dinotoyblog.com and animaltoyforum.com sites down

[MonsterToyForum]

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?

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.

[MonsterToyForum]

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.

[MonsterToyForum]

DTF is back open for business.

[bmathison1972]

DTF 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?

[MonsterToyForum]

DTF 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.

[MonsterToyForum]

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!

[gwangi]

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!

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.

[MonsterToyForum]

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!

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.

[gwangi]

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!

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.

[MonsterToyForum]

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.

[MonsterToyForum]

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.