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- over 500,000 plumbing related posts
- The popular plumbing tips and advice forum and blog. Ask any toilet, sink, faucet, pump, water quality and plumbing related questions.
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Author:
vic
This afternoon I found out that our computer techs for our forum felt it necessary that we move our server. We basically hadn't had any server and software updates for many years as well as there were some possible virus and hacker hidden potentials that they wanted to fix and a number of other techie reasons not all of which I understand.
In any event,they did the change over and updates without giving me or you any warning ahead of time.
When I found out I was upset that they didn't let us know ahead of time and have told them so. They have promised to be more sensitive and that unless it's an emergency they will let all of us know at least a day or more ahead of time.
Please accept my apology for our forum being unavailable to many of you for as long as 12 hours today.
Thanks,
Vic
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Author:
Lee (NJ)
Thank you very much for this website!!
Thank you to all the kind helpful People/Plumbers outthere.
Lee
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Author:
bernabeu (SC)
thank you for all your work!
- - - - - - -
Measure twice, cut once.
Retired Plumbers Local Union #1
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Author:
jimmy-o (CA)
vic......the whole world is at the mercy of those lying ^#$^& in the "back room" !!!
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Author:
Fixitangel (NC)
Vic, thanks for your hard work and to all for this forum.
I had my own IT issues in the form of cable guys fixing a buried cable, I've been offline and never knew about the site "hiccup". Glad it's up and running.
I love this site because you obviously do not allow ad banners, pop-ups, facebook hotlinks, and all the other garbage that is on other site pages, which makes them load so slowly and "jump" around. 
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Author:
LemonPlumber (FL)
Vic heck of a site.thank's Micro Soft relays on java/where weak link's.
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Author:
Wheelchair
Welcome Back! It sure seemed like a lot more then 12 hours from our side. I can see your frustrations Vic. Kind of like when your counter people sells a item over the counter for 1/2 YOUR price. Will the new system require new log on procedures or will everything remain the same?
With more then 350 million toilets in the USA, I thought you'd get more complaints when the system went South for "Spring Break."
Getting ready for the KBIS Event later in April and being about to talk up PLBG.com while talking with manufacturers and their tech people.
Again, Welcome Back and I hope you enjoyed your brief vacation.
Best Wishes
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Author:
vic
Thanks a lot Wheelchair.
Everything remains the same as far as we the users are concerned.
How long you, I or anyone couldn't see our forum was mainly dependent on how fast our own specific Internet providers update their DNS info for your browser to use.
What I mean is that when we go to any site, be it www.Plbg.com or www.Google,com or whatever our Internet provider then changes that into numbers and then send us to a specific location/server and that's what we see. One time when you're looking at Yahoo.com you might actually be ending up at their server in New York while another time you are look at Yahoo.com it might be at a server in Los Angeles. Same domain name and yet different locations/servers based upon DNS numbers which the user doesn't see, and in most cases doesn't realize.
So www.ABCDEF.com might actually have an IP number of 111.222.333.444 which means it's in Newfoundland, on XYZ Street, on such and such server.
When a site wants to change servers for whatever reason and now be located in Kansas, or wherever we would still be going to www.ABCDEF.com however our IP numbers might now be 555.666.777.888 instead of the old 111.222.333.444. ALL domain names get translated into an IP number.
So what happens is that initially when a DNS change has been made not all Internet providers all make the change at the same time.
At the same identical time one person might be seeing the new site in Kansas while another person who typed in the same www.ABCDEF.com might be looking at the old site in Newfoundland.
So when you went to Plbg.com and saw something like "our server is being updated" you were really looking at out old DNS (location/server) and as soon as you saw our site back working you were looking at our new server and location.
We actually had no control over how long that takes.
Our Nerds had the new server and software up fast and had been checking all, etc. They were able to do that because they used our actual new IP numbers while all of us were at the mercy of our Internet providers updating their DNS information.
I was able to see the new server much quicker going through Verizon with my Smart phone than I was with Comcast for example. It appears that Verizon updates their DNS information faster than Comcast.
From my perspective as an "old timer" as far as Internet use the DNS updates (IP changes) are amazingly fast. When I first started on the Net in 1995 in order to change DNS we had to fax over the information, then within a week the change would generally be done (sometimes I had to do a second request after seeing that nothing had been done after a week) and then it could take yet another 3 or even 4 days before every Internet provider had updated their DNS info. Now it takes relatively (compared to the past) time.
Hope that explains why it may have been more time for some than others and thanks so much for all that you do and have done.
Vic
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Author:
hj
quote; many of you for as long as 12 hours today.
Was that all it was? Seemed like a lot longer than that between when I tried in the A.M, and then last evening. In fact, I thought it started Thursday evening. I was going to suggest that you hire a couple of eighth graders to do the upgrade went it went on so long.
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Author:
jimmy-o (CA)
vic...... a plumber is not suppose to have to know all that!!!!!!!!!!!
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Author:
vic
jimmy-o:
I used to be a plumbing apprentice, plumbing contractor, college plumbing instructor and then plumbing distributor, and then Internet "expert" however now I'm mainly mostly a retired wanna-be who loves to go sailing, travel to warm places (in this year was in Hawaii for 3 weeks in January), read, do gentle yoga, complain to my wife , and sometimes view our forum.
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Yes, for a very small percentage of people it could haven taken days and believe it or not for some they still might not be able to see our forum IF their Internet provider hasn't updated their DNS yet.
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hj: As far as 8th graders being able to do all that was done I suppose if they are of the Einstein caliber and started studying all this in the 1st grade that may be so.
One of our "Nerds" has been doing what he's been doing on the Web since 1995 and he was a computer "Nerd" before that (he started working for me in 1989). He actually creates a lot of software totally from scratch unlike probably 98% of "computer experts." That skill wasn't needed in this case however it does take a lot of skill and experience to do what our team did to do updates flawlessly and have all working in a different location and on a different server with newer software and where none of us can see or feel any difference.
They simply do not have any control over the DNS updates that are done at your Internet provider. Since I first discovered that we were updating our servers (I normally use cable Comcast) I then tested to see our forum with Verizon and I was able to see our new server after about 6 hours and with Comcast it took maybe 10 or even 12 hours.
My complaint with our Nerds is only that they didn't give us notice a few days ahead of the move, updates and all and not that anything went "wrong." They have privately apologized to me and have promised that they will always give us fair warning.
Vic
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Author:
Plumbum
Hi Vic
Been here since 1996
Since.......
"Bud SunCoastPlumbing"
You have done an awesome job 'connecting' people
Millions REALLY
Dont sweat the small stuff
Kudos!!!
Thanks Vic
Dale
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Author:
Wheelchair
From those tiny steps.
I remember when we debated when the site would reach 100,000 postings, and then 200,000 posts. Little did we realize just how fast a website would grow and continue to grow. Now Vic gets to sail his Hobie Cat and trap off the islands (smiling) That is proof of a very successful idea that became, plbg.com.
Best Wishes
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Author:
hj
quote; Dont sweat the small stuff
And everything is the "small stuff".
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Author:
sum (FL)
Welcome back!
I come to visit almost daily even when I have no plumbing issues.
Make sure you debur the servers! 
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Author:
vic
Thanks Sum. I'll have to pass that onto our Nerds to make sure to debur our servers and I'm thinking to also suggest that next time they ought to make sure to always use the proper primer and voltage as well.
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Author:
PlumerDan (CA)
wow i was off line all that time myself (computer in shop) anyhow i was wondering if we should have a contest on when you'll hit the 500 thousand mark. who-a-thought.love this site and all the guys are great.
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Author:
LemonPlumber (FL)
Vic now that you gave away the slide show tricks.home is Plbg.com?Cap the P?always thought you tagged their ip.
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