Downtime
We're really sorry about the downtime, folks. We're working hard to get the site back up and running, but it's taking longer than we'd like. We'll keep you updated as soon as we know more.
In the meantime, here's something to do while you wait! I want a new and entertaining bookpile to go on the down page. The rules of this impromptu bookpile contest:
1. Post your pictures to Flickr
2. Tag them "LTdown" (feel free to post the link to your photo in the blog comments here if it doesn't show up right away)
3. Wait for us to pick a winner.
Update 5:11 pm Eastern: We lost the main "read slave." No data was lost. (We have five copies at all times.) But are missing a critical machine, and have to rebuild it. John is working to rebuild the machine. I suspect it will not be up tonight.
More updates on the homepage
In the meantime, here's something to do while you wait! I want a new and entertaining bookpile to go on the down page. The rules of this impromptu bookpile contest:
1. Post your pictures to Flickr
2. Tag them "LTdown" (feel free to post the link to your photo in the blog comments here if it doesn't show up right away)
3. Wait for us to pick a winner.
Update 5:11 pm Eastern: We lost the main "read slave." No data was lost. (We have five copies at all times.) But are missing a critical machine, and have to rebuild it. John is working to rebuild the machine. I suspect it will not be up tonight.
More updates on the homepage
posted by Abby at 1:35 PM
129 Comments:
Thanks, Abby. No data loss, I hope?
Good luck getting everything sorted out....
Please keep us posted on system status here on the blog. The homepage has said "5-10 minutes" for at least 6 hours :-(
At one point this morning there was a note that said it was going to take all day, I think.
So, I uploaded my photo, but because my flickr account is brand new, it says it won't be approved and made public for 7-10 days. LOL I guess arranging that stack of books and taking the picture may have been therapeutic, but none of you will see it. :o(
clamairy
One more reason to buy a digital camera.
Kerian
clamairy - post the link to your photo here, that'll guarantee we'll see it!
Now why didn't I think of that? Actually I was wondering if I could insert it into my next post, but this is better.
Many thanks, Abby!
clam's piccie
hey ... what's going on? .. it just seems so "dead" around here!
Should we be concerned ? There seems an increased amount of down time of late and the recent work that was done seemed to take an age ! I am fairly new to this site and have spent an age and risked divorce to get at least some of my books onto the site. I know nothing of the issues involved so perhaps I am being overly concerned jsdm
I woke up this morning thinking, ok, today is the day, I add my entire library to the site! I stayed home from work and everything! What are the odds?!
Clamairy- That was just the theme I was going to use for my bookpile :) Looks great!
wow mr. anonymous (if that's your real name.. ) you risked divorce over a web site?
Any estimate on the time LT will be back up???
Nice stack, clam.
It is so nice to have honesty when things do not go right...! Thank you. By the way, I have not yet finished browsing the bookpile on your down page!
Fortunately, I had catalogued my Printers Row haul before the site went down last night. Unfortunately, I then went to a book publication party, where I bought one book, won five books and was given two more - and I can't catalogue them!
I do hope the site is back up in time for my anticipated trip to the Little City Book Fair bargain weekend.
;-))
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Thanks, collsers! I couldn't get rid of the reflection on The Lovely Bones, though. When I turned off the flash it looked even worse.
Sadly, I couldn't use LT to search my own library for books with dead or death in the title! I had to do it manually. I know I missed a bunch.
To you newish LTers: Don't be too worried. I've been here for over a year, and they haven't lost my library yet! :o)
Thanks, JPB! ;o)
My pictures aren't showing up, so here are the links:
picture #1
picture #2
picture #3
Ha! I've been using LibraryThing since Nov '06, and yesterday I decided to actually pay for a lifetime membership .... 10 minutes after taking my money the site starts spitting out MySQL errors ... talk about bad timing!
If you can't change the home page message, could you maybe post updates hourly or half-hourly -- or something? After waiting 45 minutes, I was so disheartened to see Laura's comment that the homepage has said 5-10 minutes for at least 6 hours...Have been using LT for almost a year and this is the first time I remember coming to the site and finding it down. A pretty impressive track record. Good luck, and please keep us posted.
Re the divorce thing, mutatits mutandis, the amount of time I have spent cataloguing just over 3000 books so far has given rise to comment. Personally I think it better than extra marital affairs, after all a book cant talk back, altho the beauty of many of mine is that that is exactly what they do !!!!! All I want to do is keep cataloguing ....................
I've never done this before, but I made a bookpile. I put it on flickr and sometimes it showed when I searched for it. Sometimes it didn't... so here is the link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61459674@N00/541228403/
I'm excited to check LibraryThing out once it's working again! I heard about it just this morning, checked it out, and you all know the rest of the story ;)
the message changed! the message changed!
Please tell us the status of the site soon!
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I'm glad Tim is checking. Hopefully he will give us an update soon. My husband gave me a life membership to LT for my birthday on Saturday! I have been wanting to add all my books for so long -having reached my limit long ago. Then *poof*! On Sunday LT went down. I am looking forward to diving into entering more ISBN numbers really soon! I guess if I waited a year, I can wait a bit longer. :)
I agree with a previous comment asking that updates be posted routinely. It's been down all day, and someone else mentioned it's been down since Sunday ... holy cow! I work in IT and all I can say is if it's been down this long either 1) it's a huge hairy problem no one knows how to solve, or 2) no one knows what the problem is yet, which will likely lead us back to item 1).
I also know from experience that it's difficult to get the techies working on the problem to take time to communicate status, because they are certain if they just try one more thing it will magically come back up.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE assign someone to be responsible for communicating to your user base!
You are entirely right. It is inexcusable that it was down all day with a 10-minute notice. That mistake will not happen again.
"I also know from experience that it's difficult to get the techies working on the problem to take time to communicate status, because they are certain if they just try one more thing it will magically come back up. ... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE assign someone to be responsible for communicating to your user base!"
Exactly; and make it someone with enough clout to say, I need to give the public an estimate and unless you tell me otherwise I am going to say X hours.
We feel your pain (at least I do), but now that you're charging users, and selling services, and getting review books from publishers... alas, it's no longer a sweet little Barbie Dream House project, and you're accountable to your user base. I know, that takes some of the thrill away... but there will be new and even better thrills, I'm sure.
You're right.
Abby will be making sure there are regular updates.
I was on a plane all day, and Abby unfortunately believed that it was impossible to change the down page (our "Subversion" system was broken, but the page could be changed directly). John has been heavily invovled with getting the system back in order, so communication slipped through the cracks.
Thanks for all your work and for keeping us posted as best you can.
Barbie dream house.. heh.
I see Tim (of course) as the ripped Ken, Abby as the adorable, friendly Skipper, Altay as the obscure but buff Jamal, John as the gorgeous, discontinued Alan.
I don't know what a subversion system is. I like the sound of it, and will ask for one for Christmas.
Thanks, Tim. I'll stop lurking around hoping it will come up today and check back tomorrow! I appreciate the update.
I can't be Barbie?
:)
Let's face it.. Skipper was always the brains (despite Barbie and Midge coming accompanied with nuclear scientist or Supreme Court justice outfits. I never truly believed Barbie could use that slide rule).
fair enough.
Thanks for listening!! Good luck with the rebuild (ew, yuck).
Congrats to Abby on the contest.
Faced with lemons, Abby invited everyone to polka.
abby,
Barbie??? Do you really want a head that is bigger in circumference than your waist?
;o)
Thanks for keeping us all in the loop, folks.
Thanks for letting us know. I've been so worried (and so bored) all day. I miss the Green Dragon!
Thanks for keeping us all in the loop, folks.
Indeed, indeed. And sympathies. :)
Here's mine!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71499370@N00/541388774/
lego7
Damn! It didn't wrap.
http://www.flickr.com/photos
/71499370@N00/541388774/
lego7
OK, OK! You've proved your point. I do spend too much time on LibraryThing. Bring the site back up and I promise only to visit ONCE every 15 minutes. I don't want to be tagged under Thingamoholic.
8^P
Total Bummer. I'll be back though! This site rocks!
a very small bookpile
Hey, I just wanted to give my support here. I recently lost my slave and unfortunately did not have all my client files backed up as I thought I did. I can sympathize with what you are going through. I appreciate the updates and will hope all works out in due time. Meanwhile, I'm taking inventory the "old fashioned" way by writing down all the ISBN's so I can just pop them all in at once! *hugs*
The ancient library of Alexandria went down thousands of years ago. Tim has stated that the system has "5 backup banks" for all of the work that has already been uploaded from LibraryThing users.
So, take a walk outside, and enjoy your day or night whereever you may be on the globe.
Is a mirror site in the planning stages yet?
Mine (new flickr account):
/photos/sunny4lt/541514427/
/photos/sunny4lt/541514525/
/photos/sunny4lt/541514461/
> Is a mirror site in the planning stages yet?
You mean so we can _watch_ ourselves being impatient? ;-)
Thanks for letting us know what is happening! I know you'll get there.
I, too, am a thingamaholic. Sigh. I am showing withdrawal symptoms.... (mostly just checking in every few minutes - compulsively) :D
xorscape
xorscape -
Ditto. I can't believe this had to happen on a day I have off work, too. :)
Kerian
So, did you people actually read a book today?
;o)
I'm hopelessly addicted, as well. I kept waiting to get the shakes or something.
Just in case my pictures don't show up in Flickr since it's a newer account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8806434@N05/
clamairy-
I've actually almost finished one! :) It's funny, because I had been meaning to read more, but was on LT so much of my free time that I wasn't getting much reading done. This downtime has really given me the time for it, not that I don't really want it back up and running again. I miss 'talk' so much today. :(
Kerian
Still not showing up in the search, but my humble effort is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/7963250@N03/541471576/
You are all in my thoughts - I've been without LT for over 10 days now while on holiday. Couldn't wait to get home to my dogs and LT (not sure which order??). PLEASE try very hard (as I'm sure you are) to get LT back to us. I have no nails left to bite!
I tried posting my book pile picture here, but still am a little foggy about HTML :-( NOTHING IS WORKING TODAY!!! But it is on flickr, clam is right, even finding the books and taking the picture was therapeutic. Great pics so far :-D
katylit
It is a shame the site is down, but at least I've finished the essay that I've been distracted from since signing up to LT over the weekend :)
If anyone is desperate The Green Dragon chat-room is still up and running. Keep in mind it's NOT past of the LT site.
Green Dragon Chat Console
I got a tremendous amount done at work today because you were down. I've been so addicted to you I'm surprised I've not been chastised.
[varielle]
Oh, man. Just a reminder: you all are the best! Tea, sympathy, and a bottle of wine to you all!
Please come back, my beloved LT. I am using thee to keep track of my research for the class I will be teaching. I just finished my 50 book challenge last night, too.
As normally happens, I'm guessing that these problems will inspire some long-needed upgrades ;)
Here's my bookstack: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=541550882&size=l
It's kind of a pessimistic-looking stack...I'm in IT so I couldn't help myself, don't take it personally! :)
I created a down photo to express my melancholy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95612616@N00/541665891/
Wow, am I impressed with your responsiveness to the plea(s)for regular updates. I posted mine, expecting it would be blown off, as would be typical, sadly, for other sites, software purveyors, etc. But this is LibraryThing! Thanks for the updates and for realizing the importance of communicating with your users in such times.
ummmm,cake! What kind?
My bookpile pic is meant to inspire continued patience and hope that LT will return soon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8807586@N05/
here's mine
Mine
Does this count as a stack? books
mary dell - yours seems to be marked private.
Mine's at . Finally got a chance to photograph one! (instead of just collecting the books and getting distracted playing with their LT entries!)
mary dell - yours seems to be marked private.
Mine's at. Finally got a chance to photograph one! (instead of just collecting the books and getting distracted playing with their LT entries!)
crap, the html worked in preview. >:( And now blogger won't let me delete. Anyway the link does work.
oopsie, it doesn't like me trying to link to the larger size. Here's a better link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marydell/541550882/
Gah. 10 dollars a year for this? I assumed that because it was online, I'd always be able to check my 'library'; I guess I just need to get a program similar to this and install it on a flashdrive.
Here are my contributions to the photos - "The Paradox of LibraryThing." and "A Brief History of Our Misery." They're not showing up in the search yet...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8836650@N04/
BTW, you guys please note the full title of the blue book - it ends ": A Love Story".
No offense.
Here's one more... I love how this bookpile shows how long books have made so many people happy and fulfilled.
Now what we need is a LibraryThing folk song, akin to:
"Hey down, derry derry down""
There must be a midi file somewhere on the web!
Ooops I forgot the link!
Here's one more... I love how this bookpile shows how long books have made so many people happy and fulfilled.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61459674@N00/541668288/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8828159@N03/541681442/
I checked through most of the day today at work -- which was the first computer access I had since obtaining a pair of knitting books (long story). I kept getting "5-10 minutes" for most of the day. And since this is the first computer access I've had since leaving work (don't ask) ... well, you can figure out the rest.
I've already done my Flickring for the day, including some uploading (again, in a pair), but you can see my photos here. No stacks of books, but lots of flowers and medieval art.
AnnaClaire
Our photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8823924@N02/541688108/
Librarything, oh how I have missed you! Let me count the ways. I think I checked in at least 10 times to see that weird error message until I thought to check here. Please come back online so I can update the two books I just finished!
Yipee! Back on.
OK, I gave into the prairie dog impulse and actually set up a shot. Given that what I wanted to add were books on knitting, I added them to a stack of other knitting books (and, in yet another pair, two issues of a magazine). Put my current project on display, too.
Link: http://flickr.com/photos/loopweaver/541819561/
I can't take pictures so I won't even bother opening a Flickr account, but here's my contribution.
No clever themes here, just a sysadmin's bookshelf:
http://flickr.com/photos/varrqnuht/542061119/
A philosophical look at LT downtime: Bookpile
Argh. My Flickr account's new, too. And I has such fun arranging my books. I even added my new 'Art of Howl's Moving Castle' to the pile... Shoot. And my two copies of Twilight, also.
Here's my link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8833126@N02/
3 photos. I think I went a little crazy putting the books together...
These are fantastic photos! Keep 'em coming (and we'll keep working on getting the site back up)
I do not have a Flickr account, either; I hope it's not a huge problem.
Here's mine:
http://www.mandeep.hu/~prezzey/irecha_20070613_ltbookpile.jpg
I wanted to put a big horizontal bookpile on top of the monitor, but I realized halfway through that the glass just wasn't that strong, and I didn't dare. It was hard enough getting the monitor to stand on its tail! (It's an old 19" CRT and I am a smallish female; the thing must weigh 50% of my body weight by a quick estimate.) I guess I'm NUTS.
Here's my downtime book pile. Just joined flickr, like others, and haven't seen it appear via the LTdown tag yet.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8909970@N08/
All the History of Middle-Earth, mulitple copies of Hobbit & LOTR, some Greek, Hebrew, etc.
Very creative Prezzey! (In my books, you get A+ for creativity) But us nosey people want to see your book titles, so we can see what they are!
Hope the site gets up soon. But in the mean time here is my stack of books.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1170/542537202_1bf6bdb43f_m.jpg
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Ok, not the greatest picture quality, but I had to take it with my cell phone. (I need to buy a digital camera for more reasons than one.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8824521@N05/542740231/
And a close up shot,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8824521@N05/542740237/
Bookpile contest entry
http://flickr.com/photos/52194605@N00/542850033/
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What I did/read while LT was down....
my bookpile entry!
This is my first attempt to submit a photo to your contest. If Library thing was not down, I would never have tried to play with this. It was fun. So here it is.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8854020@N04/542856555/
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Hi guys. Good luck with getting your server problems sorted soon!
And my first attempt at one of your book contests:
WisCon Swag
Anyone have any idea why my photos on Flickr tagged 'LTdown' don't show up when I search for 'LTdown', though about 42 others do? I'm new to Flickr, so maybe I don't know how to do a proper search on tags. My photos are public, and each one is tagged 'LTdown'.
My bookpile entries are here
Os.
Here's mine - my Flickr account was deemed "moderate" by the Flickr powers that be so I think your account has to be on safe search to see it:
http://flickr.com/photos/rkb1/518672842/in/photostream/
Here comes my book pile:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1061/542667203_a9d358066d_s.jpg
Thanks Abby for keeping us posted. I greatly appreciate Library Thing. My name is Randolph. I am a Labrador retriever and a big reader. I would like to send 20 people a copy of my literary mystery-comedy novel A Dog About Town (Random House, May 29, 2007) for their reviews, general enjoyment, et cetera. The first 20 people to request the book via email adogabouttown@hotmail.com will get a copy.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Randolph
www.adogbabouttown.com
Well, at least no data was lost (I can hear the collective gasp of relief!). Good luck getting things back up and running soon.
In the meantime, I posted a couple versions of bookpiles here and here.
I guess I'll actually go read a book now, instead of just perusing them on LT!
It's possible some data was lost when it was reporting the errors. That is, if you entered a book and got an error, it probably entered only some of the information. (More precicely, it entered the book data, but it didn't connect it to the "work" data because that requires checking the server for other instances of the work.) We will try to square any problems of this sort. Certainly no data was lost from before the site started acting like a broken TV.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37212794@N00/543204215/in/datetaken/
My Contribution
Hahas. I thought my previous comment was actually lost. When in actual fact, I was looking at the wrong blog entry (the newest one, instead of this), so of course, I couldn't find that. Thought I should post the link of a single photo of my bookpile.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8833126@N02/542338584/
Bunnisteffi
Here's my contribution to the book stack contest. books and more
:)
Oh, no fair with the adorable kid! That's like bringing a claymore to a knife fight.
Here's my LibraryThing stack o' books
http://flickr.com/photos/8875648@N06/543205302/
Here's my humble contribution
Oops - here!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8867871@N04/543645981/
(saliero)
Sorry, different address: here's my entry.
(Saliero)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8867871@N04/543572762/
Not a book pile (and not my picture):
LT down! ;-)
This is my first blog post ever --- anywhere. I am so disappointed that LT is down - because I love it so much. I am not into all the features yet. Maybe you guys would tell me your favorite features about LT. How do we make suggestions for the site? I am going to be a minister and my library reference collections is growing by leaps and bounds and I am looking for ideas to organize it efficiently. C
here's mine :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kinniebear/543891371/
An Australian bookpile:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8865457@N02/show/
Liza
Here is my LTDown bookpile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8890724@N06/544099377/
My is up.
Another new Flickr account (they should thank you guys for all the new signups!), so here's mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8869638@N07/544205475/
Good luck getting the site back up and running! Anxiously awaiting!
Here's another entry for the book pile. I've always wanted to play along, but it seems like those who work or live in a library have such an advantage. However, downtime is something this household can relate to!
LTdown entry
Would you know when it would be up again I'm DYING to know.Was there any thing lost from the web page? I hope not any way I hope it gets back up tomorrow. I haven't been on in a while and I have some new books so
Peace Out Yall'
Here' my book pile. Are we still down?
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