Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?

Subject: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 02:57 PM

The statement 'the Mudcat is broken' appears on a recent post in the BS section. I have wondered about this, because my own recent attempts to post a lyric have resulted in error messages and failure.
It seems that the Mudcat is not altogether 'down' but there are areas which don't work the way they are meant to work?

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 03:07 PM

"Mudcat was broken
First thing this morning
Like it was broken sometime last week.
Praise to the Mudcat
Praise to Max Spiegel
Maybe the Mudcat needs a new tweak!"

Apologies to Cat Stevens/ Yusuf Islam

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 03:18 PM

Nigel,

you omitted Stevie Adams and his original Cypriot name. And the melody wasn't his it goes back before his time.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Felipa
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 04:41 PM

Keberoxu, I had that problem yesterday. The strangest thing was that sometimes I would get an "error" message and other times I would be returned to the homepage, without the discussions I was writing on being refreshed. I wrote on the Mudcat Facebook page about this difficulty on the Facebook page, and was told that the site couldn't handle linebreaks but that short one paragraph messages were getting through. That's a dire situation as it precludes posting lyrics. I'm glad to see that Max and co seem to have sorted this particular problem and that normal posting has resumed now.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Feb 23 - 04:41 PM

As I said in emails to a couple of Mudcatters:

Max is doing the biggest overhaul Mudcat has had since it started in 1996. There are 4.1 million messages in the Mudcat database, too many to convert all at once. So, there are some errors in Mudcat processes right now. We'll start a thread and announce it on the Mudcat Facebook page when the overhaul is completed and Mudcat is back in good health.

I'm rather proud to report that I'm the one who found the process that was stopping us from posting most messages. I reported it to Max and he deleted it, and the long Nick Dow post that was rejected ten times is now posted.. SRS and other moderators are also reporting their observations to Max, and Max is responding. It's like the old days, when Max had time to do this geeky stuff in conversation with us.

But yes, Mudcat has been "broken" since December 1. It has been limping along with duct-tape repairs since Max restored it December 15. He was waiting for time to do the major overhaul he'd been hoping to do for years, and he's in the process of doing that overhaul now. The Search is still not working, and it has never worked very well. There are other search engines described in the very first message of the Mudcat FAQ. If you use a combination of them (especially the Filter plus a CTRL-F page search of the results), you will have far better results that you have ever been able to have with our most visible search engine. I think Max could fix a lot simply by making that search engine less visible.

But other than the search engine, Mudcat seems to be chugging along quite nicely now. Be patient. Max isn't done yet. Mudcat is 25 years old. In dog years, that is downright ancient - and dog years and computer years are about the same. The 'Cat ain't a puppy (er, kitty) anymore.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Feb 23 - 01:42 AM

Joe, I believe the term you are looking for is minnow.

Thanks for the information.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Feb 23 - 10:03 AM

Just finished successfully posting a song lyric.
Thanks to all concerned for restoring the Mudcat today.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Feb 23 - 04:19 PM

goodonya, Max & Joe & everyone

25 years! & Mudcat has been an important part of my life since 2002!

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 23 - 04:31 PM

Many of us have grown old here. Even Max.... ;-)

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Feb 23 - 08:35 PM

Max especially. Maggie is still young and vibrant, Joe is...well, he's getting up there. Max has no hair anymore because he pulled it all out. Donate.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 22 Feb 23 - 04:57 AM

I think I've asked before, but is the main constraint Max's time or cash? Are donations needed badly, helpful, or not needed at present?

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Feb 23 - 06:21 AM

Hi, Richard. This overhaul is going to be expensive, so it's a good time for donations.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 10:32 AM

Couldn't get anything in "Search" today - getting a 500 error. But I will be patient!

I like Nigel's little song, but the hymn tune is "Bunessan" (a place on the Isle of Mull) and the original words for "Morning has broken" were by Eleanor Farjeon (1920s). Same tune used even earlier (early 19th Century) for a Christmas carol "Child in the Manger" - both long before Cat Stevens' version (1971)!

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 10:53 PM

Use the advanced search or any of several threads with search information that are out there.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'? 2023
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 06:51 AM

Tattie Bogle:

Yes, I was aware of Child in the Manger it appeared (<= link <= ) in Singing Together for Autumn Term 1949

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat will be down few hours -June 16, 2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 23 - 10:53 AM

Posted to offer a heads-up about a power outage at Max's house on Friday for a few hours. See the top post.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat will be down few hours -June 16, 2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jun 23 - 02:54 PM

Back to the top.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat will be down few hours -June 16, 2023
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Jun 23 - 08:18 PM

So this temporary power outage is going to happen tomorrow . . .

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat will be down few hours -June 16, 2023
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 23 - 11:36 PM

Yes. In the morning. Be ready for a short period of withdrawal . . .

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat will be down few hours -June 16, 2023
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Jun 23 - 05:44 AM

That's afternoon for us right-pondians.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Jun 23 - 12:56 PM

It's back, thread title restored.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jun 23 - 02:20 PM

I like this place as it is. I live in Cornwall where, in many places, there is a shite 3G or (alleged) 4G signal at best. Mudcat loads more readily in those conditions than almost any other website. Keep it just as it is, black and white, no photos, no emojis, say I!

(Though I wouldn't mind a one-minute edit window so that I can put in my missed apostrophes...)

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: cnd
Date: 02 Aug 23 - 06:53 PM

If memory serves, there was a better thread for this, but I can't for the life of me find it.

We seem to have returned to the problem where any post over a certain length fails to take. Shorter ones, like this, are fine, but longer ones, such as Lyr Adds, have been resulting (for me) in an error page.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 23 - 09:05 PM

Hi, cnd. I notified Max about this. I had the same problem.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 05:03 AM

Looks like it's fixed.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: cnd
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 08:44 AM

Thanks Joe, managed to get my post through this morning. Much appreciated.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 12:16 PM

Hi,
Just if it helps, If I'm going to post lyrics I 'compose' them in a Word document, and then do a copy/paste.
If it fails to take, or Mudcat goes down suddenly, then I don't need to re-type later, I can just re-copy from the original.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: DaveRo
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 03:36 PM

Or, if you use Firefox or Chrome on a PC, you can use my Mudcat Browser Tools addon:
Mudcat Browser Tools

If any post - even a short one - fails to land you can retrieve it with one click.

Plus other useful features, like automatically taking you to the next unread post in any thread.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 07:04 PM

If I need to find something I suspect Mudcat will have covered, and the site is not up...or even if it IS, I go to Google and type something like "Pete Seeger" Mudcat... or, if it is something I'm sure I have posted/commented on, I type something like Mudcat "Bill D" joke bird.

Once Google began monitoring Mudcat, the right search terms will find it.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 08:01 PM

Bill D wrote: If I need to find something I suspect Mudcat will have covered, and the site is not up...or even if it IS, I go to Google and type something like "Pete Seeger" Mudcat... or, if it is something I'm sure I have posted/commented on, I type something like Mudcat "Bill D" joke bird.

The general syntax for this is to type in the search bar (in Chrome, Firefox, Safari):

site:mudcat.org [your text]

So, e.g.,

site:mudcat.org villikins

gets you a whole bunch of threads about Villikins and His Dinah.

This works for other sites, too -- e.g. if you want to search the Traditional Ballad Index for songs with the word "Fenian," and don't want to use the TBI search box, you can type

site:balladindex.org/ballads/ fenian

Or if you want to search Steve Roud's index for Villikins, you can use

site:vwml.org villikins

That's a little strange, because the Roud Index works in a different way, but it will get you there.

This technique may not be as useful for non-mudcat sites, because they are more likely to stay up :-), but if there is a site you use a lot, it can be fairly useful.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 09:42 PM

I don't think you'll be able to post much on Mudcat today. We keep getting "500 - Internal server error" messages. The main search doesn't work, but you should be able to find things (by thread name) using the Filter, or by using the Old Advanced Forum Search in the Quicklinks dropdown menu.
https://mudcat.org/forumsearch.cfm

---

Seems to be fixed now - Monday, August 14

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 10:09 PM

SOLAR Flares ... Since Thursday ... Largest in a decade

Have disrupted ALL northren hemisphere tele-communications:
cell phones
internet
lan lines
electric power
Some exciting new science with Earth/moon/Mars readings.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

It takes 8 minutes from the visual observation for the electrical pulse to reach the Earth. Joe O is sometimes even faster.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 10:40 PM

Tee-Hee.

Hey, Garg, I'm turning 75 this Thursday. I'm not very fast anymore...

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 14 Aug 23 - 04:49 AM

hmmmm, we used to have Joe Offer birth months ...

sandra (Official Olde Pharte at three score & eleven)

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Aug 23 - 10:09 AM

Garg, I don't understand why solar flares would have anything to do with tan lines.

Jeez, Joe, you're OLD. (I can't quite believe my own age, and the last 20 years have just sort of happened without much notice. So weird.)

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Aug 23 - 05:49 PM

I have been linking to Mudcat for years using http:// protocol.

Today it seems that the 'Cat only responds to https:// and relatively slowly.

Not something I have seen elsewhere but maybe a trend

Any ideas anyone?

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Aug 23 - 06:08 PM

Hi, Mr. Red - I'm surprised that http:// works for you at all. We've been https:// for quite some time.
But we have had uneven service lately.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: DaveRo
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 03:07 AM

It should redirect http to https. It still does that for me. And there may be a slight delay. But maybe it depends on your browser settings.

But Mudcat's up and down these days, sometimes unavaible for whole days, sometimes for several periods of the day. I get 503s, 'unable to connect - no route to host's, and time-outs here. It could just be capacity problems I suppose. Maybe you see that as the redirection process failing.

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: cnd
Date: 21 Aug 23 - 01:09 PM

Hi Joe, I think it is happening again. I know Mudcat was down most of this weekend and has been moving slow so far today, but I've been unable to post a long response to "The Coolin" thread. (Thankfully, I've got it copied and pasted ready to go whenever things are back up and running again).

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Aug 23 - 02:03 PM

Yeah, cnd, that's happening a lot, so be sure to save the texts of long posts before you try to post them. I had to abbreviate the Zoom link for the singaround today because Mudcat wouldn't allow me to post the whole thing. Max will get it figured out sooner or later, but it's a big thing to move a 4-million message database to a new platform when it has run so long on 1996 software.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: the Mudcat is 'broken'?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 23 - 11:46 AM

Gee, running on the same software since 1996. That must be worthy of an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.