This is a thread to update you on the status of dinotoyblog.com and animaltoyforum.com, which are both currently down. So, what's going on!?
Our hosting provider for those sites made a major boo-boo and accidentally deleted them all! So, the sites – both the blogs and forums – are now being restored from backups.
Thanks for your patience while it gets fixed. Hopefully they are back up and running sooner than later, but I don't know, fingers crossed we're looking at hours rather than days.
Luckily, the Monster Toy Blog is on a different server, so that's good, and the disaster has prompted me to set up this Monster Toy Forum. I invite DTF and ATF community members to join here while we're waiting.
Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
My site host has informed me that the restore will have to be put on hold over the weekend, so we're looking at Monday at the earliest for it to be fixed. :-\
And then, suddenly, a breakthrough. The DTF database is restored up to 1st September. I've put it in maintenance mode in the hope the missing September posts can be added, before we open up again. There is light on the horizon!
I expect the ATF to follow. If you're able to log into either forums, please don't post anything just yet.
Unfortunately nothing's changed since my last update. I haven't heard anything from my host, despite asking. I think the ATF site files and database (up to 1 sept) has been restored, but the site is showing a white screen, so something isn't right.
Thanks for the update Adam.
I am still posting my daily 'Museum' threads on STS, hosting the images on Postimages. Once ATF is up again, I'll transfer them all over to the ATF as a bulk post LOL
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 28, 2025, 12:12 AMThanks for the update Adam.
I am still posting my daily 'Museum' threads on STS, hosting the images on Postimages. Once ATF is up again, I'll transfer them all over to the ATF as a bulk post LOL
Thanks Blaine. Sorry for the major inconvenience.
What a nightmare scenario, eh! Now I'm wishing I'd bitten the bullet earlier and migrated all my sites to a new host as I've been planning for months, but been too scared... in case something like what just happened happened.
I appreciate the update as well. Fingers crossed everything goes well though. Out of habit I'm still trying to hop on, even though I know it's still a wait lol.
While I still would like to finish some DTB reviews before covering some more MTB ones, but I guess it also wouldn't hurt to work on them in the time being either, especially with Halloween approaching.
Also uh where do I go to sign in to the MTB? I know there was an easy way to log in under the Perks section on the DTB, but I didn't see it on this one.
Quote from: Faelrin on Sep 28, 2025, 01:59 AMI appreciate the update as well. Fingers crossed everything goes well though. Out of habit I'm still trying to hop on, even though I know it's still a wait lol.
While I still would like to finish some DTB reviews before covering some more MTB ones, but I guess it also wouldn't hurt to work on them in the time being either, especially with Halloween approaching.
Also uh where do I go to sign in to the MTB? I know there was an easy way to log in under the Perks section on the DTB, but I didn't see it on this one.
I keep visiting out of habit as well. It makes me feel so unsettled that the sites don't appear!
The MTB login is here:
https://monstertoyblog.com/wp-login.php
We're so back
Still a long way to go.
Here's a summary I sent to my host yesterday:
Good progress today, but there is still a lot missing. Here's a summary of the status of my sites now, in case it helps:
Dinosaur Toy Blog: files appear to be restored, but database missing, so site is down
Dinosaur Toy Forum: files restored, and database restored but only up to 1st September. The site files connect to the database, so I've put the forum into maintenance mode to allow you to add September posts before members start posting again. Do you have the missing September posts backed up locally and can you add them to the database?
Animal Toy Forum: files appear to be restored, and database appears to be restored, but the site isn't working (just a white screen).
Animal Toy Blog: files missing (should be in a folder in animaltoyforum.com/blog, which is missing), and database missing, so site is down.
Fauna Figures: files missing (should be in a folder in animaltoyforum.com/faunafigures, which is missing), and database missing, so site is down.
Plesiosaur Directory: files missing, and database missing (but somehow the site is connecting to the Tethys database), so site is down.
What does a missing database mean? And is it retrievable, just with time?
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 28, 2025, 12:25 PMWhat does a missing database mean? And is it retrievable, just with time?
A website is made of files (web pages, images) and a database(s). The files point to the content on the database. So, if the database is missing, the website won't work. Apparently my host has backups of all the databases, but they haven't all been uploaded back to the server yet.
What a mess! I cannot believe that over a decade's worth of forum and blog content can just be accidently deleted like that.
Thank you for making this place for us refugees to gather. It has been a long last few days! I keep checking the DTF and ATF in hope they'll be back, I'm fiending for my community! I get on my computer and feel lost without them so I end up hanging out of social media more than I would like. It doesn't help!
And I must admit that I am worried about my many hundreds of blog reviews. I have most of the reviews saved, but not all, and none of the pictures. Something like this happening has been on my mind more and more as my library of reviews has grown. I've been going back and copy/pasting older reviews that weren't on my current laptop and external hard drive but it is a daunting task that I never finished. :o
I feel foolish for not having backed things up manually more often myself. I know better. Don't worry, I'm confident the blog database auto-backups exist, at least up until 1 Sept 2025. If that's the worst case scenario, I'll take it.
This ordeal is made so much more stressful by my host not communicating properly.
I've noticed the site files for Plesiosauria have appeared on the server today, so things are still happening. Not the database though, or any of the other blog databases...
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 28, 2025, 01:59 PMI feel foolish for not having backed things up manually more often myself. I know better. Don't worry, I'm confident the blog database auto-backups exist, at least up until 1 Sept 2025. If that's the worst case scenario, I'll take it.
This ordeal is made so much more stressful by my host not communicating properly.
Yes, thankfully for the more recent reviews I still have the reviews themselves and the pictures. I'll have to re-edit, re-label, and re-size the pictures of about 8 or so reviews but if that's the worst that comes from this, I'll take it.
Losing a few weeks of conversation will certainly be annoying, but I think making up for a month of lost time is far easier to stomach than losing everything. So I'm glad you have backups from the start of the month at all ^^
I luckily have my Blog reviews (both ATB and one for DTB) since 9/1. And I have all the images of every Blogpost I have ever done (I only delete the text files periodically).
And for the Museum of Natural History, everything is on STS so I can easily copy content over. For things where I have multiple figures of the same species (primarily just arthropods), I have templates, but for all unique figures most of the text files have been deleted. Luckily they are all on STS.
And for all the images I post on the 'New For...' threads, I have all those images saved, too!
...and I have to add while I probably won't be on this forum much once things are back to normal (I like monsters and sci-fi, just not as figures) I am happy to have a place to chat with my forum friends again :)
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 28, 2025, 04:09 PM...and I have to add while I probably won't be on this forum much once things are back to normal (I like monsters and sci-fi, just not as figures) I am happy to have a place to chat with my forum friends again :)
Yes, I really missed our friendly sanctuaries. I only realised how important they were for my wellbeing when they were gone. :'(
Not gonna lie... I posted like mere seconds before the DTF went down, and totally had a Steve Earkel Moment when I refreshed to make an edit, and it was gone!
"Did I do thaaaaaat??"
Hope y'alls are well.
I've disable Maintenance Mode on the DinoToyForum, but the restore is still not complete, so I have disabled posting. Otherwise, it could get messy. But it means the forum, or what's been uploaded so far, is at least browsable. I'd request members on the DTF not to send PMs or update your profiles or do anything else that sends data to the database. I've added this message to the top of the forum:
"Our web hosts accidentally deleted all our site files, so the Dino Toy Forum and Blog are being restored from backups. While we're working to get the Dino Toy Forum fully functional again, you can browse the parts of the forum that have been restored, but I have disabled posting. You can also visit the newly activated Monster Toy Forum for updates: https://monstertoyblog.com/forum"
Quote from: Over9K on Sep 28, 2025, 05:37 PMNot gonna lie... I posted like mere seconds before the DTF went down, and totally had a Steve Earkel Moment when I refreshed to make an edit, and it was gone!
"Did I do thaaaaaat??"
Hope y'alls are well.
Hehe, it was YOU!?
I admit, I was quite calm when I first saw the sites were down, how bad could it be... but when I logged into the server to find all the files missing, my heart skipped a beat. It felt like I was in a fast car driving over a humped bridge.
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 28, 2025, 05:42 PMQuote from: Over9K on Sep 28, 2025, 05:37 PMNot gonna lie... I posted like mere seconds before the DTF went down, and totally had a Steve Earkel Moment when I refreshed to make an edit, and it was gone!
"Did I do thaaaaaat??"
Hope y'alls are well.
Hehe, it was YOU!?
I admit, I was quite calm when I first saw the sites were down, how bad could it be... but when I logged into the server to find all the files missing, my heart skipped a beat. It felt like I was in a fast car driving over a humped bridge.
Oh, I bet your whole day is a big bag of cats right now. I am not envious at all.
Having the forum down was probably good for me... I got a bunch of Honey Dew list things done and the wife is super pleased.
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 28, 2025, 05:40 PMI've disable Maintenance Mode on the DinoToyForum, but the restore is still not complete, so I have disabled posting. Otherwise, it could get messy. But it means the forum, or what's been uploaded so far, is at least browsable. I'd request members on the DTF not to send PMs or update your profiles or do anything else that sends data to the database. I've added this message to the top of the forum:
"Our web hosts accidentally deleted all our site files, so the Dino Toy Forum and Blog are being restored from backups. While we're working to get the Dino Toy Forum fully functional again, you can browse the parts of the forum that have been restored, but I have disabled posting. You can also visit the newly activated Monster Toy Forum for updates: https://monstertoyblog.com/forum"
How far behind is the ATF? ;D
I see the DTF is not updated past 9/1 and images for my collection thread are not showing (but my images are hosted in the ATB, could explain why?).
I spent this morning building text files for all the daily 'Museum' posts starting 9/1. Assuming everything after that won't be recovered, I will do one post per week once we are back up.
I should probably build a text thread for all the Schleich 2026 figures, which I spent two hours working on the night before everything went down. D'oh! Luckily what took so long was the coping and editing in Photoshop. Now that I have JPEGs of everything, restoring won't take long.
I'm slightly surprised how much I've missed the DTF and the community feeling there. Such a relief it's not completely erased!
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 28, 2025, 09:01 PMQuote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 28, 2025, 05:40 PMI've disable Maintenance Mode on the DinoToyForum, but the restore is still not complete, so I have disabled posting. Otherwise, it could get messy. But it means the forum, or what's been uploaded so far, is at least browsable. I'd request members on the DTF not to send PMs or update your profiles or do anything else that sends data to the database. I've added this message to the top of the forum:
"Our web hosts accidentally deleted all our site files, so the Dino Toy Forum and Blog are being restored from backups. While we're working to get the Dino Toy Forum fully functional again, you can browse the parts of the forum that have been restored, but I have disabled posting. You can also visit the newly activated Monster Toy Forum for updates: https://monstertoyblog.com/forum"
How far behind is the ATF? ;D
I see the DTF is not updated past 9/1 and images for my collection thread are not showing (but my images are hosted in the ATB, could explain why?).
I spent this morning building text files for all the daily 'Museum' posts starting 9/1. Assuming everything after that won't be recovered, I will do one post per week once we are back up.
I should probably build a text thread for all the Schleich 2026 figures, which I spent two hours working on the night before everything went down. D'oh! Luckily what took so long was the coping and editing in Photoshop. Now that I have JPEGs of everything, restoring won't take long.
In principle, it's at the same stage as the DTF - the files are restored and the database is restored up to 1 September. But for some reason the files aren't connecting to the database, hence the white screen. I'm trying to work out what's wrong.
The ATF is throwing up errors leading to the white screen of death. These are PHP errors, so I'm not convinced the restored php files are exactly the same as they were before, maybe some things are missing. I'll ask my host about that.
If the ATF database is in working order, and it does seem to be intact, then I could install vanilla forum files (like I did here for the MTF). It would mean having to manually add all the mods and logos and other customisations from scratch, which would be fiddly and time consuming...but it is possible. But, I don't want to go down that route if it isn't necessary. And since the DTF *is* working without having to do that, it shouldn't be necessary.
Edit: In fact, the files are incomplete, because the /blog and /faunafigures directories are missing. So, I wonder if they've restored an old version of the files from before the ATB and Fauna Figures were added, and if so, that could be why the forum files are incompatible.
I've dug into the restored ATF files and I'm convinced they are very old, like years old. This would explain why the site isn't working despite the files and database being restored. So I have asked my host to check they uploaded the correct, most up to date files.
In semi-good news, I found a backup of the ATF files I made manually in November 2024 and stored locally on my computer. That is probably recent enough to be compatible with the database, so that's an option for the forum. Then I could bring that up to date. Unfortunately, it is only the ATF files, not the ATB files, so I'm still relying on my host for those.
Hoping for more progress tomorrow.
I'll be honest. I am thoroughly confused at this point on the status of the ATF/ATB.
Does this mean that likely we won't have anything post November 2024? Or is that just a starting point and the host can bring everything else up to date?
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 29, 2025, 02:46 AMI'll be honest. I am thoroughly confused at this point on the status of the ATF/ATB.
Does this mean that likely we won't have anything post November 2024? Or is that just a starting point and the host can bring everything else up to date?
I was talking about the site files in my last post, not the database. The database is Sept 1 2025, at least.
I'm hopeful, if my host can restore the correct files today, the ATF will appear like the DTF. A request to all members, if it does, please don't post in it. I want to put it into maintenance mode first. But I'm at work today so it may come back when I'm not there to put it in maintenance mode, so please don't post on it. I'll announce here when it is safe to do so.
I've spoke with my host who will try to restore the more up to date ATF (and ATB) files, and Wordpress databases, today.
As for the DTF, we have to cut our losses and accept that the September posts are missing. I'll open it back up later.
DTF is back open for business.
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 10:12 AMDTF is back open for business.
Will stuff from 9/1 to 9/24 come back? Just deciding if I should update posts or if they will be updated?
Quote from: bmathison1972 on Sep 29, 2025, 11:59 AMQuote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 10:12 AMDTF is back open for business.
Will stuff from 9/1 to 9/24 come back? Just deciding if I should update posts or if they will be updated?
I'm afraid they are gone for good. :-\
The Dinosaur Toy Blog is up and running again. Sadly, with September 2025 posts missing.
The Animal Toy Blog and Forum databases have been restored now, which is excellent news, but the files are still old, so the sites are still not working. But it means as soon as the host adds the correct site files I'll have animaltoyforum.com back up and running. I'm pestering him!
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 06:16 PMThe Dinosaur Toy Blog is up and running again. Sadly, with September 2025 posts missing.
The Animal Toy Blog and Forum databases have been restored now, which is excellent news, but the files are still old, so the sites are still not working. But it means as soon as the host adds the correct site files I'll have animaltoyforum.com back up and running. I'm pestering him!
By all means, pester away! I cannot wrap my head around how a bunch of sites can be accidently deleted by their host like that. You don't have to give me the details, I'm just flabbergasted. I am curious to know if there is a contingency plan though, so our butts are covered if something like this happens again.
Quote from: gwangi on Sep 29, 2025, 11:23 PMQuote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 06:16 PMThe Dinosaur Toy Blog is up and running again. Sadly, with September 2025 posts missing.
The Animal Toy Blog and Forum databases have been restored now, which is excellent news, but the files are still old, so the sites are still not working. But it means as soon as the host adds the correct site files I'll have animaltoyforum.com back up and running. I'm pestering him!
By all means, pester away! I cannot wrap my head around how a bunch of sites can be accidently deleted by their host like that. You don't have to give me the details, I'm just flabbergasted. I am curious to know if there is a contingency plan though, so our butts are covered if something like this happens again.
It was more than a bunch of sites, it was all of their sites, the entire server! It was an honest mistake. The person who did it was trying do delete one site, and accidentally deleted them all and couldn't stop it. Moreover, the auto-backups had stopped working on 1 Sept because the server had ran out of space, and he didn't notice. So, it was a double-whammy of mistakes. The person who made the mistake is a friend of mine and they're so upset and sorry.
It was a particular blow to me because I'm so close to migrating the sites from that server anyway, which will lead to downtime, and what happened is exactly what I hope to avoid when we migrate, so I feel I should have done it sooner. I'll let things settle down for a week or so but then I will make the move, which will mean more disruption, but I don't want to stay on that server any longer than necessary. But at least the migration will be planned, so it won't take me and everyone by surprise, and I'll have up to date back-ups. Maybe this ordeal will have been a kind of dry run to help the migration go smoothly.
Quote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 11:46 PMQuote from: gwangi on Sep 29, 2025, 11:23 PMQuote from: MonsterToyForum on Sep 29, 2025, 06:16 PMThe Dinosaur Toy Blog is up and running again. Sadly, with September 2025 posts missing.
The Animal Toy Blog and Forum databases have been restored now, which is excellent news, but the files are still old, so the sites are still not working. But it means as soon as the host adds the correct site files I'll have animaltoyforum.com back up and running. I'm pestering him!
By all means, pester away! I cannot wrap my head around how a bunch of sites can be accidently deleted by their host like that. You don't have to give me the details, I'm just flabbergasted. I am curious to know if there is a contingency plan though, so our butts are covered if something like this happens again.
It was more than a bunch of sites, it was all of their sites, the entire server! It was an honest mistake. The person who did it was trying do delete one site, and accidentally deleted them all and couldn't stop it. Moreover, the auto-backups had stopped working on 1 Sept because the server had ran out of space, and he didn't notice. So, it was a double-whammy of mistakes. The person who made the mistake is a friend of mine and they're so upset and sorry.
It was a particular blow to me because I'm so close to migrating the sites from that server anyway, which will lead to downtime, and what happened is exactly what I hope to avoid when we migrate, so I feel I should have done it sooner. I'll let things settle down for a week or so but then I will make the move, which will mean more disruption, but I don't want to stay on that server any longer than necessary. But at least the migration will be planned, so it won't take me and everyone by surprise, and I'll have up to date back-ups. Maybe this ordeal will have been a kind of dry run to help the migration go smoothly.
A double-whammy of mistakes, indeed! Hope he's doing alright after all that. And hopefully the other sites have been able to recover (or will) as well as your sites have.
I feel like if the sites can survive this experience a migration to another server should go comparatively smoothly.
Yes, I hope it will go smoothly. One of the difficulties about this Big Bang we just experienced was that everything went offline simultaneously, so I was limited in the ways I could contact the community to explain what was happening. If just the forum was down I could announce it on the blog. If just one domain was down I could announce it on the other domain. I announced it on Mastodon, but that's still a small audience, and I announced it on Facebook, but numbers there are dwindling. And several people emailed me directly, but that wasn't practical. That's partly what motivated me to make announcements, in somewhat desperation, on the MTB, and also to set up this MTF.
When the migration takes place it will be controlled and implemented in stages, one domain at a time. So there will always be several outlets for me to keep people updated on what is happening and when, and to keep the communities going during the move.
Now the DTF is active again I think I will delete the announcements I made on the MTB.
I'm no longer posting updates about the ATF/ATB here, but on the DTF instead. The short version is we have the database restored up to September 1, but we're still working on acquiring a recent backup of the site files.
Update: They found a recent backup of the animaltoyforum.com site files! My host is downloading them now and will then upload them to animaltoyforum.com. It will take a while but unless there are some unforeseen circumstances, we should have ATB/ATF up and running later today.