Forums outage

[Merk]

Hey there guys,

The forums were down this morning until right now (9:54am UTC-4:00 on 4/24/2018) and the PHPbb Silver theme (which is the best theme) does not appear to be working.

I am seeking an RFO and a credit on my next invoice.

I had copied the error message to my clipboard but I lost it. It basically said "FATAL UNEXPECTED ERROR" and a bunch of markup code afterwords. I think maybe it couldn't find a file for the forum template or some shit? I dunno, hope that helps!

[Ho]

http://www.indyddr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4685

RFO: Upgrade of phpBB from version 3.0 to 3.2. The site was taken down at approximately midnight but did not return until just before 10am this morning. A required upgrade of PHP to support the new phpBB version took longer than anticipated to complete by the host. In addition, there were configuration parameters that needed to be researched and modified in order to complete the upgrade.

We apologize for the inconvenience. You can expect a credit to appear on your next printed invoice.

[Merk]

Holy shit that was actually a well done response! I take it you've written a fair number of RFOs in your life, sir?

[Ho]

Nope. That was my first one. I had to Bing what RFO was in this context. Request for Offer is how I usually see that acronym used, but I figured that wasn't what you meant. Amusingly, Republicans for Obama ranked higher than Reason for Outage in the list of possible definitions.

[Merk]

If you're gonna Bing something, use Google!


Now, Request For Offer.... When do you usually see that? I ask because I rarely ever see that acronym used in that context.

[Ho]

Microsoft pays me to use Bing. If I'm going to give up my info anyway, I might as well get something for it. It's good enough and...free stuff!

I generally see Request for Offer used in a sales context, but it's not directed at me personally. I don't have any interest in sales myself, but I guess I hang out with salespeople?

[Riot]

YO I'M ON THAT BING BUX TIP TOO

[MonMotha]

I don't think I've ever seen "Request For Offer". It's usually "Request For Quotation" (RFQ) or "Request For Proposal" (RFP) depending on what exactly is being requested. Maybe a European standard term? Or maybe it's just not popular in the industries I work in?

Honestly, RFO to me immediately expands to "Reason For Outage".

[Merk]

Shout outs to Request For Proposal that's what I usually see around these parts.


Here let me put out a vague list of requirements for a project and let you all fight over determining what we actually need and the best solution to take. I don't know what I'm doing but I will go with the lowest bidder because small red numbers and big green (or black!) numbers on a spreadsheet are really pretty and they make me look like I'm doing a good job! If shit gets fucked I am in no way responsible it's on you guys to figure out what we want and need.

[Ho]

I guess RFP is what I normally see, now that I think about it. At any rate, Reason For Outage was not what immediately jumped out for me when you asked RFO, nor was it the top of the list I got back in a Bing search for it (https://www.acronymfinder.com/RFO.html). But I was familiar with what you were looking for once I had the definition. I'm not in charge of writing those in any official capacity, but I've been around enough to have a decent handle on how to compose one.

[Merk]

Brian, god damn it, we need you to stay on top of keeping all acronyms up to date and to keep the people informed of any and all changes!

As the Minister of Language and as a member of the Ministry of Truth it is your sworn duty to dictate how the populi thinks and speaks!

[Merk]

Thank you Brian for fixing the whole "account suspended" issue earlier this week! Pooter and I sincerely appreciate it. I look forward to posting schizophrenic rants web 1.0 style

[Ho]

How about a story of what happened...

IndyDDR continues to exist here in a free hosting package from GoDaddy. They used to give you a free basic package with your domain registration. That ended probably a decade ago, but they've kept this account grandfathered in for whatever reason. I had another, even older free website that they finally shut down many years ago. I'm assuming that will happen here eventually, but I figured I'll ride it out until then.

Anyway, GoDaddy decided to end free support of the ancient version of PHP that was here and to charge $2.99/mo for PHP extended support. I missed the memo and that fee went unpaid which eventually resulted in the account suspension. The account briefly got converted to some other kind of AI-generated webpage creation tool until I got on with support to get everything straightened out. Fortunately, they hadn't purged everything yet.

I paid them $2.99 for the month that had elapsed and then upgraded to the latest PHP version so I could remove the extended support charge. So, we're back to free hosting over here and it's "business" as usual again. Hopefully phpBB doesn't barf on this new version of PHP before I get a chance to upgrade it, too.

[Merk]

Thank you for getting things fixed! Sorry meant to respond to this a few months ago but man life gets in the way.

Thank you for allowing this little piece of web 1.0 to continue to exist. I like knowing that (most) posts here were all made by flesh and blood, I'm glad the bot posts that we did get ended up all being funny

stupid ass pets!