Frank Hagan

I had to restore the forum software from a backup done on 1/4/2019 due to problems with a server that I describe here. It's unrelated to the issues this thread had, but we can pick up from where we are now. I apologize to everyone; you will see that anything you posted from about Jan 4th until earlier today, including private messages, are now gone.

In my efforts to reduce costs where I could I made what was, in retrospect, a bad decision and moved to a less expensive server back around Jan. 4th. After several days on the new server, I realized it just wasn't worth the downtime and problems getting things to run smoothly. I have reverted back to my prior data center in Dallas, on the more reliable server. While it costs me about $22 more per month, it is at least stable. BUT, that means posts from about the 4th or 5th until today are lost to the ages, and I won't be able to recover them. You may have posted, replied, etc. and now they are gone. It's nothing personal, just my screw-up!

I can move it ... have to find it first, but I'm assuming it will show up as a new post!

Hmmm ... see what you can do now. I have Supporting Members with "unlimited" upload and storage now, and Members with unlimited total storage and 2 GB per post.

I think I may have killed this one ... let me know if you see them popping up like that again!

Thanks for the screen shots. There are some issues with both the ad placement and also the "Supporting Member" group I created. Will try to employ some fixes.

I have been forced to upgrade the server for messing-about.com due to increasing resource usage. After negotiations the new configuration still results in a 60% increase. I have added Google Ads to help defray the cost. Several of you have asked about ways to support messing-about.com. There are two links in side column on the main index page: $12 a Year Supporting Member - Member status will be upgraded to Supporting Member and ads will not be shown to you. $60 a Year Premium Supporting Member - Includes the upgrade to Premium Supporting Member, and optionally provides a year of hosting your website at HOSTkabob (a 50% discount from our regular rates). You can choose to pay by credit card or PayPal after clicking the link. The forms pop-up, so if you don't see them ... turn off your pop up blocker and try again. Or, if you prefer to keep it casual, you can send money via PayPal to frank@frankhagan.com. Finally, I want everyone to know that we completely understand if you don't decide to join in the monetary support effort; messing-about has always provided free access to those who qualify simply by virtue of their contributions and ability to "be nice" to everyone else. It is an honor for me to be associated with all of you.

The server has been upgraded, and luckily there hasn't been any disruption that I can see. To pay for this I have added advertisements in two areas, at the top of the page and in between the first and second post. I'm using Google Ads, which at least monitor the ads and keep them virus free. For those who want to contribute, there are two links at the top right of the main index page to support messing-about.com, a $12 a year option to remove the ads, and a $60 a year option that removes the ads and optionally includes a full year of HOSTkabob website hosting if desired.

Well, back to square one. It looks like I will be upgrading the server in the next two days. The data center assures me it won't affect the site overall, but there will be some down time either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Trying some Google ads now, and may hide those for people who donate once I get a donate button set up. I hope they aren't too intrusive. Things are stable on the server side but I probably will need to upgrade by the end of the year. I hope to avoid that but it looks like I will need more resources for things like the image hosting, etc. by then anyway.

I would appreciate you stopping your ninja pirate hacking attempts, Robert! That solves it all! Things have settled a bit for now, so we'll see how it goes. I'd really like to delay this decision until mid-August if I can!

I could put up a donation button for PayPal or Patreon; I'll look into what I could add for paying members as a bonus. I'm working with the data center now on mitigating the attacks and turned the registration form back on with some changes; we'll see how it goes with the other measures in place. I'll keep everyone posted!

Unfortunately I have had to disable registration due to excessive resources being used by phony registration attempts and "contact us" form spammers. I am looking at upgrading the server and resources, but I am not sure the 64% increase in costs is worth that solution. If you have someone who wants to join messing-about let me know and I'll add them manually for now.

There are other notices on other forums like Boat Design Net and SailNet about his passing, so I'm afraid it is true. The service, according to the GoFund Me page, is this Saturday, June 9th.

I have been notified that Paul Riccelli (PAR) passed away unexpectedly on May 30th, 2018.. There is a GoFund me page for burial expenses.I'm posting the link for others to pay their respects in whatever way they see fit. My condolences to his family and friends.

Wow, what a great model! Thanks for sharing this project with us.

It should work now. Sorry about that.

That was my fault; I upgraded the software and server software and set some configuration items wrong. Try to upload pics again and let me know!

Very strange. I upgraded again and reset the server, made sure there is enough space. What's weird is that the "error code" .... "200" ... is "normal response" (meaning it's not an HTTP error). I'll keep digging.

You should be good to go. I mis-read the configuration file and granted everyone a generous 2,000,000 kilobytes of file space when I thought I was giving 2,000,000 MB. Kind of like when you mis-read inches for feet and end up with a dinghy 40 feet wide.

Had a couple of decimal places ignored; the storage space should be OK per user now.

Pesky decimal places. Try again guys!

Hmmm ... that should be 2 GB not MB.

Are your photos named like this: P1190625.jpg

Let me do some research on this. I don't think so, but perhaps someone has a utility or something that can help.