Prime Minister’s Questions 12th Sept 2012
It’s been obvious that that server Biased-BBC is hosted on has been suffering over the last few weeks and for that I can only apologise. I’ve been working behind the scenes with the hosting company day and night.
Right now *fingers crossed* the change they have made to the mysql database configuration might have fixed… no … I’m not even going to tempt fate by typing it.
We are heading back into Question Time territory.
CoverItLive decided to put their system on to a changed commercial structure that would have meant we’d be paying (understandable, yes, I can’t argue with that) so I’ve found a new application which does the same sort of thing yet much cheaper.
My thanks to David Mosque (@DavidMosque) and Billy Bowden (@Ontablets) for helping me test it a few months ago.
I want to test it with a larger audience though with greater server load.
So please join us for PMQ’s next Wednesday 12th for a trial of the new system.
If it breaks … if the server dies … if we can’t properly moderate the spam that we usually bin off … sorry. This is a trial and we’re just going to give it a go.
Your help in the test would not only be appreciated but will be an important part of keeping this site on the cutting edge of fighting BBC bias.
Please join us here for a livechat next Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions!
Fingers crossed 🙂
Your help with the testing was really appreciated. You and David Mosque were brilliant.
NOTE: Anyone who doesn’t follow Billy on Twitter it is a recommended read: @Ontablets
The server has been a pain these last few weeks, but it`s not your fault-I appreciate the chances when they come to sound off, and it`s got to save the NHS and bars some need to have my custom.
Means too that whenever and wherever I get the chance to get “on site”..it`s the same stories-BBC Groundhog day is sheer endemic, totally predictable bias.
That cheers me up in a funny way-they are so brain-limited that they will never think outside the box…that is the one mouldering at Highgate Cemetery!
Whever an original or interesting BBC opinion crops up-I don`t think I`ll be ready any more!
As comfortable as Engels old spats, and as predictable as Johann Haris tracing paper…this is the BBC!
Thanks Chris. The server is hosted by a company elsewhere but I take full responsibility for their issues because I picked them and I’ve agreed to take on the tech for our site so the shouting comes with the role.
Agree about BBC consistency. It takes dedicated taxpayer-funded complacency to keep standards so low.
Looking forward to it. Thanks for all your hard work on the site, ASE.
David, you are a key part in making the new system work and keeping the
now-stablesurviving server working. You’ve been fantastic behind the scenes on b-bbc and you haven’t had the public recognition you deserve.Sincerely, thanks.
I’ll certainly join in and give it a go.
The blog seems to have been stable (and accessible!) for a couple of weeks now, so fingers crossed that things have settle down.
As ever, many thanks for all the work behind the scenes. Those of us who have no experience of maintaining a popular and heavily accessed blog probably have little idea of the effort involved to keep things running smoothly – and all at no cost to us readers and commenters! Cheers to all the folks who provide a platform for us ‘swivel-eyed loons to froth at the mouth at all the imagined bias’. 🙄
Thanks for working so hard on this. Oddly, the maxfarquar.com site has been playing up whenever the biasedbbc.tv one has been doing the same. Is this out of sympathy with a politically incorrect soul-mate, or do they just share the same server?
I’d really like to say that it’s a sort of weird karma timeshare thing.
Yes, these are the two sites based on that box and the fact that they are both WordPress and the fact that the host did an upgrade on the mysql database may or may not be a coincidence.
There’s nothing else really on that box apart from, for example, the test site for the new livechat Question Time software.
But yes, if the excellent maxfarquar.com dies it’ll be at the same time as ours.
It always looks to me to be a database issue, possibly just completely overwhelmed at times? This would explain multiple sites being affected if they’re served off the same mysql instance.
Spot on. When the hosting company took the db version to the current level it caused the issues.
Perfectly reasonable on their part but it has either screwed the machine or a specific plugin within WordPress decided not to like it.
Two different databases though and in the recent incidents one thing from one process was just killing the whole box which made it a nightmare to track down.
If you’ve got expertise in this then a fourth pair of eyes is welcome for new ideas. Email me.
Hi ASE – can’t contact you (‘contact us’ not working – image captcha broken?).
Ah, I turned off all non-essential plugins whilst troubleshooting. Must have missed reviving that one.
I’ll replace it but if anyone ever needs me:
eye at allseeingeye.net
Can’t you just use some WD-40 and Cillit Bang, next time? Surely that’d fix it?
The traditional approach is to get the bottle of tequila out and hope it all goes away.
I’ve spent a career using that theory and it’s not failed yet…
Wish I could be there to participate, alas work calls.
All Seeing Eye and everyone else concerned – thank you -doing something on a voluntary basis and then finding that you are having to spend rather more hours than you had anticipated can become a huge chore..but there are a lot of us out here who are extremely greatful.
Thanks Deborah.
We wouldn’t be here without DavidV.
We wouldn’t be here without our posters and writers.
We wouldn’t be here without the people who leave comments.
This is a great community providing a unique service. There are more people, unrecognised and not looking for recognition, working behind the scenes than people realise.
Our b-bbc graphic designer “MaxFarquar”, for example, is a friend and supporter – his work (which he charges for in his day job) across the last two sites has been gratis.
Volunteers who help moderate the livechats too … the list is fantastic.
Yes, thanks for a great site… love it! I had withdrawal symptoms there for a while. You guys do a stella job – the army is growing! Onwards and upwards…
Another satisfied BBC employee.
Don’t you mean b-BBC devotee?
Seconded, Deborah. Hard-working volunteers doing a great job in the name of democracy – thanks to all involved.