The Small4x4 Forum Build Journals

New Membership Payment System

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 15:42:03 -0500

The Webmaster Zone --

Hi everyone, Very glad to announce, after many weeks of work, that the all new membership payment system is up and running! [b]Click on the "My Account" menu at the top of the page, then select any of the Supporting Membership options.[/b] [b]Key features:[/b] 1. Credit cards are accepted directly through the Stripe payment processor. [b]No more PayPal.[/b] (Existing Paypal membership subscriptions will continue to work until cancelled.) 2. New 3, 6, and 12 month subscription options instead of only annually. 3. One click billing/card updates and easy subscription cancellation right from the Membership page. 4. All membership payment and management functions now work on smartphones and tablets too. If you have any questions or comments, please click "Contact Support" at the bottom of any page. Regards, Skye Nott Webmaster, Autoshrine.com

<My Account - Buy a Supporting Membership screenshot>

Posted 2021-04-19 15:42:03 by Skye Nott

New Secure Web Server Is Online

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:06:12 -0600

The Webmaster Zone --

Update - Tuesday Feb 27 The web servers was down from 10:00pm to 1:30am for maintenance which took much longer than expected. Normal operation has resumed, sorry for the delay. [hr] [b]KNOWN ISSUES[/b] The following bugs are being worked on right now, no need to report them again: [b]Delivery to yahoo.com and verizon email addresses is slow[/b] - looks ok now [s]member and events map broken[/s] fixed [s]attaching images to forum posts error[/s] fixed [s]uploading images to registry/profile error[/s] fixed [s]Cannot post in the forums[/s] fixed [s]Forum smilies not showing[/s] fixed [hr] Hello, On Wednesday Feb 22 at 2:20 PM Pacific Time, the main front-end web server for this website and all the websites in the [url=http://www.autoshrine.com/]AutoShrine Network[/url] went down. Technicians were dispatched, but the server would no longer power on, probably due to a motherboard or power supply failure. This was just one of five servers that serve this website to millions of visitors. There have been intermittent problems with this particular machine for a while - I was planning on replacing it next month. No data was lost, as I had already moved the database to a new machine several months ago. I've been working long days since it went down to restore service as quickly as possible. Since I had to build a new front-end web server from scratch anyway, I've taken this opportunity to upgrade the underlying technology to improve security and add features. The new server is also more fault tolerant. One major improvement is the new web server supports encryption. No more warnings about insecure passwords when you sign in, and it allows me to add new payment technology to the website. Your web browser should now indicate "Secure" or show a lock icon to indicate this website is encrypted. All old, insecure links should be automatically redirected to the new secure pages. Since many components of the web server have changed, there may be new bugs, broken features, or performance issues. It's going to take a few weeks to get everything back to normal. [b]If you paid for a Supporting Membership between Wednesday Feb 20 and Thursday Feb 22, please check your Home Page and Payment History to verify they were processed properly.[/b] (both can be found under the "My Account" menu in the black navigation bar across the top of the website) If you find anything on the website is not working the way it was before, please open a support ticket by clicking "Website problem? [b]Send us a message[/b]" at the bottom of any page. Thanks for your patience, Skye Nott Webmaster

Posted 2018-02-22 15:06:12 by Skye Nott

Back Online After Database Failure

Tue, 05 Dec 2017 10:59:14 -0600

The Webmaster Zone --

Hello everyone, Due to a complete failure of the database server, we went down yesterday at about 4PM Pacific Time. With a bit of ingenuity and a bit of luck, I was able to recover all data and provisioned a new server overnight. Everything should be working normally now, with no posts or other data lost. Ironically, it happened while I was working on a better system to back up the database. Thank you for your patience. Skye Nott Webmaster

Posted 2017-12-05 10:59:14 by Skye Nott

Private Message Limits Increased

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:29:12 -0500

The Webmaster Zone --

Hello everyone, Now that the database upgrade is nearing completion, and I finally have the ability to do "hot backups" without taking the website offline for maintenance, I'd like to give everyone a little bonus. Effective immediately, all Private Message (PM) storage limits are now doubled Free Members: 500 -> 1,000 Silver Members: 750 -> 1,500 Gold Members: 1,000 -> 2,000 Platinum Members: 1,500 -> 3,000 Hope this makes everyone's life a little easier, especially for you vendors out there that use PMs a lot! Thanks for your support, Skye Nott Webmaster

Posted 2017-04-02 15:29:12 by Skye Nott

Next Database Upgrade Feb 17 2017

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:53:24 -0600

The Webmaster Zone --

The new database servers are performing well under load, so I'll be continuing the database conversion process to the new layout for all websites, which will pave the way for better replication and backup systems. Please expect to see the "Scheduled maintenance" message on Friday night, February 17, 2017 starting at 9:00 PM Pacific time. I expect the work to take 4-6 hours as I want to take a full backup of the system for safety before making any changes. Once the websites are back up, there should be no visible difference in the operation or performance of the website. Schedule: Jan 4 - HealeyExp, CycleKart, all non-forum tables (all sites) Feb 10 - TriumphExp forums (posts, attachments, search db) Feb 17 (planned) - MGExp forums, all other website forums Thanks, Skye Nott Webmaster [url=http://www.autoshrine.com/]AutoShrine.com[/url]

Posted 2017-02-09 15:53:24 by Skye Nott

Emergency Database Upgrade & What's Next

Wed, 04 Jan 2017 20:41:25 -0600

The Webmaster Zone --

Hello everyone, You've probably noticed that this website has had some unplanned downtime lately. I'm not sure about the exact cause, it's probably an intermittent hardware failure as the techs keep finding the main server powered off at the console. I've been rebooting and repairing the database as needed to keep things running, while making plans to transition to brand new servers with updated database, webserver, and firewall software. The good news is I've already run the migration plan on some of my smaller websites, and it's working brilliantly. The bad news is that the frequency of crashes on the old server seem to be increasing, so I'm going to have to accelerate the transition schedule for all the websites and do a lot of the changes, well, right now. That's what all the downtime today (Jan 4) has been about. By the time you're reading this, the website will be running off new transactional database servers - which means no more biweekly downtime to do backups, better security, stability, replication support, and better support for new features in the future. This is only the first, but probably the biggest, step in the plan to update the hardware & software platform this website runs on. [b]Unfortunately due to the emergency database move, I haven't been able to fully test compatibility and scaling. There may be some bugs or slowness to iron out over the next few days. If you encounter a bug or error message, please copy the error message and email me with a description of what you were doing. There's a link to email me (the webmaster) at the bottom of every page.[/b] A little bit of background about me, and this website, as I tend to operate behind the scenes: This website is part of the [url=http://www.autoshrine.com/]AutoShrine Network[/url], a group of 20+ auto enthusiast websites that I've created over the last 10 years that now serves 2.5 million pageviews to 250,000 unique visitors every month and is completely free to access. I wrote most of the code from scratch (I used to be a software engineer) and I'm the sole owner and operator of the whole operation. You may not know that many car forums on the Internet are owned by two large corporations, both of which have approached me with offers, but I turned them down as I don't believe they would deliver the same kind of quality online club experience for you. In addition to webmaster duties, coding new features, html/css/javascript design for desktops, tablets, and smartphones, and sysadmin duties like provisioning servers, creating backup plans, security, monitoring, and system upgrades, I also provide personal support to 80,000+ registered members, review edit and publish calendar events, review edit and publish tech articles in the library, manage all the social media pages for each site (80+ feeds), and moderate the forums. That's the short list. It's often more than a full time job, and I've been on call 24/7 for years, but I'm very happy to provide something that useful to so many people and keeps so many cool old cars (and karts and trucks and scooters) on the road. I thank all of you for your contributions whether it's posting answers to question or financial support, and I promise to continue to provide access to all features and information on this website, to anyone in the world, without charge. I can provide the platform, but it's YOU that makes this a community. If you haven't already, please consider becoming a [url=http://%HTTP_HOST%/membership]Supporting Member[/url]. 100% of proceeds go towards operating and improving this website. The new database servers alone cost an additional $300/month. I've got great plans for new and improved features in 2017, and I'd love to be able to contract out some work - like finishing writing the Help Topics, and catching up on editing tech library articles - so I can focus on the big stuff. But for the next few months, it's going to be all about finishing the new servers & software platform! Thanks in advance for your patience through this upgrade process. Skye Nott Webmaster

Posted 2017-01-04 20:41:25 by Skye Nott

NEW SITE: The Mini Shrine

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:34:09 -0500

The Webmaster Zone --

Relaunch! For Classic Mini (Austin, Rover, Morris) and New MINI (BMW) Owners:

http://www.minishrine.com/

Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates:

http://www.twitter.com/MiniShrine

"Like" us Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mini-Shrine/151769508169112

Stop by and say hello in the Forums, add to the Registry, or start a restoration & repair Journal.

<The Mini Shrine>

Posted 2011-04-28 13:34:09 by Skye Nott

NEW SITE: The Austin-Healey Experience

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:02:39 -0500

The Webmaster Zone --

For all 3000, 100, 100-Six and Sprite Owners:

http://www.healeyexperience.com/

Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates:

http://twitter.com/healeyexp

"Like" us Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Austin-Healey-Experience/158219524238296

Stop by and say hello in the Forums, add to the Registry, or start a restoration & repair Journal.

<The Austin-Healey Experience>

Posted 2011-04-26 16:02:39 by Skye Nott