Reef Central is down for the count

[mseepman]

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 Or was it just because the site finally broke with the outdated software?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

[xtreme]

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

[banditpowdercoat]

OMG, That just sux.

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

[kien]

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! Still that sucks though

[lastlight]

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

[xtreme]

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

[mseepman]

Originally Posted by xtreme

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

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

[fragNplug]

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

[Delphinus]

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

[pterfloth]

Reef Central is back on-line