PATSNUTme said:
There was one (1) person that posted something negitive about Ian and he said that he was from this site.
Everyone associated with The palnet wished Ian the best of luck and was very helpful.
Let's give them some well deserved credit and not exaggerate.
I read that. It's disappointing that he said the things he said, but apparently he doesn't understand how things work. It also makes me realize I guess no matter how hard you try you can't please everyone.
Here's the deal. It started with someone using a compromised file they found on the site for e-mail spamming, which I wouldn't have expected someone to waste the time to do but apparently those people are out there. The e-mail system filled up with messages in que that are scanned by anti-spam software, which began slowing down the server. When we found out what it was I moved out the files which seemed to get us back to normal and stopped that attack. However when whoever it was realized we were on to them they began flooding the server with database requests which it couldn't keep up with, which caused the errors and eventually lead to it not responding at all. Then came the flood of server requests which crippled us. The server management company then shut down public access as they monitored the situation until it ended and increased the security on the server. I had to go into the backend and change out some things, so that when we did come back up there wouldn't be any problems. This unfortunately took two days to finally cease.
So there are no corrupt databases, that was never the issue. If he was familiar with vbulliten he'd know that if the software can't execute a query it posts an error, and e-mails me the reason for it.
Having a couple of days to look at things while I was shut off from all of you, I've put together a new forum which will be coming soon, and will come out this week along with our migration from here. There will be no loss in forum posts or user accounts, and I will announce our plans once everything is moved and will let everyone know prior to the DNS changeover.
I apologize for the inconvenience and know this was a frustrating week for everyone. Thank you to everyone who e-mailed, and I can promise you this is the final time you'll ever have to endure it again.
Ian