They moved the server about 3 weeks ago to new location and you know... and all the associated ie. set up, conflict...arise. I think, they just shut it down for maintenance and modifying.
Not only are they down but I have not been able to post for the last 3 weeks.I think there may be a separate reason for that, not connected to the outage 3 weeks ago. I think so because apart from the brief outage back then, I 've had no trouble until today.
Here is how I got into the site. I put 'rangefinder forum' in google search and when the search results came up I clicked on 'Forums' and was able to access the main page from there. If I clicked on the top heading, 'Rangefinderforum.com-Portal Rangefinderforum' all I get is a blank white page. So it looks like you can access the site from one of the pages.
Thanks john. I was able to get in that way, but with limited functionality. I'm able to access the forums list, but Home page is blank. My gallery is also blank. I guess they're working on it.
Knowing how hard server and backend switches are around here, I always feel for anyone else going through that. Its far too easy to have everything come to a grinding halt.
nothing new to report...waiting for rff to return...seems like the problem might be bigger than originally thought.
Old links to various parts of RFF seem to work but the home page is blank, no matter which route I take to try and get to it.
I wanted to join RFF but the labyrinthine sign up process has always defeated my best efforts. E-mails to the site about these problems either never reached them or their reply never reached my in-box or they simply have enough members and don't give a hoot. Not being a computer tech wizard I have no idea what the correct answer is.
I had a lot of problems with it then some good weeks now nothing! A heads up might have been nce but then I'm not very computer savey. Let us know if there's a fix. Red
bob katz , Nov 26, 2011; 01:20 p.m. Arrghhhh¡¡¡¡ just posted an ad on classifieds and pay for it...now what ??? will I have a refund??? Bob, that's something you can email Stephen Gandy, the site owner, about.
This server failure couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time than during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Money is being lost. Yikes...
Hard to do without RFF! This problem comes after the servers were moved from one city to another in a different state. Makes sense that such a move opens up opportunities for problems to arise. Hope it gets fixed thoroughly and soon.
"Arrghhhh¡¡¡¡ just posted an ad on classifieds and pay for it...now what ??? will I have a refund???" . How much of $5 do you want refunded?
Arrghhhh¡¡¡¡ just posted an ad on classifieds and pay for it...now what ??? will I have a refund??? Bob, why not just consider it a donation? I'll bet they can use it right about now . . .
Since there are so many of us here, I will have to speak up as well. Paul A: if your ad was for a ZM 35mm f2.0 Biogon, get with me directly. I am looking to replace mine that was stolen.
Regarding the switch to a different server: this brings to mind the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
It's actually worse now. At first, the server was responding, even if only with a blank page. Now all I get is an error message "Safari can't connect to the server." The "back door" approach isn't working any more, either. Must be a malfunction. They wouldn't just pull the plug without saying anything.
I've looked around Camera Quest and can't find a way to email Stephen. You'd think he'd put something up there! VicS
Vic: from the CameraQuest website: email Rangefinders@earthlink.net or call 818-879-1968 I suspect the last thing Stephen needs right now is a stream of e-mails telling him the site is down or asking when he is going to have it back up.
I'm sure you're right. I'm just wondering why he didn't put up a notice that "RFf is down, and we're working on it..."
Most of you are already in my G+ circles, but if not, feel free to post your name, and I'll add you to my Rangefinders circle.
S.D....you joined just to post that??? Wish this site had an ignore button. I hope they are up soon, I'm having a bit of an issue with a purchase from there and it would be nice to refer to the original listing. (Yes..I know I should have printed it out)
It would be helpful to know if RFF is down permanently or suffering temporary server or provider problems. I'm surprised that the site has been down for 5 days and no word or even a temporary main page is to be found. A temporary page could be up in less than an hour; the lack of any word is not encouraging.
I doubt that the site is down permanently. RFF is a good and popular place. I'm sure they are just having more than their share of bad luck with this server (or whatever) switch. I think people misunderstand how difficult it is to do some of this stuff and how much more difficult it is to do when you don't have paid staff to deal with it. I realize that some users get frustrated with the commerce and advertising on Photo.net, but the ability to fix problems is one of the things that ads and subscriptions pay for. Plus, I get to eat.
RFF is not down permanently. Just some (not insignificant) technical difficulties. Any day now is my guess and hope.
I trust FrankS with his analysis and comments. Not only has Frank been objective and honest in his comments on RFF over the years, I think he may have some inside information that the rest of us are not privy to.
This is a direct quote from the Rangefinder Forum on Flickr. Somebody contacted Stephen Gandy. His reply: "RFF is having server problems, along with very poor tech hosting support over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Techs are working on it. I hope RFF will be back up later today."
Is there somewhere where RFF refugees can register ... I seem to be a little stateless! LOL I'm sure that RFF, like the phoenix, will rise from the ashes!
"Poor tech hosting," eh? Maybe it's good to find this out sooner than later. Aparrently RFF needs to go back to where it was. And maybe we need to start chipping in a few bucks a year for better tech hosting?
Many years ago I tried to donate, but the 'Boss' said. "We don need that now." I hope this isn't too stressful for Steve but I'll bet it is.
With all respect to the Head Bartender, maybe one of his unpaid techs forgot to pay the electricity bill! Electricity works wonders, without it not even a CRAY supercomputer will work! Just an idea...
the latest from stephen... techs still dealing with server problems we hope to have the site up by tomorow nite.
really poor timing for me as i have been mostly immobile for this past weekend...it doesn't hurt if i'm sitting...
Timing is pretty good for me, fortunately, as I've been vacationing on Maui with a flaky internet connection throughout the RFF outage. Getting out and about using an M9 as I trail my wife around the shopping venues. The waitress at Ruby's Diner this evening said the M9 looked like a cool camera, as I took a couple shots of them doing the credit card the old manual way since their system was down... Hope you'll be feeling better soon Joe
"unbelievably bad tech support from a large hosting company promising 24/7 365 support" Perhaps the tech support team is Occupying Wall Street?"
Yes, I talked to Stephen today. They should be up later today or tomorrow. Waiting for parts to arrive to complete the repairs. Helmut K.
There's a message up now: Rangefinder Forum is Experiencing Problems We are experiencing problems with the hosting provider. We are aware of the problems and are frustrated that they have not been resolved sooner. We understand this should have been resolved within hours of the failure but we are at the mercy of the service provider. We hope to be back on line as soon as possible.
This is the company that host the site according to Sean over on Apug. Perhaps if we bombard them with calls & emails something will get done. www.layeredtech.com
Hopeful they'll be able to just bolt on the new water pump and everything will be good to go. Sure hope that there are no corrupt files/data. That may take longer to repair/restore/reprogram.
I don't imagine it's a logistics problem of obtaining parts. I can order and receive a Leica from Hong Kong or a Luigi case from Italy in half the time this has taken already. With all the servers that must be in use in today's world, surely parts are readily available overnight. It must be a difficult troubleshooting problem. Headscratching over what part to replace. It's been seven days now! When RFF gets back up, I'll bet there will be a popular thread about this.
wow...public-facing business server(s) completely down for a week and counting, during a major US holiday period. that's beyond my comprehension. unless the center burned to the ground, it sounds like incompetent design or contingency planning on the part of the provider.
It's an evil inside job holding us hostage.Time to call in special forces to route out these villians
When I went to the rangefinderforum.com link...the message is down and now it talks about webhosting and domain name etc. Have they lost the domain name???
Wow--a week! There is more to this than meets the eye, so to speak. What in the world is REALLY going on? I miss RFF! Hopefully it returns soon. Paul
I'm able to get in, but it's not really functional so far and takes me to godaddy when I click on anything.
Just crashed again .... haven't been able to log onto the home page for the last half hour and the gallery is bringing up the dreaded white page!!!!!
Aaaand ... it's back again! . . . and gone again. I got in once through the back door, to the forums index page; but now it's gone again, as of the time of this posting.
I was back on the site for a short while. Stephen indicated that the traffic on the server was very heavy, causing instability and likely more problems.
I'm in danger of wearing my mouse out .... I think I need to step away from the computer and leave the house! LOL
I enjoyed being on RFF for quite a while last evening. But now it is once again not coming up. I can't get in through the portal, whether from my own favorites link or Google, and not through the forums list via Google either. Is this becoming a chronic problem that can only be solved by going back to the previous hosting service provider?
"last i heard from stephen...we are moving asap to another bigger, better, faster host..." Thank god for that ... it's getting frustrating. I would really like to thank Josh for allowing the hardcore RFFers to run this thread here at p.net ... it's become a great point of reference for RFF's current problems.
TO PNET: thanks for allowing RFFers vent on this site while waiting for RFF to get back up. Thank you from RFF and PNET users, many who post or read both sites.