47 replies to this topic

[lee.n3o]

http://www.dmoz.org/unavailable.html

I wonder if they are just trying to catch up on the backlog of submissions.... and there is no real problem! Been like that for a few days now...

[manager]

Lee
I’ve just checked and it appears to be “up”
http://dmoz.org/add.html

TreV

[Nadir]

Lee
I’ve just checked and it appears to be “up”
http://dmoz.org/add.html

TreV

Nope, unfortunately, it's still unavailable. By the way, Microsoft shut down the bCentral directory...

Edited by Nadir, 29 November 2006 - 08:06 AM.

[manager]

Yes it's down sorry - you don't get the error page until your are actually submitting - You'd think they would post an explanation/apology and display it in a prominent position, so people wont waste their time.

[lee.n3o]

I have checked everyday since I posted the first message.... Very weird!!

[manager]

That falls way below the high standards and professionalism I’ve come to expect from DMOZ as an organisation. Frankly I'm shocked.

Maybe it’s the annual DMOZ global convention and they just “shut up shop” for the week.

[ukdaz]

That falls way below the high standards and professionalism I’ve come to expect from DMOZ as an organisation. Frankly I'm shocked.

From all the bad press they seem to have attracted over the past few months I for one am not surprised. Perhaps they need new "blood" at DMOZ??

Daz

[manager]

From all the bad press they seem to have attracted over the past few months I for one am not surprised.

I haven’t been keeping up to date with the latest DMOZ gossip, What kind of things are they getting bad press about ?

TreV

[joedolson]

If they are just trying to give themselves some time without submissions to get caught up, that's not altogether a bad thing: but it's a serious gaffe not to notify the public prior to submission that they aren't accepting them!

I certainly wouldn't mind if they were to get caught up, but it would only be a temporary solution - they'd be able to keep up for a few days (possibly), and then they'd be swamped again.

[JohnMu]

maybe it's true ....

[Jean_Manco]

It wasn't deliberate Joe. There was a crash. The public side was recovered fairly easily. (It's just a static copy though.) The real problem has been with the innards - the editing side. Don't ask me what exactly went wrong. But it was catastrophic. Editors haven't been able to edit at all since it happened.

The silver lining is that the new set-up that AOL has been working on in the wake of the crash should be an improvement. And we hope to see it in action fairly soon. I can't give an estimated time for lift-off though. Nor can I promise that submissions will be switched back on as soon as editors can get back to work. There may be technical reasons for a time-lag on that.

[manager]

What sort of muppetry is this? Maybe there's is no notice because they are arguing among themselves about how it should be worded. In the absence of a official explanation, I fear people will start to speculate - that's only human.

It's still not up and there's still no notice.

[egain]

It does seem to be dragging on a bit this.

"It wasn't deliberate Joe. There was a crash. The public side was recovered fairly easily. (It's just a static copy though.) The real problem has been with the innards - the editing side. Don't ask me what exactly went wrong. But it was catastrophic. Editors haven't been able to edit at all since it happened."

Surely there must have been a backup of the full system, for a system as widespread as DMOZ

[manager]

Here's what is says on the dmoz forum

We are currently experiencing technical problems with our servers. Currently the public pages are static pages that have been generated from a backup. This means:
(1) the public pages do not reflect the most recent updates made to the directory;
(2) scripted pages, including site suggestion and application forms, are not functioning; and
(3) editors are unable to check the status of new editor applications.

We do not currently have an ETA for the resolution of the technical difficulties. We will update this announcement when the system is fully functioning again -- please do not start threads asking why the system isn't working properly or when it will be available again. Thanks.

In plain English that means:
We don't know what's wrong or how long it will take to fix - don't ask again !
Signed
Kermit the Frog

[Wit]

Maybe they're just phishing for comments. Link-baiting if you will. Imagine the massive collection of cheery posts (and links) when dmoz appears to be online and functional again. Nice. Even when they're down, they're good

[egain]

LOL @ WIT

[sanity]

By the way, Microsoft shut down the bCentral directory...

Thank heavens. I've not been able to submit anything for months, tons of errors, nowhere to report them etc etc. Stuff like that gives you a bad name, erm ok a worse name...

[joedolson]

It wasn't deliberate Joe. There was a crash. The public side was recovered fairly easily. (It's just a static copy though.) The real problem has been with the innards - the editing side. Don't ask me what exactly went wrong. But it was catastrophic. Editors haven't been able to edit at all since it happened.

What I still fail to understand is why there isn't anything available to mention this at the submission point: notifications in the editor's forum are all well and good, but the general submitting public doesn't go there.

Even though the pages are static and generated from a backup, it should still be perfectly possible for somebody at AOL to walk onto the site, download a couple select files (main index, at least) and post a notice of some site, rather than leaving the entire thing blind.

Does AOL's new setup have any differences in functionality? (Notifications, etc.), or is it just a rebuild of the underlying structure, to provide greater stability/speed?

Thanks for the update, Jean.

[Jean_Manco]

I understand that there is a notice for submitters that the system is temporarily unavailable. There is a link to it in the first post in this thread. You should be redirected to that if you actually try to submit.

I'm not the best person to ask about the details of the new set up, not being a technical type, but greater stability is definitely one aim.

Edited by Jean_Manco, 01 December 2006 - 07:29 AM.

[manager]

Hi Jean the message you are referring to states:

Service Temporarily Unavailable
We apologize for the inconvenience while we resolve technical problems. Please check back in a day or two.

The one one the forum states;

We do not currently have an ETA for the resolution of the technical difficulties. We will update this announcement when the system is fully functioning again -- please do not start threads asking why the system isn't working properly or when it will be available again. Thanks.

Which one is more accurate ?
TreV