Main site down for days?

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

Wondering if there is a topic on this already here somewhere. Seems weird I cant find talk of it. But videgamesage.com has been down for days for me, and if it were not for @Tanookibeing over on Atariage to message I would have never known to throw the “s” on to get back here. He did mention the discord but I don’t have that on my phone. 

So is everything ok with the site or should there be concern?

[RH | 4,895]

It's an issue with the Google DNS system the site uses.  Please don't message Gloves.  He and google are aware  but, apparently, Google is taking their sweet time about getting on it.  Maybe it's because it's the end of the year and everyone is futzing around on break.

[Deadeye | 1,595]

@LeatherRebel5150 staff is taking care of it, using "videogamesages.com" while everything is getting sorted out.  To put your mind at ease it is not security related.  We needed to put out the word over multiple platforms, sorry it took another avenue to get to you, but glad you found out.  Here was the announcement on Discord from @spacepup:

"Hello @everyone!  As some of you already know, the VGS site is currently experiencing a temporary outage.  We have identified the source of the issue and we are working with our providers to get service restored as soon as possible.  We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are doing everything we can to restore the site, and will post announcements here in discord as soon as we can.  Thank you!

Also - to clarify - this outage was NOT caused by any sort of attack or security concern.  It is an administrative issue with one of our providers and we are working to get that handled as quickly as we can.  Thanks!"

"Hello again @everyone !  We have been working hard to restore the VGS Site.  We are still working to resolve an issue with Google regarding our main domain.  However, in the meantime, we have temporarily moved the site to https://www.videogamesages.com/ , where you can access everything while we work to fix the main domain.  If you have any issues or questions, please contact me via the site or here in discord, and I'll do what I can to assist.  Thank you for your patience!"

 

Additionally, an email was sent out to all users to inform about the temporary URL, twitter post from VGS account, and a post on the Facebook account. 

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

The internet tank was on E and Gloves couldn't go down to the station to top it off because he didn't remember where he put his driver's license.  

At least I'm pretty sure that's the way the internet works.

[Gloves | 11,761]

It's worth noting the following:

 

I know people have a general aversion to marketing emails, ads, etc..

But this is a community where we're honestly not ever going to use email notifications to market to anyone. I sent out an email to everyone who has allowed us to email them literally JUST this once so far in the last 2 years, to let people know about the temporary change in URL.

If you've opted out of emails, you're opting out of being notified via email in case of emergency/outage, and really not much else.

1290 people got the email, of the 2800 users on the forum. So the rest I hope are either following our Twitter, on the Facebook group, or in Discord. They're not though, so I am sure a large chunk of people are unaware and probably actively trying to hit the normal URL without success.

It's upsetting to me because this was entirely out of our hands - Google decided one day to come down from on high and say "we're going to suspend your domain until you provide us what we want" with nary any forewarning. That's not at all how the internet is intended to work, but Google basically owns the internet now.

Suffice it to say I'll be moving the domain off of Google as a registrar the moment I am able.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

10 minutes ago, Deadeye said:

@LeatherRebel5150 staff is taking care of it, using "videogamesages.com" while everything is getting sorted out.  To put your mind at ease it is not security related.  We needed to put out the word over multiple platforms, sorry it took another avenue to get to you, but glad you found out.  Here was the announcement on Discord from @spacepup:

"Hello @everyone!  As some of you already know, the VGS site is currently experiencing a temporary outage.  We have identified the source of the issue and we are working with our providers to get service restored as soon as possible.  We apologize for the inconvenience, but we are doing everything we can to restore the site, and will post announcements here in discord as soon as we can.  Thank you!

Also - to clarify - this outage was NOT caused by any sort of attack or security concern.  It is an administrative issue with one of our providers and we are working to get that handled as quickly as we can.  Thanks!"

"Hello again @everyone !  We have been working hard to restore the VGS Site.  We are still working to resolve an issue with Google regarding our main domain.  However, in the meantime, we have temporarily moved the site to https://www.videogamesages.com/ , where you can access everything while we work to fix the main domain.  If you have any issues or questions, please contact me via the site or here in discord, and I'll do what I can to assist.  Thank you for your patience!"

 

Additionally, an email was sent out to all users to inform about the temporary URL, twitter post from VGS account, and a post on the Facebook account. 

I wasn’t worried about security issues to be honest. My thought/fear was (after two days) was “crap, I hope it doesn’t disappear.” 

I can’t handle another NA level catastrophe!

I don’t know why I didn’t see an email, I may have overlooked it or didn’t notice, but yea I definitely wouldn’t have seen facebook or twitters, to quote a famous spy “…never touch the stuff, fish f*** in it.”

[Gloves | 11,761]

4 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I wasn’t worried about security issues to be honest. My thought/fear was (after two days) was “crap, I hope it doesn’t disappear.” 

I can’t handle another NA level catastrophe!

I don’t know why I didn’t see an email, I may have overlooked it or didn’t notice, but yea I definitely wouldn’t have seen facebook or twitters, to quote a famous spy “…never touch the stuff, fish f*** in it.”

The issue is literally with the Google-held domain not pointing to the server where VGS exists. 

We've gone with Invision Cloud as a platform for the forum to avoid NA-style concerns. We don't have to manage old servers, and we're always making upgrades to the software with mostly a simple click of a button so it never gets stale. 

So even in the cases where the site goes down, or as is the case today "moves" (temporarily), the forum itself remains and will come back as-is no matter what. There's an alternative for Invision Cloud as well, should the need ever arise (in the case that one of the most popular forum softwares suddenly goes belly-up) - we can self-host if somehow Invision itself implodes, and everything should be perfectly capable of being moved on over without issue.

[a3quit4s | 4,092]

Explanation of the issue below with appearances by Karl Jobst, Pat the NES Punk, Jeff from GoCollect, @Gloves, @DefaultGen, a homeless guy that collects sealed Tecmo Bowls, and a support desk analyst from Google who escalated Gloves ticket to the engineering team who is on vacation till 1/3/22

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Edited December 23, 2021 by a3quit4s

[Brickman | 3,982]

I initially thought it was my DNS so I was clearing my cache, changing from openDNS to another DNS and when that didn’t work I figured it must be something google related and looks like from Gloves explanation it was. 

I wasn’t worried because I know the site is in capable hands with Gloves and the team

OptOut has also told me there is a discord so I’ll have to look into that  

[Gloves | 11,761]

1 hour ago, Shmup said:

I initially thought it was my DNS so I was clearing my cache, changing from openDNS to another DNS and when that didn’t work I figured it must be something google related and looks like from Gloves explanation it was. 

I wasn’t worried because I know the site is in capable hands with Gloves and the team

OptOut has also told me there is a discord so I’ll have to look into that  

Yeah there was a minor delay in troubleshooting the actual problem because the same error is used for when your local machine is having DNS issues; simple solutions like rebooting your router, etc. were tried. It became clear it wasn't the issue when other people started reporting the site being down, so I had to dig deeper.

It's like when a word in the dictionary has like 10 meanings and you're using it for that 10th meaning that nobody else knows about. So thanks for THAT, browser errors.

Regarding the Discord, I've updated the main nav of the site with a "Social Media" dropdown, with a link to the Twitter and Discord. I do suggest if nothing else following or bookmarking the Twitter account; that and Discord are currently the primary methods of communication if the site is down for any reason.

[Californication | 1,477]

I'm losing it bro.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Californication

[OptOut | 8,881]

6 hours ago, Gloves said:

It's worth noting the following:

Hey bud, don't put this on ME! 

This is your fuggin mess to clean up, I had NOTHING to do with it. 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

7 hours ago, Gloves said:

It's worth noting the following:

 

I know people have a general aversion to marketing emails, ads, etc..

But this is a community where we're honestly not ever going to use email notifications to market to anyone. I sent out an email to everyone who has allowed us to email them literally JUST this once so far in the last 2 years, to let people know about the temporary change in URL.

If you've opted out of emails, you're opting out of being notified via email in case of emergency/outage, and really not much else.

Is a personalized, handwritten letter too much to ask? 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

Oh hi.

 

Thanks @ThePhleo for cluing me in.

@Gloves, have you considered Geocities? Angelfire? Maybe Tripod?

[Gloves | 11,761]

7 minutes ago, CodysGameRoom said:

Oh hi.

 

Thanks @ThePhleo for cluing me in.

@Gloves, have you considered Geocities? Angelfire? Maybe Tripod?

Honestly I considered just making a MySpace.

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

Just now, Gloves said:

Honestly I considered just making a MySpace.

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

Thanks to the person who posted about the extra "s" on Facebook.  I knew about the site issues, but I had no idea about the secret way to get back here.  I have definitely missed this place for the past week.  

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

7 hours ago, Gloves said:

Regarding the Discord, I've updated the main nav of the site with a "Social Media" dropdown, with a link to the Twitter and Discord. I do suggest if nothing else following or bookmarking the Twitter account; that and Discord are currently the primary methods of communication if the site is down for any reason.

This here was my mistake.  I was relying on Facebook and never bothered to check anywhere else for reasons I can't explain now.  

Following in Twitter now, and also turning on email notifications just in case.  

[RH | 4,895]

6 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Thanks to the person who posted about the extra "s" on Facebook.  I knew about the site issues, but I had no idea about the secret way to get back here.  I have definitely missed this place for the past week.  

Same

[T-Pac | 7,513]

14 hours ago, Californication said:

I'm losing it bro.

[Jeevan | 8,909]

15 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Time to add an S to the Shirt!!!!  Get to crackin'

[T-Pac | 7,513]

12 minutes ago, Jeevan said:

Time to add an S to the Shirt!!!!  Get to crackin'

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

24 minutes ago, Jeevan said:

Time to add an S to the Shirt!!!!  Get to crackin'

Bam!

Edited December 24, 2021 by JamesRobot

[RH | 4,895]

59 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Bam!

Wiat, is there now a third site?  VideoGameSage5.com?!

[Jeevan | 8,909]