| Written by Thingfish,
on 30-10-2006 10:01
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Left to right: Karaoke diva Alyssa Alano, free software, a naked nazi and dace in black beans. Just add beer and you have paradise in a can.
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Netnewsasia has received literally some messages in recent days, demanding an explanation for our Zen-like silence. Well, there’s a reason for our relative quietude: We’ve been sulking.
It’s true. Since late in September, Netnewsasia has been indulging in a mother of a mope, following the partially successful upgrade of our Web server.
To the happily technophobic masses of the world, that may not sound like something to get wound up about, but believe me there have been times of late I’ve been so coiled, I could have punched a nun.
And now, after a thorough post implementation review by our team of crack network architects, I’ve decided to come clean and name names. So here goes: The blame for my antisocial demeanour lies squarely with the Open Source Software movement and the Joomla Content Management System.
Oh yes, that and my own cack-handed failure to follow the most basic standard safety precautions when upgrading software.
I failed to back-up my database.
crackers
As they say in Corsica, he who goes to sea without biscuits, returns without teeth. And before embarking on my upgrade voyage, I didn’t pack so much as a cracker.
Until lately, upgrading Joomla has always been a pretty pain-free activity. There are a few headaches after any Joomla upgrade: Default settings are reset and the occasional third-party plug-in breaks, but the software’s free, as are the plug-ins, so who am I to complain?
This time around, things went a bit more skew-whiff than usual. For one thing, the upgrade buggered my comments system. Netnewsasia had been using AKOComment Tweaked – one of several variants on Arthur Konze’s neglected AkoComment, with which our reader might leave the odd comment or complaint.
To limit the number of ads for aphrodisiacs, casinos, porn, 419 frauds, bad credit and pump and dump schemes, this program uses a little tool to generate security codes that visitors type in to prove that they’re human. Upgrading Joomla broke this tool, making it impossible for anyone to post anything.
no source, No comment
Now I’m a big fan of Open Source Software. Back in my days as an IT hack, I was a keen advocate of free software. I love the idea that as more people use a program, the more they contribute and the better it becomes. And I love the fact that in the Open Source world, the best software can rise to the top of the heap. But when it comes to documentation, help text and support, the whole theory begins to wobble. After all, writing code and writing manuals are quite different skills, and getting both to work on the same thing at the same time is not easy without cash incentives.
With my message board broken, I went in search of a solution. The AkoComment Tweaked forum, at Artistworks, offered none, as it was offline for a month’s refit, along with any potential patches. Days I spent searching, days that I’ll never get back, but there was no fix to be found. So I backed up AkoComment and reinstalled it. Hmm. Same problem, but worse: All the comments had now disappeared. So I uninstalled that and left the site mute for a few days while I looked for another solution.
After many more wasted days, I decided to just install a replacement. I tried Walter Cedric’s AkoComment Plus, I tried Joomlablog, I even tried the original, but each had a problem, and none resolved my issue. Finally, the diligent Mr Cedric released OpenComment – his Open Source rewrite of AkoComment. I uploaded that, it seems to work, but alas, my comments cupboard remains bare.
It turns out my problem was in assuming the comments were stored by AkoComment, when they were actually stored in the site’s main database. So I was backing up the wrong directory tree. I’ve since found this handy advice from Tweaked author Antonio Orrego, but it’s a bit late now.
Like so many Open Source solutions, the truth is out there, but it can take a very long time to work out where it’s been hiding.
The naked nazi black bean karaoke cross-dress masterplan
Netnewsasia could never be described as a congested crossroads in global debate, but it received just enough comments to keep me amused. And now thanks to a hasty update, all those amusing comments are gone: Nazis upset at seeing a hot babe in a uniform, gourmets in search of dace in black beans, and Filipinos caught by a karaoke earworm: All gone.
So after many hours spent trying to fix something that I myself had broken, I had no resort but to do like an American at the Ryder Cup, and throw a long and impressive strop at the problem.
It hasn’t worked for me yet, but Europe didn’t win a Ryder Cup tournament until 1985, and they’ve done pretty well since then. But then, I don’t play golf, so I may decide to work out how to edit my database and re-enter the comments manually. Or I might not.
So failing all that, I now face the gargantuan task of breaking some earth-shattering scoops that will restore life to my deserted forums. For the first step in this masterplan is to investigate the scandal of the Naked Nazis Black Bean Karaoke Cross Dress Debauchery. Let’s see how that goes.
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Last update : 31-10-2006 02:37
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