Technical issues: We’re on the comments problems
By Gina Spadafori
April 26, 2007
Yes, we’re having problems with comments posting. Thanks to all of you who’ve alerted us to these problems, and others. We’ve let the pack at Black Dog know, and I’m sure they’ll figure it all out this morning.
We wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done without our tech folks. They’ve been there for us throughout, building, fixing, trouble-shooting and defending us from hacks, spam and denial-of-service attacks.
Ear rubs for the Black Dog. (There really is one, by the way, and his name is Henry. That’s him, at right. He’s the VP of marketing and public relations at the Little Company that Could, and Does.)
I notice overnight some of the insomniac techies posted comments about what might be going wrong. Post some more, will you, in THIS THREAD. Black Dog can find them all here, that way.
The rest of us can just move on, secure in the knowledge that the smart folks will fix the problem, and we can keep on with the business of blogging.
Found this this morning from the Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/207488
“China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement denying that the chemical was the culprit. “At present, there is no firm evidence to show that melamine was the direct cause of the poisoning and death of the pets,” said the faxed statement.”
Sure, and I believe everything I’m told to believe…….
Comment by PJ — April 26, 2007 @ 7:00 am
Yeah because they had plenty of time to destroy any kind of evidence before allowing the U.S. to inspect.
I don’t trust the Chinese Foreign ministry and I don’t trust the FDA. As far as I’m concerned they are both LIARS!
Comment by Tammy — April 26, 2007 @ 7:14 am
Reposting from other comment thread for Black Dog techs.
It could be a server load issue. I don’t know what software you’re using for your blog, but if it’s perl or php based it builds up and tears down a process for each comment unless you’re using fast cgi. Excessive traffic could crash the process before it’s finished. The error logs should say for sure.
Comment by Katherine — April 26, 2007 @ 7:21 am
If I have to choose between believing the FDA, and believing the Chinese government, it’s the FDA, hands down. However, that said, I think anything coming from a government agency should be reviewed with close scrutiny.
Comment by Joyce — April 26, 2007 @ 8:32 am
The problem started the evening of 4-24… ie: posts not showing up.
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 8:58 am
That is either not showing up or 20+ min delays.
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 8:59 am
Just a tip: The delays started not long after I posted the email addresses for the prez & v.prez.
Maybe “big brother” is watching….???
“They” have keywords they watch for & monitor.
Just an idea….
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:01 am
One thing that is boggling my mind & many things to these days — is — I thought the FDA had requested to visit China about 2 weeks ago. They were all saying how the Chinese wouldn’t allow entry.
Well, on Tues, just before the Congressional Inquiry, China came out that they would allow the FDA to come & inspect the 2 plants — with full cooperation….
So — WHY ISN’T THE FDA ALREADY THERE??
WHAT IS THEIR EXCUSE — nOw ??
I would have thought they’d be on the plane yesterday.
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Since you are checking this string, Black Dog — I am sending this post
4-26-07, 11:06 AM CT
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:06 am
Hey, Henry at Black Dog!
Tell your master that I suspect that a largepart of the problem may be occurring when one person is writing a lengthy post and another person [or more] might be trying to upload comments. Too much contention for resources maybe?
Seriously, Henry, you’ve been doing a heck of a great job supervising the human who makes this thing work! Lots of ear rubs your way!
Comment by Lynn — April 26, 2007 @ 9:21 am
RE: Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Kat, I personally think this will be a wasted trip for the FDA. It’s a well documented fact that all Chinese workers will have been trained thoroughly by their supervisors to lie - do what they need to to make sure the company doesn’t look bad. Their jobs will depend upon this. If anything, the FDA might come away with a better idea of how the goods are processed in China.
Comment by Lynn — April 26, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:01 am
I wondered about that myself. Also, very late afternoon, a peculiar thing happened. I had been reading the web site when my son called. While talking to him and not using the computer at all but with the web site still up, my computer crashed, screen went blue. I use Foxfire and don’t have this problem ever. I just thought it very strange. Anyone else have this happen?
Comment by Nadine Long — April 26, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Anyone who has never been to China should make the time to watch the documentary “China Blue.”
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/
Comment by Lynn — April 26, 2007 @ 9:33 am
Nadine,
I don’t used Foxfire though I use other querying software quite extensively with no problem.
Blue screens - my deepest sympathies. Back up in a hurry in case hard drive failure is forthcoming.
Comment by Lynn — April 26, 2007 @ 9:44 am
I am not anywhere near techy enough to offer suggestions but if you click on the RSS feed for comments link below the last comment, it usually shows you comments that are “pending” ….
Comment by Becky — April 26, 2007 @ 9:51 am
Plus, THEY (China) needed CLEAN-UP TIME! :p
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 9:54 am
From Howl911.com
HOGS TESTED, FED RPC FROM AMERICAN NUTRITION 04/26/07
The below article from today’s news pretty much confirms American Nutrition in Utah is the remaining unnamed “pet food maker” who purchased potentially tainted RPC from Wilbur-Ellis. The five pet food makers Wilbur-Ellis sold the melamine-laced Chinese RPC to are 1) Diamond Pet Foods, makers of Natural Balance dry foods (plant in MO), 2) Chenango Valley Pet Foods, makers of Drs. Foster & Smith and SmartPac/LiveSmart (plant in NY), 3) Royal Canin, plant in MO, 4) C.J. Foods, makers of Blue Buffalo dry foods (plant in KS) and 5) American Nutrition, makers of Blue Buffalo and Natural Balance wet foods. This story, however, is far from over, as Sen. Durbin contends there is a second supplier whom the FDA has yet to name which purportedly sold potentially adulterated Chinese RPC to several pet food makers, also as yet unnamed.
Comment by Linda — April 26, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Take a look at PetConnection’s spike in traffic on Alexa:
http://tinyurl.com/348hnl
Comment by Kat — April 26, 2007 @ 10:05 am
Well….I decided to actually take advantage of the e-mailing “Big Brother” with the e-mail addies that were so kindly provided earlier.
About 2 minutes later,I received an e-mail back from the WhiteHouse (btw…it would have taken longer than 2 minutes just to read my e-mail to them!)….anyways the reply was as such:
“ON behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions. Due to a large volume of e-mails received, The WhiteHouse cannot respond to every message.
Thank you again for taking the time to write.”
That was it folks!!! No name…nuttin’! I would be interested to know if anyone else e-mailed “The WhiteHouse”…and if so…the response!
Now, to be honest…I really didn’t expect much else….even so, I saved the draft of my letter before I sent it..and together with this informative reply…..should make for a great reading to put on a sign to carry during the march this weekend!…
Comment by Deanna — April 26, 2007 @ 10:18 am
Comment by Lynn — April 26, 2007 @ 9:44 am
Thanks, Lynn. I will. It just seemed odd. Maybe I need to hug my computer today.
Comment by Nadine Long — April 26, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Today I received a message from Senator Mikulski with a “cut and pasted” response concerning a subject that was totally unrelated to my two recent emails. This reply which showed her staff didn’t read my email took about a week for them to send.
It’s time to clean house in 2008.
Comment by Larry — April 26, 2007 @ 10:39 am
P.S. What makes me think it’s server load is someone in the other comment thread saying some comments don’t show up until others are posted. That sounds like a crashed process to me.
Comment by Katherine — April 26, 2007 @ 10:42 am
To the folks at petconnection.com and Black Dog:
Thank you!
Thank you so much for giving us this place to read and learn, to let off steam and to mourn; thank you for the compassion and hard work that you do!
:)
Comment by MaKo — April 26, 2007 @ 11:29 am