# WordReference Forums outage - lost posts and threads



## mkellogg

Hi everybody,

Everything should be working fine now, except for the lost posts and threads.  Please come back to this thread later.  I expect that I will be able to recover the lost posts soon.

UPDATE:
Here are the 1800 lost posts and threads in Excel format.

Mike


----------



## dreamlike

Hi Mike

Just out of sheer curiosity, was it an outage or was it a third party tampering with the forum?


----------



## mkellogg

dreamlike said:


> Just out of sheer curiosity, was it an outage or was it a third party tampering with the forum?


I am not sure what caused this, but the forum server suddenly started running the forum upgrade script or at least some ALTER TABLE commands.  This is something that should never happen on its own.


----------



## swift

Well, apparently, I forgot my custom number or installation code.  The thing is, I didn't know I had one.  I thought for a moment that I had logged out and that a new forum skin had been installed but then I watched carefully and found that the forums had been hacked. 

Fortunately there was a backup and Mike restored the forums. The loss of today's posts and threads is a minor inconvenience compared to a global loss of the forums database.

Thanks, Mike!


----------



## swift

mkellogg said:


> UPDATE:
> Here are the 2000 lost posts and threads in Excel format.


Wow!


----------



## Colchonero

No sé si tendrá algo que ver pero esta tarde, cada vez que intentaba conectarme a WR, mi antivirus lanzaba una alarma de programa malicioso y lo bloqueaba.


----------



## marrish

Thank you for recovering the posts. Are the post going to be added to the respective threads?


----------



## DelaChón

Hi, there. 

I'm afraid that the problem persists. I just tried to repost today and I can't find my posts from today but by clicking on My Threads folder. Apart from that, one of my posts from yesterday (yes, it's still there) links to some other discussion (see below). 

How bizarre.



Type in "patatas traigo" in the Spanish-French dictionary. You'll find this:  
*patatas traigo*

definición | sinónimos | en inglés | conjugar verbos | en contexto | imágenes
We could not find the full phrase you were looking for.
The entry for 'patata' is displayed below.

Also see: patatas | traigo


Diccionario Espasa Grand: español-francés français-espagnol © 2000 Espasa-Calpe:
*patata*

_ƒ_ pomme de terre _ƒ_;
*p. caliente* _fig_ dossier _m_ urgent;
*patatas fritas* frites _fpl_;
*patatas paja* pommes paille;
_(de bolsa)_ chips _fpl_



*Preguntas en los foros con la(s) palabra(s) 'patatas traigo' en el título:*​¿Adónde vas? Patatas / Manzanas traigo - patata - manzana



The forum above links to http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2591234, which has nothing to do with it. I hope the whole system is not messed up...


----------



## Nanon

Hi Delachón. This is weird - all the forum links in the Spanish-French entry for patatas are correct except that one, which should link to http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2591315 (the thread you opened). But the opening of the thread happened after the outage. 
I reported the problem anyway (using the "Please report any problems" link at the bottom of the dictionary page).


----------



## mkellogg

marrish said:


> Are the post going to be added to the respective threads?


Sorry, but no.

I'm still working on a few things, but we should be in good shape by the end of the day today.  Links to lost threads and posts will link to other threads and posts.  The forum search engine should be repaired in the next half-hour. That should take care of some of the other strange things you are seeing such as other people's threads showing in the list of your threads.


----------



## DelaChón

Merci, Nanon


----------



## dreamlike

This is just to say, ever since the outage, I experience some odd problems. The wordreference logo at the bottom of each page tends to disappear every now and then, and I can't submit my posts. When this happens, I have to repeat a given activity after 5 minutes and it works. What's the scam?


----------



## Peterdg

Do you happen to use IE9?


----------



## dreamlike

No. I am rather critical of Microsoft inventions. It seems to me that it is the unremoved cookies that are at fault here. Or should I say 'were'... because after removing those, I no longer have any trouble using the forum.


----------



## danhan22

mkellogg said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> Everything should be working fine now, except for the lost posts and threads. Please come back to this thread later. I expect that I will be able to recover the lost posts soon.
> 
> UPDATE:
> Here are the 1800 lost posts and threads in Excel format.
> 
> Mike



It is now Friday evening (PST) and my lost threads are not showing. Does this mean I should cut and paste my entire two threads from the WR Excel file into two new threads so they can be posted and I can get replies as well as see them in my "My Threads" sections?


----------



## Cagey

danhan22 said:


> It is now Friday evening (PST) and my lost threads are not showing. Does this mean I should cut and paste my entire two threads from the WR Excel file into two new threads so they can be posted and I can get replies as well as see them in my "My Threads" sections?


If I understand your question correctly, I believe Mike answers it in post #10.  The missing threads will not be restored in the forum. 

I think you should consult the moderators of the relevant forum as to what you should do.  

(In the forums I moderate, I would advise people to post the threads only if their question still hasn't been answered.  I also would suggest that they summarize discussion so far when they post the second time, rather than repost someone else's quoted post. 

Otherwise, you can store your threads on your computer, to consult when you need to.)


----------

