Login
MuggleNet Fan Fiction
Harry Potter stories written by fans!
News

Database Glitches

by Marauder by Midnight @ 02/05/08 23:14  
Dear Authors,

You all must know by now that we've been having some serious problems with the archive due to both the hacker situation and the sheer size of the archive. Our priority these past few days have been limiting the glitches, but they are beginning to mount to the point where we may need to initiate a temporary queue shutdown. Over the course of the next few days, we will be trying to do a site upgrade, which will hopefully fix the problems we're having. The number and frequency of glitches may escalate over this period, but we ask you to bear with us.

There are several ways you members can help us:

+ Do not submit any new chapters or stories to the queue starting from now. Doing so will add unnecessary strain to our already wobbly system and may threaten the existence of every single story and author stored on the database.
+ Back up your stories and/or reviews just in case the worst happens. We will try not to cause an MNFF apocalypse, but no promises can be made.
+ If you have a fic you've wanted to get rid of or an abandoned fic you aren't going to continue, now is the time: just go in and delete it from the archive yourself.
+ Queue wait time is much, much longer at the moment due to, again, our focus on stabilizing the database. We will try to mod stories as often as we can, but complaining about your wait time will only serve to deter us from our main goal which is to make sure this site continues to exist.

Here are a few glitches that have already been noted and that we will try to correct over the next few weeks.

+ Edit bio information - Reported error is "Method Not Implemented: POST to /user.php not supported."
+ Switch categories and Add stories/chapters - Reported error is "That category is locked. Please select a sub-category."

Several people had reported errors when contacting users via the "Contact" button on user profiles; that error has now been fixed.

Finally, as we are updating behind-the-scenes codes, we will, as humans, make mistakes. Therefore you will see some pages/functions glitching. Please do not report it until 24 hours after first experiencing the particular glitch. That way, you do not waste your time reporting a glitch we know about and will have already fixed; if it is not fixed within 24 hours, most likely we don't know about it and would like you to contact us.

We will keep you updated on glitches and fixes. We will also notify you when you can begin submitting stories in a (nearly) error-free environment.

If you have any questions about this don't hesitate to post them here, but please don't waste our time with off-topic ones that should go elsewhere. As you can see, we have more than enough to do at the moment.

Thank you ever so much for your patience and cooperation.

EDIT: If your story suddenly disappeared from the queue, please don't be afraid. It is not a glitch. Your email provider merely weeds MuggleNet Fan Fiction emails out and refuses to send your rejection letter. Instead of posting in the comments, please post here at the Beta Forums.

UPDATE: We do NOT have an estimated time for when the queue will be "reopened" or when the update will be done because we're running into some difficulties with a third party. Now that that has been answered, please stop asking the same questions in the comments section. Please take the time to at least skim the already existing comments.

Comments
Vindictus Viridian written on 02/22/08 10:49

Angel of Dreams,
M'dear Angel,
O War Magic Professor,
Can you see me pointing to that boldface plea at the top of this news post?
Glitch noted. Now stop discovering it!


Bookwormy written on 02/22/08 14:23

I'm worried for this site. I LOVE IT. i've been here since almost 2 years, and having this site gone would be horrible. This is what got me into fanfiction! This is what made HP a bigger part of my life than it already was. I hope everything will be ok ! I hate the hackers who ever they are. Why dont they mind their own business? Well anyway, all the best mods! Love you all and love this site ^.^
-Menka


coolh5000 written on 02/22/08 14:32

not sure if this is to do with the site but i have been sent 4 emails telling me one of my favourite stories has been updated even though it was only updated with one chapter. Three of the emails came within ten minutes and then the fourth was sent 6 hours later.


Angel of Dreams written on 02/22/08 14:47

*wince* Sorry!


makinmagic323 written on 02/23/08 0:27

i greatly appreciate EVERYTHING you guys are doing to get this site working better! the only question i have is if you know when authors might be able to submit new chapters? i understand if this is an unknown at this time, i'm just curious. thank you all again so much!


justin ferguson written on 02/23/08 9:52

Hey mods! I know you don't have an exact date for when y'all will do the upgrades and we will be able to submit more chapters, but could you give us an estimated time for how long it will be till then? Ex. A month, a week, six months, a year... Or do you really have no idea whatsoever when it might be?


written on 02/23/08 13:11

Mmkayy I have a question guys:

is there anyway to like permanently delete my account? and if there is, can someone please? it's a long story, but it would be a big help if someone just deleted my account. kayythxxx :]


written on 02/23/08 18:22

justin ferguson - As other Mods have noted, no we do not have a time frame.

_Dumbledores Girl_ - Consider it done.


Marauder by Midnight written on 02/23/08 21:06

Everyone who wonders what the ETA is: We. don't. know. It's not that we're disorganized and have absolutely no idea what to do. It's that one crucial part of our update must be done by a third party, and that's what we're currently waiting on at the moment. So if you could just please hold off the "When? When? WHEN?!" comments, that would be great.


The REAL Weasley Twins written on 02/24/08 1:06

Thank you mods for doing all of this! You guys are wonderful, and are all such hard workers. *Holds up Butterbeer* "Three cheers for our mods!"
"Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray!"


A H written on 02/24/08 3:35

But... but... and I quote "Welcome to the aftermath of a hacker attack combined with a larger-than-normal database."

Says aftermath... if this is not indeed the aftermath and the database problems are still underway, why in teh world would y'all get my hopes up? It was creul... Some one needs to lose a bit of sleep tonight. You know who you are.

*pokes and blows rasberry*

Otherwise, good luck, thank you, you're wonderful, etc etc. WAIT! I forgot. I had this brilliant ideer.

Why don't yall just split the archives? Unless it costs, there's no harm in it. You could keep half the categories here and then the other half over there. *pokes* I finaly had my one-shot Beta-d! I want it archived NOW!

But I'm not rushing. Take y'alls time. Just make it quick.

-Arianna


dumbledorefluertwins written on 02/24/08 11:15

I had a thought today - I know that GinnyPotter.com had to ban authors from using banners in their siggy, stories and Author pages because they were letting in hackers (because of the complex coding an such), could that be one of the problems here? Or have GP just got a completely different type of server? Do banners effect all this at all, or can we keep them? >.<

Good luck my luberly modlies!

~Evie


Pick Up A Potter written on 02/24/08 12:25

Ok I've waited 1 day and the their is nothig yet. When I delete my reviews I get redirected to a empty page. Help?


Roxy Black written on 02/24/08 14:17

A.H. I'm a little confused at what you mean here. This is the aftermath of the hacker, but we do also have on-going problems due to the size of our database. I'm not quite sure who you want to "lose a bit of sleep tonight" but I must say this was quite a rude statement to make as we are all trying our best to get the site back up to full form as quickly as we can.

dumbledorefluertwins The banners shouldn't affect our system. It was a nice idea though.

Pick Up A Potter Authors cannot delete reviews unfortunately. That has been a glitch for a very long time that we haven't been able to solve. If you send the details of the fiction and the reviews you want deleted to a moderator, they should be able to sort it out for you.


A H written on 02/24/08 18:39

Oh dear! No, no, no! I was only kidding Professor! Bad sarcasm, but I was kidding all the same! And about splitting the archives - is that feasible? I'm not a wizard with codes but I know a few people who are who might be interested in helping.

Sorry if I seemed serious, Roxy (and Beth, because I believe that you posted that in the glitches thread) I surely wasn't and I know how hard y'all are working. And that you don't even get paid... Kudos ;)

-Arianna


Trivia Camlee written on 02/24/08 19:33

I think I may have found a glitch, but it might just be my computer. On the categories page, the number next to the humor fics goes up and down between 448 and 449, and the poetry goes between 888 and 889. It has been going on for three days now. Its nothing major, but every time I check, there is no new story deleted or added to that category, so I'm guessing its just a malfunction. I hope this helps something, thanks!


Marauder by Midnight written on 02/24/08 20:01

A H - Splitting the archives is not feasible at the moment.

Trivia Camlee - It is not a glitch. As you can see from our announcement a few posts back, we are deleting abandoned stories. That is the fluctuation you see in the numbers.


tanmay written on 02/25/08 0:51

kudos to you for trying so hard
and i just hope that this gets well soon


ClayPotter written on 02/25/08 8:58

I designed and put up my own website for the pottery I make. It is an info only site with no archives or forums or anything complicated. It is fun, but a real time consuming challenge to produce and maintain. I can't imagine what you mods are going through with this upgrade, as well as the every day general maintenance of this huge and complex site. My hat is off to you all. Great Job!

Waiting patiently :)


coolh5000 written on 02/25/08 10:15

I have now received 8 emails telling me that Denial by Little Beloved has been updated but it hasn't actually been aproved. Is this barrage of emails a glitch?