ConwayLife.com

The web host that ConwayLife.com has been using for the last 10 or so years is going out of business and closing up shop on September 15, 2021. So this site will have to change servers before then. I am tentatively planning on doing the server move on August 24, 2021, but that's not 100% set in stone.

No site content (e.g., forums posts, LifeWiki edits) from before the move date will be lost. However, on the move date itself, the site will likely be down for a while, and posts/edits made *on* that date may be lost (if they are made after I back everything up from the current server to move it to the new one).

I'll post updates (e.g., confirmation of the site move date) in this thread as I know them.

IMPORTANT EDIT: I'm going to move the server TODAY (August 23, 2021). I'll be on discord shortly and throughout most of the day. I'll lock the forums when the move starts happening.

If you see this message, you are viewing the new server! The server move is complete.

Nathaniel wrote: ↑

August 4th, 2021, 12:55 pm

However, on the move date itself, the site will likely be down for a while, and posts/edits made *on* that date may be lost (if they are made after I back everything up from the current server to move it to the new one).

Why not lock all the forums before backing up everything when you're ready to move it?

Please make sure that the new server is accessible in China. Thank you very much.

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote: ↑

August 6th, 2021, 12:27 am

Please make sure that the new server is accessible in China. Thank you very much.

Nathaniel wrote:

Please read this

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote: ↑

August 23rd, 2021, 7:22 am

Please read this

I read it, and I'll do my best. It's hosted in a similar geographical location to the previous (i.e., current) web server, and no metadata/URL stuff will change, so I don't see any reason that it should be blocked in China. But I don't know how/why to *actually* be sure of something like that ahead of time.

I'm going to move the server TODAY (August 23, 2021). I'll be on discord shortly and throughout most of the day. I'll lock the forums when the move starts happening.

The server move is now complete. Welcome to the new server! Please let me know if/when you encounter anything weird.

Nathaniel,

Well done!

There are some issues with login.

I am using Firefox and get this popup when attempting to login:


After clicking my name and setting "Remember me" I get this:


and can log in successfully. I can then see the names of all registered users who are logged in. In my Board preferences I have "Hide my online status" set. Also, the "Remember me" setting in the login dialog does not seem to work.

Brian Prentice

Thanks, Nathaniel! I have had no problems yet, but during the move (around 8:00 AM), I got access to two new forums, entitled Moderator Discussion and The Book of Life. I assume these were moderator-only forums before, but one can never be so sure.
Also, I'm a little confused as to what the server move meant. Are we not using phpBB anymore, or what?

bprentice wrote: ↑

August 23rd, 2021, 1:16 pm

There are some issues with login.

Thanks for reporting these. I know what causing these problems, but I'll need a bit of time to fix it. Will hopefully happen tomorrow.

Edit: Should be fixed now.

ihatecorderships wrote: ↑

August 23rd, 2021, 6:57 pm

Thanks, Nathaniel! I have had no problems yet, but during the move (around 8:00 AM), I got access to two new forums, entitled Moderator Discussion and The Book of Life. I assume these were moderator-only forums before, but one can never be so sure.
Also, I'm a little confused as to what the server move meant. Are we not using phpBB anymore, or what?

Yeah, other users being able to read the moderator-only forums was a temporary glitch that resulted from me setting all forums to read-only. Whoops.

As for what the server move meant: for all of you, hopefully it means absolutely nothing (i.e., it shouldn't change how the site functions at all -- it still uses the same phpBB and MediaWiki software). All it means is that the code that runs the website was moved to a different computer somewhere else, since the company that used to run it will soon not exist anymore.

I kept getting "shuttling" between the two servers, just like the queen bee shuttle.
The second server is a little slow. (Sorry, I didn't mean to say that I prefer the first)

This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title. As recently as two weeks ago I was able to access such pages. For example, I cannot access this page the normal way, although I can access it this way. I don't need it fixed, since I copied the page contents elsewhere, but I thought it should be pointed out.

Sokwe wrote: ↑

August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am

This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title. As recently as two weeks ago I was able to access such pages. For example, I cannot access this page the normal way, although I can access it this way. I don't need it fixed, since I copied the page contents elsewhere, but I thought it should be pointed out.

Same here. I even got a brief (1/2 second) CAPTCHA message when trying to reload one of the forum pages immediately afterwards, but it resolved itself automatically.

Sokwe wrote: ↑

August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am

This may or may not be related to the server change. I now get a 403 error when I try to access a user subpage that includes quotation marks in the title.

I'm not 100% sure what's happening here, but I think it's a MediaWiki bug that was introduced in version 1.26 that only affects certain types of servers. Since it's not critical, I'm going to leave it as-is for now (unless someone finds an easily-implemented fix via better Googling than my own) with the recommended "fix" being "don't make page names with quotes in them anymore".

Edit (much later, on Feb. 8, 2022): Fixed now.

Nathaniel wrote: ↑

August 27th, 2021, 6:43 am

Sokwe wrote: ↑

August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am

It seems like some pages only load partially. Could there be a preference setting to change the number of posts on each page?

ColorfulGabrielsp138 wrote: ↑

August 27th, 2021, 8:57 am

Nathaniel wrote: ↑

August 27th, 2021, 6:43 am

Sokwe wrote: ↑

August 26th, 2021, 3:06 am

It seems like some pages only load partially. Could there be a preference setting to change the number of posts on each page?

This was caused by the character limit being increased from 250K to 1M. Maybe those above 100K could need a "show" button or else remain hidden?

Now the pages are loading sometimes really fast and sometimes really slow.
LifeViewer basically works normally.

...and we're back. Sorry about the massive downtime today. Really unfortunate timing on our server move -- this was apparently the longest downtime ever in the 14-year history of the new webhost.