Was it just me?

[Richard A]

I don't know if it was just me, but IRU seemed to be inaccessible for the last few days - the home page was random text. Looks like it's back now, though.

[Arneb]

I had the same issue, on the phone as well as the pc.

[Heid the Ba]

And me.

[g-one]

Same here.

[Lance]

Yes, it was down. I'm not sure how long but I don't think it was more than a day or two.

The software of the board (phpBB) is old, and needs to run on an old server configuration. The host occasionally updates the servers with new versions, which breaks us. Once I'm aware, it's a fairly quick fix to have them revert us back.

I could update our phpBB software, but we'd lose all the customizations I've done over the years. Over time, I could probably reimplement some of them but I don't know until actually doing it.

I'd love all of your input on what I should do.

[Richard A]

The software could be the cause of other issues. Until this morning, although I could access IRU again and post on it, the number of new posts appeared to be zero. But now several have appeared.

I think maybe if Lance set out what he sees as the most important/significant customisations that would disappear if the software were upgraded, that could be useful. More and more, old software causes problems accessing current things. A little known fact about the Internet in China; although various sites are indeed blocked, there are many others that are not blocked by the government but are still often inaccessible due to out-of-date software on the computer in question. As I discovered when I was teaching there. I did not have a VPN - for various reasons, but one of them was so that I could be confident that anything that I could access on my computer in my hotel room (which belonged to the university) the students could also access. Not so - because although the Public Security Bureau might be fine with me accessing a given site, the creators of that site designed it to be accessed with, at least, Windows 8. But a lot of Chinese are still using Windows 6, especially on their home computers. So I wonder whether the issues with IRU may be similar.

But there are other Illuminati who are far more switched on technically than I am - be great to hear what you think.

[Lance]

I think maybe if Lance set out what he sees as the most important/significant customisations that would disappear...

I've done a lot over the years, but it's been years. I have no clue anymore.