Well, Shane and I’ve worked through the problem.

We had to implement a timeout period for a mysql connection, since there wasn’t one by default. Therefore, as people would edit or access a page, they would create a new mysql connection — basically, after a while, everyone accessing the wiki at once like crack addicts needing a fix (joking, joking!) would create a pile. After a while — a short while, I’m sad to say — the built up pile would avalanche the server.

Right now, everything is running quite smoothly and I don’t forsee any additional issues right now.

So we’ve unlocked the episode page for “A Matter of Salvation”. So feel free to edit away — and please follow the suggestions in the previous post. Please?

So say we all!

For the next 12 hours, the entry on “A Matter of Salvation” will be frozen.

This is due to the fact that there are 40 to 60 people who are trying to edit the page at once. Sadly, this is causing adverse effects to the server, which have resulted in two mysql crashes. We are working on ways to rectify these crashes without freezing high-traffic articles, but I will take this opportunity to go over a few guidelines and tips:

• Use the “Show changes” button to ensure that you are not conficting with other editors. (See this for more information.)
• Be sure to click “Show preview” before submitting your edit. This will revise your connection, thus giving you an updated reference marker — essentially avoiding edit conflicts. (See this for more information.)
• Do not edit the entire page at once. Edit each section and then submit it, using the “Show changes” or “Show preview” features. This reduces load on both the server and prevents edit conflicts.
• Also, for new editors, please review our Standards and Conventions on editing. Following these conventions will avoid unnecessary edits.
• As corrolary to this, when adding content to the “Questions” section of article, please do not add possible answers, conjecture, or other items to this section. This section is for questions only. If you are to add an answer, it must be to a future episode where it is answered. Again, refer to the Standards and Conventions (link above) for how to properly do this.

Thank you. So say we all.

The beta for the Battlestar Wiki online store is up.

Go to: http://astore.amazon.com/battlestarwik-20

Please check it out and give any ideas and suggestions as to how to improve it.

So shop we all!

I have signed up for both Amazon.com’s and BarnesandNoble.com’s affiliates programs. You should see links for Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com on the merchandise pages, as well as the main page.

I am in the process of building a mini-store on-wiki and adding search boxes for each site to the blog.

AdBrite update: In addition, Shane is working on integrating the AdBrite footer bar at the bottom of the wiki pages. It will be in the area underneath the categories and above the footer.

Comments, suggestions, and ideas welcome.

A few explanations:

First, the server we moved to (hosted by Galaxy Visions), was basically bad horrible for us. It looked good, but that saying of it being “too good to be true” rang true with that choice, despite the glowing reviews about it from other sources. (I guess it’s good for sites that don’t rely to heavily on mysql.) Tech support was of no assistance at all with the mysql crashing issue, forcing us to find yet another server.

As of right now, I’m in the process of getting the money refunded, so that it can be applied to the new server. The new server is offered by The Planet. The cost is slightly more (around 130+ per month), but the tech support and the features offered by The Planet make it worth it. It’s honestly very wonderful and personally interacting with some of the customer service people was a pleasurable experience for me. Kudos!

So now I would like to give credit where credit is due. Since I’ve been having work and personal issues for the past few days (issues that I don’t see subsiding any time soon), Shane has been doing the lion’s share of the work in getting the server all set up from the technical side. Truly, this would not be possible without him, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the hard work he has done in getting the wiki back online.

Now, on the flip side, we have a lot of catching up to do in terms of “Torn” and all the cool new felgercarb given in that episode — an episode I haven’t even watched yet. So let’s get the old girl ready to roll and kick some Cylon ass!

So say we all!

Well, Shane believes he’s traced down the problem. Basically, for those in the technical know, httpd kept on spawning processes, which lead to the server crashing. It also didn’t help that apache had two different mysql plugins enabled and no swap was created by default.
So, he’s fixed those problems.

We’ll keep people updated if anything else major happens. But we seem to be in the clear.

This is a “shoutout” (I believe that’s what all the youngsters call it) to all the hotlinkers out there who have been pilfering content from Battlestar Wiki.The line’s been drawn. You can no longer hotlink our content (namely images and audio).

You can link to it via a piece of hypertext; you just can’t borrow it.
The positive side of all this is that our server load has been drastically reduced.

Sites or pages that hotlink will see the image below being replacing the image they are trying to link.
Hot Link Image

enlarge

Shane is going through the server and optimizing it right now to reduce server load. So there might be some MySQL connection issues as the MySQL service (or the server itself) may need to be restarted.

Meanwhile, I’m very pleased to report that we have enabled both math and SVG support on the server.

More comin’ down the pipe line!

So say we all.

With the exception of the image uploads, the wiki is completely operational. Feel free to edit away!

The image upload issue will be fixed in the afternoon, since I am now too tired to function.

So say we all.

Update: Uploads are now working!

Well… it’s simple. Problems occur during transfers and we are working on the problem. For those following our story, the problem lies only in English and Media. Characters that are “special” are having problems encoding and recoding. All edits today are gone.
So will we wait, we sit a rewatch episodes so everyone can be keen on working on the wiki. That’s all… for now.

The unicode issue has been mostly rectified, with the exception of the Chinese wiki, because of its unique character set. The Chinese wiki will be taken offline and reloaded. Since it’s a small wiki, it shouldn’t take too long.

Other than that, if there are any more problems, please post them here or on my talk page.

So say we all.

If you are geting Database errors, it is because we are presently re-importing them. There WILL be errors, except both myself and Shane have to go to work. Post any problems to this blog post.

Once this is done, everything should be set. Thanks!

Current wikis working…

• zh
• de
• media
• en
• es