Mudcat is not pure, original programming. It's based on a software package called ColdFusion. ColdFusion is an interesting program. Every time somebody goes to the Forum Menu, ColdFusion takes information from the database of messages and creates a new Forum menu Web page. Since we have almost 1.5 million messages and over 80,000 threads, this can be a very complex process. On top of that process are all sorts of specifications and customizations - but it all boils down to ColdFusion, and the limitations of that program. We also have occasional hardware and connection issues that can freeze things up, but ColdFusion is the usual suspect when things go wrong. I suppose Max could upgrade or replace ColdFusion, but that involves an investment of a lot of time and money - and all the new bugs that come with adapting to new software.

When they encounter problems that make ColdFusion "hang," Max and Jeff have to devise workarounds. This, too, can be a complicated process. As I understand it, one of the shortcomings of ColdFusion is that it has a tendency to develop memory leaks that make the system freeze up. It wasn't so much of a problem when Max had a computer services company with a 24/7 staff available to reboot Mudcat whenever it froze, but he doesn't have that staff any more. So far, Clinton has not allocated funds for us to be able to employ a 24/7 staff. So, when it freezes, Mudcat stays frozen longer than it once did. There are times when Jeff can reboot Mudcat remotely, but that remote reboot doesn't work as well as we'd like it to. Since it's still in the experimental stage, Max and Jeff are the only ones who can reboot the system.

I'm not sure why the "back door" access continues to work when www.mudcat.org shuts down - I imagine it's because the backdoor doesn't handle cookies and chat and all the extra features connected with the cookie system.

So, that's more-or-less my understanding of what happens when it happens. Clinton, when are you going to come up with funding for staff for us? I suppose we could move Mudcat to some company that has 24/7 attendants, but that has other drawbacks. And somehow, I don't think Max wants to have a staff of Mudcat-watchers in his basement. That being the case, I guess it's best for us to learn to tolerate outages when they happen.

Max and Jeff are well aware of the problems. I talk with Jeff about this sort of stuff all the time. Most times when there's an outage, somebody will get up and post impatient or critical messages. Worse yet, they try to give advice. I can't imagine that sort of response makes Max and Jeff feel good about what they do.

-Joe Offer-