Are We Back?

Dillbert · Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:13 pm

seems the message base has reappeared . . .

webmaster · Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:11 pm

Almost done!

tomc · Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:34 pm

Seems like its back on.

Bobberman · Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:51 pm

Good I thought the world ended!I guess we weathered the storm!

gixxerific · Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:17 am

Thanks webmaster. I have been trying to get on here several times a day.

If you don't mind, what happened?

It's good to be home again.

rainbowgardener · Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:20 am

Very strange that it is just back, with no note about what happened why it was gone for two weeks (some kind of hack - malware attack obviously, but it would be really nice to get some more explanation of specifically what happened and what was done to fix it and why it is now all full of links to ads). This is the second time this year, the Forum has been attacked like that. Any idea why HG is being singled out; I've never seen anything like it anywhere else.

A little more communication would be really nice!

DownriverGardener · Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:17 am

rainbowgardener wrote:Very strange that it is just back, with no note about what happened why it was gone for two weeks (some kind of hack - malware attack obviously, but it would be really nice to get some more explanation of specifically what happened and what was done to fix it and why it is now all full of links to ads). This is the second time this year, the Forum has been attacked like that. Any idea why HG is being singled out; I've never seen anything like it anywhere else.

A little more communication would be really nice!

I blame the drought

webmaster · Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:21 am

It's hard to communicate when the site is down.

THG has a Facebook page and I was posting some updates there. I was also in direct email contact with members who took the time to email me.

The server control panel was out of date but the cp software maker no longer supported the flavor of linux os the server was running on. So the web host had to physically install a new hard drive with a different version of linux os, then install a new cp. THG had to be uploaded and configured anew. Unfortunately there were hangups with the backups. I wrestled with it for a week, staying up until three AM and waking up at 7 AM to work on it some days.

Finally I threw in the towel and sought the help of someone with considerably more skills than I, twenty years more skills than I have. Even for him it was a challenge and it took him several evenings working on it to get the site back up and running without loss of any posts.

DownriverGardener · Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:45 am

can you send a link to the FB page? I've been searching and searching and I cannot find it!

webmaster · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:52 am

https://www.facebook.com/helpfulgardener

https://twitter.com/helpfulgardener

I post on twitter infrequently, usually to highlight interesting discusions. But I'm going to try to post more to twitter and facebook for those who would like to follow along.

sheeshshe · Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:30 am

me too! looked for a FB page too. I missed this forum SOOOOOOOOOO much I've been going crazy! so glad it is back. thank you for the hard work!

RogueRose · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:17 am

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going crazy without y'all! SO glad the forum is back up. I MISSED you guys! We should get a FB page up as a back up.

gixxerific · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:29 am

Thanks again for all your hard work Roger. I looked for a contact but I guess I didn't look deep enough. Didn't think of Facebook either, not that I use it.

luvthesnapper · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:32 am

Who attacks a gardening forum? Friggin' wierdos, that's who.

Looks like everyone survived though. Tomatoes are still getting diseases, and ber still exists, so all is normal again.

SvetSad · Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:42 am

Yay! I'm so glad the forum is back!

I am currently having an issue with searching the forum... I get NO results for anything I search (altho I can search this forum through google and get results just fine)

DoubleDogFarm · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:52 pm

I was also in direct email contact with members who took the time to email me.

Thanks for all your loss of sleep and hard work Roger. Sorry to bother you with email, I was curious.

I thought I was kidding, but in the third email, I was correct.

Eric

tomf · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:17 pm

Thank you for your work, now get some sleep.

Susan W · Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:05 pm

Aaahh! That was a long few days. So glad things are up and running.

Thank you Roger for managing this thing. I am 'puter brown thumbs and appreciate your work/dedication.

Susan W · Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:11 pm

an addition to last post. While gone, the plants still grew, or not, drought/heat kept on, pests as hungry as ever, and we survived. We all have had our successes and failures this past week in the garden, well I know I have!
Carry On! as my Mom (late) would say.

pickupguy07 · Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:28 am

What disappointed me (or I could was confusing) was that there was no way to contact anyone on the site to let them know there was an issue.
I wasn't aware they had a FB page so logically I went to the main web site https://www.helpfulgardener.com/ to try and contact the admins there.

I DID find a link that said "Contact",... but all it did was take you to a page that told you to go to the Gardner's Forum (which was what was down in the first place). SO that did no good.
I FINALLY looked them up on twitter, sending a message THAT way, and just HOPED that someone might see it.

Glad it's back up, but may ought to be a little consideration given to a "contact us" link (via email) put somewhere on the main web site in case this happens again. (just my 2 cents)

jal_ut · Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:30 am

I must confess, I missed the forum too. Thanks for all your efforts to get it back and keep it running.

Jeffross1968 · Fri Jul 27, 2012 2:02 pm

The day the site went down I was getting a warning about not coming to the becsuse of malicious software. That message went away after a day and then just no page available.

DoubleDogFarm · Fri Jul 27, 2012 2:44 pm

pickupguy07 wrote:What disappointed me (or I could was confusing) was that there was no way to contact anyone on the site to let them know there was an issue.
I wasn't aware they had a FB page so logically I went to the main web site https://www.helpfulgardener.com/ to try and contact the admins there.

I DID find a link that said "Contact",... but all it did was take you to a page that told you to go to the Gardner's Forum (which was what was down in the first place). SO that did no good.
I FINALLY looked them up on twitter, sending a message THAT way, and just HOPED that someone might see it.

Glad it's back up, but may ought to be a little consideration given to a "contact us" link (via email) put somewhere on the main web site in case this happens again. (just my 2 cents)

It's a little buried but if you look at the bottom of the page you linked to, it's under Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy
The Helpful Gardener respects your privacy. We do not use your email for any marketing efforts, and all email addresses submitted to us are kept in strict confidence and never shared with any third parties.

Cookies
We use cookies in our forum as part of the normal way of identifying you for the purpose of giving you private access to your Private Mail box, as well as allowing you to post under your chosen username. We do not use cookies to personally identify you.

The Helpful Gardener respects your privacy. Should you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, please email us: admin at helpfulgardener.com

Now that the BB is back up you could PM Roger for a more direct email.

Eric

There is freedom within, there is freedom without
Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup
There's a battle ahead, many battles are lost
But you'll never see the end of the road
While you're traveling with me

Hey now, hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know they won't win

gixxerific · Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:24 am

DDF oh so now you tell me.

I looked everywhere for an email even on that page. There is was right in front of me. I even looked several times.

I saw the links that went to this forum that didn't work but I guess that email just went right past me.

Like that old saying: "Can't see the tomatoes for the vines" or it went something like that.

SLC · Sat Jul 28, 2012 3:39 pm

Just found this thread and want to add that I am so glad the forum is back up!!!

My plants were freaking out without it!!!

Charlie MV · Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:29 pm

Roger took the time to respond to several of my emails. I consider this above and beyond the call...

Get some sleep and I promise to leave you alone.

I'll post some of my political views tomorrow.