Unrelated: Is there a way to add meta tags to posts?

As far as I can tell, no. We used to have that ability and there is an unfinished crappilly designed tag editing system in the admin section (that is 100% useless), but no way to add meta tags.

Seems my comics aren't showing as updated, the pages upload but thr date of last update doesn't amend so people aren't noticing they have updated.

Older chapters of Character Development have been randomly replaced by copies of the current chapter's pages. As the comic is over 1000 pages long I have very little interest in checking all of them and replaqcing them, especially since it ay just happen again. Is anyone else having problems like this or is it just me?

Dont know if this is a known issue or not but it seems i cant add links to my page anymore. It just gives me an error when i try to do it through links management. Directs me to a 500 internal server error.

Gunwallace wrote:
Older chapters of Character Development have been randomly replaced by copies of the current chapter's pages. As the comic is over 1000 pages long I have very little interest in checking all of them and replaqcing them, especially since it ay just happen again. Is anyone else having problems like this or is it just me?

This seems to happen when the file names are the same. So if you upload a page called “page1.jpg” and you already have a file in your archive by the same name, the old one will be replaced.

Yep, just went and checked out your most recent page and it's just called “Page_4.jpg” or something like that so that's probably your issue there. :\

HippieVan wrote:
Gunwallace wrote:
Older chapters of Character Development have been randomly replaced by copies of the current chapter's pages. As the comic is over 1000 pages long I have very little interest in checking all of them and replaqcing them, especially since it ay just happen again. Is anyone else having problems like this or is it just me?

This seems to happen when the file names are the same. So if you upload a page called “page1.jpg” and you already have a file in your archive by the same name, the old one will be replaced.

Yep, just went and checked out your most recent page and it's just called “Page_4.jpg” or something like that so that's probably your issue there. :\

That's the method I have always used. It only seems to be replacing some recent chapters with a copy of the new pages, older ones with the same file name are fine. Generating unique filenames for each page is not something I'd like to have to do, nor has it been necessary in the past.

Gunwallace wrote:
That's the method I have always used. It only seems to be replacing some recent chapters with a copy of the new pages, older ones with the same file name are fine. Generating unique filenames for each page is not something I'd like to have to do, nor has it been necessary in the past.

Since Jamey Sharp set the stite back up to work with our amazon image server this is the situation we have Gunwallace.
Jamey was kind enough to fix some things for us, but now I can not reach him at all to change things like that.

If you know a person who has some expereince with Python and interfacing with Amzon image servers and you trust them then maybe we can set them up with the credentials to fix that for us. Till then our only option for now is the work around of using jpg files with unique names.

My solution, since 2004 first posting on DD and Keen Space, has been to use the full date as part of the title. That way you always have a unuique, sequential name as well as a good reference. :)

—————-

@Nekko- I'm having that same issue too. I'm not sure what causes it. I've rebooted the site pretty regularly so we're not running into the same server error for archives and PQs and stuff… It could be to do with the Apache server needed refreshing, but JNP is the only one equipted to do that and for various reasons he's not been able to. I'll keep asking him.

ozoneocean wrote:

My solution, since 2004 first posting on DD and Keen Space, has been to use the full date as part of the title. That way you always have a unuique, sequential name as well as a good reference. :)

That's great for you, but I now have a one thousand page ‘white elephant’ on this site, and I'm not prepared to go back and individually rename all those pages. You seem to be implying this is my fault, and I should have been using a better system for posting since I started, but I'm betting I'm not the only one with similar problems. Perhaps a clear warning somewhere about this problem might not be a bad idea?

You've misunderstood my reply Gunwallce.

I'm saying the current problem is due to a server configuration setting between this site, on Linode, and our imge server on Amazon and there's nothing I can do to change it since Jamey Sharp of Comic rocket who set it up can't be contacted.

So the workaround we have found is to use unique names.
I used my own unique file name system as an example of an easy and practical one to choose if you were to go down that root.

You've told us that it is only recent chapters that are affected, not all 1000 pages of your archive, so presumably only new pages that you are currently uploading will need new names?
-as well as any of the more recent paes that are also affected.*
*presumably the ones that were added after the resteroration of the site?

I don't mean to say anything is anyone's fault. Because it's not

Unfortunately it's the reality we find ourselves in. Unique file names for new uploads are the only way around it that normal people like you or I have available to us.

If you or anyone knows anyone trustworthy who knows their way around Python, the bare bones server system on Linode where our main server is hosted, and the right configurations of amazon image servers, then we can give them the credentials and they can put the right settings in to fix it.

For myself, I try and discover what new problems affect this site, I try and come up with solutions and ways around the porblems so that things will still work as normal while we wait for other fixes. Then I try and try to get people to fix things that I can't.

—————–

-I am also totally open to anyone taking over this job from me, as long as they're commited to the site, will respect people's comics and privacy, will stick with this place, and are polite and not a mean cotrol freak then I'd welcome them to it.
I know my limitations, I'd love this place to be managed by someone who is more computer litterate than I.

Gunwallace wrote:
Perhaps a clear warning somewhere about this problem might not be a bad idea?

This seems like a good idea. Oz, is there any way we can edit the text on the “add a comic page” section to insert a warning about this?

It might also be a good idea to make a list of known bugs and their fixes. That won't prevent things like this from happening, but it will make it easier for users to fix things without waiting for a reply here.

Gunwallace, Oz definitely didn't mean to imply that this is your fault. But he's running the site (with a little bit of help from myself and a few others) entirely as a labour of love at this point, and it's frustrating for all of us not to be able to do anything about the bugs. All we can offer is workarounds at this point. :(

Yeah, I get that. I'll try to find some time to repair my pages in the future, but it's still a lot of pages.

Gunwallce- You said only the most recent uploads were affected though?
You shouldn't have to edit the rest of your archives then, only pages uploaded since DD came back online?

I have access now to all the files myself. I tried looking for the spot where I can add a note about unique page names but I can't spot it yet! :(

All the pages are made up of about 5 or more PHP files each, it's a real nightmare… Like a single form like “add_Page” has all different parts for NO REASON!
It's not like pages are split up into different PHP files so they can all share comon parts, no, EACH page ins split up itself…WHY???????????

Wwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy????????????? T_T

ozoneocean wrote:
It's not like pages are split up into different PHP files so they can all share comon parts, no, EACH page ins split up itself…WHY???????????

Wwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy????????????? T_T

Quite simple really. To make it take longer for things to load and to make everything harder to fix. Actually it all being seperate probably means it was done piecemeal with a view towards cleaning everything up in a later edit, which never happened.

It would be helpful if there was a list of most frequent bugs and the easiest ways around them.

Like recommending each comic page have a unique name,
that if you want to have a page show up on update lists, update it that day
and so on. Oh and avoid trying to upload pages at 0400 Eastern Daylight time as that is when the server updates to the next day since that is 0000 Pacific Standard Time. Run into that twice while doing early morning updates. Then I realized the default time for the site is Pacific Standard time. That and when the site closed down on me the site drop down calendar said March 9 and when it came back it said March 10.

Just wanted to say, the site seems to be running a lot faster today! (well, the forum's still sluggish)

It probably won't last, but it was nice to be able to use the site like (almost) normal for a little while.

That's because I reboot the linode server twice a day pretty much now and I know how to restart the apache server now as well as I'm restarting that once a day too.

ozoneocean wrote:
That's because I reboot the linode server twice a day pretty much now and I know how to restart the apache server now as well as I'm restarting that once a day too.

I'm not sure you are kicking it hard enough.

ozoneoceanwrote:
All the pages are made up of about 5 or more PHP files each, it's a real nightmare Like a single form like add_Page has all different parts for NO REASON!
It's not like pages are split up into different PHP files so they can all share comon parts, no, EACH page ins split up itselfWHY???????????

Wwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy????????????? T_T

Haha, that is so terrible and so completely unsurprising. XD

Te upload thing… happening again.

That's all your seem to post these days? :)
I've rebooted the site a few times today and restarted to apache server so it shouldn't be happening. I will reboot it again now.

Have a different upload problem… slightly.
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@theduckwebcomics.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Apache/2.2.14 (Ubuntu) Server at www.theduckwebcomics.com Port 80
The joys.

Same issue as the above, 500 internal server error when trying to upload. Related?

I've restarted the apache server and rebooted the system right this second! Please tell me that it's made some difference?

Uploading a test page worked for me with no errors just now.

I have updated Lite bites and BASO, but cannot update Equivocate for some reason.

Well I've just now done another reeboot and also a restart of the apache server. That usually fixes things.

Ozone, I sent you a PQ regarding a DD member who's having some account issues.

All dealt with. Thanks for informing me, I don't check my PQs very often because there are too many and they tend to crash the site.
and I'm really afraid to delete them for the same reason.

I dont knoe if this has been reported before, but I am unable to ad links to my comics, I go to the edit/links and when I click add it gives me an error 500, also when I try to ad links to the descriptions of individual entries it also gives me an error.