Site issues (April 21st +)

Wayne

Wayne

WebHamster
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
500
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Location
Largo, FL
Greetings ladies and gents,

As you may notice, the site's images are currently non-functioning. For quite a few months, we've been dealing with the server being hacked into by spammers. This led to the site being physically shut down a few days ago. All the passwords were changed, but today, I get an e-mail telling me I've changed the site control password again when I was in the middle of taking a nap on my sofa.

Wasn't me. Sometime today, for reasons unknown, they seem to have simply deleted the folder containing all the site's images, like the Salemspectator logo.

Let me be very clear. At this point, I *DO NOT* believe your salemspectator accounts have been hacked. I simply believe that these hackers have found, and are exploiting a "back door" in our outdated software.

I have reached out to the authors of the software we use and placed an order with them to have the site upgraded to the latest version in an attempt to stop this stupidity. Over the next few days, this site may come to appear differently, as they may have to revert the look and feel to the original Xenforo style.

Once the site's software is upgraded, I'll be able to go in, purchase an upgraded theme, and work to get the site back to where it should be.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions, but please.. DON'T PANIC!

Wayne
 
I'm not seeing any of the icons at the top of the posting box. I just see little boxes.
 
Heather4CU said:
I'm not seeing any of the icons at the top of the posting box. I just see little boxes.
Click to expand...
That is correct. Sorry. I've asked the hosting provider to restore them if possible but due to my recent computer upgrade here at the house, I don't have a backup of the files handy on my local hard drive..
 
Wayne, all the tweets I posted are gone. I hope they can be put back.
Thanks
 
What tweets?

As you might notice, I've currently begun trying to work on the site, but I'm still waiting a reply from the authors and their staff. A few of the third-party modules have been disabled to allow for the upgrade to be processed. HOPEFULLY when/if this gets sorted, it can all get done right...

Thanks for your patience.
 
I imagined that was the case. Unfortunately that functionality relies on one of the aforementioned third-party module which needed to be disabled until after we have the upgrade done. That is, presuming that the module HAS a 2.x version or whether (hopefully) the functionality now exists as part of the site software itself.

Again, I see the issues, and I'm working to try and fix them. Not even sure really what's caused them, because it's really weird for someone to break into a site JUST to delete the images directory, but here we are. We've GOT to get these break-ins resolved/stopped. That is our only real priority at the moment.

Wayne
 
Thanks, Wayne;

After I posted, I noticed the site was being worked on. If I don't see them
after you're done. I'll let you know.
 
Guys, I'm sorry, I know things look weird right now. I am having to disable certain parts of the site, meaning if you go to salemspectator.com, it might give you an error..

FOR THE MOMENT, CLICK ON 'FORUMS" to get to the page. Again, sorry, I'm doing the best I can, but the authors are requiring me to disable all this before they will even touch the site for the upgrade.

Wayne
 
Alright everyone, buckle up..

Here's the situation so-far.

Because of the fact it's Sunday night, looks like I picked the wrong time to break the world as we know it.. The authors plan to start the upgrade (I hope) some time tomorrow. I don't know where they're located, so I can't even guestimate the time. Sorry.

Over the last few weeks, spam hackers kept breaking into the site. YOUR ACCOUNTS WERE NOT AFFECTED. This was probably due to the fact that the software hasn't been upgraded as it should have. This was complicated by two factors. One, they went from a lifetime license under the 1.x version we're currently running to a yearly license ($$) and secondly, because when they went to 2.x version, migrating with all the functionality I had added onto our site became difficult to update at the rate they were pushing them out. Not only did I have to update the site software, but the look/feel (aka theme) and every other module had to be upgraded continuously, which I simply didn't have time to accomplish despite my best intentions.

The errors on the site now..
I know about these, but unfortunately we had to disable and uninstall all the third-party add-ons, including the themes in use on the site.

  1. This is causing an error saying something about the theme not working.
  2. The "error message" when you go to http://www.salemspectator.com is caused by the same removal of a third party package. TO TEMPORARILY CIRCUMVENT THAT ISSUE, CLICK ON "FORUMS" to go to the forum part of the site.
  3. The Tweets thing is because I had to disable and/or delete all third-party add-ons, which includes the media-pack which controlled the tweet thing. I am hoping/looking to see if that functionality exists in the new version.

All of this, and the catch-22's involved have me at wits end right now, but I'm sure it'll work out shortly. At least there's prayer involved on my part.

Please note that any messages you leave between now and the upgrade MAY (slight chance) disappear if the programmers have to restore the site from the current backup (as of tonight)

ONCE THE UPGRADE IS DONE, I will have to come back in and try to re-install the theme to establish some level of "same" that we had before. It won't look and feel the same because the theme we were using (the brown look/feel) doesn't exist for 2.x, but I'll do my level best.

In the future, I do NOT intend to EVER install third-party functionality on the site to hopefully avoid some of this pain.

I'm sure you'll all have questions, and I can't express my apologies for the current situation strongly enough. Thank you all for your understanding and patience.

Wayne
 
Thanks for the update, Wayne.

If I need to, I can copy some tweets and paste them.

I'm on a PC and there are boxes above messages before you post. You can highlight
the box and find all the things we're used to, like color for text
 
So, Kat, I was wondering where the heck those "boxes" were, as I only have a very faint blue long rectangular area, but, I put my pointer on it, and some faint boxes showed up with the Bold, Italics, etc.
 
redsquirrel said:
Thank you for all you do for us, Wayne.

It sounds like it is time to do another collection to keep the Spectator up and running. You shouldn't be the one to carry the monetary burden. Please let us know how to send our donations.
Click to expand...
Hey red,

I sincerely appreciate the thought, but please don't. I've got it taken care of. It's something I should have been doing all along, but it turned out like when you have a bad tooth, you just keep putting it off, and putting it off until it really becomes a "do it now" situation. Same here. :)
 
katmouse said:
Thanks for the update, Wayne.

If I need to, I can copy some tweets and paste them.

I'm on a PC and there are boxes above messages before you post. You can highlight
the box and find all the things we're used to, like color for text
Click to expand...

Sorry about that. The "boxes" you see would normally contain graphics, but that's what the guy deleted on us. I was hoping that I could at least get those back, but we're waiting on the developer now in the hopes that the upgrade will fix it.

Wayne
 
Wayne, that's ok about the boxes. We can sort of see them and use them :)
 
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