Teh Official "AW Will Be Down For Maintenance" Thread

MacAllister · May 7, 2015

So we’re going to have a short break in Absolute Write service from 9 am Saturday, May 9, to 9 pm, Sunday, May 10, Pacific Time.

We’re upgrading the software for the forums. It will be a little different, but mostly the same (only better!).

What you can do to help is, just in case, save a copy of your avatar. We expect the have them all lined up properly, but just in case, save your avatar.

While you wait for the forums to be back up, we suggest you write.

If you want to track our progress as we introduce new hamsters to our established server hamsters, you can hang out with us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AbsoluteWrite

and the Absolute Write Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/AbsoluteWrite/103771526334620?fref=ts

Here’s a page for Washington time: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_US-WA.aspx

ETA:

zanzjan said:
AW Chat will still be running. Instructions for connecting, if you wanna try it out in advance, are here. We do Word Wars, weekly writing challenges, occasional sentence workshopping, and the hungrier you are the more likely we are to be talking about food.

zanzjan · May 7, 2015

...sneaks in after Mac to mention that AW Chat will still be running. Instructions for connecting, if you wanna try it out in advance, are here. We do Word Wars, weekly writing challenges, occasional sentence workshopping, and the hungrier you are the more likely we are to be talking about food.

Helix · May 7, 2015

*sets clock to Pacific Time*

*buys new box of pens, a dozen notepads and a kilo of coffee beans*

Haggis · May 7, 2015

Two days. Well, damn. Of course I've always wanted to write that novel.

Helix · May 7, 2015

Haggis said:
Two days. Well, damn. Of course I've always wanted to write that novel.

Here. Have half of my beans. I can get some more in.

:e2coffee:

Maggie Maxwell · May 7, 2015

Practically the whole weekend... without y'all? *whimper**curls up into a ball and rocks* All weekend and no AW makes Maxwell a madgirl. All weekend and no AW makes Maxwell a madgirl. All weekend and no AW makes Maxwell a madgirl.

Haggis · May 7, 2015

Helix said:
Here. Have half of my beans. I can get some more in.

Wait. Did you just call me a moron?

Helix · May 7, 2015

Haggis said:
Wait. Did you just call me a moron?

Not a moron.

Blast. That doesn't work.

You win, Haggis. This time.

Haggis · May 7, 2015

Heh. I know you'll be back for more.

But not until next week. :evil

zanzjan · May 7, 2015

Oh, and assuming AW is still down at Flash Fiction Challenge time (9pm eastern, so 3 hrs before the maintenance window is up) I'll be handing out the prompt via chat. Instead of 90 minutes, you'll have from the time I give it to you until AW is back up, OR 90 minutes, whichever is longer

ebrillblaiddes · May 7, 2015

MacAllister said:
While you wait for the forums to be back up, we suggest you write.

You mean we should take advantage of the situation of having one less potential nonwriting thing to do? *gasp*

You know, if anyone wanted to divide up an outline among several people (like Atlanta Nights except maybe without being intentionally terrible), this would be perfect timing...

benbradley · May 7, 2015

<karl malden="" voice="">[Karl Malden voice]

What will I do? What will I do?

[/]
Maybe I should get a cat. I already have a vacuum cleaner.

zanzjan said:
Oh, and assuming AW is still down at Flash Fiction Challenge time (9pm eastern, so 3 hrs before the maintenance window is up) I'll be handing out the prompt via chat.

Chat? Oh, you mean that quaint old IRC thing.

ebrillblaiddes said:
You mean we should take advantage of the situation of having one less potential nonwriting thing to do? *gasp*

You know, if anyone wanted to divide up an outline among several people (like Atlanta Nights except maybe without being intentionally terrible), this would be perfect timing...

We can organize this on Twitter. Find me there in my sig. Remember, that's TWO underscores...</karl>

10trackers · May 8, 2015

benbradley said:
Chat? Oh, you mean that quaint old IRC thing.

Oh I say.

Come to chat, everybody. We have everything for your procrastination needs. Why, since I joined chat, I haven't gotten any writing done!*

*This is a lie.

robjvargas · May 8, 2015

You said it we could come here to whimper, so...

::whimper:: :gaah

Chase · May 8, 2015

Change isn't the long suit of most old guys.

Will there be counselors standing by?

Jaycinth · May 8, 2015

OOOOH! SHINEY! NEW! :fistpump

zanzjan · May 8, 2015

Chase said:
Change isn't the long suit of most old guys.

Will there be counselors standing by?

Eh, minor changes only. Users' keyboards will be automatically switched over to dvorak, quoted text will now be made more prominent with the "blink" tag force-enabled, and any time a user posts an excerpt in SYW containing more than three spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors -- or the word "moist" -- a bot will search their hard drive and delete the entire offending work.

Also, folks will only be allowed to have avatars based on characters who have died horribly in Game of Thrones. Fortunately we anticipate all 62,000 members should be able to pick a unique avatar from the available pool with plenty left over.

Maggie Maxwell · May 8, 2015

zanzjan said:
Also, folks will only be allowed to have avatars based on characters who have died horribly in Game of Thrones. Fortunately we anticipate all 62,000 members should be able to pick a unique avatar from the available pool with plenty left over.

Dibs on Dead Soldier #236. Y'all know the one. That's mine.

AW Admin · May 8, 2015

Chase said:
Change isn't the long suit of most old guys.

Will there be counselors standing by?

Once the hard haul is done, I'll be around.

We will attempt to retain the familiar. Most of the changes are "under the hood."

It will probably take us a day or two to get everything "proper" in terms of the appearance, but it really shouldn't be a whole lot different.

Kylabelle · May 8, 2015

zanzjan said:
Eh, minor changes only. Users' keyboards will be automatically switched over to dvorak, quoted text will now be made more prominent with the "blink" tag force-enabled, and any time a user posts an excerpt in SYW containing more than three spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors -- or the word "moist" -- a bot will search their hard drive and delete the entire offending work.

Also, folks will only be allowed to have avatars based on characters who have died horribly in Game of Thrones. Fortunately we anticipate all 62,000 members should be able to pick a unique avatar from the available pool with plenty left over.

Poets are, of course, exempt from all these rules and requirements.

zanzjan · May 8, 2015

Poets are, of course, being told they're exempt from the new rules and requirements.

:popcorn:

Haggis · May 8, 2015

Kylabelle said:
Poets are, of course, exempt from all these rules and requirements because their avatars will all be changed to a picture of Carl Sandburg.

FIFY

SaraP · May 8, 2015

Here's hoping everything goes off smoothly, and many thanks to Mac&Lisa for taking such great care of us. :Hug2:

Also wanted to echo what was said earlier about the chat room - our regulars are a great bunch of folks and I we always enjoy having new peeps in.

Kylabelle · May 8, 2015

zanzjan said:
Poets are, of course, being told they're exempt from the new rules and requirements.

traitor.

Haggis said:
FIFY

Carl's fine. Just don't use old Walt Whitman. He's unreliable. No telling what you'll let in the door riding in that beard.

BethS · May 8, 2015

I've been curious to know if there are regular downtimes built in. I've noticed lately that I often can't access AW during the mid- to late-morning hours. I get one of those "This page cannot be displayed" errors, although the internet is otherwise fine. My time zone is GMT +1, so that would mean the outtages are occuring in the early morning hours Pacific Time.

Teh Official "AW Will Be Down For Maintenance" Thread

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