VGMaps
Main Boards => VGMaps Social Board => Topic started by: bustin98 on February 12, 2009, 10:57:04 am
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Things are hopefully back to normal. I will continue to work on setting up a transfer over to a different board system. Stay tuned!
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Cool beans
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Thank freaking goodness.
You're the best, bustin!
Say that ten times fast.
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I dunno - I'll kind of miss this forum system... *Sniff*
Better back up my Mega Man list.
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Good idea, though bustin said we should be able to transfer without a problem. The posts should safely migrate. At least as long as bustin says so. Now if it was Inty making that promise, that would be a different story... >_>
So what did happen yesterday, anyway, bustin? Was it something to do with GoDaddy all along? Did they give you any crap for pretending to be me? :P
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The forum software seemed to be having problems connecting with the MySQL server at first (long page load times that eventually returned nothing to the browser), then later I got errors about too many database connections for your user.
Sounds like something was up with the MySQL server.
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Yeah, I saw the same thing. I like how there's a .../j/o/n/ folder.
Anyway, I look forward to new forum software. It's about time. And I'm still holding my breath for the main site redesign...
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At least bustin98 has proven his reliability in managing the board, so I'm not too worried about moving to another system.
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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)
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Would the URL still be /forums or would it change to something like /forum or /board or whatever?
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Is it really that hard to update your bookmarks?
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HTTP response 301 is your friend!
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I'm not asking because of that, I'm asking because I'm just asking.
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The directory that the boards reside in can be whatever I choose to name them. Bwa ha ha ha! No, the URL will not change.
As to what happened, I don't know. I don't know if it was a problem with the cron job, or if the forum was bot attacked or what. Not having direct access to the server prevents me from being able to learn more, and I'm sure Godaddy's overpaid techs are too far out of reach for me to ask. But its working so the point is moot (unless it happens again...).
The new boards will be in a test phase. I'll send out some invitations to the regulars to check it out first, if you want. Absolutely voluntary.
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Cool beans
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If I'm sent one, I don't mind.
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And I would like to be user #1. Or #2 if bustin98 is #1. >_>
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Because it matters so much.
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Yes it does. If JonLeung's #1, that makes him superior to all of his little minions.. er... members. <_<
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>_>
Just thought I'd ask, seemed like a good time as any to ask if I ever were to. :P If not (because I expect we'd probably transfer the user IDs as they are), no big deal.
Less frivolous things I'd rather see:
-a link back to VGMaps.com from the forums
-the footer ad seen on every other page on VGMaps.com also on the bottom of the forums
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Might have to keep the IDs the same to keep the associations with posts, but I may move the users over first, then grab the IDs from this forum and move the posts one user at a time, updating the associated userID during the process.
So, yeah, we'll see...
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Cool beans
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Well, if it's too much trouble, and/or could potentially mess things up, don't risk it on my behalf.
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Well fellas, the new forum database is quite a bit different than this one. Its not going to be a simple manner of moving things over into the correct spots, mainly due to the way user passwords are encrypted.
I could have you all create new accounts using the same usernames you have now, but there will still be users who haven't checked in a while who will be left out. And that will create gaps in the messages.
So, the boards need to be updated but we will have to agree on the loss of current posts. I'm not saying we have to completely remove the posts. This forum can be disabled as far as new posts go and you can come in anytime to find whatever info is here.
Ultimately its up to Jon. I'll hang back till he speaks. (Check your PMs Jon)
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If it's just the passwords, can't you assign new ones and email everyone?
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Hmm... maybe. It salts the password and I have to see how the salt is generated.
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Cool beans
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Wait what does salt mean?
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You usually don't store users' passwords in plain-text, otherwise the database administrators would have access to them. I don't know about you, but I don't really want Jon to know my password. Instead the system stores a cryptographic hash of the passwords, which makes it very difficult to find the original passwords.
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Hey, were members 255, 257, 258 and 262 removed on purpose, or lost by accident?
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Well, bustin's doing all the unsalting anyway. Besides, if I really wanted to login as you, there are other methods of accomplishing that even without knowing your password. >_>
In any case, you're just trying to figure out how the salt is generated, not specifically to snoop out passwords, but so you can apply the same salting to transfer the passwords over, I'm guessing. That doesn't necessarily have to involve seeing the passwords yourself, does it?
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It's probably best I don't post in this topic.
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No, there isn't an easy way to get the passwords back. Cryptographic hashes are intentionally very difficult to reverse. And it's not that I don't want you logging in as me, it's that I use this password elsewhere and I don't want anyone else seeing it.
Since bustin98 can't get our actual passwords back and since he can't transfer the hashes over, I suggested that he gives us all new passwords which we can manually change later.
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We'll see. I certainly won't be doing it be hand, so say hello to randomly generated strings of letters and numbers.
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Cool beans
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Okay, so assuming you can deal with the password issue, does that mean you can transfer the users over, and hence the user-post association, and then likely move us over to new forums without losing any posts?
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Maybe, starter threads for posts are handled differently also.
Its not impossible, but I need to make a mapping of table columns. I'm thinking about exporting each table and making modifications by hand. Nothing I do will affect this forum though.
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Cool beans
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If password salting means you can't migrate users, you can probably port everything as "anonymous" (without ever actually allowing anonymous posting) using the username text and then re-associate with actual users once they're registered in the new system. I did this to port from a registration-free forum (wwwthreads) to phpBB; with a small number of "regulars" there's not many people to migrate anyway.
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I looked through the SMF code a little bit and it looks like there is code there to support bringing in other hashes. Check out LogInOut.php at about line 306.
I could be wrong though, I just browsed through the code a bit on my lunch break.
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So what's the destination board software?
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From the little I've seen so far, the potential new forum looks pretty good! :D I approve, that is, once we've seen if users and posts can migrate safely.
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Is this so-called new forum still going ahead?
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I emailed bustin yesterday and he says he hasn't forgotten; in fact he thinks about it pretty often.
Things will happen when they do...
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Well yeah, I wasn't expecting to be using the "new" forums now, I just wondered if it was still going to happen, or if it was decided that these forums were alright as it is. Also, I assume that by how it says (c) PMD 2005-06, these forums (or at least this version) hasn't been updated since 2006.
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Good idea, though bustin said we should be able to transfer without a problem. The posts should safely migrate. At least as long as bustin says so. Now if it was Inty making that promise, that would be a different story... >_>
So what did happen yesterday, anyway, bustin? Was it something to do with GoDaddy all along? Did they give you any crap for pretending to be me? :P
Aw, come on man. That was a good amount of years ago now and i'm sure i've apologised and even told you i was going through a bad time back then. No need to take little digs at me 3-4yrs after i've been away from the scenes. Nice to see the sites still stable though and long may it continue.
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>_>
Sorry...