Village University - I messed up big time!

[Travis]

My heart just sank.  I was doing some maintenance on the website and I thought I was removing a test area.  Instead, I ended up deleting the whole school.  The whole thing is gone.  And to make it worse, I just sent out a newsletter promoting the classes, too.

I feel sick.  

I have the class content still, but I have to rebuild the whole University from scratch.  Those that were enrolled will have to re-enroll again if they want to check it out.  All of the comments are gone forever, though.

I think I'm going to go on a walk, then I'll get back to rebuilding it.  I'm really sorry you guys.  Never turn your back on technology. 

 

[Travis]

I have all of the content available, still.  So that's good news.  I just have to rebuild everything from scratch.  

The written tutorials will take some time.  The videos are still available on YouTube.  You can check them out here in the meantime:

• Making Scroll Saw Patterns with Inkscape
• Creating Scroll Saw Portrait Patterns with GIMP

[barb.j.enders]

Oh Travis.... so sorry to hear.  I am always concerned about hitting the wrong key.  As a former boss said, "at least you did kill someone. This too can be fixed!!"

[Dan]

Bummer...but it sounds like you have it under control. 

[heppnerguy]

I purchased your CD's years ago and still have them. I guess you do, also. At least that part is good

Dick

heppnerguy

[new2woodwrk]

Something is wrong in the world - you're not the only one having this kind of terrible luck

I feel for ya!

[Travis]

OK...I have the written instructions restored.  I'm glad I had some copies so I didn't have to re-invent the wheel.  They need a bit of help, so I'll polish them up over the next few days to make them look nice.  Unfortunately, the comments are gone.  If you enrolled in the class previously, you'll have to re-enroll to gain access to the lessons.

/sigh

 

[wombatie]

It happens to the best of us, that's not counting me where it happens all the time.    We have every faith in you Travis. 

Marg

[Fab4]

Hi Travis:
"IT" happens to all of us in one form or another
Take Care
Fab4
 

[Foxfold]

Oh Travis, my heart went out to you when I read this.   It's gut wrenching when something like this happens.  Take your time and don't panic do a little bit at a time when you feel up to it. All in the Village are behind you and will wait patiently I'm sure.   

[BadBob]

Backup, Backup, Backup!

I am sympathetic. I've been there, done that, and watched many other people go through it.

In 35 years of working with computers and disaster recovery, I have heard this sort of story repeatedly.  

If it is important to you, back it up. My business and photos get backed up off-site as soon as I make a change. They get backed up to a system that does versioning. If I change a document it now has two versions that are both offsite.

If your backup isn't offsite, you don't have a backup.

If you haven't successfully restored a backup, you don't have a backup.

Backups are a thankless boring job that no one cares about until disaster strikes. Suddenly, the guy with the backups becomes the most important person in the room.

Monitor your backups. I have been given a stack of tapes to restore when a server failed to discover that all the tapes were blank. They had been changing the tapes every day, but no one had monitored the be sure the scheduled backup was running.

[WayneMahler]

SO sorry to hear about this. Things do happen and not always good. Glad to see your making progress although it has to be heart wrenching to have to re-do the school. I'm sure I speak for others when I say thank you for all the work you do here at the village. Patience and perseverance will pay off.

 

[Bill WIlson]

Travis, I sympathize with you in your dilemma.  We've all had that sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach, when we suddenly realize we've goofed on something important.  Just be reassured that the work you do for the scrolling community is very much appreciated.  You've made this website a fantastic resource and I'm sure folks will be patient.  

Good luck with the repair job.

[OCtoolguy]

You will never know how much your work is appeciated. Thank you.

 

[Terra]

I am so sorry!  I have been watching your tutorials and so grateful to you sharing your knowledge in such an easy to understand way.  Thank you

[rdatelle]

Travis, we would be lost without you. You know the old saying. **** HAPPENS> Hang in there. As far as anyone having to re enroll no big deal.,

[Jim McDonald]

Just looked, my keyboard is missing the undelete key as well.  

Go soothe yourself with a rib eye and an adult beverage. You deserve it.

[meflick]

Travis, so sorry to hear. Does your web server not do backups of the files stored there just in case they have a problem? 

[OCtoolguy]

I am terrible about saving stuff to my desktop. It's so cluttered that I can't even see the desktop pic anymore. So a couple of weeks ago, I created a folder called "misc. desktop stuff" and put everything in it that I didn't need to see on a daily basis. Well, somehow that folder got put into the trash can. I have no idea how. But, it did. And then sometime later, I did a CCleaner job on my computer and I guess it emptied the trash. I have searched high and low for that folder but it seems to be gone. I can only surmise that it got trashed. So, as RDTelle put it, ****happens!

 

[spirithorse]

Sorry to hear you have to go through so much work now, Travis,
God Bless! Spirithorse

[Travis]

I do website backups about once a month or so.  That's mostly for disaster recovery.  I didn't delete files, per se.  They're more database records.  All of the content on this website is stored in databases, which are kinda formatted like an Excel spreadsheet.  Basically, I deleted the records from the database.  It is a possibility to try to restore certain tables within the database, but that's waaaaay above my pay grade.  The sheer number of tables that holds all that information gets super confusing very quickly.  I know just enough to be dangerous, which I guess is part of the problem...LOL.

I still have the content from other sources, so I was able to rebuild it.  It will just take a bit of time to polish it up.  It's especially embarrassing because I sent out a newsletter promoting the classes just 30 min prior.  The links in the email don't go anywhere now.   So folks that tried to follow got to a dead end.

[don watson]

You will get there Travis, I know what you feel like as I have done the same once or twice. My problems were minor compared to yours but I am sure you will make out ok.

[Fish]

They'll be even better when you get them done. Thanks for all you do.

[JustLarry]

You can do it.  Thanks for all that you do for the Village.

Larry

[Travis]

When it rains, it pours. 

I went in today to see if I can make things look a bit nicer, but the software isn't behaving properly.  Every time I try to update the lesson, it deletes it instead.  A few years back, I purchased software that manages courses like this.  Unfortunately, the development of the software was early access begin with.  The forum software has since updated, and the developers of the course software are not keeping up.  So while the Village University is functioning and folks can access the lessons, I'm going to try to figure out a new solution.  So expect some changes to Village University once I get things figured out. 

/sigh