Forums > Site Announcements > Important: necessary server modifications mean site issues

The site's host alerted me around noon today that the server I'm on is vulnerable to a particular type of attack unless I update the WHM/mySQL and cPanel settings to the latest version. They warned that hosted sites which do not make those modifications, because they are at risk, will be deleted immediately and backups will not be provided.

This would be a bad thing, but then, so would falling victim to the noted vulnerability. So I had to take a crash course today in updating the sort of stuff that on a managed server has always been done on my behalf. A few hours later, I've successfully updated the software (it seems) and the site is loading fine and will continue to load fine, aside from the usual minor issues on the host's end. However, the required updates also forced a significant upgrade to mySQL, which means that old INSERT queries no longer work around the site. This is a short-term problem that means various interactive features around the site are broken until I can resolve them individually, one at a time.

Resolving everything will take some time, as you can imagine. But I am making that effort my priority. I've finished fixing new bugs impacting the forums, as far as I can tell--mostly so I could post this message ASAP--and I will be targeting other features tonight and tomorrow, including account features, staff tools and review submission options. In the meantime, you will receive error pages when attempting to use some features with problems I haven't yet been able to address.

In the short term, please don't worry about reporting those errors to me. I'll stamp them out as quickly as I can, and I already have a pretty good idea about where to look and what to test. If you are still encountering new issues a few days from now, that's the time to alert me. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but there shouldn't be major issues in the long term and the site will be that slightest bit more secure and may even perform better as a result of this process. Thanks for your patience!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Okay, all features that you are likely to see as a site contributor should now be working as normal once again (and staff resources are also mended). There are a few more features that I will be adjusting in the back end, but you're good to use the site as usual and shouldn't encounter any new error messages. If you do get an error page or an ugly error message you haven't seen before, please bring it to my attention so I can address it, but I don't anticipate that happening. Thanks!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Did blogs simply get moved off the main page or is that a fix that hasn't been done yet? Or was something said about this before and I just missed it?

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

They were accidentally removed because the query that determines whether they display relied on a reference to a table column that has since been removed from the database. But the query has been adjusted and the blog entries are back. Thanks for catching that! I would have eventually, probably, but it might have taken me a few months given that I missed it initially.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

I think I mainly noticed because of how I put one up today and then saw it wasn't around on the front page and neither were any others. If not for that, I might not have noticed it until I thought about doing one at some eventual point.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Not sure if you've noticed, but when people leave feedback on reviews, the front page still shows 0 comments, such as mariner's Links Awakening HD review.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

Thanks to you and others who have brought this to my attention. A variable wasn't passing correctly from the form to the page that processes the form submission, following the numerous changes that were necessary after the site was upgraded to more secure settings. The offending line of code has been modified, and feedback topics should once again be attached to their corresponding reviews. I also went back through and added variables to the database entries that were missing them, so things should be back to normal. Let me know if you see otherwise.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2