Reef Central is down for the count
 

According to reports at Reefbuilders RC is no more. See below commentary on what happened.

http://www.reefbuilders.com/

Reef Central is offline Indefinitely, database destroyed
Posted on July 16th by Ryan Gripp. 25 Comments Leave a comment


We reported earlier yesterday that Reef Central was down and today it looks like our worst fears have been confirmed. Reef Central is down and from the looks of things, it isn’t coming back. Apparently the database backup files that were necessary to bring the site back up have been corrupted or unable to be restored as Reef Central’s site admin had this to say about the matter:

It has been confirmed. ReefCentral has lost all recovery files and the databases have been destroyed. We have no way of recovery any of these necessary items.

Reefcentral will be shut down indefinitely…

Sorry everyone, please do not send any emails inquiring about this issue, if and when we ever come back, believe me/us, you will know. I just thought I would let you all know so you don’t waste anymore time refreshing your browsers hoping for something that is not going to happen…

Sorry again and I wish everyone well…

~beerguy

With “beerguy” being one of the oldest admins on Reef Central, we believe this information to be accurate. However, what led to this? Was there not sufficient server infrastructure in place? Did the “update” that was applied yesterday break the server? Or was it just because the site finally broke with the outdated software? Whatever the case, we don’t know for sure and the loss of the biggest online reef community is certain to come as a shock to everyone.

Update 1: No sooner do we post the grim news about RC’s demise than we receive another comment from the source, hit the read link down below.

I am getting constant phone calls, there is really nothing we can do from here. Again, on behalf of everyone at RC, we are deeply sorry about this and we do wish everyone well.

By the end of the day the website will be updated with more information regarding what has happened along with a very long apology from our staff.

~beerguy

Update 2: We received another update from an RC Admin member “mhurely” who says:

First, I would like to apologize to all of our members, sponsors and even our staff. We had a breach in our security systems, allowing easy access [by a hacker] to our very important files and database. Most of these items were either corrupted or completely deleted. We made the mistake of placing our back ups on the same server as which we operated the site on (yes, we know, a HUGE mistake).

As for our sponsors, as per our agreement [very similar to user agreement] in the event that something like this happens, unfortunately this is a issue and loss we must share. All sponsors who have paid up until down time will not be refunded. If you have yet to send your sponsorship dues, please do not, as once it is sent we cannot refund it. If you are setup on a subscription basis, please cancel subscriptions as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will be more than happy to assist you as best as possible.

Once again, I would like to apologize for everything to everyone. Like BeerGuy has already stated, website will be updated with more information regarding the situation that has shut us down.

-mhurley

Wow, all that info gone. That sucks....alot.:cry:

OMG, That just sux.

Alot of great info was lost. There is a large hole in the force now.

whoa.. that reminds me of the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. So much information gone up in a puff of smoke.. Except that even that library had a better off site backup system! :lol: Still that sucks though :sad:

Revisit the site. We can't believe everything we read. I'm being optimistic.

---------------------------

Hello RC Members.

Sorry for the interruption. We'll be back in a little while, I need to check something.

To the folks spreading rumors and making up quotes, it's pretty sad when you have to resort to lying to try and get members.
Slander and libel are pretty serious things.
Cheers

You were right Brett, looks like they will be back up this morning.:biggrin:

Wow, I hope so...pretty sad for a site like reefbuilders to post something that wasn't true. I've always liked their articles before but now I'll be questioning everything they post.

EDIT: It seems Reefbuilders is apologizing for spreading rumours on their site now. Amazing how fast the Internet is at spreading information, true or un-true

ello RC Members.

Sorry for the interruption. We'll be back in a little while, I need to check something.

To the folks spreading rumors and making up quotes, it's pretty sad when you have to resort to lying to try and get members.

The truth is that during an upgrade to mySQL we encountered an error that needed to be corrected. Unlike most sites, our database is very large and routine checks can take quite a long time to run. That's one of the reasons why we're one of the few sites that runs a full nightly backup. We'll be back this morning with virtually zero data loss. Sorry to disappoint the folks forging the emails.

Slander and libel are pretty serious things.
Cheers

So who is this supposed competitor to RC? Man, I'm so out of the loop these days.

Reef Central is back on-line

hahaha, yay! ... Except of course now I'm all RC'd out and am back on Canreef. :lol:

Thank god! Yay!!!

And THAT is the power of positive thinking. That or routine database maintenance.

I'm so glad that they are not gone. A lot of ideas for my new tank is coming from various builds over there and without them, I would be pretty lost on some stuff.

I didn't believe it for a second. Considering that RC is run by people who design in multiple failsafes for every system in their aquariums (who doesn't when you've got that much $$$ invested) why wouldn't they be just as prudent with the website.

+1

yeah this is happened before, I remember seeing similar rumors a couple years back when the site was under maintenance.

hmmm wird.. RC destroyed didn't even make me bat an eye.. to bad it isn't true.. noting good there anymore you can make a post with out getting flammed. well thats what I noticed 3 years ago.. the last time I was there...

Steve

Everyone always says RC is unfriendly, but I've never had that issue. I'm glad it's not gone, and I'm thankful that CanReef mods are humble enough to allow us to talk about another site like this. :)

I didn't say that.

I have never seen anyone flamed that wasn't justified.

I"ve always found everyone to be friendly there. Sometimes too friendly. A lot of my threads were full of "nice tank" posts but little info to aid in my problem :razz:

same sorta thing happened on nano-reef at the same time!!

go back about 8 years ago.. if you had a yellow tank in a 75 gal tank you were going to hell.

Christy that was the biggest thing I didn't like about it... you had to read through 20 pages of crap to get 4 posts of info.. I just got tired of it. It was nice befor it started getting huge.. then came server problems.. then the restrictions if you weren a paying member.. then they got rid of that.. by then I was sick of it and there was just as good info here and a couple other boards which were more like club boards but had some big people associated with them.

Steve

Maybe you were flamed for spelling :)

your name isn't bob is it?

yes I know my spelling is bad, and the dyslexia doesn't help much either. I blame in Alberta in the 70s when they did a pilot program of teaching to spell phonetically as Canada was thinking of adopting there own spelling.. it never happened and for 3 years a few classes got screwed over and never learned to spell properly.. I was in one of those classes.

but what I lack in spelling I more than make up for in math :wink:

I used spell check just for you :mrgreen:

Steve

nope never got flamed there personaly, just watched the stupidity.

I did get tthretened to be banned from RC because I exposed a snow job Icecap was doing, but thats another story.

Steve

Nope it's not Bob, it's Paul.

Ice Cap did a snow job, why would that be a surprise, inquiring minds want to know.

I don't mind seeing them back. Am hoping they would get a new Reefkeeping magazine up though.

They tried that in B.C. too, I was in grade 1...it messed me up for years

You've got to sift through a bit of nonsense and non-fact no matter where you go. Reef Central is a MASSIVE wealth of knowledge even though it may appear diluted at times. I visit both it and this site daily and between them I feel I've learned enough to one day have an amazing reef. I pay for membership there and I'd do it here as well =)

Whatever happened to bob ipema anyway? I was away from reefing and came back and he's gone.

Well, seeing as you guys wish to discuss it. :lol: C,mon. The flaming crap about RC is just that. CRAP. Sure, lots more threads get a bit side tracked and some flaming takes place but look at the amount of posts daily.

Do you really think if the board had a bad rep it would be one of the largest internet boards in the world. Its been a great reefing board since the day it started and continues to this day. Like most of the boards, it has its problems but that the internet is it not.

I have seen other boards come and go but when they go down, it not a frenzy post on every other aquarium board like when RC does.

Canreef is my home board, but RC was for many years, since its inception and is still one I read and post on daily. Why cant we frequent several great aquarium boards. The more the merrier, IMO. RC is packed with great reefing info and many great members, many with whom I have been friends with since before the board even started. IMO, its loss would be sad for our reefing community.

Its just now, with all the great members, sponsors and info on Canreef, and it being our Canadian board, THIS, is the one I spend most of my time on. :D

and I dont think the promotion of another similar board, {esp. sponsored}, is the best thing on any particular board, {which is why most are closed elsewhere}, I dont see nothing wrong with the odd discussion on something like this or the links to various articles we see now & then. Thats my own view at least, not necc. the view of Canreef itself.

Dez, as far as I know, he retired and spends time down south, so sold of his aquariums.

I've always liked RC, I find the people are very friendly so I think that if people are getting flamed it's well deserved. I still have not seen a thread that supports these rumors of people being mistreated and flamed for no good reason.

RC provides so much information in the forms of experience and new innovations. IMO Not supporting RC is not really supporting the hobby, and the only reason to really not support it would be for pure business purposes.

Thats another well known board. They also ban you for the use of the letter 'U' in words such as colour! :lol:

Hmm, I haven't been to RC in forever. Is it still around? I guess Canreef gives me all I need....:)

...

probably retired to some nudest colony somewhere :mrgreen:

Bwahahahahaha !! :wink:

I have to agree :mrgreen: Although RC does have useful info and cool monster tank threads.

I only head to RC when I can't find it here. (almost never):mrgreen: