Back up thanks to phpBB!

[slab]

phpBB is a pretty well established discussion package and I think the upgrade to it has been long overdue - due to security issues. I a posting a poll regarding our feelings about hackers.

[KarenZ]

Jim,

I love the poll. Bet you know what my answer was.

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

I'm kinda new at this kind of thing. Why us? Is it possible that one of us led the hackers here? Like say, the hackers hacked into one of our computers,saw something special to us, then laid it to waste?

Was my former password too easy for hackers to break?

Is everything gone from before?

Will they come back and try to repeat.

Was this new design about to implement anyway?

Will it ever look the way it did before?

I hate change, I really, really do.

[KarenZ]

Paddy,

It wasn't us. We didn't "do" anything to lead them here. They're just bad guys. From what Jim (webmaster) told me, the old board did have some backup files, but they are not (easily) transferrable to this new software, so I don't think we'll be getting the old stuff back. Not sure what you mean by "will it look the way it did before?". I mean, this isn't that much different is it? I understand that change can be hard....but let's not dwell on the past and ask "why" (the bad guys don't deserve our attention)...let's just move forward.

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

Karen - again, I'm new at this. Bare w/ me. Where is the old forum? Will it ever be viewable for posterity, such as, say the archives?

I'm sensing this new structure was soon to implement, anyway.

You have just relayed the backup files are not easily transferred.

Was the initial plan, prior to the hackers, to start from scratch anyway?


Was the original plan to incorporate the old forum threads with the new platform?

When you say let's just move forward......well.....ya know.

[KarenZ]

Paddy, I know that the colors on the old board were eventually going to transition to the new web site colors. In a nutshell, the old board was destroyed. I guess some old files are sitting on a server somewhere, but I don't know if they will ever be viewable again. To the best of my knowledge there was no plan to start from scratch. That's about all I know. Maybe Jim will jump in to better answer your questions.

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

Sorry Karen, it's way worse than I thought originally, obviously.

Just hoping there will be some link to all the stuff we chatted about.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. For all the good it might be able to do.

I'm sorry you had to change your signature quotes so abruptly.

Miss the old place.

[Sue Ellen]

Paddy:

"Life is always and never the same."

Sue Ellen

[PotatoPicker]

We're the board. Not some files, and certainly not the hackers. We're going to fix up this new home and end up loving it even more.....

[paddyinthepub]

Hey guys, musta been my separation anxiety kicking in. I'm ok now.
I've changed addresses 3x in the last 8 yrs: city/state/region each time.
It's always the same: What does our future hold in this new place?
Time after time it has worked out really well for us.
This change of scenery will no doubt be an enjoyable one.
Lovin everyone's new signature quotes.
SueEllen - Quite a few pearls out here, wouldn't ya say?

[slab]

I think what the buddha meant by "life is suffering" is not that everyone is unhappy all the time, but that even when we are happy, the situation is always imperminant. Such is the case with the old bboard.

The sofware that ran the old board was a "flat file" system. It came from another server when Ellis's site moved to the SLAB500 system. "flat file" means that everytime a change was made to the site, it wrote to a text file on the server rather than a database. This made it less secure than this system, which runs to a database called MySQL. The old board had a very small community of programmers improving it. phpBB (this board) has the largest community of programmers. So long as I keep the workings up to date it should shrug off attackers pretty well. Since it is database run, I can also make frequent backups of the database, and bring it back up online if it is hit.

I do have a very old backup of the old bboard, but I will not post it. If I do, or even if someone else does, it will only get hacked again. The danger is not just to the information in the bboard, but the main security defenses of the server itself. Not worth it.

"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher." -- Pema Chödron

[PotatoPicker]

We're running on top of MySQL ? Interesting....

Jim - thanks for the good explanation, and I would agree with his sentiments about not putting an old version up on the system again. We would just be asking for trouble. besides, it is fun to create the new content, and Karen gets to recycle her old trivia questions without us being able to catch her...