AOAI forum update

[lschuc]

I am sorry for anyone that has been puzzled or inconvenienced the last few days, since Sunday (March 24) when our AOAI forum was offline with various issues. 

We finally got the AOAI forum back online on Wednesday with a few times when it went offline for various issues. It might be a little slow for awhile as the server reindexes the site.   Last week, we had to clean out and delete malware that looked like it originated from Chinese hackers.   We got the main AOAI site working earlier in the week but in updating the forum on Saturday evening, some of the updated scripts kept the forum from being viewed.  We got the forum back online today from backups from earlier on Saturday, and it looks like everything is there, although there might be a couple posts that where written late Saturday that might have been lost. 

Part of the problem is that the updated forum software relies on updated script versions, but the shopping cart has to use the older script versions on the server side. As an aside, I'm working to move the site to a different, better and even more secure server host that should provide better and faster load times through a dedicated IP address that will also host a new and improved and even more secure internet sales app for joining or renewing memberships.  This will take a little time to fully complete, but first on the move will be the forum.

As we seemed to have zeroed in on the source of the malware from China, that country has been a huge problem, and still remains a huge problem and cannot be trusted.  A friend in the Washington DC area who used to teach Marketing at Georgetown University, said at the time that  a senior official from the legal department at Department of Commerce come to talk to the students about legal protection for global branding.  He said 95% of all international cases stemmed from China. (Also, I read a report a few years ago…China is expanding it’s military at a rate four times faster than Russia at the height of the cold war.)   

Hopefully the site will respond better as the day goes on the the forum finishes indexing itself.  

Please be patient. We/I am spending a LOT of time to keep things working for the AOAI, most of which is all volunteer time.

Lew

[studegary]

Thank you for your efforts on this.  Even though it can be frustrating, I understand.

[lschuc]

37 minutes ago, studegary said:

Thank you for your efforts on this.  Even though it can be frustrating, I understand.

Thanks Gary....  and yes, frustrating and very much time-consuming.   But I'm working on what should be a more permanent and secure solution for the future. 

[GAWen]

Great job on just keeping such a large site up and running. BZ