Wooot the Pen is back better than ever - Cheers to Hammo! Get him a beer!!

[ism22]

I was suffering chills and cold sweats and shyte... it was pretty hectic being without the Pen for ~3 days. It made me realise how garbage the discussions on things like Reddit and Whingepool are in comparison.

Up the Pen!!! Cheers goes out to Hammo for keeping it alive in an age of garbage, reactionary social media. It's a rose amongst the thorns having a good old fashioned fan forum to rely on!

[zac]

Yeah, thanks to the great work the admins do.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Err...Yeah, but why does the damn thing crash so often?

[The Skeez]

Err...Yeah, but why does the damn thing crash so often?

I think that’s what he was fixing Coat

[ism22]

I think that’s what he was fixing Coat

Yeah guessing basically:
- After 10+ years of heavy usage the database needed a clean-up and the code needed an upgrade.
- Add to this, there's probably been a bunch of spam bots and hackers fukking with it over the years (which can be a real fukker - I've started over again with some smaller sites as a result of that coz it was simply too hard to fix stuff).
- Hammo's single handedly pulled off some magic to do this all himself without and data loss (which was probably a biatch).

Also I notice the text entry fields work much better on my mobile now, so I'll be able to punch out my rants more quickly. You can be the judge of whether that's good or bad

[OMR]

Thank you for giving us the Pen, I was lost without it .

[Mad_Rabid_Rooster]

It is great that it is back. It can become quite addictive! It is good to have somewhere to talk about the Roosters during (what is shaping up to be) a long off season.

[Mad_Rabid_Rooster]

Just one thing - the 'like' button doesn't seem to be working. It could just be my terminal, I suppose, but I thought I would mention it.

[ism22]

Just one thing - the 'like' button doesn't seem to be working. It could just be my terminal, I suppose, but I thought I would mention it.

I just liked your comment.

Edit: Oh good. I haven't been banned from a subreddit for 'vote whoreing/manipulation'. Aaah bliss!

[Easts to Win]

Miss you guys. Glad the pen is back up and running.

[Chris]

Yeah guessing basically:
- After 10+ years of heavy usage the database needed a clean-up and the code needed an upgrade.
- Add to this, there's probably been a bunch of spam bots and hackers fukking with it over the years (which can be a real fukker - I've started over again with some smaller sites as a result of that coz it was simply too hard to fix stuff).
- Hammo's single handedly pulled off some magic to do this all himself without and data loss (which was probably a biatch).

Also I notice the text entry fields work much better on my mobile now, so I'll be able to punch out my rants more quickly. You can be the judge of whether that's good or bad

Just to elaborate on this -

• Year on year I've had to increase our Bandwidth limitations with the host, because we continue to exceed previous years bandwidth caps. Which is great, means more traffic to the site, but it costs more to run. The ads mostly take care of it though, so while I hate having them, they actually, genuinely fund the existence of the site. I've also just recently reduced their frequency slightly, so you should see them a little bit less.
• The database is 11 (or 12 years old now?) and while I have always tried to maintain it, backed it up and keep it stable.. it ran into some hiccups a few months ago which required a bit more work to PROPERLY fix (this has been done now), but the temporary band-aid solution was me having to manually repair a whole heap of tables during the season because I wasn't prepared to take the site down during the finals period. It was time consuming.
• I have definitely had to deal with my fair share of spam bots and the occasional hacker.
• Fun Fact: I've also had to deal with lawyers representing certain people in the industry who have seen comments here made about the people they represent and demanded I take them down because it can be labelled as defamation.

I put in the effort because there's a lot of extremely passionate supporters about the club that deserve a good place to communicate and chat about the team. It also helps that the club itself is exceptional. Two premierships in a row, who would have thought?

[Thirteen]

Just to elaborate on this -

• Year on year I've had to increase our Bandwidth limitations with the host, because we continue to exceed previous years bandwidth caps. Which is great, means more traffic to the site, but it costs more to run. The ads mostly take care of it though, so while I hate having them, they actually, genuinely fund the existence of the site.
• The database is 11 (or 12 years old now?) and while I have always tried to maintain it, backed it up and keep it stable.. it ran into some hiccups a few months ago which required a bit more work to PROPERLY fix (this has been done now), but the temporary band-aid solution was me having to manually repair a whole heap of tables during the season because I wasn't prepared to take the site down during the finals period. It was time consuming.
• I have definitely had to deal with my fair share of spam bots and the occasional hacker.
• Fun Fact: I've also had to deal with lawyers representing certain people in the industry who have seen comments here made about the people they represent and demanded I take them down because it can be labelled as defamation.

I put in the effort because there's a lot of extremely passionate supporters about the club that deserve a good place to communicate and chat about the team. It also helps that the club itself is exceptional. Two premierships in a row, who would have thought?

Wow Chris so impressive what you do. I really appreciate having this forum to discuss all things Roosters.

I would happily help fund the forum. Maybe you could let us know the cost involved and anyone who wanted to could transfer what they can to help you out. A Go Fund Me page maybe? It’s a wonderful forum and a few dollars from anyone who is in a position to give would go a long way. I don’t think Chris should have to finance this forum alone. Anyone else willing to contribute?

[Bruce Pickett]

Thanks for keeping this up.
I also like that its still titled the Cronkpen.

[Bruce 38-0]

One small thing - on the banner it stills says 2018 Premiers. Can we please add in 2019 as well please.

[milanja]

Wow Chris so impressive what you do. I really appreciate having this forum to discuss all things Roosters.

I would happily help fund the forum. Maybe you could let us know the cost involved and anyone who wanted to could transfer what they can to help you out. A Go Fund Me page maybe? It’s a wonderful forum and a few dollars from anyone who is in a position to give would go a long way. I don’t think Chris should have to finance this forum alone. Anyone else willing to contribute?

I’m sure there would be plenty if need be.

other forums are ok while this one is down, but always nice to come home.