Lost Threads (forever?)

**Scott T** · March 31st, 2024, 12:16 PM

I don't believe that this question has been asked yet.

Everything posted between 13 and 20 March (inclusive) seems to be missing or lost - bookmarked links from that period give me the message:

Quote:

No Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

I posted 33 video's during that time frame.

Clearly I don't want to go to the effort of reposting them all if they then are going to re-appear.

So is it clear to those in the know that the missing posts are lost forever or is there a possibility that they may be recovered?

Thanks

**nhy5** · March 31st, 2024, 04:34 PM

Please, just give it some time before you do anything. Thanks!

Sam Spade · April 1st, 2024, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott T

I don't believe that this question has been asked yet.

Everything posted between 13 and 20 March (inclusive) seems to be missing or lost - bookmarked links from that period give me the message:

I posted 33 video's during that time frame.

Clearly I don't want to go to the effort of reposting them all if they then are going to re-appear.

So is it clear to those in the know that the missing posts are lost forever or is there a possibility that they may be recovered?

Thanks

There is a lot of rebuilding going on, right now the forum has received the equivalent of a sticking plaster and a couple of aspirin, hopefully we'll see a lot of lost posts restored, though I am not sure of the time frame, please hold fire with replacing any missing posts until we know more.

**Gruenspecht** · April 1st, 2024, 11:08 AM

This thread answered my burning question i wanted to ask, since i see there's bits missing here and there. Whenever i post something i check beforehand, if the thread isn't massive, if it's already there and right now i can't be 100% sure since the last post is often of the 12th of march. Should we refrain from posting at all so the threads aren't going to be messed up?

**Omnidirector** · April 1st, 2024, 02:16 PM

A few of my latest posts are also missing from the same time frame mentioned in the Scott's post. What I do from time to time, especially when I see a ton of 502 errors, is I copy my whole post from VEF (before submitting) with image links, title, etc into either offline LibreOffice Writer or OneNote file, so I could quickly restore at least some of the latest ones if VEF freezes. I don't do it on a regular basis, but I like the idea to have a copy of image links just in case. It doesn't really take much HDD space because it's just text, but that can be a lot of text

I will wait for further updates just to avoid duplicates and then try to restore what I can.

**Scott T** · April 2nd, 2024, 11:58 AM

And late yesterday we got the answer/confirmation

Unfortunately it seems that all of the posts made from the 13th March until the crash are permanently lost, please feel free to re-post any such material, apologies for this.

Although the "rebuilding" is clearly still happening and "the equivalent of a sticking plaster and a couple of aspirin" still relevant.

**DARPA** · April 2nd, 2024, 02:16 PM

The obvious question is how to deal with the zombie threads that show up in the forums but have no posts in them because they were created during that time.

Obviously, if they were lost forever then they need to be re-upped. But the sticky point is the zombie thread. We don't want duplicate threads; one the zombie and the other its replacement, because that's going to cause all kinds of search results confusion. Can the zombies be removed and would it help if we had a dedicated thread to report zombies for removal?

**Mick Sterbs** · April 2nd, 2024, 08:55 PM

Unfortunately it seems that all of the posts made from the 13th March until the crash are permanently lost, please feel free to re-post any such material, apologies for this.

I don't think that Admin have anything to apoligise for at all. This seems to be just 'one of those things' that was unavoidable eventually. So again, a big THANK YOU to all who got it back up and running again. OK, so a few posts were lost, but hey, we will get over it.

**Scott T** · April 2nd, 2024, 09:09 PM

I think that when VEF came back all of those missing threads and posts were there but were not indexed, because the reset took us back to 13 March.

Then as people began posting what they were actually doing was using the same post numbers as had been used after 13 March and as time has progressed more of those missing posts have been "overwritten" by the new posts plus the bleed through as I described it previously - because no forum is designed to overwrite posts because the forum software expects the Index to be up to date.

So effectively by late yesterday many of the missing posts had been overwritten, hence the red message.

But there are some posts of mine between 13 and 20 March which have not yet been overwritten because I bookmark my posts and some from that period are still saying "No Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator".

And I don't think it's zombie threads as such, just a bleed through from the original post which is creating the perception of interesting edits.

Interestingly since I first "guessed" what the situation was and then showed a proof that backed my guess up nobody has said that my guess is wrong.

**Scott T** · April 2nd, 2024, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Sterbs

I don't think that Admin have anything to apoligise for at all. This seems to be just 'one of those things' that was unavoidable eventually. So again, a big THANK YOU to all who got it back up and running again. OK, so a few posts were lost, but hey, we will get over it.

And I agree. At no point have I tried to attribute blame to anybody. These things can happen and we should all be grateful that VEF has returned.

April 1st, 2024, 11:08 AM	#4
Gruenspecht ♥♥♥ Lara ♥♥♥ Join Date: May 2021 Location: ◄ NL ► Posts: 1,910 Thanks: 24,054 Thanked 41,409 Times in 1,919 Posts	This thread answered my burning question i wanted to ask, since i see there's bits missing here and there. Whenever i post something i check beforehand, if the thread isn't massive, if it's already there and right now i can't be 100% sure since the last post is often of the 12th of march. Should we refrain from posting at all so the threads aren't going to be messed up? __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

April 1st, 2024, 02:16 PM	#5
Omnidirector Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 2,701 Thanks: 37,496 Thanked 79,574 Times in 2,691 Posts	A few of my latest posts are also missing from the same time frame mentioned in the Scott's post. What I do from time to time, especially when I see a ton of 502 errors, is I copy my whole post from VEF (before submitting) with image links, title, etc into either offline LibreOffice Writer or OneNote file, so I could quickly restore at least some of the latest ones if VEF freezes. I don't do it on a regular basis, but I like the idea to have a copy of image links just in case. It doesn't really take much HDD space because it's just text, but that can be a lot of text I will wait for further updates just to avoid duplicates and then try to restore what I can. __________________ Good to know: PixHost, Imgbb and PimpAndHost do not re-render, compress or modify data in jpg images. Last edited by Omnidirector; April 1st, 2024 at 05:01 PM.. Reason: info added

April 2nd, 2024, 11:58 AM	#6
Scott T Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: UK Posts: 4,388 Thanks: 38,716 Thanked 72,411 Times in 4,375 Posts	And late yesterday we got the answer/confirmation Unfortunately it seems that all of the posts made from the 13th March until the crash are permanently lost, please feel free to re-post any such material, apologies for this. Although the "rebuilding" is clearly still happening and "the equivalent of a sticking plaster and a couple of aspirin" still relevant. __________________ Everything that I upload to VEF is archived so please message me if my posts have any dead content, including thumbnails. All scans are from my own magazines purchased new, plus a few second hand ones purchased early on. Last edited by Scott T; April 2nd, 2024 at 12:06 PM..

April 2nd, 2024, 08:55 PM	#8
Mick Sterbs Vintage Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: South of the Thames Posts: 569 Thanks: 13,983 Thanked 14,124 Times in 624 Posts	Unfortunately it seems that all of the posts made from the 13th March until the crash are permanently lost, please feel free to re-post any such material, apologies for this. I don't think that Admin have anything to apoligise for at all. This seems to be just 'one of those things' that was unavoidable eventually. So again, a big THANK YOU to all who got it back up and running again. OK, so a few posts were lost, but hey, we will get over it. __________________ __ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. __ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Barbara Goodyear EB 001

April 2nd, 2024, 09:09 PM	#9
Scott T Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: UK Posts: 4,388 Thanks: 38,716 Thanked 72,411 Times in 4,375 Posts	I think that when VEF came back all of those missing threads and posts were there but were not indexed, because the reset took us back to 13 March. Then as people began posting what they were actually doing was using the same post numbers as had been used after 13 March and as time has progressed more of those missing posts have been "overwritten" by the new posts plus the bleed through as I described it previously - because no forum is designed to overwrite posts because the forum software expects the Index to be up to date. So effectively by late yesterday many of the missing posts had been overwritten, hence the red message. But there are some posts of mine between 13 and 20 March which have not yet been overwritten because I bookmark my posts and some from that period are still saying "No Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator". And I don't think it's zombie threads as such, just a bleed through from the original post which is creating the perception of interesting edits. Interestingly since I first "guessed" what the situation was and then showed a proof that backed my guess up nobody has said that my guess is wrong. __________________ Everything that I upload to VEF is archived so please message me if my posts have any dead content, including thumbnails. All scans are from my own magazines purchased new, plus a few second hand ones purchased early on.

March 31st, 2024, 04:34 PM	#2
nhy5 Moderator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Northern Alabama Posts: 1,963 Thanks: 10,432 Thanked 32,345 Times in 1,960 Posts	Please, just give it some time before you do anything. Thanks!

April 2nd, 2024, 02:16 PM	#7
DARPA Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Trapped inside a scanner Posts: 3,514 Thanks: 4,354 Thanked 62,333 Times in 3,424 Posts	The obvious question is how to deal with the zombie threads that show up in the forums but have no posts in them because they were created during that time. Obviously, if they were lost forever then they need to be re-upped. But the sticky point is the zombie thread. We don't want duplicate threads; one the zombie and the other its replacement, because that's going to cause all kinds of search results confusion. Can the zombies be removed and would it help if we had a dedicated thread to report zombies for removal?