Whats happened to UKCougar.com ??

[Shagmonkey]

Any ideas anyone?? Was kinda expecting to find you all on here, but alas no.......hummmm....... :confused:

[Skinful]

I deleted half the posts by mistake, the backup files didn't work and Chilly is trying to sort it out!
Thats about it in a nutshell.

[Shagmonkey]

oh right....ummm...whoops !! :biggrin:

[Cougarrose]

I've come back to see whats going on too. I wonder if any others will return when the mebership fee starts? Sad to say I havn't been here for some time but......

[Cougarrose]

I've come back to see whats going on too. I wonder if any others will return when the mebership fee starts? Sad to say I havn't been here for some time but...... Sorry too eager with the mouse

[Jason J]

forum will be back up as soon as we can sort it out im sure some will use this if they dont want to pay the membership fee which is fine no one was made to use our forum in the first place its all about choice.
jason

[azervas]

Do we have any news??

I'm getting the shakes from withdrawel symptoms again!!!

PS - I get the car back tomorrow!!!!

WooooooooooooooooooooooHoooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!

[Blackadder]

Sorry to hear about the problems :(
Hope everyone had a great time at Trax ;)

[azervas]

We missed u there Ron - u should defo come to the weekender!!!

would be great to meet u Slackbladder!!

[freebird]

The site being down may have done me a favour by weaning me off the forum. I've had to lay out too much when the engine blew and work dried up with no reliable wheels. So I doubt if I will be back, but I may lurk a little here and fordcontour.org.

[azervas]

I'm trying to get my fix here - but its not the same as the UK forum - miss all my friends on there :(

Its like i've lost a limb!

[Jason J]

shame you didnt come ron but very kind of you to let ricky have your pass.
know what you mean alex browsing thru this forum is not the same lol

[freebird]

Hey Alex, did you get the Cat back today??

[azervas]

As u posted that message - i was handed the keys!! ;)

[cougarfella]

oh well, now i cant even get the forum screen :cry:


Alex, how is the car looking

[azervas]

She's looking minted mate!!!! i just gotta fit my spoiler and my WW front skirt that have been all sprayed up!!!

PS - the final cost for the repair was £4,271 !!!!! HOW DID THEY NOT WRITE HER OFF I WILL NEVER KNOW!!!

[freebird]

Thats good Alex, you know the first recovery company damaged my front spoiler, well I also had a bad stone (brick) chip on it, had a quote for £90 to repair it but had to leave that to find the £1.5k for the engine. Well the bodyshop are going to do the whole bumper and spoiler for £135, but I only have to pay £35, recovery company pays the rest. RESULT, but now I may have to do some mugging to get the £35.
Works coming in ok now the Cats back but the cash takes a little longer (thats why I wont be joining, in case Im seen to be nit picking).

[freebird]

Alex, last night I got a couple of notification emails from the UK forum, I did log on once and posted, a couple of us on there but no data. Tried later but no access, various screens. Today I get thown out with bad username/password. Now I dont want to complicate things for them by request my password be sent to me, do you know if its up and running or have you all run off and left me?

[azervas]

What is going on - i can get to the main page - to see that Mike has cleared the database - and we're all starting again - but as soon as i try to do anything i get this error:

phpBB : Critical Error

Could not connect to the database

Whats happening mike - i think we all deserve to know whats happening - as most of us have paid for the service now...and we're not getting anything.... ;)

[jezport]

Any ifo on if we have to re-register etc would be helpful

[Skinful]

Alex,
As soon as I know what is going on you will be the first to know.....
Mike.

[azervas]

Good!! :D

[Skinful]

Well the worst has happened.
We have lost everything.
Forum will be re-installed this evening.
Then we start from scratch.
Believe me no-one is more gutted than me.

[azervas]

Well at least there will be a forum...just such a shame to loose so much valuable information.... :(

[jezport]

Mike,
I have a mate that is pretty good with software and I can give you his phone number if it is any help. He has said to me in the past that he can usualy recover deleted data.

[freebird]

They need to take the server off-line while this is being sorted and advise members of whats happening. Data can be recovered, but the less its fiddled with before someone qualified to do the job is called in the better!
I work with MS Servers and O/S (its my business, MCSE) but I have a feeling its Unix. I would help FOC and we may have a Unix member who would do likewise, anyone checking this out?
I have to say Im not impressed as a potential customer!!

Phil
Freebird Systems
Network Management & Security

[Jason J]

Originally posted by: azervas
What is going on - i can get to the main page - to see that Mike has cleared the database - and we're all starting again - but as soon as i try to do anything i get this error:

phpBB : Critical Error

Could not connect to the database

Whats happening mike - i think we all deserve to know whats happening - as most of us have paid for the service now...and we're not getting anything.... ;)

Alex it has only been a few days im sure mike and steve are doing there utmost to sort this problem out be patient i know you have paid but these things happen stop being so impatient your not the only one who has paid!!!!!!!!! patience is a virtue or something like that.LOL
Jason

[freebird]

Alex it has only been a few days im sure mike and steve are doing there utmost to sort this problem out be patient i know you have paid but these things happen stop being so impatient your not the only one who has paid!!!!!!!!! patience is a virtue or something like that.LOL
Jason

I know I will be making myself unpopular here but I need to give an opinion.
1. If people are going to be paying to join the UK forums then they are entitled to know whats going on, there was no communication at all, and all 500(?) members were left in the dark, Im sure if they had received notification of the problems all would have waited patiently.
2. I understand the reasons for a membership fee but there must be a commitment to the members in return.
3. Most of the data lost on the forums were contributed by the members, it must go back 3 years, thats a bit of a blow for those who contributed and those who it helped. From my own point of view I went to a great deal of trouble informing members of the progress of the problem of my blown engine, and the steps taken to resolve it. This was to forewarn and forearm other members if they were unfortunate enough to need it. fortunately I have kept the 'nuts and bolts' of all the information on my own server and if anyone needs it I can email it to them.
4. Its not a few days, its a week! I don't speak for Alex but I think his reaction is concern and not knowing whats going on, at least he states his frustration with humour!
5. I don't know the details of the problem but it seems that backups weren't tested, its a standard admin task to do test restores. If the procedures are adhered to there is no excuse for lost data. This isn't so important when the forums were free but vital if people pay.
6. The feeling I get about this from some moderators is 'so what, sh*t happens. Thats not true, it doesn't have to!

Phil
Freebird

[Cougarrose]

I really am sorry things have gone wrong at the moment guys and I hope you get it sorted out soon. I do have to agree with most of what freebird has said though.

I can't acess the forums now and my name is not amongst the 51 listed members so as I haven't paid any dues does that mean I'm not a member now?

I did ask about one important (in my opinion) thing and got what seemed a curt reply. This was to do insurance. I am still undecided about becoming a paying member and would like to know the current legal position with things, including insurance.

I believe that as a paying members club if things do go wrong in some way then all members will have a vicarious liability for all matters concerning the club incuding any meetings or stands using the club name.

Perhaps, when you have the forum sorted again, you could post something either on here or the club home page explaining this.

Good luck.

[Jason J]

Phil all valid points BUT a note was put up on the home page to let people know it was being dealt with and the membership fee has only just been introduced so no one has actually paid for anything yet up until now it has been subsidised by Damian/Autostylin so altho your points are valid they dont neccessarily apply in this situation.
The attititude i can assure you is not "so what [censored] happens" , All of us contributed a lot of valuable information to the site and it is a real shame it got lost but a lot of the information was buried amongst a lot of crap that was unneccessarily posted in the topics so im sure this time round it will be a lot better/clearer for everyones benefit.
Jason

[jezport]

So much info has been lost that we all relied on. For instance if I wanted new tyres I would look on the site for the recomendations, but they are now gone. The forum is pretty limited at the moment.
Is there no way of recovering any of the posts lost?

[Skinful]

I never cease to be amazed.
Phil perhaps you could remind me when, in the year the forum has been running, you came forward and offered your help?
It is easy to be wise after the event and I really don't appreciate your comments.
It has not been possible to recover any of the data and the backup feature in phpBB did not work. We only found this out when we went to use them. We will now use a different method.
The forum will be secure for the future and when membership kicks in after the 30 September the subscribed members can rest assured that this problem will not be repeated.

[freebird]

Originally posted by: Skinful
I never cease to be amazed.
Phil perhaps you could remind me when, in year the forum has been running, you came forward and offered your help?
It is easy to be wise after the event and I really don't appreciate your comments.
It has not been possible to recover any of the data and the backup feature in phpBB did not work. We only found this out when we went to use them. We will now use a different method.
The forum will be secure for the future and when membership kicks in after the 30 September the subscribed members can rest assured that this problem will not be repeated.

What are you amazed about?
I wasnt aware that help was needed during the previous year, if you had problems maybe you should have requested it. We did have a thread (now lost I suppose), where a lot of us gave our trades and professions and I added mine adding that I would help any member in my area if needed. When the site went down no one knew what the problem was, and I believe Mike had put a message on the site not to contact him as it was being dealt with, I complied. I did mention to some of our members who I found on this site that I would help if it was something I could deal with (Microsoft not Unix, didnt even know if it was a server problem remember), I had hoped this would filter back. Now I dont want to bang on about this but I aint in the greatest financial position since my engine blew and my business folded, but I did offer, albeit not directly as requested on the site.
Err, Im not being wise after the event and I will repeat this TEST RESTORES are a STANDARD PROCEDURE for any admin worth his salt. You found your backups didnt work when you went to use them, well let me say this slowly, if you did a test restore regularly then this wouldnt have happened. I didnt want to critisise but you seem to have deliberatly missed the point in order to have a pop at me. Im sorry I dared to speak out, no Im not, thats the sort of elitist attitude I cant stand in the club.
I could say more but I dont need a slanging match, just this, I cant afford your membership fee but I was willing to help even though that never got back to you. If I had known the problem was something I could have helped with I would have mailed you directly and been there FOC. Im just glad I couldnt have afforded to join, your remarks are out of order.

Just noticed this in a post I made (6 before yours) I did some PMs too, I dunno you just cant please some people.

I work with MS Servers and O/S (its my business, MCSE) but I have a feeling its Unix. I would help FOC and we may have a Unix member who would do likewise, anyone checking this out?

[Skinful]

Perhaps you should bear in mind that we are not a commercial organisation but a group of people devoting our time to allow fellow Cougar owners to share their experiences.

[freebird]

Originally posted by: Skinful
Perhaps you should bear in mind that we are not a commercial organisation but a group of people devoting our time to allow fellow Cougar owners to share their experiences.

I appreciate that, but there was a vast amount of data that was contributed by the members, it was a brilliant community that I have now excluded myself from for giving an opinion. Wasnt one of the 'selling points' of the membership fee, access to the data that has now been lost? I hope that you do better now the site is funded.
My comments were CONSTRUCTIVE critisism and I have to say that of late this hasnt gone down well with those that run it.
I have no more to say on the matter, people will make their own minds up.

Phil

[Jason J]

Phil this is not directed at you personally BUT when the forum was started we had asked if anyone could help out with anything no one replied to my knowledge.
As soon as we set a date for the membership fee to be introduced a lot of people knew alot about how it should be done.
I do not see our forum as being elitist and I am sorry you think it is but not everyone is going to be happy with all the decisions we make.
It is a shame this is your view of the club as i know you contributed a lot to the club however a few of us spend hours every night making sure events are organised, that the forum stays relatively clean from profanities whilst trying to think of ways to further develop the club.
Jason

[Jason J]

One other point to make lets not forget this has been subsidised by Damian since the get go...........
Jason

[freebird]

Jason, I appreciate your comments thanks, and I am aware that I tend to react hard lately when 'situations' come up, in short my tolerance threshold is low, what with the Cat dying etc. I have banned myself from the forums before now because of that! Also I will admit that when UK Cougar first started (maybe 3 years ago with about 50 members) I actually had a pop at Damo, I did come back 4 months later and apologised, he was a gentleman and never even mentioned it, even offered me his old engine when mine went kaput!
What am I trying to say here, my comments were meant to be constructive but I came on too strong, if thats the case I apologise.
Can I just say that I did at one point (before my life went into te Twilight Zone) I did offer to do club merchandise distribution in the South East but then circumstance prevented me from doing that, embarrassing!
Im glad we sorted this out (a bit public though, and in the US too, maybe it was the influence of the UN).
I will rejoin later this year (how could I keep away).

Phil