Seems the Applelinks pages have been on
and off again this past week; is there an
improvement or just maintenance behind it?

(And does the term ‘maintenance’ also include
de-lousing, nails clipped, and a pet shampoo?!)

wondered what the heck was going on for a few days… I was beginning to think it was the latest Safari update, but then I found out it was happening with FireFox as well! Hope the gremlins are gone again for now.

Seems like the applelinks server was sending out a morse code-like
sos by winking and blinking all last week… h-e-l-p. ~I heard it say.

Peddling joy has reached out farther, from elsewhere than here:
http://www.smithrep.master.com/texis/master/search/showmsg.html?id=47f1927810#m

The outage appears in subtle ways across the internet as people visit
or try to from elsewhere. I know the old Macboards had some bits
scattered worldwide and tech help posts were borrowed by many.
Even in the German mac user forums, they linked to our old McBd.

This forum doesn’t appear to have the drive or momentum so far
to reach an audience of that interest; and no database of its own
which would be a reference (as it once had, as a support base.)

I’m beginning to wonder if I should even try hanging out here anymore… still gives me the gee-bees every time this place seems to come under attack and I’m left scratching my head and saying, “Gee, I hope my computer isn’t under attack too, just because I visited here!”

I get this “Database Error: Unable to connect to your database. Your database appears to be turned off or the database connection settings in your config file are not correct. Please contact your hosting provider if the problem persists.” a lot when trying to connect to the homepage.

(20080410.1931 MDT) 12 hours have passed since my comment. No response from the owners of this forum/website. It all goes to show that they just don’t care [aka give a shit].

Yes, I got the same message too. Seems to be o.k. for now as of 04/12/2008.

Well, accessing this site’s pages including the main one, has been
very difficult to impossible many times, most days or at night.

And trying to post commentary here has been trying, too.
There are many hours where nothing works or the pages
aren’t loading at all. Just a slow white screen, or no new
page activity; just the browser says it is “...waiting for applelinks...”

Some poor web sites, using older code and known hackable language
are easily hacked. Hackers can harvest the visitor information directly,
by-passing phishing schemes and other more complex paths to gain
access to unsuspecting target’s resources and in some cases, assets.

“… Hackers exploit poor website code...” -BBC Tech News
Web designers making very old mistakes are letting malicious
hackers hijack visitors to their sites, say experts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7345990.stm

Even high-end retailers and financial sites have also been
under attack; and experts warn of systemwide shutdowns
are possible country-wide, such as in some European cities
and countries recently. Many Denial of Service attacks
were reported which shut down the country of Estonia; and
other internet servers were under similar attack recently.
Economies can be brought to a standstill, it has been said,
relatively easily; and vulnerabilities exist, hackers warn.

“… Hackers warn high street chains...” -BBC News
High street chains will be the next victims of cyber terrorism,
some of the world’s elite hackers have warned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7366995.stm

It is now 01MAY2008 and I still see the same symptoms.
Becoming obvious to me that “they just don’t care” or “are incompetent” or “stupid”.

After waiting a total of about 6 minutes, from going to the Applelinks.com
site, chosing the Forum link in the header, and getting the Forum page;
trying to login and waiting ("Waiting for Applelinks...") for several minutes…

I arrive to the Forum where I could choose to reply to a forum. A full
minute of time passes after all that, and I can write in a box. The reverse
path also takes time and sometimes I just close that browser window
after waiting another 4 or more minutes, instead of counting all the time
it took to see if the post got there—or not.

I could shovel snow instead. (Yes, there’s still some out there!)

•• •• •• •• •• ••

Web peril where you least expect it… (see story link below.)

Now, to the topic of my post… with such a lagging page, how would one
know the page we finally get is actually Applelinks? Sure, eventually a
post made here appears on what is likely the slow Forums page. But
it could still be a fake; on a slow server. At least with a Mac, the odds
are better (I should say, in My mac) that nothing important would be
found even if I went to a bogus site bent on indentity theft. In fact,
I’d prefer instead of just trying to steal my identity, someone clever
could just steal my whole damned life and be here. Take the package!

(You would never believe how sucky it can be.)

Oh. Here’s a story to consider:

”Web peril where you least expect it…

Criminal attacks against major Web sites have grown so common that
Internet users have no reliable way to know which sites are safe to visit,
no matter how well-known those destinations are, security experts say...”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/362070_webinsecurity07.html

(Now to dig out my sports stop watch, the one used to time moose races
and see how slow the reverse path to posting here can be. I’ve already
checked the ISP and my bandwidth speeds are within expected specs.)

There are times where bits of it will load unexpectedly Fast. Is that
when the fake site takes the lead and the spammers want food?

Either way… I don’t think I’m gonna hang out here anymore… you’ll probably find me at Calling Rangoon more often than here. There is no life here sadly and I will bow out gracefully for now.  I may check here once a month just for giggles, but I’m not holding my breath for new activity here.

(McCoy) - “I think it’s dead Jim!”

Oh, but the main site and forum pages both moved fairly quick here today
given my DSL is also working up to its robust almost as-advertised 200kbps
up and down. Even streaming audio from iTunes radio stations is working.

The sun is shining, the snow is melting and little birds have returned!

(Wonder how Sir Potty is doing over at his revised Mudcrabs? Should I register?)

Slow today. Not painfully slow, but slow.
Specifically: it took 6 seconds for the forum to appear after I clicked on the link on the homepage.

It popped right up for me today.

Sorry you won’t be around much, BillyB, but it is very quiet here.  Not like the old days.

Hi LadyK!

I seldom visit since I’m too lazy to login or wait to see if the
site is working or not; but it has improved a bit since my last
visit here and in the Applelinks main page.

If you happen to know KC’s email address, and are ever in
contact with her, say Hi for me. I have an old gmail one of
her’s but she does not reply; so I guess she’s moved on…
Last I’d heard was something about her house, it needed
work after she’d not lived in it awhile; and she’d been with
her mother back then, for a time.

BillyB occasionally visits the C.R. site noted elsewhere here;
and sometimes, depending on attitude and stress, I post there.
The results vary based on what else is right or wrong (elsewhere.)

Hopefully you and RedHawk are doing well and he stays off the
freeway with that bike. Word was, he’d been backing up traffic
with some incredible stunt driving. The fuel shortage should be
a good thing for stunt driving; smaller cars are easier to jump!

03JUN2008 - much better in the last week