are. They can't just walk to the server room and give it a proverbial kick. All they can do is call. Do you honestly think it's FA's fault no one is there at their server's company? IT'S CHRISTMAS! 

I think it's awfully unfair of you to sit around and say "work for me the day before Christmas cause I want my site." If you're not 100% honestly willing to do the same, don't expect it of them. I understand it's frustrating that a holiday can interfere with getting things done. But it takes a special kind of person to put down their own time and take up the reins ON A HOLIDAY. This is considered a holiday weekend, remember that. 

This is the time of year when everyone has a chance to go online all at once. Ever think maybe FA wasn't prepared for it. Before you get irritable, or call anyone involved irresponsible, just take a second and think about what you said. It's two days before Christmas. 

Appreciate what you have when it's there, and don't get so angry when it's gone. It's only temporary. Take a break from FA. Chill here in the forums. Or something. But don't start assigning blame. Just remember it's a holiday, okay? Not much happens at a normal pace this time of year. 

have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday, and don't let the little stuff get you down. 

*hugs*

Bladewing


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## Lt_Havoc (Dec 23, 2007)

They send the Ping of Death just for fun. Its well known that people outside the fandom dosent like "furries" at all and that they are something sick and veile that has to be reased or something. Its the current tred to hate furries like to hate republicans or something. 

Anyway, they do it for fun, thats all the reason they need. They want to harras us and post it on other forums like "zOMG!!! We killz teh FA server!! We are l33t! lolz!! Fucking fur fags yiff in hell!" etc. 

Our presentce and existans is enough reason for them to attck the larges furry communty site over and over again. It wont stop, they will do it again.


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## Bladewing (Dec 23, 2007)

Lt.Havoc said:
			
		

> They send the Ping of Death just for fun. Its well known that people outside the fandom dosent like "furries" at all and that they are something sick and veile that has to be reased or something. Its the current tred to hate furries like to hate republicans or something.
> 
> Anyway, they do it for fun, thats all the reason they need. They want to harras us and post it on other forums like "zOMG!!! We killz teh FA server!! We are l33t! lolz!! Fucking fur fags yiff in hell!" etc.
> 
> Our presentce and existans is enough reason for them to attck the larges furry communty site over and over again. It wont stop, they will do it again.



It's pretty much been the "trend" to hate furries since they existed because "normal" people often hate or fear what they don't understand. And as I'm sure you're aware, most "normal" people don't want to make distinctions between furries who like to draw furs and wear fursuits; furries who don't lifestyle, just draw; and deviants. (yes I've simplified that a little too much maybe.) A few bad eggs don't make a community, but all they see are those bad things. For example, if you fell down a lot of times rollerskating, you might hate it, even though if you didn't fall down you'd be having fun. Distinctions are important. But the average person (and society as a whole) prefer to slap on an all purpose label. It's life. Unfortunately all we can do is deal with it. Because those labeled have always fought back against the labelers... and guess what. no matter what, we're STILL labeled.

Now as for blaming this on the haters..... it COULD be. But it could also be because it's, you know.... the day before Christmas Eve? Don't be too quick to think it's a bad thing happening to us UNTIL we're told so. Think positive, eh?


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## Tower (Dec 23, 2007)

I blame bladewing.. or waffles.  I don't know which yet.. *wafflewaffle*


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## WolfoxOkamichan (Dec 23, 2007)

lol and these attackers think they're normal? XD


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## yak (Dec 23, 2007)

Midnightwolf said:
			
		

> Well I have had some weird stuff happen. Like it lets me to the site, but everytime I go there it is logging me in as someone else. Its showing me how many new watches, submissions, favs, ect. they have, and it wont let me log out so that "I" I can sign in. Is anyone else haveing this going on, cuz its freakin me out.



Having just gotten back control of the database server, i have force-logged everyone out of FA.
All user sessions are destroyed, and you will be forced to re-login again when the site comes back online. I will further look into the issue once things stabilize.


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## Taralack (Dec 23, 2007)

Cheers yak for giving an update.

Attack from the /b/tards? Hmm.. not impossible I suppose.


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## Kiffa_kitmouse (Dec 23, 2007)

Bladewing said:
			
		

> Now as for blaming this on the haters..... it COULD be. But it could also be because it's, you know.... the day before Christmas Eve? Don't be too quick to think it's a bad thing happening to us UNTIL we're told so. Think positive, eh?



It'd be nice to think that this wasn't another attack... but if you look at the graph yak posted in the 'Site Status' section (http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=15637), you can see just how suddenly this increase in traffic happened. Now, I don't know anything about website tech... but it seems to me that if it was just people checking in on FA after coming home from school, the increase would happen gradually, over a period of several hours. It seems unlikely that everyone would be logging on at virtually _exactly_ the same time.


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## Vgm22 (Dec 23, 2007)

yak said:
			
		

> Having just gotten back control of the database server, i have force-logged everyone out of FA.
> All user sessions are destroyed, and you will be forced to re-login again when the site comes back online. I will further look into the issue once things stabilize.



Thank you Yak for the update and for taking the time outta your holiday to work on this problem. You and everyone else that's working on Chritmas Eve should get a lot of thanks for taking time away from your loved ones and family to work on getting the site back up.

If it is people from /b/ that are doing, they are going to keep on doing it. You get used to it and find something better to due, until the site comes back up. I find when you do something else and go to the site it's up and you're like, "Wow! It's up after I went away and did something else for a while." Though I also agree with the people that says it could be just the holiday traffic that could've done this. I mean everyone is outta college and school on winter break and everyone logged into FA pushing the server to the limit. Who knows, but the coders and admins when they fix things. Well be in the know after that when they are done if it was a /b/ attack or some form of attack or if the site couldn't handle the "Holiday Load".


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## Jurann (Dec 23, 2007)

Charrio said:
			
		

> Dakimov said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are always welcome to post FA charity auctions on http://www.furbuy.com/ and donate the money you make to FA. Furbid doesn't allow charity auctions, but on FurBuy we most certainly welcome them to support causes like FA, animal rescues, free websites, and even your pocketbook.


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## Sslaxx (Dec 23, 2007)

FA is more in need of donations for security, than art...


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## Alorwin (Dec 23, 2007)

Alright, alright, I just read the thread and I'm seeing alot of guesstimation, so I'm just gonna... do what I can to help people understand?

Large UDP packets are completely worthless, in the HTTP/web-traffic environment, however hardware/software firewalls let them slip by usually, even though they're most-often used for DDoS, which stands for Distributed Denial of Service, aka, spamming a website with traffic to overload their ability to respond. When you have a sufficiant flood of traffic going, the webserver is bogged down with so much inbound traffic, all of which is has to sort out, no less, that two things happen. Legitimate traffic can't get through, which is why us, the users, can't get in. And, the other, more entertaining problem, is that legitimate traffic tends to have difficulty even getting out. If the traffic is too heavy, it just shuts everything down. So I guess, thank Anon for this.


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## Jurann (Dec 23, 2007)

Lt.Havoc said:
			
		

> They send the Ping of Death just for fun. Its well known that people outside the fandom dosent like "furries" at all and that they are something sick and veile that has to be reased or something. Its the current tred to hate furries like to hate republicans or something.
> 
> Anyway, they do it for fun, thats all the reason they need. They want to harras us and post it on other forums like "zOMG!!! We killz teh FA server!! We are l33t! lolz!! Fucking fur fags yiff in hell!" etc.
> 
> Our presentce and existans is enough reason for them to attck the larges furry communty site over and over again. It wont stop, they will do it again.



Nah, the thought that outsiders would even waste their time doesn't make much sense. It's much more likely that it's from a competing furry site that wants to make FA looks bad. *cough*fchan*cough*furbid*cough*furnation*cough* Wow, 'scuse me, got a bad case of the coughs there. Anyway, it's quite clearly a DDoS attack, nothing else could make the traffic graph jump they way it did. We have several furries within the fandom who know how to orchestrate a DDoS and have access to the network infrastructure to make one happen. Rest assured that the FA team will be doing everything they can to bring things back up in a timely manner, and hopefully find who launched the attack and pursue them too.


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## Takara_kitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

Thank you for the update, Yak. ^^

Anyway... to anyone who'd deny it... I think this can only be an attack. The traffic used for FA is mostly TCP... I don't have logs to confirm this, but... when I last ran Wireshark while on FA, all traffic was TCP and HTTP. UDP is mostly used if you don't care if the traffic fails to reach it's destination. Who cares if you lost a 65535-byte packet if you're sending a bulk of them anyway? Isn't ping a wonderful utility? Actually... all network utilities are double-edged, unfortunately. Even Wireshark is bad in the wrong hands. So officially, well, unofficially, since I'm not official in any sense, this is an attack. **

I've also had firsthand experience with furry haters in real life. Difficult to explain, but they had no idea I'm a furry... and they were telling me how bad furries are, and giving absolutely horrible and irrational reasons for their hatred. Now... before anyone asks how they were talking about hating furries just when I was there... they actually make it a regular topic of discussion. >.> Actually, they'd talk about specific places that I won't mention, I understand there's a taboo on them. Or something like they'll go after you if they know you mention them and aren't one of them. ^^; Anyway... I asked why they hated furries so much... and one of them whips out a laptop, and shows me the Encyclopedia Dramatica page on furries, saying it's all true. It's laughably incorrect, but... apparently stupid people believe anything they read on the internet. >.>

** Or I could have waited for Alorwin to post a better definition of why it's an attack. ^^; Or not typed up a novel over here. ^^;


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## leeter (Dec 23, 2007)

There is a possible solution to this problem, most routers can be configured to ignore certain types of traffic, so if say how about this:
only one tcp connection per IP, period (or what ever is needed for normal site usage), anymore will cause a IP packet block at the router level for at least 24 hours.
if UDP isn't used, or is only used in certain ways, block all pings at router level, and block any traffic from ip's that shouldn't be using UDP for at least 24 hours. 
the key here is that you ignore any traffic from that ip for at least 24 so sustained DDOS should quickly drop off, mind though I am a dev coder not a net coder so, I would find one of them and confirm everything above before implementing.


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## Alorwin (Dec 23, 2007)

leeter said:
			
		

> There is a possible solution to this problem, most routers can be configured to ignore certain types of traffic, so if say how about this:
> only one tcp connection per IP, period (or what ever is needed for normal site usage), anymore will cause a IP packet block at the router level for at least 24 hours.
> if UDP isn't used, or is only used in certain ways, block all pings at router level, and block any traffic from ip's that shouldn't be using UDP for at least 24 hours.
> the key here is that you ignore any traffic from that ip for at least 24 so sustained DDOS should quickly drop off, mind though I am a dev coder not a net coder so, I would find one of them and confirm everything above before implementing.



Doesn't work. DDoS' evolved because of "high-speed" internet. Namely, one jackass sitting on a college network with tons of bandwidth couldn't take down that annoying website he hates, anymore. DDoS works, not by the traffic itself, but by overloading the throughput. You literally have to contact the ISP that does the server-hosting, to deal with a DDoS


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## ryokukitsune (Dec 23, 2007)

well this is the second time we've been down in as many weeks and its starting to look suspicious to me. anyone else get the sneaking suspicion that we are being targeted? it seems that someone or something is coordinating some kind of attack to block all of the bandwidth of the site. what else could explain the massive jump in views other than a 1% of the world population suddenly going furry?


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## Lt_Havoc (Dec 23, 2007)

What the hell is going on with this forum and all the MySQL errors all the time? Inst the forum located on another server? 

Hell, I start to belive the server move was not a smart one, we have more down times and attacks then ever and even the forums are effected by it. Godanmit! We need tech-support now! That or a Chistmas wonder...


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## KMakato (Dec 23, 2007)

Forum Back???


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## Busterdrag (Dec 23, 2007)

OMG, calm down everyone. 

Yeah, its an DDoS. How tragic. Do something else with your time, I mean, its Christmas, goddammit.

Sooner or later, the server will be back online (mostly later). Until then, do something else. The coding monkeys of FA will take care of the problem. And after some time, every DDoS attack on the nets dies down. You can't hold up an DDoS forever.

And I agree with Lt. Havoc. We need a better tech support. No, the coders we have now are good, but we need more. We should use some of the donations we get on some professionel Coders.

Okay, I have nothing more to say. Good night and merry Christmas.


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## seadog-driftwood (Dec 24, 2007)

Is there any way to track who could have caused this, or is that the point of DDoS, to mask the culprit completely?

Let's be thankful, at least, that burning people at the stake has fallen out of favour, otherwise anyone who even had a picture of a human-like animal might be at risk of the claim "They're a furry! They are hellspawn! Blahblahblah pseudo-religious hysteriz and crap!"

Okay, I got that overreaction out of my system. Merry Chrastmas / Decemberween, every-single-body!


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## SDWolf (Dec 25, 2007)

Yay, it looks like everything's back up!  Way to go!

I sincerely hope you'll press charges against whoever's responsible for all that.  As I understand, an attack like that is a criminal offense, so it shouldn't cost FA anything to pursue legal action.

Anyhow, thanks for all the hard work getting things back up just in time for Christmas.  Have a great holiday!  *wags*


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## scooter_squirrel (Dec 25, 2007)

Thanks to everyone involved in getting the site back up, kudos to you all.  Also, thanks for restoring the posts and all, was a little worried when I logged on the other day and found my account was gone.  Happy Holidays everyone, lets hope New Years can be be a little less stressful on all.


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## Bokracroc (Dec 25, 2007)

Lt.Havoc said:
			
		

> What the hell is going on with this forum and all the MySQL errors all the time? Inst the forum located on another server?



The forum *is* on another server.


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## ADF (Dec 25, 2007)

Looks like someone decided to poke a little fun at the situation.

Either way I have to feel sorry for the coders; I mean having to deal with this  on Yule, I would just say closed till after and leave it at that.


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## rednec0 (Dec 25, 2007)

SDWolf said:
			
		

> I sincerely hope you'll press charges against whoever's responsible for all that.  As I understand, an attack like that is a criminal offense, so it shouldn't cost FA anything to pursue legal action.



well with that whole thing, it IS a federal crime to DDoS websites so the FBI would get involved and said offenders would be V&. however, the chances of finding the ones responsible is almost zero cause if they're intelligent enough they'd use a proxy to block a trace and such. the only way the culprit MIGHT be found is if you could slowly take-apart the attack computer-by-computer, but that kind of tracing is virtually impossible at this point.


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## Dragoneer (Dec 25, 2007)

MMind said:
			
		

> Isn't there a place were I can maybe find a direct account that I can pay the donation to?


A direct account? Unfortunately no. The way bank accounts work in the US is if you have the same information you'd need to deposit you also have some of the same information you need to withdraw. Europe has a much more efficient system at it for using bank accounts to deposit, but in the US it can be a double-edged sword.


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## Dragoneer (Dec 25, 2007)

SDWolf said:
			
		

> I sincerely hope you'll press charges against whoever's responsible for all that.  As I understand, an attack like that is a criminal offense, so it shouldn't cost FA anything to pursue legal action.


If we had any solid idea of who was behind it, sure. But otherwise, welcome to the internet. =/ Anonymity reigns (for better or worse).


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## Verloren (Dec 25, 2007)

Noticed that you guys were down for a few days. Now what was the problem?


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## Dragoneer (Dec 25, 2007)

Verloren said:
			
		

> Noticed that you guys were down for a few days. Now what was the problem?


The site was being DDOS attacked.


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## Alorwin (Dec 25, 2007)

... Agh, people don't know anything! >_< DDoS is 99.99% untrackable! You would have too log ALL the IPs sending the traffic, every single one, find out each ISP and post a notice to each ISP asking them to preform tech-support on their users computers THEN find the trojan that's being used to control said computers, THEN disable the attack-functions of the trojan, install it on a zombie, find where the trojan tracks back too[usually an irc server], find the channel it joins[in irc-case], find the zombie-master[trojan maker], contact the sys-admins of the irc server for the zombie-master's IP, and then it's back to contacting the ISPs again. And since this attack is going against MANY fur-sources, you just know that it's more than one zombie-master. The government would LOVE to punish DDoSers, but it's almost impossible.


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## ShadowUmbre (Dec 25, 2007)

I hope the best to come, whoever did this should be a shame of themselves to do such a thing.


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## icehawk (Dec 25, 2007)

Busterdrag said:
			
		

> And I agree with Lt. Havoc. We need a better tech support. No, the coders we have now are good, but we need more. We should use some of the donations we get on some professionel Coders.




Extra coders aren't going to help when someone's trying to shove a gigabit of traffic down a 100mbit port.


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## Alorwin (Dec 25, 2007)

icehawk said:
			
		

> Busterdrag said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



EXACTLY! ALL that will help is contacting the server's ISP, and maybe not even that! But it's better now.


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## karoug (Dec 26, 2007)

Am I correct in thinking that even if FA had a super-duper router it wouldn't help because the over 100Mbps of traffic needed to be filtered by the ISP's router to stop the attack before it reached FA?


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## icehawk (Dec 26, 2007)

karoug said:
			
		

> Am I correct in thinking that even if FA had a super-duper router it wouldn't help because the over 100Mbps of traffic needed to be filtered by the ISP's router to stop the attack before it reached FA?



Yup. In a bandwidth consumption attack, any filtering has to be done before the point where all of the available bandwidth is saturated


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## Rhainor (Dec 26, 2007)

Busterdrag said:
			
		

> And I agree with Lt. Havoc. We need a better tech support. No, the coders we have now are good, but we need more. We should use some of the donations we get on some professionel Coders.



IIRC, the donations FA gets don't even cover the cost of bandwidth.  There sure ain't enough left over for hiring professional code-monkeys.


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## Dragoneer (Dec 26, 2007)

Rhainor said:
			
		

> Busterdrag said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If it weren't for Cerisewolf, FA would be down about $5G at least. In the hole. While FA gets a decent chunk from donations, it doesn't profit from it. we've been in the hole for a better part of a year. We pay $850 a month, and we don't get much back from the community in return. Right now Cerise is covering that out of the goodness of his heart.

The regular donations we get help out slightly, but not enough long term. So far, the advertising doesn't dent the bill -- as yak puts it, it's a "drop of water in the ocean". We're working to find ways to better the system, however.


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## Alorwin (Dec 26, 2007)

karoug said:
			
		

> Am I correct in thinking that even if FA had a super-duper router it wouldn't help because the over 100Mbps of traffic needed to be filtered by the ISP's router to stop the attack before it reached FA?



I <3 you. Yes, that's exactly it, and what I've been tryin' to tell people.


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