[Official] Database Rollback / Restore / Missing Posts / 24h Data Loss / Dun Goofed

[Kepler]

Between those two unpleasant options this solution was definitely the better choice. Thankfully procedure to create a backup before a purge provided a recent one! Thanks for the transparency and letting us know.
May you recover as quickly.

 

[Lion]

Thanks for your hard work

 

[pf3ix85fe Pandora]

You do so much. There will be a recovery period of course, and it is a learning experience. But I imagine the last backup is good enough for the benefactors that may have been accidentally purged. No worries

 

[zagan]

Between those two unpleasant options this solution was definitely the better choice. Thankfully procedure to create a backup before a purge provided a recent one! Thanks for the transparency and letting us know.
May you recover as quickly.

sounds like he used a nightly backup vs making a backup before purging.

 

[Sabbatius]

You're all good, Captain.

 

[Soror Epihania]

@SkullTraill Another problem is that hellfire lost his ban. I saw the topics about French students as well as the one promoting human sacrifice that he posted and those were some problematic topics

I checked back on the French thread right before the site went down and saw that it had accrued FIVE PAGES of posts between me checking it at night and firing WF back up in the morning. I was intrigued to see how crazy it got but now I'll never know. Dude was wild.

 

[Faria]

I was intrigued to see how crazy it got but now I'll never know.

We established that he is allowed to shoot his Pappy's guns. The whole thing kinda sounded like he stopped taking his meds.

 

[Wannabi_Watashi]

I am extremely sorry guys. I screwed up big time. In the process of purging some accounts (as described here: https://wizardforums.com/threads/email-issue-fixed-unconfirmed-accounts-purged.25509/) - I ended up inadvertently purging several actual in-use accounts. Many belonging to Benefactors (who often don't post because they don't need to). 100s of accounts lost, and 10s of Benefactor accounts lost.

Huge mistake on my part, not sure how the hell I messed up so bad... was probably due to being stressed out about the email issue + recovering from an injury, so a bit woozy.

Anyway, mega stupid mistake on my part. Couldn't live with that level of damage to member/benefactor accounts and decided to rollback the database to the backup right after fixing the email issue (right before purging).

This means all activity, posts, data, registrations etc on WF since the backup have been lost.

Super unfortunate and 100% of the blame is on me... it is what it is though. I hope there's no lasting damage to the DB. I'll keep a close eye over the next few days, but I believe things should be fine now.

Again, super sorry about this.

Don't blame yourself further, we can't pretend the mistake and I believe you're doing your best everyday. I hope this wonderful forum will be going forever since this is the best way to remember the lost knowledge since we are advancing in modern world. Thank you for maintaining this website forum. Good job!

 

[SkullTraill]

Even when stressed and injured, you are still really good in what you do. We are privileged to have you running this place.

Thank you!

You do a ton for us, and I am grateful for all of this still. Recover well. I see a couple things and I am fixing some of my replies. It isnt super bad I think.

Thanks, and please do!

Btw, does the database you're currently using support transactions? There you should be able to check what records were affected and either commit or rollback depending on the situation.

It does but I wasn’t interacting with the database directly, since on a forum even a delete user is a very complicated process that has multiple queries and touches many different tables, it is run from a script which DOES have a confirmation stage, but I pressed confirm and committed the changes so at that point there was no rollback to be had. That’s why it’s such a big dumb mistake. There was a lot to confirm and I was too sure of myself so I just skimmed it and pressed continue

I had a few questions to ask but the messages were deleted

Please ask again!

Previously, the full text of replies would appear in email, and could be retrieved by going to the email and then re-copying them to here. Now the email only notifies that a reply exists, without the text. That was a useful backup.

You’re right but it would take everyone emailing each other their replies since you don’t get the mail for your own replies.

Can anyone find a connection between this incident and supernatural forces
Post automatically merged: Today at 4:27 PM
Sorry I don’t mean to mock but imagining several great magicians who went to other dimensions with their astral bodies and spoke with angels and demons but now with reading glasses are behind a computer struggling with website building

I never did call myself a great magician… the only supernatural thing was how supernaturally zonked out I was at the time of the mistake

I hope that all the data will be successfully restored. In any case, we will understand. No complaints against you. This is life, and anything can happen. Good luck and all the best in the future!

The data was restored from the last good backup, one day of posts and registrations were permanently lost, but people can register and post again so it’s not the worst outcome…

Thank you!

@SkullTraill , first of all, I wish you great healing. May you recover from your injury.

Second of all, I must say that during the mistake, my post in the thread "Do you think niche forums like this attract any attention" has been lost I see that my reply to @Robert Ramsay as well as a post from @Digiquo is lost.

I will link to the topic here:

https://wizardforums.com/threads/do-you-think-niche-forums-like-this-attract-any-attention.25294

Thank you! I am almost fully recovered now. Please make those posts again!

Can I blame it on the gnomes? Oh it's actually mercury retrograde also!

My brain was in retrograde!

@SkullTraill Another problem is that hellfire lost his ban. I saw the topics about French students as well as the one promoting human sacrifice that he posted and those were some problematic topics

As Frater M.M. says, those posts that got him banned were also removed so it should be fine. If there are still any offending posts, please report again.

@SkullTraill also wanted to say hope you recover from your injury and thank you for continuing what is pretty much the last bastion for these kind of mulit-path forums.





On the plus side, we lost hellfire's actual threads on the French students and human sacrifice. Somewhere in Quantico a fed has been spared from being tipped over the edge by having to trawl thru those threads as well

Thank you, and please re-report if you feel like there are still rule breaking posts that are unacknowledged!

Get well soon! And worry not - I once managed to delete the product database of an entire phone network

Thanks! And ouch!

Probably, it’s due to Mercury’s alignment with the new star T CrB (T Coronae Borealis, “The Flaring Star”), which explodes every 80 years. And now it has exploded once again. Irony, of course, as you understand.

I shouldn’t use this as an excuse

Some of my posts gone and very sadly some of my likes too

Thanks For Your Hard Working.I Hope You Get Well Soon.

I’m so sorry but please make the posts again, if you can… I’ll give you some likes too 🥹

Huge thank you for letting us know! May you recover well from your injury!

Thank you and almost fully recovered!

Between those two unpleasant options this solution was definitely the better choice. Thankfully procedure to create a backup before a purge provided a recent one! Thanks for the transparency and letting us know.
May you recover as quickly.

The backups saved my ass! And thank you!

You do so much. There will be a recovery period of course, and it is a learning experience. But I imagine the last backup is good enough for the benefactors that may have been accidentally purged. No worries

Yes it is, as much as could be recovered is recovered, and only some posts and registrations are lost permanently.

sounds like he used a nightly backup vs making a backup before purging.

we had both but I used the manual backup before the purge as the daily backups were either before the email fix or after the purge.

You're all good, Captain.

🫡

Don't blame yourself further, we can't pretend the mistake and I believe you're doing your best everyday. I hope this wonderful forum will be going forever since this is the best way to remember the lost knowledge since we are advancing in modern world. Thank you for maintaining this website forum. Good job!

Thank you, and me too! I’ll do my best

 

[DoppelgangerFred]

I can only echo the sentiments of others and wish you a speedy recovery.
Thank you for the all the work you do here.

 

[TOUIBI]

You are still really good in what you do and things like this happen.
Don't worry and get well soon.

 

[Firetree]

Thanks. No, it's just that people who registered or posted in the last 24-ish hours will have to register/post again. Other than that + 1 award + 2 new benefactors who I have refunded already, nothing else was damaged.

Have not some whole threads disappeared ? Or was that due to something else ?

Gone from the index and my posts in them are gone from my posting content record .

 

[Aeternus]

Have not some whole threads disappeared ? Or was that due to something else ?

Gone from the index and my posts in them are gone from my posting content record .

If you posted in a thread of a recently confirmed account that got wiped during the mistake, it is no wonder that the said thread also got deleted along with your posts in it.

For example, I replied to someone who had a topic "Greetings from Aus!" , but that topic is no longer there. And although posts in Introductions do not actively add to my overall post count (as so is this applied to anyone else), I could easily notice that the post and the thread were literally gone since even the notifications didn't show it.

So, let's hope that those previously freshly confirmed accounts will post the thread again and you will be able to interact with that thread normally. I don't honestly know if the situation applies to posts made by older accounts. If some older accounts were affected by the measure and their post was literally the topic (i.e.: they started the topic), then they need to open the topic again so replies can commence.