The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

thumbnail
Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 7/8/13 9:14 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/23/13 10:43 PM

The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
So, the DhO went down today in what was either a hyper-agressive web-crawl from Bing or a distributed attack masquerading as Bing.

It is obviously back up at the moment, but I would expect instability in the next few days as they are changing the way this is hosted to something closer to Enterprise class servers (also at substantial cost). This will allow more sophisticated firewall blocking, possibly an upgrade to Liferay 6.1, and hopefully enough server/CPU power to handle whatever Microsoft or the malignant hackers throw at it, such that hopefully legitimate traffic will be able to get through.

This will up the cost of this place to $179/month from $50/month, which is ok in the large scheme of things, and I am happy to pay it if it keeps this place up and running. No donations necessary, just telling you all this so you know how this place runs and what is going on. The cost could have been worse, and Chris Stavros at Omegabit waved the switchover fees, so that was pretty cool of him.

I don't know if this was due to the Wired article or what, but the coincidence is interesting. Better to be the Dharma Just-a-bit-Over-the-Ground-but-not-too-much-so-that-your-servers-get-shut-down? Hard to tell.

Anyway, if this places is glitchy or down at points over the next few days, that is just growing and defense pains.

Thanks for participating here,

Daniel
Matthew, modified 10 Years ago at 6/23/13 11:40 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/23/13 11:38 PM

RE: The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 119 Join Date: 1/30/13 Recent Posts
Consider adding a donation section explaining the cost of operating DhO and how much is currently sitting in the pot vs. future costs. Visitors may not contact you about donating because:

1) It's common for individuals to include a donation section on sites they've created to serve their fringe interests, and the site not having a cue could indicate that you don't want donations.
2) MCTB mentions your relatively lucrative profession and aversion to publicity [guru-worship], which might include gifts from strangers. Visitors might not offer money because they're afraid they'll offend you.
thumbnail
Daniel M Ingram, modified 10 Years ago at 6/24/13 8:33 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/24/13 8:24 AM

RE: The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 3268 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
Except that the problem is that the DhO is not a registered charity or non-profit or whatever, and instead is just my privately owned site, so then everything given to me gets somewhere around 38-40% taxes taken out of it, as it would be private income, and my tax bracket is ugly, so that is hardly efficient, and I would have to track and list all that and pay it with my quarterly taxes, which are already a pain, and it would just get complicated.

So, it is vastly easier for me to just pay it and not think about it and not get donations, but it is kind of you to think of it. I am just explaining this so that people have a basic understanding of what is going on, as I like straightforward business.

It is a lot easier to take the little bit of money I get from the book and just put it into the DhO, which helps with my weird need to keep the money side of the dharma ultra-squeeky clean. The book doesn't entirely pay for this place now with the additional server cost (and actually barely paid for it before), but as the DhO provides me so much benefit and the additional cost is about like eating out in one nice restaurant per month, that is hardly much to pay for how much I enjoy the community and how much good I feel it does. Think of it as one more small privately-funded charity.
Matthew, modified 10 Years ago at 6/24/13 10:40 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/24/13 10:40 AM

RE: The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 119 Join Date: 1/30/13 Recent Posts
This makes sense. Thanks for the detailed response.
thumbnail
Sweet Nothing, modified 10 Years ago at 6/26/13 2:18 PM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/26/13 2:18 PM

RE: The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 164 Join Date: 4/21/13 Recent Posts
Thank you sir for your efforts in developing and keeping this place up.
In time the sales of MTCB may grow to accommodate the rise in expenditure. Regardless me and others appreciate the work that made this possible.
thumbnail
Eric G, modified 10 Years ago at 6/29/13 8:27 AM
Created 10 Years ago at 6/29/13 8:27 AM

RE: The DhO Was Down: Bing to Blame? Expect instability as we upgrade.

Posts: 133 Join Date: 5/6/10 Recent Posts
Maybe an accountant could chime in, but if a true non-deductible "gift" is given with no expectation of anything in return, that should be okay, shouldn't it? I mean, up to current exclusion limits which we're not worried about.

Breadcrumb