[Sandwich]

Ok, enough is enough. We, the admins, apologize for hosted project downtime beyond the borders of April 1st. We, the admins, are doing everything we can to get the rest of the HLP forums up and running as soon as possible.

However, I must also say that we, the admins, had a blast seeing panicky forumites screaming about the end of the world despite repeated assurances by more mature members of the community that it was a (drastic) April Fools joke. We, the admins, think it was the funniest April Fools prank we've seen pulled in a long time.

And finally, I, Sandwich, am tired of hearing (almost) nothing but prissy complaints from people who have no sense of humor repeated over and over again. I know you're pissed. Go FRED something. Go eat snow. Quit your incessant whining - I heard you the first time.

*awaits barrage of PMs*

Oh, and if you're just going to tell me how heartless I'm coming across as, don't bother. I'm trying to make a point. Yes, we care about the community. Yes, we're trying to fix what we messed up. And yes, we heard the complaints the first time around. So kindly shut up.

[Taristin]

Seconded.

It's good to see an admin grow a pair.

[kode]

you do have admincp access, right?

[22:17] yeah, but they seem to want to keep the posts from april 1st onwards
[22:17] That's easy
[22:17] Just install the first backup into the still-running database
[22:18] Then run a 'remove duplicate threads' thing from the AdminCP
[22:18] See, this is why they shoulda made me an Admin

[vyper]

I will never feel guilty about posting nonsensical ****e ever again.

[Sandwich]

A) We don't have a "remove duplicate threads" thing that I know of.
B) An0n would have made a great admin if he'd shown himself to be more trustworthy and less... wild. But he knows that. Personally, I just think he couldn't stand the idea of being seen as a "nice" person.

[Scuddie]

You do realize that you can do a selective restore, right?  In other words, just restore the deleted forums and leave the current ones alone.  I'm fairly sure you can do that.

EDIT:  Oh yeah, you came across to be very heartless .

[vyper]

Originally posted by Sandwich
and less... wild.

[Grug]

Hehe, I reckon all the whelps that went nuts should get a new title or image or something.

"Peasant" or something.

Or maybe the fellah's who didn't fall for it get something extra.
Like "Strong resolve" or "Faith in HLP".

[Col. Fishguts]

Originally posted by Sandwich
..... We, the admins, think it was the funniest April Fools prank we've seen pulled in a long time.

Seconded....personally I found it hilarious.

First the very authentic "an0n-impression" was pure comedy gold (I wonder who made the thread in the NTV forum...that was really naughty ). And then the hysterical reactions from some forumites had me laughing in tears, barely holding on to my desk.

So....many people were amused by it I think, but the not-so-amused people are the ones coplmaining the loudest now.

Anyway....I think this year's prank will be hard to top in the future.

[Gloriano]

This is unproductive. The forums are gone, and we who work on projects can't do anything about it, but wait like morons.

Well you don't need forums if you want do something to project you are involved (Testing etc.)

April Fools prank we've seen pulled in a long time.

[vyper]

2006: The Year HLP Converts From FS2 to Wing Commander

[Blitzerland]

Originally posted by vyper
2006: The Year HLP Converts From FS2 to Wing Commander

OMG ITS TEH END OF WORLD!!!111oneiooneone!!1

Anyways, I fell for the April Fools joke, and it took me two friggin' hours to discover it was false (did some IRC snooping). After that, it was funny for, like, ten minutes.

Still, in retrospect, it was a clever idea. Even if it went horribly wrong, as such things tend to. And I did manage to FRED a mission for my campaign, and then half-FRED a mission for nuclear's campaign, so really, the loss of forums actually added to productivity.

[Inquisitor]

Don't bother with the posts from April 1-whenever it is restored.

If it's that important, people will repost.

[Taristin]

Oh no, they want a record of how many people can't take a joke, and cannot live without their precious forums.....

[Blitzerland]

Well, all the cool posts were from this forum, and you don't need to restore that. 'Cause it's already here. Right.

Oh no, they want a record of how many people can't take a joke, and cannot live without their precious forums.....

Heck yeah, we do! My an0n-you-idiot posts cracked me up, afterwards. I should've noticed that if it was really an0n, he would've banned me for questioning him.

[Goober5000]

We do have a "remove duplicate threads" option, and Styxx said he can do a selective restore.

Really, there are only two reasons the forums weren't restored the morning of April 2nd.  In order of priority, they are:

1) Gamespy changed our database password, and they still haven't given us a new one.
2) Styxx is the one who knows the most about the forums, and Styxx isn't online on the weekends.

However, number 2 doesn't matter until number 1 is resolved.  And number 2 wouldn't have prevented someone less knowledgeable about the forums but still knowledgeable about coding and databases (like me or Sandwich) restoring it a few hours later.

[vyper]

Exactly why did they change it? heh.

[kode]

Originally posted by Goober5000
[...]someone less knowledgeable about the forums but still knowledgeable about coding and databases (like me [...]

don't flatter yourself. haven't you screwed up just about everytime you entered the admin cp? I mean, like removing forums instead of hiding them, killing off the badges, giving an0n full access to the internals...

and how exactly is the forum still working if you don't know the password, hmm?

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by kode


don't flatter yourself. haven't you screwed up just about everytime you entered the admin cp? I mean, like removing forums instead of hiding them, killing off the badges, giving an0n full access to the internals...

and how exactly is the forum still working if you don't know the password, hmm?

Ooh, you're so smart. An0n's access to the internals was due to the "voiceless" usergroup having screwed-up permissions - vB's fault. Killing off the badges was due to a bug in HLP 2.0. And Goob's deletion of forums instead of hiding them was a mistake, yes, but one made out of ignorance - he's not an expert on vB, nor should anyone expect him to be - that's not the reason he's an admin. So cool your jets.

And if you knew anything about the way forums work, you wouldn't have asked that last question.

But to answer it anyway, the password that's gone AWOL is for FTP access to the dynamic server. The only password used by the forums to operate is the login password to the MySQL database server - completely different.

Originally posted by vyper
Exactly why did they change it? heh.

Remember that month last year when all of GS's dynamic servers went down? They did some major restructuring as a result of that, part of which was the recreation of users or some such. New user, new password.

At least, that's what I gather happened.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by kode
haven't you screwed up just about everytime you entered the admin cp?

No.  Only the things that go wrong are noticed, because nobody notices the things that go right.

like removing forums instead of hiding them

I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't triple-checked with Styxx beforehand that the forums were all backed up.  And as said previously, we didn't count on Gamespy withholding the password.

giving an0n full access to the internals

This was a permissions error and had nothing to do with me.  On the contrary, I spent four hours fixing all the permission errors after that.

and how exactly is the forum still working if you don't know the password, hmm?

You need a password to change the database or to upload stuff, not to use it.

EDIT: Thanks, Sandwich.