Posted by Kim on December 5, 2018, 9:55pm
Tonight was a hard night. The site was down for several hours for maintenance after our database went kerfluey. The issues we experienced were non-malicious (This was not an attack. No data was stolen.)Most things came through the crisis just fine; so far, it looks like I was able to recover all groups, forum posts, private messages, kudos, accolades, custom templates, and purchase records.
Character and user pages DID take a hit, though. We have had to roll back character pages and users as much as ten days. If you created a character or account, or made changes in that time span, it's likely gone now. I can't tell you how upset I am that this has happened to our community, and how sorry I am.
I can say I'll move heaven and Earth to make sure this storm can NEVER happen again. I can also say I'll do everything I can to reunite people with lost data wherever it's possible - oddly, with your help, it may be possible re-link you to any RPs you were engaged in if you were doing them with an account or character fresher than the rollback. Read on for more details about that.
A LOT of data has been moved around to get us back up. There may be some unexpected results. PLEASE submit bug reports about anything that looks off to you to, no matter how small - you are never bothering me by bringing my attention to something that might be wrong, even if it turns out not to be a bug or problem! And you may well be helping me to help not just you, but many others, if you turn out to have spotted a clue to an issue. I really need your help to make sure everything is okay going forward!
Since user accounts were rolled back 10 days, I'm going through the purchase records and re-applying any Epicness or other perks you may have applied to your account in that time. This will take a few hours to sift through, and even so, you're still welcome to submit a bug report to me about it right away if you're worried!
If you lost a character or your user account in this awfulness, I could not be more sorry and upset on your behalf. The RPR is supposed to be here to support and celebrate your creations, not to hurt them. I want to do everything I can to at least re-unite you with the RPs you may have had.
If you have an email notification about a RP you were doing, whether in PMs or on the forums, please forward it to me at admin@rprepository.com with the name of your new account and and/or your re-created character and I will re-link that RP to your new account, and throw in some free stuff to try and make it up to you.
If you have an email notification about a RP you were doing, whether in PMs or on the forums, please forward it to me at admin@rprepository.com with the name of your new account and and/or your re-created character and I will re-link that RP to your new account, and throw in some free stuff to try and make it up to you.
Don't have any emails about your RPs from us, but still know you had a RP that you want to be reunited with? Still email me with as many details as you can and I'll see what I can do. Include:
- Your username
- If applicable, your re-created character's page (link me!)
- Any details you can remember about the RP you were doing. What forum was it on? What was the title of the PM conversation? What date did it start? That sort of thing!
I understand if you are feeling anger or sadness or even grief in this moment. I am feeling these things as well. It's an awful thing to happen and I am certain we all feel awful about it.
I want to thank everyone who sent me SO much support while I was working on this issue. You got me through it!
I will continue to update this space with any critical updates, as well as put out notices on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.
UPDATE 12:30am PST: I've restored hundreds of thousands of missing character pages. If you're still missing something more than 10 days old, definitely make sure you hit me up with those bug reports!
UPDATE 12:52am PST: If your account just adopted a character named "Zombie character," this is a placeholder for a lost profile. It is intended to give you back access into your private messages and groups you were participating in with that character. You may choose to delete the character, or to rename it and rebuild the profile on it.
UPDATE 1:30am PST: If you activated an item in the last ten days, the benefits should now be re-applied to your account. That is to say, your Epicness and character slots should be back.
Next: Enchanted Wardrobes are back (discounted character slots)! »
« Previous: Festival of Being Excellent to Each Other, 2018
Comments
nightmqre
December 9, 2018
11:09pm
*tear roll*
Many good people were lost, including two of my own. (Luckily one had nothing in and the other was gonna get deleted anyway so...
)
Technology in itself are bound to break, and have issues from time to time. We just have to learn from those technological issues to move forward!
Many good people were lost, including two of my own. (Luckily one had nothing in and the other was gonna get deleted anyway so...
)Technology in itself are bound to break, and have issues from time to time. We just have to learn from those technological issues to move forward!
LakotaSiouxWarrior
December 8, 2018
11:08am
Kim is a superstar along with all the freinds who helped her through this.
I think if anything the downtime really showed something about Kim and the others that maintain this site.
Her constant updates weren't canned responses that you usually see from down sites. They dripped with emotion and caring.
It showed that Kim and others "get us". They know what RP means to us, and this site. They are part of us.
This downtime just cemented me here longer. Because I can't picture another site or community run by someone that cares this much. That understands this community this much. And cares about us this much.
Good job on the restore. Hope Kim got some rest, and enjoyed her Froyo. I am going to find new adventures for my alter egos in this wonderful home.
Her constant updates weren't canned responses that you usually see from down sites. They dripped with emotion and caring.
It showed that Kim and others "get us". They know what RP means to us, and this site. They are part of us.
This downtime just cemented me here longer. Because I can't picture another site or community run by someone that cares this much. That understands this community this much. And cares about us this much.
Good job on the restore. Hope Kim got some rest, and enjoyed her Froyo. I am going to find new adventures for my alter egos in this wonderful home.
Ooooh rip so that's what happened to my account then! Here I thought it just got deleted due to inactivity or something lmao.
I will admit, it does kinda suck a little bit to have to recreate the three characters I had submitted but it won't kill me. Glad that the issue has been resolved though!
I will admit, it does kinda suck a little bit to have to recreate the three characters I had submitted but it won't kill me. Glad that the issue has been resolved though!
Wha...?
...I didn't even think to try and log in last night and total chaos reigns? Yupp, sounds about right.
Curse me and my habit of making small edits every few days...my newest character Danico Frazier got his entire profile wiped back to nothing. *shrugs* (I was going to change it all again anyways, oddly this helps me out...)
*yawns*
Soooooooooo glad the site didn't crash for good...I would've cried. Thanks Kim, I would've been totally freaked if I were in your shoes so *offers cookies* I wanted to thank you. (in case senpai notices this message lolz)
...I didn't even think to try and log in last night and total chaos reigns? Yupp, sounds about right.
Curse me and my habit of making small edits every few days...my newest character Danico Frazier got his entire profile wiped back to nothing. *shrugs* (I was going to change it all again anyways, oddly this helps me out...)
*yawns*
Soooooooooo glad the site didn't crash for good...I would've cried. Thanks Kim, I would've been totally freaked if I were in your shoes so *offers cookies* I wanted to thank you. (in case senpai notices this message lolz)
BunBunUke
December 6, 2018
4:54pm
I just have to say how amazing you are, Kim. Thank you so much for everything you do, and especially for this site.
I'm proud of Kim and this community.
Kim came to me yesterday for help when she realized there was a severe database problem. We worked on a long shot approach to recovering lost data. Unfortunately it didn't pay off. But it was worth a try.
She could have been in a panic. She was quite upset, but she remained calm and worked steadily to bring the site back up. Occasionally she took short moments to grieve the downtime and loss of data, but always quickly returned to working on the site. I am very proud of her for her professional response and her dedication to you, the community.
She actually came up with some very clever ideas to recover more of the data than just reloading a backup would. Only someone with a deep understanding of the RPR code could have done that.
I have to echo Sanne's sentiments. I must say I am so impressed by the community. There could have been a huge outcry of anger at the downtime. Instead there was enormous support for Kim and her efforts. Your support made this disaster much more bearable for her. Thank you for being so positive!
To congratulate her on her rapid, positive, professional, considered and clever response to the recovery I took her out for frozen yogurt. (It's cold out here in Oregon, but we are big fans of froyo). Kim even bought some froyo for Venice (our white standard poodle). Venice likes peanut sauce on her froyo.
Kim is at a point were she can relax a bit. The bulk of the data recovery is done. She will continue to work on recovering data for those that send in bugs with sufficient clues about what was lost.
Make the world a better place! Just like you already have!
Kim came to me yesterday for help when she realized there was a severe database problem. We worked on a long shot approach to recovering lost data. Unfortunately it didn't pay off. But it was worth a try.
She could have been in a panic. She was quite upset, but she remained calm and worked steadily to bring the site back up. Occasionally she took short moments to grieve the downtime and loss of data, but always quickly returned to working on the site. I am very proud of her for her professional response and her dedication to you, the community.
She actually came up with some very clever ideas to recover more of the data than just reloading a backup would. Only someone with a deep understanding of the RPR code could have done that.
I have to echo Sanne's sentiments. I must say I am so impressed by the community. There could have been a huge outcry of anger at the downtime. Instead there was enormous support for Kim and her efforts. Your support made this disaster much more bearable for her. Thank you for being so positive!
To congratulate her on her rapid, positive, professional, considered and clever response to the recovery I took her out for frozen yogurt. (It's cold out here in Oregon, but we are big fans of froyo). Kim even bought some froyo for Venice (our white standard poodle). Venice likes peanut sauce on her froyo.
Kim is at a point were she can relax a bit. The bulk of the data recovery is done. She will continue to work on recovering data for those that send in bugs with sufficient clues about what was lost.
Make the world a better place! Just like you already have!
Not only am I incredibly proud of Kim for how she handled this, knowing how genuinely hard this has been on her knowing how much you all care about your creations, I'm also incredibly proud of how the community responded. It's so easy to just let your loss lead you into an emotional turmoil of hurt and blame, but I've only seen incredible support and understanding. For an online community to respond this way in the face of a crisis is testimony to how awesome you all are, and how good and nurturing the community is. You're making the best of the situation and aren't putting Kim down, and I hope you understand how stellar and kind each and every one of you are for it. You're all amazing for this.
LaughingLLama
December 6, 2018
1:54pm
Oh my gosh, i'm so happy that this got resolved pretty quickly. I had a mini heart attack when it said that my account was locked. Thank you so much for saving the site, Kim, I would give you a thousand hugs if I were able too.
I'd just like to add my gratitude for working so hard. It's really appreciated, but also shows why the RP Repository is a "community".
Oh, goodness. I don't think I lost anything, but that's awful nonetheless for those who did. Thanks for keeping us apprised of the situation and working so hard to get everything back together, Kim!
While I've not been here very long I wanted to share my appreciation for how quickly you all have worked to resolve the issue. Things happen and I hope that whatever plans you make to minimize loss in future events succeeds exponentially. Just remember that things could have been much, much worse and what little damage has occurred is because of your diligence and hard work, your care and passion. Keep up the good work and know that you have a resounding amount of understanding and support from your community from what I can see.
Thank you Kidd. I'm gonna keep this in mind. Cuz the loss of three days work on my characters history page was a huge hit to my muse.
I just wanted to thank you for all yout effort and hardwork. This has to be stressful to you as well and all your effort is appreciated.
ToaNuva
December 6, 2018
8:47am
I just find it hilarious that the last character I made, which was a small character to begin with. Is now just called Zombie Character. And I freaking love it. I was doing a slice of life with him and now all his posts just say sent by Zombie Character.
Hahaha I can just imagine it now, everything is fine and dandy my character looks out his window to see an undead horror limping through the neighbor hood. But that's okay Zombie Character has his morning tea with a splash human brain fluid. Everything is looking up for him.
Hahaha I can just imagine it now, everything is fine and dandy my character looks out his window to see an undead horror limping through the neighbor hood. But that's okay Zombie Character has his morning tea with a splash human brain fluid. Everything is looking up for him.
[img]https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/40bwcc/cats_cuddling/?st=JPCRPNPO&sh=7b4649c7[/img]
I'm sorry about what happened. I know it must be really stressful, but please don't feel too bad about it. You're kind enough to provide this platform, and shit happens. Thank you so much for trying your best to help everyone out. Your efforts are super appreciated.
All my characters and profile info are there for me! The most I gotta do is just re-add some character art that got deleted, but it shouldn't be too bad since I already had that stuff backed up! Thanks for your hard work! 
I had thought I had gotten banned for some reason! That seems to be a habit of mine to get banned from websites I like, well only one website, but it happened earlier this year and I was mad about it.
Anyways, I'm glad you got things back
My Ezra character did take a hit but I fixed him up already I'm also glad you got it back up because I go on here in school and if I had missed a whole day of roleplaying, I would've gone nuts.
Anyways, I'm glad you got things back
My Ezra character did take a hit but I fixed him up already I'm also glad you got it back up because I go on here in school and if I had missed a whole day of roleplaying, I would've gone nuts.
BombayJello
December 17, 2018
7:03am