Here I am

[Grim]

So I got an email last week threatening unspeakable horrors if I didn't show my face again - so here I am!

But yeah, between it being the busy time of the year at work, being forced to move house, the battery on old laptop dying and my ISP taking their own sweet time in setting up my new connection, I haven't had much time for anything really.

So what's been going on?

[ghost07]

nothin... ...we just missed you

[Santaman]

Ha! good to see you again, good to hear that all is well with you. yep, you were missed, can't have a Terran without a Grim.

[huggle]

awww, poor {{{{{{Grim}}}}}} !
The computer and ISP problems suck.
How about snail mail? Is the mailbox at your new place already "functioning within normal parameters"? (i.e. is it already labelled with your name?) If you trust us with your new address, we could take turns writing. Might be fun to have a letter or a postcard to read after a stressfull moving day.

[RJDiogenes]

Hey, Grim. Sorry to hear about your serial aggravations, but it's good to see you back.

Now let's speak about these "unspeakable horrors" you speak of. Speak up, man!

[curiousa2z]

ooooh...well, even if you had to be threatened to make an appearance, good to hear you're alive and kicking, even if vexed with 'puter issues and RL busy-ness.

[Grim]

Thanks everyone, it's nice to know I was missed

I'm all back up and running successfully now, so yay

And the unspeakable horror? Go-Bot forum

[Santaman]

[huggle]

Good point. Who bothers with such peanuts as unspeakable horrors when he can have a board with 12 lines of error messages per screen

[RJDiogenes]

[Santaman]

*shrug* can't do anything about it, the boss knows about it so we have to wait.

[huggle]

could you PM me the boss' email address, please? Maybe if I talk with her directly I might win her trust.
I mean, Kelly trusted me and personally invited me to Kelly'z Korner. Doesn't that prove sufficiently that I am no monster?

[SpaceBall]

Who let that go-bot in again?

[huggle]

nobody. Kindof. It has happened on one of my boards before: if the server goes down for a moment and restarts (or if there is a problem, for examples hackers, and the information gets restored from a backup), there sometimes gets an empty line added to a file. The same happens occasionally when you edit a file repeatedly. That empty line ruins the file's layout and so the other files and the database can't find their source and target lines anymore which leads to all these error messages. Classical case of small cause big effect.

All that's necessary to fix it is to have a look at the files and check for superfluous empty lines or a lost bracket. I can narrow the possible candidates in this case down to 3 or 4. If I had a copy of these files I could find the flaw offline and report it to be fixed.
My boards run the very same software and I'd just have to compare Terran's files with my ones in order to pinpoint the problem.

As the files code only for the board's layout, they are non vital and I couldn't do any harm to the board. (besides, I am merely requesting copies, not the originals. My idea is that I locate the problem, tell the Admin and she fixes it.) Being a software specialist, SB, you know that this method is 100% safe. Plus you know me personally and know I can be trusted.

To be honest, the knowledge that I could easily repair the board (which has been broken for over a year now!!) and simply not being permitted to help, solely for the reason that the person in charge does not know and therefore distrust me is driving me so mad that I want to scream till my voice cords break! Posting here is a torture to every TechAdmin's nerves and I daresay you feel much like myself in this matter. (you could propably fix it even faster than I could).

For a year now I have literally begged to be permitted to repair this mess. If it weren't for my friends, I'd leave.
A board owner must care for their board or give it to someone who does. My impression is that an owner who neither posts here nor bothers to give an email adress for emergencies like this one simply doesn't give a damn for the board.

Sorry for sounding so negative but after more than 1 year with this fucking bug I am rapidly nearing the end of my patience.

I consider Terran in general a nice place and Kelly'z Corner in particular a heirloom from a very nice girl. Both have deserved better than being treated with such contempt.

I'd more than gladly volunteer to install a fully functionable and bug-free 1:1 copy of the board on my domain if any of you Admins would be so kind as to provide me with a database backup.

[Santaman]

The largest obstacle is that no one is allowed on the server and thats their final word, I have talked to them now and then and they will fix the thing when they have the time, as for the rest, getting on their nerves probably isn't productive, they both have full time jobs and two teenagers to deal with.