Editorial Team

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the boring stuff, we don't enjoy putting these out ourselves, but once in a while it's necessary in order to be sure we're all on the same page.  A pleasant and enjoyable environment for everyone who uses our site is really important to us.

So, this is just a reminder about our Terms of Membership's section on Solicitation.

A few examples of solicitation : 

Being asked for money, Being asked to buy a product or service, Being asked to join another website, etc. - Receiving any contacts going against our site's purpose/best interest.  

For obvious reasons (ie it's inconsiderate and bothersome), this type of activity is not allowed on PoetBay.  Anyone engaging in such an activity in our community will be removed without notice.  

If you are on the receiving end of any kind of solicitation, please do let us know so that we can ensure no other member gets bothered in that manner.  

Our space is simply not for that kind of activity, and we feel strongly about wanting to keep it that way for all of us (members and admin).

Thanks!

23 Nov

Hi everyone,

Our webhost's maintenance work is about to begin in 30 minutes.  We're doing a backup of the site's contents right now. 

We recommend you do not post anything until the end of the maintenance 'cause we can't guarantee it will be saved on the site as usual.

Thanks!  See you back on Wednesday!

Isabelle

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20 Nov

Hi everyone, 

Our webhost (server service provider) is planning a scheduled maintenance of their equipment.  

During their maintenance work, it will cause periods of inaccessibility to the site for all of the members of PoetBay because the server will be turned off and turned back on multiple times.  

Maintenance work will begin on :

Tuesday, 23 November, 2021 

17H00 EST - 22H00 GMT - 23H00 CET

Maintenance work will end on :

Wednesday, 24 November, 2021

03H00 EST - 08H00 GMT - 09H00 CET

We recommend that you do not post anything during this window of time (max. 10hrs), to make absolutely sure no postings get lost.

Our webhost assures us this is necessary and says their team will do their best to make it as short as possible.  They apologize to us and our members for any inconvenience.  We do as well.  

Isabelle

8 May 2021 

Hi everyone, 

Our webhost (server service provider) is planning a scheduled maintenance of their equipment.  

During their maintenance work, it will cause periods of downtime (inaccessibility to the site) for all of the members of PoetBay because the server will be turned off and turned back on multiple times.  

Maintenance work will begin on :

Monday, 10 May 2021 

17H00 EST - 22H00 GMT - 23H00 CET

Maintenance work will end on :

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

03H00 EST - 08H00 GMT - 09H00 CET

We recommend that you do not post anything during this window of time (max. 10hrs), to make absolutely sure that nothing gets lost.

Our webhost assures us this is necessary, and says that their team will do their best to make it as short as possible.  They apologize to us and our members for any inconvenience.  We do as well.  

Isabelle

Hi everyone, 

This is to inform you that our webhost (server service provider) is planning a scheduled maintenance of their equipment.  

During their maintenance work, it will cause periods of downtime (inaccessibility to the site) for all of the members of PoetBay because the server will be turned off and turned back on multiple times.  

Maintenance work will begin on :

Tuesday, 06 October 2020 

16H00 EST - 21H00 GMT - 22H00 CET

Maintenance work will end on :

Wednesday, 07 October 2020

03H00 EST - 08H00 GMT - 09H00 CET

We recommend that you do not post anything during this window of time (max. 11hrs), to make absolutely sure that nothing gets lost.

Our webhost assures us this is necessary, and says that their team will do their best to make it as short as possible.  They apologize to us and our members for any inconvenience.  We do as well.  

Isabelle

Hi everyone,

You probably noticed that PoetBay was inaccessible for a while today.  We're not aware of the full details of this technical issue (it didn't happen on our end), but it had something to do with DNS records not getting resolved (ie our website address wasn't being recognized on the www as though it didn't exist anymore, so it could not be loaded).

Our webhost's own website could not be accessed, and all of their clients' websites.  We're waiting on them to respond to explain what happened exactly, but we're not holding our breath on it, must admit.  It's most rare for service providers to share their internal tech issues with their clients.

Sorry for that, it was totally out of our hands.

Isabelle

28 Jun

Concluding mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

21 Jun

Hi everyone,

The code files uploads went well, and all appears to be working as it should. We'll obviously be keeping an eye on it to be sure.  We made extensive tests as we always do, but if you encounter any issues, please let me know. 

So, here concludes the important bulk of repairs and updates of the state of our code which we started last September.  Remember I'd told you then that the job was absolutely monumental for just 2 programmers because of the grandiose mess we inherited the site in after 3 or 4 other owners before Anna?  I wasn't kidding 😊  It was extremely complicated to fix, but we did it!  For a while, we really weren't sure we'd be able to pull it off, in all honesty.  So, to simply say we're pleased is an understatement.

Now that the code is out of the way as a possible issue, we move on to the other important part: the server.  So, it's the next item on the list in the process of making PoetBay's technical health stronger and better.  Once all of the server adjustments are sorted out (it'll take a bit of time), we'll be able to move on to more interesting and fun things like, for example, what you'd like to have or improve on PoetBay. 

Thank you all for sticking through this!  It's almost done.

Isabelle

_________________________________________________ 

This is the last community tech update I'll be giving you for a while. From this point, for those interested, you can continue to check out the kept up-to-date What's up? page which details the work we're doing.  I also give weekly mini updates in the comment section of posts titled 'What's up?' (Update #) like this one (links to the latest ones are listed on the What's up? page with dates in the title).  So, for updates or progress on the work we'll continue to carry on in the background, this is where I'll be talking about it.  If any of the work we do could affect the usual use of the site, I'll give a general site notice to the whole community, as I usually do. 

_________________________________________________ 

====================================================

15 Jun

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

07 Jun

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

02 Jun

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

31 May

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

25 May

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

16 May

Mini update in the comment section below.

Isabelle

====================================================

07 May 

Hi everyone,

We hope you are all doing well.  We're ok over here.

This is just to inform you that in the last couple days we've resumed our work on the code, and we've been making updates on the site in the background. 

You won't see the changes we're making because they pertain to website maintenance (updating code to their latest versions, etc).  

We're letting you know about these background updates on the site in case you come up against any sudden issues in the next few weeks.  If you do, please contact us to let us know!

Thanks

Isabelle

19 Jun 

Hi everyone,

The updating of the code we've been working on in the last few weeks is completed and ready to be uploaded.  So, this is to inform you of an upcoming scheduled maintenance planned for this weekend, on Sunday.

Although we were hoping we wouldn't have to do it this way, it's unfortunately the best approach, 'cause there are hundreds of files to transfer over.  

This means PoetBay will incur a period of downtime (inaccessibility to the site) for all the members, while we upload the new code files to replace each of the current ones.

Maintenance work will begin on :

Sunday, 21 June 2020

18H00 EST - 22H00 GMT - 23H00 CET

Maintenance work will end on :

Sunday, 21 June / Monday, 22 June 2020

20H00 EST / 00H00 GMT - 01H00 CET

We're giving it at most 2 hrs to complete these uploads, but we will obviously try to keep it as short as possible.  

To reiterate, these updates will make PoetBay's code more robust for general online security, as well as ensure easier ways for its upkeep to the latest versions, so we never get caught offguard like we were in September. 

Apologies for any inconvenience.  Thanks for your patience in this process of making PoetBay's technical health stronger.  We're nearing the end of the list of things to cover. 

Isabelle

Hi everyone, 

Many thanks to you all who have left their thoughts on this Poll's question, they're greatly appreciated.  

Seeing as there weren't any objections expressed by the rest of the community, I'm thinking it's reasonable on my part to interpret that to mean everyone is on the same page about not minding the removal of the Forum from PoetBay. 

As it's been noted, it's true it's a section of the site that hasn't really been used in a very long time.  Still, I just wanted to give you a head's up of my intention, and in case your feelings were different, you'd be able to say. 

So, the result of the poll is :  the Forum has been removed.  When our uploads are completed, the change will be officially set then, and the Forum will no longer exist on the site. 

Isabelle

=================================================

15 Jun

Hi everyone,

In the last 6 weeks or so (see 'What's up? (Update 6)), I've been working in the background to continue the updating of our code to the new ways of doing things in code. 

These updates will make PoetBay's code more robust for general online security, as well as ensure easier ways for its upkeep to the latest versions, so we never get caught offguard like we were in September.  

It's going very well, and I'll be able to proceed with the uploading of the new code on the site here soon, most probably at the end of this week.  I will let you know before I make the uploads of the code updates to the site.

But, as I'm finishing up my work, I'd like to run something by you before I go ahead with a change I have in mind :

Would you mind if the Forum was removed from PoetBay?

Thanks for letting me know your thoughts/preferences!

Isabelle

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know we've noticed that our site hasn't been performing all too well this week.  So you may have experienced trouble connecting to PoetBay.  We're in the process of investigating it.  

Apologies for any inconvenience!

Isabelle

Hi everyone,

This is to inform you that our webhost (server service provider) is planning a scheduled maintenance of their equipment. 

During their maintenance work, it will undoubtedly incur periods of downtime (inaccessibility to the site) for all the members of PoetBay because the server will be turned off and rebooted multiple times.  

Maintenance work will begin on :

Tuesday, 24 March 2020

18H00 EST - 22H00 GMT - 23H00 CET

Maintenance work will end on :

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

04H00 EST - 08H00 GMT - 09H00 CET

We recommend that you do not post anything during that window of time, to make absolutely sure that nothing gets lost.

Our webhost assures us that this is necessary and they apologize to us and our members for any inconvenience.  We do as well.

Isabelle