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Here's an update on the status of the IRTC site:
The site is once again operational after a few days of being down. The
problem was that I was trying to install a new version of the software
for the site but a recent upgrade of the operating system left some
critical Unix commands not working. I couldn't proceed with the upgrade
until that was repaired.
I haven't yet opened the current round for voting. I need to submit
several entries that didn't make it in time because of server problems
on the last night of the round. I also want to do some more testing of
the voting process to make sure it's ready.
The last round exposed a serious bug in the voting process. As many of
you noticed, comments were clipped after the first line. I had put in
measures to make sure that the votes were all recorded along with the
comments. A combination of problems conspired to lose the original
comments. All I had left was the first line of each comment. I
sincerely apologize for this problem. It was a combination of CR/LF
translations on different operating systems along with a reboot of the
server and a third bug in the way the votes were loaded back into the
system that caused the problem. These problems have been fixed in the
current version of the software.
I now have a dilemma. The comments for the last round are frequently
useless and deceiving when only the first line is displayed. I have
several options:
1) Leave the comments as they are
2) Delete the comments completely for that round
3) Add software to allow users go back and edit or re-enter the
comments for that round.
Your opinions on the above options would be appreciated.
All this is coming at a time when I've become super busy with real life.
I'll be talking to Chris Cason to come up with a game plan for keeping
the site going smoothly even if I don't have time to work on it. For a
while, I had a second volunteer who was looking into problems, but he's
become busy as well. When we have a plan, we'll let you know.
For now, please give me a few more days before opening the round for
voting. I want to make sure it's working properly and that we won't
have a repeat of any of the previous problems.
Thanks and my apologies for the problems with the site.
David Buck
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