news

Happy October!

2008-10-06T16:14:22Z

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's taken me so long to write up a new entry for this month, I just didn't feel like doing it over the weekend! I hope everyone is well, up here in Vermont it's starting to get rather cold. We no longer keep the windows open at night.

It feels like just yesterday was the start of Spring, but here we are already in mid-fall! Halloween is this month, one of my most favorite holidays! Is anyone going to dress up this Halloween, if so what as?!

Scribbld stability has seemed to have returned to normal, I don't think we were down for more then 5 minutes if that during the month of September. We're still looking to get a couple new database and web servers, but that's pretty far off from happening.

As usual, thanks to everyone who has purchased a paid account or some extra icons for their account. We really appreciate any monetary donation (or if you've got servers we love donations of those too)!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun October!

September 2008 News

2008-09-10T15:13:01Z

Hi everyone,

It's been a crazy busy couple of weeks for us. I am sure those of you that go to school have been pretty busy too! Last month we were able to update the site to the most current codebase and in doing so we gained a couple new features. The biggest one that comes to mind is the ability to show the songs you've submitted to Last.fm in the Music box when you're updating your journals! Other fixes are mostly bug fixes and the likes.

We've also fixed the issue of having our internet connection (between our servers and our ISP) drop constantly. We went from being drop 8-10x per day to 0, which is fabulous!

I also wanted to thank everyone who is supporting the site through buying extras userpics for their account or upgrading their account to paid status! It's really very much appreciated and it definitely makes on want to build the best site for you!

I wish everyone a happy September, stay safe and have fun!

Happy August Everyone!

2008-08-03T18:30:32Z

Hey everyone!

First off I must apologize for the downtimes we've been having as of late. It seems to be a bit of a combination between my ISP and the power outages/storms. I've been trying to get the systems up as fast as I can, power permitting.

That said, some of you might have noticed that I've been trying out a couple chat/ chatroom options. I am not sure how I am going to do it, I might just setup a chat server and have a web page that links to it. That way we can have a main chatroom, but others can create their own chat room.

I'm also looking into moving cluster 2 on to the same server as cluster 1 for the time being and then I'll get at least one other server to host the web sites that are also on the server where cluster 2 sits.

Anyways, hit up scribbld_top5 and nominate your friends & communities!!

Stormy June Is Over

2008-07-01T19:50:17Z

Wow, what a crazy June, quite a lot of storms and of course we had to get hit pretty hard. We're getting close to the half-way point for obtaining a new database server. Any amount really helps whether you get a Paid Account or just donate some money!

Not sure about you all, but I've definitely been enjoying this nice weather, I hope you're all getting out and having a wonderful summer.

I've been working on a development server this past month so I can test out and hopefully implement new features into Scribbld. I hope you all enjoy whatever comes along (if anything)! One thing that I really hope to get working is captcha's to cut down on the spam accounts being created, but we'll see how that plays out.

I hope everyone has a lovely July!!

Happy June!

2008-06-01T12:40:04Z

Hey everyone, May went by really quickly for us, not sure about you all. I really can't believe it's June already! Happy Birthdays to you June kids!

There's not much to cover on the news front, we've been adding little tweaks into the code and stuff so it runs as smooth as possible. We are looking to purchase another 500GB hard drive so we can continue properly backing up our databases on a nightly schedule. We're quite close to filling up the 500GB RAID set we're currently using.

We've got the request up at scribbld_top5 for new top members and communities, so head on over there and nominate yourself, your friends and a community (pick 2 only, a user and a community)!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun June!!

Happy May!

2008-05-03T12:40:11Z

Hey everyone! We had a particularly good (and seeminly long) April. Thanks to everyone who bought a paid account or got themselves a couple (or even one) username! We did have a little blip in the system where the site became inaccessible for some users, but the issue has since been resolved!

We're looking to add a couple new features this month, but we'll see how much work can be done, since the weather is nice and all, and who wants to sit infront of a computer all day!

Win a Free 6 Month Paid Account
I believe yesterday or some day in the past week was green up day, if ANYONE did something, you're definitely eligable for a FREE 6 month paid account. Just send pictures (james.brancaccio@gmail.com) of you cleaning up. We've got 5 free paid accounts to give away, so go clean up a street or something! This will go as long as it takes to give away all 5 accounts!

scribbld_top5 is underway again. Sorry it took me a couple days to get it posted, been busy with other items on the to-do list. Go ahead and nominate yourself, your friends and your favorite communities to be featured on the Scribbld home page!

I believe that is all the news for right now, have a lovely May everyone!

It's April!

2008-04-01T12:23:16Z

Hey everyone!

First off thanks to everyone who is supporting the site by purchasing a paid account or usernames (usernames). There's still thousands of usernames that need homes!

So this month, we're going to work on getting the "worker" system up and running properly. You've probably noticed we've already started work on it (mentioned in system). Private messaging is all setup and it should be working. Please visit http://www.scribbld.net/inbox/ and test it out. Currently there should be no limits set because we all want you to try it out, test it, use it, enjoy it! Eventually we'll put limits on how many messages and subscriptions various account types can have.

As usual, we're holding our Scirbbld Top 5, so hurry and submit your top user and top community (only 1 of each!).

Have a lovely April everyone -- it's my birthday month -- *hint hint*!! :)

Happy March!

2008-03-03T14:34:33Z

We'll here in Vermont we still have like 3-4ft of snow on the ground and it looks like there more coming. I hope where you all are, it's warmer!

Last month we managed to complete a couple of the to-dos on our list. We added the ability for people to preview icons instead of simply selecting it form a drop down list. This is available right now to people with Paid, Permanent, Special Donator, and Early Adopter accounts. It's a really neat feature!

We also installed a new Cisco 2924 switch so things should run smoother between web and database servers.

We managed to squash a buncha bugs and we're working on squishing the rest! Thanks to everyone who reports them and to everyone who is helping out other users in our support section, it's much appreciated!

We were able to purchase the new switch because of you wonderful people and our usernames community. The sale is still going on, and you can expect it to for awhile. Go have a look at the list, I am sure there's something for everyone!! Further purchases will be used towards a UPS (battery backup) so that when the power does go out the servers should be able to stay online!

Being that it's a new month, we've got 10 new slots open for 5 users and 5 communities to be featured in our monthly top 5!! Hit up scribbld_top5 and vote/nominate now!!

Happy March everyone!

Thanks,

Scirbbld Staff

Scribbld Top 5

2008-02-11T02:02:03Z

Happy February everyone!

A new "feature" on Scribbld is the Top 5. Basically you can submit yourself, your friend, a random person or a community to be considered for the top 5. You can comment on the monthly posts in scribbld_top5 with your choice. We'll usually have a week for people to do this, at the end of the week we'll randomly pick 5 users and 5 communities and they'll have a link on the front page of Scribbld.net!

We also opened scribbldsuggest where users can suggest ideas to be implemented into Scribbld!

usernames is going to have another go, but this time each username is going to cost $4 USD. This is mostly to cover the amount of time and energy I put into making it work. Read the communities profile for the rules and stuff. Currently the list is huge so I am sure you can find a username you want :) That said, EVERYONE MUST VALIDATE BY THE 17th (February 17, 2008) if you don't want your username given away. There will be NO reclaiming, so PLEASE validate your journals if you haven't. If you're having issues with validation please submit a support ticket (although it should work fine)!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

New Account Types & More...

2008-01-26T02:17:08Z

Hello everyone,

I've added 3 new account types. I explained it in detail in system but briefly:

Anyone who donated and helped us get that new server is under the account type 'Special Early Donator', you didn't loose anything (userpics, styles...etc...) we just changed what you're called. Paid Account types are going to be used for anyone who wants to purchase one now, and we've created 2 new account types which include 100 or 200 userpics. We're still working on pricing but I should be done with it by the end of the weekend.

The new server is working wonderfully. I've not had to do reboots or go without sleep for multiple days because I am worried about them crashing. It's really working out wonderfully, so thanks to everyone who donated!

I am also working on getting rename tokens working, that too might be available by the end of the weekend.

If anyone knows a lot about how the S2 style system works, please leave a comment, especially if you know if it's possible for someone to create an S2 style and make it public so anyone can use it. Basically it would be neat to hold a contest and award the top 5 designs (or something) with Paid Accounts or some other nifty prize. So yeeeeah, let me know if you're an S2 guru!

New Server On The Way!

2008-01-15T01:55:09Z

Hey everyone!!

First, the user info style poll has come to an end. You the users voted most to just keep it the way it is, so that's how it's going to be. You can still link to the second style in your journals just link to http://www.scribbld.net/userinfo3.bml?user=your-username you can also use userinfo2.bml too! But as a default it'll be the same one we have running now.

Second, we're going try to run another username claiming on usernames around the end of the month but there are no guarentees it will happen. Our database has gotten very large so it's going to be a bit difficult. We're going to try to make it happen but no promises.

Lastly, we consulted with some uber geeks (and our good friends :) ) about the new server and they actually helped us build a better AND cheaper one. Here are the specs if you're interested (basically it includes double the RAM, 4GBs, and a cheaper barebones kit.

Shuttle SG33G5B Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Intel G33 Barebone with HDMI/HDCP/Dolby Digital Live! DTS/Vista ready - Retail - $294.99

Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7190A - OEM - $23.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $69.99

OCZ Vista Upgrade 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2VU8004GK - Retail - $90.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail - $274.99

Total w/ shipping: 774.42

So I'll be ordering it tomorrow and it should be here by the end of the week. We'll be running 2 dual-core machines and this new quad-core machine by the end of the weekend (probably sooner). Hopefully that'll keep us up and running. The next issue to tackle is bandwidth!

Thanks everyone who donated, it really is much appreciated! In the coming weeks we'll be changing over to a more traditional paid account (much like LiveJournals) and we'll be adding 2 new account types, both which include more user pics (100 & 500) without the extra bloat of the normal paid account. Prices are still in the works but we'll definitely post about it when the time comes!

Again, thank you for all your kind words and support!

And the winner is...

2008-01-11T11:30:37Z

Alright, I'll listen to you guys!! We're going to have a re-vote! I'll leave the 1st style out because it barely got any votes.

So it's between the current style and the second style.

View Poll: Scribbld User Profile Page Style

Donations & Vote Now!

2008-01-10T15:56:01Z

Heya people!

Great news, we're almost halfway there to getting a new server which is fabulous!! Thank you so much donators, you're the driving force behind Scribbld, and I know I've said this a million times, but I seriously appreciate it!!

Now for a poll! Vote for which design you think we should use for default user profile pages!

Page Style 1
Page Style 2

View Poll: User Info Page Style

Add system!

2008-01-07T19:33:09Z

Hi everyone,

I seem to update this journal more then my own (jimmy)! Ha. So yeah, everyone should add the system because I'm going to start logging and writing all system updates in there and when there's scheduled or unscheduled downtime it'll all be in there.

I'll use this news journal for more news like topics.

In other news we got some more donations today so thanks to the generous people who sent those in, we really appreciate it!

Not Getting a Validation Email?

2008-01-06T03:42:54Z

Hi everyone,

I believe starting around 10PM last night (1/4/2008) till about 10:37PM tonight (1/5/2008) we were having issues with the mail services. I've been working on it and it seems they've been fixed. For some odd reason it would only deliver mail locally so anyone (new users, people commenting, community invites, etc...) weren't getting out since you're not all local to the server (I'll try not to be too geeky here...).

Anyways, it should be fixed, I've run some tests and they've all proven successful! Yay. Let's hope it all works for you. If you didn't get your validation emails, just hit up this link. Please do let me know if you're still having troubles.

Alright, so we've gotten about $200 worth of donations, that puts us at about $250 (I've got some funds I can donate myself, yay!). Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, I really appreciate it! We're getting closer to that new server every day!!

Oh, and not to sound to much like a loser, but I am looking for some new friends, check out jimmy's profile, if you've got similar interests and stuff let me know!

Ok, over and out my little journalists!

Scribbld Going Invite Only For the Moment

2008-01-02T04:23:12Z

ANY JOURNAL NOT VALIDATED BY JANUARY 4, 2008 WILL BE "SOLD" on usernames AND CANNOT BE RE-CLAIMED BY THE OWNER!

Make sure you validate your journals!

Greetings,

Our poor web server and sometimes database server is having trouble keeping up with all the new users and accounts being created. I've had to turn on invite codes for the moment and while the invite system isn't working just right yet, we'll hopefully have it up and running sometime this week.

Currently we're looking to purchase a new server, a much beefier machine. Everything is going to be purchased from NewEgg. Here are the specs:

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail - $154.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $69.99

Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7190A - OEM - $24.99

Shuttle SG33G5M Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / Celeron 400 Intel G33 VFD remote control Barebone - Retail - $359.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail - $274.99

Unfortunately this costs $1000.00 and we have about $20.00. Any donations of any size are gladly accepted, we'll bump your account to paid status immediately. If you're interested in making a donation please let us know. We really want to be a nice journal server but the current server is already snapping under the load.

If you can think of any other ways to raise funds we're all ears!

Thanks everyone and Happy New Year!

Update: Wow, in the first 5 minutes there's already been a couple generous people willing to donate. I personally want to thank them and I really appreciate it. You people are a good group. I've setup donations through PayPal, just visit this link or click on the donate link on the sidebar.

Thank you so much everyone!

Update #2: Invite codes are now up and running. You may visit this page to generate some codes. Let me know how it works!

Thank you!

Scheduled Maintenance & Username Information

2007-12-27T10:56:44Z

We purchased a new hard drive to replace the one that failed in our backup RAID system. We'll be rebuilding the RAID set this morning from about 8:30AM to 2:00PM EST. It should go smooth and work fine, but you never know. Once completed we'll be able to continue to backup all journals and database information as usual.

There are still a ton of unclaimed usernames, so join usernames and get some today. Remember you may only request 10 per listing, and if your username appears on that list and you haven't verified it, anyone can grab it! Read the full rules in the communities profile. There's still 8 days left!

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Update: The RAID set has been completely rebuilt so we can now resume backing all journals and the rest of the database up. I do apologize that it took MUCH longer then I originally had expected.

Thanks much!

Deleting Unused Accounts

2007-12-20T17:11:27Z

People like to horde usernames which is stupid if you ask me. In 7 days from now, we'll be deleting those accounts that have not be activated. Currently there are 3000+ accounts sitting in that queue to be deleted. If you don't want the account deleted please activate it. Accounts that aren't updated can also be deleted so if you're not using a username just delete the account and let someone else who will use it, use it.

Once deleted you'll have 31 days to reclaim it and start using it. After that they will be completely purged from the system and the usernames should be able to be used by anyone else!

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!

Update: Actually we're going to have to do this a different way because the scripts I'm provided with aren't really going to do the trick. I'm going to have to create a script that will run each night and email me a list of names that have been deleted and have been for 15 days (I think 31 days is a bit long to wait for a username). It'll also email me a list of inactive accounts (inactive defined by a non-activated account). I'll keep a list of those usernames on the site so if you see a username you want, you can email me and we'll get it worked out.

Sorry for any confusion, don't pay attention to anything I wrote above :)

Alright, now I gotta go make that script!

Update #2: Scripts are made and running, we'll run them every 15 days to get new lists of deleted and unused accounts. Join usernames to see the lists and then leave a comment on up to 10 user names you would like. When 15 days have passed we'll let you have access to those accounts by emailing (we'll use the email in your profile) you a password to log in to them. If you do not log in and activate them within 48 hours you will loose access to them and they will go back on the market. There's currently a big list so have at it! First come first serve!

Unscheduled Downtime

2007-12-15T15:19:08Z

Hey everyone,

Sorry about that downtime we had for 6-7 hours. Apparently our ISP was having some trouble but the issue has now been resolved. I am thinking about making a status site somewhere, that way if you cannot reach Scribbld you can always check that to see what's up.

Thanks again and sorry about that!

Power Outage

2007-12-12T16:48:33Z

Hey everyone,

Had a bit of a power outage that lasted about 20-30 minutes this morning. Don't worry we didn't loose any data or anything.

I was working on getting the search function working and then it just all stopped working.

All the servers and services are back online and I am continuing to work on getting the search function working.

Update: I've updated the core code the site runs on, so that's why we had a bit of downtime this afternoon. It did fix a few issues but also brought some new ones. I fixed most of the major issues.

You'll also notice right away we're using one of the default themes the code ships with. It's terribly ugly so if anyone wants to create a new theme (you should probably know HTML/CSS and have some design skills, then please, HAVE AT IT! I probably won't get around to making something for a couple weeks. So if you're okay with this default theme, then excellent. I really don't care either way. It's the journals that have to look pretty right?

Alright, take care everyone!

A little news...

2007-12-11T17:34:04Z

Hi everyone,

First off, wow! I didn't actually think anyone would be using this website besides myself and my girlfriend. I don't even know how you all found Scribbld, but I'd love to know!

Alright, so I see there are bunch of support threads in the queue. A lot of them are related to verifying your account and not getting emails to do so. This morning I installed and updated the email service software (I am not sure how I missed it...) but it is installed. I also created a test account and I did get the verification email and was able to click the link and verify my test account. So if you still have to verify your account you should be able to resend that verification email and it should all work.

If it doesn't please let me know in the comments here or on the support section. Make sure to check your spam and junk mail folders too.

Second, I've upgraded most account types in some sort of way (although you're all early adopters at this point.

Currently:

New Users: 3 user pics, 3 styles and can use directory

Free Users: 5 user pics, 5 styles and can use directory

Early Adopters: 150 user pics, 30 styles, can use directory, can create rss feeds, will eventually be able to map their own domains to their journals, eventually get @scribbld.net email addresses forwarding, can make polls

Paid Users: 1000 user pics, 40 styles, can get @scribbld.net email address forwarding eventually, can do text messaging, can use directory, can create rss feeds, can use own domain on journal eventually

Permanent Accounts: 1500 user pics, 100 styles, can make polls, @Scribbld.net email address eventually, can map own domain to journal eventually, has access to directory, can create rss feeds

There seemed to be an issue in switching the theme on the site to the other option, lynx. I think there's a bug in that theme, but I've tossed up the other default themes, Opal Cat and Woais and I've tested them and they seem to work fine.

So hopefully that answers some questions for you. This site is not dead, I just did not expect anyone to use it. I am very happy that other people are!

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, PLEASE let me know via the comments on this post!

Thanks!