Massive amounts of comment spam coming in right now - several thousand a minute. Busy upgrading Fluffy's armament. Back soon.

Ugh. Seriously ugh. We're talking over a hundred comments a second here.

Update: New super doom-Fluffy installed. We'll see how we go with that.

Update update: 75,000 80,000 85,000 spams from a single source in under 90 minutes. It would have been more than that except that the server ground to a halt under the load. It's sped up significantly now that it's all being blocked immediately.

Update update update: Out of 90,000 95,000 spams, four actually got through. Congrats to Ted, Linda, Daniel and Lawren, who won the prize.

Update^4: 100,000! It's now 104 minutes since the flood started

Update^5: Looks like it's leveled off at a steady 1500 spams a minute. I wonder how long they'll keep up this futile exercise?

Update^6: Just past the two hour mark and it seems to have stopped. 123,111 spam attempts, four of which got through, for a success rate of 0.00324%. I shall now delete those four spams... And done.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:50 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Okay, it's getting towards Carnival time, and what do I find in my inbox?

Three entries.

Three.

Okay, I can procrastinate with the best of them, but this time tomorrow I want to see that inbox overflowing with bloggy goodness! I want a smorgasbord, nay, a veritable cornucopia of commentary with which to bedizen the front page of MuNu!

Did I mention that the neatest correct entry wins a prize? I should probably set up a poll for that. But I need entries first! Input! More input!

Update: Thanks guys. Six entries now. That's six people who won't get poked with the pointy stick.

Update: Oh, yeah. Send your best entry from the past month (or so) to carnival -at- mu.nu. You know it makes sense!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:11 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 Is the prize M&Ms?

Posted by: Susie @ at October 27, 2005 10:55 PM

2 how about a prize for the first submissions

Posted by: caltechgirl @ at October 28, 2005 12:00 AM

3 I was thinking more along the lines of a munu t-shirt.

And the first submission was Ensie... A year ago.

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 28, 2005 12:05 AM

4 note i said submissions

Posted by: caltechgirl @ at October 28, 2005 04:51 AM

5 yea... there is nothing neat or correct about any of my posts.

However if you are going for incorrect spelling and grammer, I might win.

Posted by: Contagion @ at October 28, 2005 08:57 PM

6 Hello?

Anybody here? Is there supposed to be a carnival going on this weekend? Am I in the wrong place? Did I miss the #%^&# thing?

Hello?

*sigh*

Posted by: Dave @ at October 30, 2005 03:15 AM

7 CARNIVAL DELAYED DUE TO SPAM STOP DO NOT CHANGE CHANNEL STOP CARNIVAL WILL BE STARTING SOON

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 30, 2005 05:53 AM

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Tim Worstall has put together the Wikablog. I'll let them describe the idea:

Here at Wikablog, you can, in just a couple of minutes, create a page about your blog or someone else's with a few words saying what it's about. Then other people can add to it. And you can add links to other similar blogs, and talk about the blog's history, and recount the tale of the great Himalayan Blog Controversy of 2002, and whatever else you like. Soon enough, any blog can have a detailed page on here, telling us all everything we could ever need to know about it short of bothering to read it. If you still can't imagine how valuable this service is, slap yourself.

What are you waiting for? Go check out Wikablog and edit or start a page today. Then spread the word.

(OK Tim, where's my cheque?)

Posted by: Simon at 03:20 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Don't forget to send in your entries to the Second Inaugural Carnival. Just email the link to your favourite recent* post to carnival -at- mu.nu. Entries close 9am GMT each Friday. Neatest correct entry wins a prize. In case of a draw, the judges will divide the prize among them and eat it.

Be there or be a regular quadrilateral!

* Recent would normally mean the past week, but for this Second Inaugural Carnival, any time in October is fine.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:00 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 I haven't had any good posts in October--I don't even have a "best of the worst" to offer. Just call me "cube"....

Posted by: Susie @ at October 25, 2005 03:56 PM

2 Don't know if this is where I send my submission but here's a link to mine, it's short and sweet.

Sorry it wasn't in earlier, I had to go out and buy and replace my internal modem. Only took me 3.5 hrs.

http://lettersfromnyc.mu.nu/archives/125438.php

Thanks.

Posted by: michele @ at October 29, 2005 02:08 AM

3 Thanks michele! I'm just doing the Carnival post now, so you made it in time.

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 29, 2005 02:14 AM

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Munuviana, that is just http://munuviana.mu.nu, is worth some dough:

Posted by: Daniel at 04:19 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

OK, I want to show the category that's assigned to a post in the "posted by" line. I found a prior query about this here. This post links to the code to be used which is here.

My problem is I don't know exactly where to paste the code. Anyone?

Posted by: Gary at 12:38 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

So I left trackbacks turned off for a few hours, and just now I went and turned them back on.

Fluffy immediately turned them off again.

So I said, no, Fluffy, I want trackbacks on.

And I turned them on.

And we were instantly buried in spam. We got over 100 trackbacks in the next couple of seconds. Splat.

Trackbacks are off again.

Moral of the story: Listen to Fluffy.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:17 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Getting absolutely blasted with trackback spam right now, so I've turned them off for a couple of hours.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:49 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hopefully Pixy won't get too grumpy with me for promoting something to do with Technorati. I've been using Technorati Tags for a while, but it's a royal pain to put them in my entries manually. So, I cooked up a cool way to do it automagically, using Movable Type Keywords and some PHP. If you want to do the same thing on your blog, check out my How To.

Posted by: EricC at 02:49 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Just wondering what the Australians among us thought of this:

* Thou shalt not dob in thy mates
* Thou shalt not bung on an act.
* Thou shalt not be a tall poppy
* Thou shalt give everyone a fair go
* Thou shalt be fair dinkum

Translating these into standard English yields APPROXIMATELY the following:

* You must not incriminate your friends to the boss, the police or anyone else. Loyalty to your associates is all-important.
* You must not be ostentatious or pretend to be what you are not.
* You must treat others as your equals. If you are seen as being better than others in anything but sport you will be made to suffer for it.
* You must be fair and permissive in your treatment of others.
* You must not be insincere or dishonest.

Posted by: David Boxenhorn at 09:19 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Roll up! Roll up! The Carnival of the Munuvians is open for business!

I'm still de-borifying the templates, but the 2nd Inaugural Carnival of the Munuvians will go live Friday October 28th. And will (touch wood) re-appear ever Friday thereafter.

Want to be a part of the festivities? Send a link to your best recent post (for the inaugural Carnival, any time in October is good) to carnival -at- mu.nu. Got two really good posts and can't choose? Send 'em both.

If you have a really hot post and you'd like to spread the word, send an email to features -at- mu.nu, and our features editor* will include it in the daily roundup (or if it's really hot, give it its own space on the front page).

Questions? Send those to questions -at- carnival.mu.nu, or post them right here.

You can see an example of a feature item right here, on the front page of mu.nu itself. Yes, your own posts can get this sort of attention! Dozens Hundreds of readers every day!

Join in! Pixy says so!

* Me.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:36 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

So, Mudville Gazette (an MT blog also) does this nifty thing called Open Trackbacks. You send them a trackback ping and it is automagically displayed in the entry. See this post for an example. I can figure out how to do this on every single post, but not on just one post.

Come on guys, there's got to be a thingy for this, I just can't find it!

Posted by: EricC at 06:21 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

To run the Carnival of the Munuvians. Apply within.

I worked out how to automagically make posts from Movable Type show up on the munu portal*, so it's high time we revived this. The first attempt at it didn't get very far, mainly because... I didn't do anything. So this time I'm looking for scapegoats volunteers.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to ferret out the bestest posts from right across Munuvia. I think a weekly Carnival will be the main attraction, but you'll also be able to pop individual posts up on Page One for 24 hours to give them a bit of infamy attention.

Who's with me?

Update: You'll see, if you go to the MuNu portal that I actually have this working. Leave a comment on the blog and watch the portal automatically update to reflect it! All done by the miracle of symbolic links!

The Carnival blog obviously needs some work, but I should be able to kick it into shape over the weekend. I'm thinking of making it look just like the portal. Or maybe not.

I also need to make trackback autodiscovery work when you link to the portal. Or... Actually, it probably does already. Let me try: Ping!

Hokay, autodiscovery works, now I just have to sort out the little problem with Fluffy blocking internal trackbackery. And make the Carnival blog look less like a piece of crap than it currently does.

* It's a bit round-about, but it does work.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:22 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 So basicly you're looking for somebody who has a lot of time to read Munuvians, and bookmark the good stuff for the Carnival. Sounds like it might work best with a rotating "host" (although the BOMS seems to thrive with only one person assembling it--but he just posts the, um, posts, rather than searching for them, too.)

This sounds complicated.....

Posted by: Susie @ at October 21, 2005 04:45 PM

2 rotating host is a good idea. Seems to work for most of the various carnivals....

Posted by: caltechgirl @ at October 21, 2005 05:56 PM

3 Yep, rotating hosts - except that it will run at the Carnival blog instead of at your blog, because it needs to do the cross-posty thing to the portal. Or you could post it to both blogs, if you like.

Also, people can do one-off posts at the Carnival to highlight something special mid-week.

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 21, 2005 06:37 PM

4 So, yeah. Rotating hosts for the weekly roundup, plus an elite editorial team for the everyday.

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 21, 2005 06:38 PM

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I've fixed the "New on MuNu" section here on Munuviana. It choked on someone's post, so I fixed it so that it spits out "bad" posts and keeps going.

I've also added a section on the front page that lists the last 25 posts made on MuNu. At least, for the MT 2.6 bloggers, which is most of us. Doesn't work (yet) for MT 3, doesn't work (at all) for Wordpress.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:39 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Kei.mu.nu and Yuri.mu.nu are coming to save us!

I'm tentatively scheduling the move for 5th November, but I'll post updates here once I have the new servers up and running.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:18 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

I've been looking around for some time for the right platform to take MuNu to the next level. I haven't found it yet, but following last night's server burp, it's clear I have to do something.

We'll be moving from a single server to a cluster (multiple servers networked together). It's easier and cheaper to run everything on one server, but if it goes down it takes everything with it - as we've seen one too many times.

Our current server is:

Dual Xeon 2.4GHz
2GB memory (originally 1GB, but I bought an extra gig for it)
2 200GB disks, mirrored
1500GB bandwidth
$229 per month (plus $300 once-off for the extra memory, and $199 setup)

Athlon 64 3200+
1GB memory
80GB disk
1200GB bandwidth
$149 per month, no setup

Pentium D (dual core) 2.8GHz
1GB memory
160GB disk
1200GB bandwidth

We'll be getting two of these. One will run Movable Type 2.6; the other will run the database server, MT 3, and the various forums. This should help a lot with the performance problems we get when we get spamflooded. I may be able to split MT 2.6 into two halves, but that will take a bit of fiddling.

We'll still have CPanel and Fantastico (or should I say we'll have Fantastico again, as it has currently disabled itself). I'll be ordering the servers today, and we should be moving in about two weeks. I'll let you know the exact date and time closer to, um, the exact date and time.

During the move, which will take a few hours, blogging and comments will be disabled, although people will still be able to read your blogs.

Over time I'll b setting up replication on both the database and the static files, so that if one server dies everything will automatically switch over to the other. Again, that takes a bit of work, but we can't do it at all with just one server.

The cost... Works out basically the same. We actually have a backup server as well as the main server, but it only gets used for backups. The total cost of the current setup is actually slightly more than the new setup, but once I've added some options the new setup will work out slightly more.

Update: Oops, I forgot that the new company charges an extra $20 per server for the clustering. Our current host charges $25 plus $10 per server; there's another company that does it for free but we won't be going there for other reasons. Damn, there goes my M&M fund.

Update: Sent off an email to the new hosting company. I might also pop for 2GB of memory and a second disk in one of the servers depending on how the final quote comes back.

Update: I've put in an RFQ with our current hosting company as well. They offer a P4 3.6 at that price (but with a $99 setup), and a Pentium D 2.8 would actually cost them less, so I thought I'd ask.

Update: Got the quotes back. Looks like we're headed for Joisey (that's where the new hosting company is). I'll be placing the order today.

Update: Order placed, payment arranged (hosting companies can be fussy about this - I expect there's a fair bit of fraud going on). With a bit of luck I'll get the servers today. Whee!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:07 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 And we can help pay for this how????

Posted by: Simon @ at October 20, 2005 02:12 AM

2 I second that, Simon.

Posted by: kyer @ at October 20, 2005 02:25 AM

3 By blogging.

The plan is that the new MuNu portal (once I get it working) will have advertising. Probably Blogads, possibly something else. By having lots of happy MuNu bloggers, and building a useful portal that links to all the latest and greatest posts (and has forums and all that stuff), I should be able to drive enough traffic to the portal site to pay for the servers.

(Consider that MuNu is already significantly bigger than Instapundit, and I only need to make 2% of his Blogad revenue to pay for the servers.)

Oh, and link to the portal when it goes live.

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 20, 2005 03:01 AM

4 I'm all for it.

By the way, I think we should develop an enemy. Glenn isn't that good because of the whole history behind the blogwar thing, but I really think that the Rome that is MU.NU could use a Carthage...

Posted by: Daniel @ at October 20, 2005 03:56 AM

5 I can do links. I can do 'em by the bucketful. Javascript is a beautiful thing.

Oh. You want them to go somewhere and be useful?

Sheesh, make my life tough, why don't you.

Of course I'd love to help with the blogads, and Daniel's declaration of war on Carthage too. Not sure how declaring war on a city-state that was destroyed 2000 years ago helps Munuvia be stable, but I'm all for it anyhow!

Posted by: Eric @ at October 20, 2005 07:09 AM

6 The munu portal is a good one and it's great that will hopefully pay the bills. BUT I owe you about 1.5 years worth of hosting already, so consider any potential monies as a payment for accumulated arrears (that lunch and beer at Circular Quay doesn't count!).

Paypal button now please! Think of the super-quadrillion giga-whatever googleplaster you could get with the extra money. Munu would become not just fail-safe, not just bigger than the Instapuppy, but the blogopshere itself, which has always been the goal.

Then I'm with Daniel - let's get Carthage. Never liked the place.

Posted by: Simon @ at October 20, 2005 07:37 AM

7 Oh, I dunno. I met this girl once in Carthage...

(since annika insists on referring to me as "the elder statesman")

Posted by: Ted @ at October 20, 2005 11:17 AM

8 The dual core setup is the way to go. We just had a new box built up with a 3.2GHz dual core setup. The increased bus speeds and faster RAM are a joke compared to the older technology. Good choice. BTW, I know you are using MT, but there is a thing called Spam Karma for WordPress blogs that kicks ass. You might want to see if you can get that ported over.

Posted by: Jason @ at October 20, 2005 07:28 PM

9 Malkin. Malkin is our Carthage.

Arise O Men Of The West!

If not her, how about Kos?

And I am a happy mu.nu blogger.

Posted by: Vinnie @ at October 21, 2005 05:27 AM

10 Malkin == Carthage? Or Kos + Malkin == Carthage? Now, that's a scary thought. Maybe we can work in Atrios somewhere too.

Posted by: Eric @ at October 21, 2005 06:46 AM

11 Down with Carthage!

Thanks, Pixy, and us technical folk are appropriately jealous of all your updates and server-talk!

Posted by: Ogre @ at October 21, 2005 11:33 PM

12 I've got a better idea, let's waylay Rusty while he's off writing his book.

I'll be the inside spy...

We could even have a nice graphic for "Blogs Against Star Wars Characters!"

Posted by: Vinnie @ at October 22, 2005 06:14 AM

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And everything was going so well...

What really annoys me is that we got spammed while the server was down.*

* The server was actually stuck in an almost-but-not-quite-down state. Normal people couldn't get in, but the spammers are so persistent that some of them managed to get through. Aaargh.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:18 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Bah.

The server froze. No errors, it just froze.

I'm ordering new servers today.

Oh, and both of my ADSL lines* were down this morning, so I had to run around fixing things before I could even start running around fixing things.

I think I'll go back to bed now.

* Yeah, I know that's redundant.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 12:18 AM | Comments (32) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Why does this post hate me?

There is something in it (and I can't quite isolate what it is) that screws up anything I've had centered in a post. I figured out it was this post because I re-saved each of my latest posts as a draft so I could figure out which one was the culprit.

It makes the post (above it) about William Wallace go from centered to left, and it makes the post several posts below it about my engagement with the ring image shift left, as well.

What's the dilly-yo?

Posted by: Kyer at 05:58 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

1 It looks fine on my screen. Are you using IE? Sometimes that does weird shifting things.....

Posted by: caltechgirl @ at October 19, 2005 07:53 PM

2 Grr... you know what? It may very well be IE... I mean, IE at work? Er..

At my workplace, it is slighted to the left, but using IE on (a) computer at home (Firefox and Opera are on the laptop which is not in my possession right now so I can't check those) --- it IS centered.

Just another one of those stupid IE quirks, I guess.

Thanks for the browser check, CTG.

Posted by: kyer @ at October 20, 2005 02:30 AM

3 IE is evil!

Posted by: Pixy Misa @ at October 20, 2005 02:39 AM

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OK, I'm sure you've probably answered this before, but I can't find it.

I have spam. Old spam. It's there, I can plainly see it on old posts. I have since closed comments on 21-day-old posts, and I have entered the names and addresses into Blacklist, but still it won't go away. I have tried to de-spam the last 20,000 comments, but it says I only have authority over 77. How do I get rid of the old spams?

Thank you...Sarah

Posted by: Sarah at 09:54 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)