DMOZ Downtime

During the downtime at DMOZ, editors tend to do different things. Personally, I have spent most of it communicating with other editors and trying to help non-editors better understand the directory. Another editor I know has been collecting more and more sites to add to their favorite categories. They have found the downtime a good opportunity to focus on finding sites, rather than the other tasks that normally get in the way.

Just a message to new editors who might not be aware, and not-so new editors who seem to have completely missed the notices everywhere advising of the planned outage of the editor server. The Editor Forums are still up and running. If you are having difficulty figuring out what is going on, its a good idea to check there first. I notice that some editors have resorted to posting “What happended to DMOZ?” threads on external message boards. The chances of a real editor (who is aware of what is going on) responding there, is far less likely than finding answers on the editor forums.

Service Announcment For DMOZ/ODP

Staff has reported that the editing servers for DMOZ will begin moving to a new storage platform. As a result of this change, editor access will be unavailable beginning Monday July 30, 2007. This will last approximately 3 days (72 hours) while the data will be read-only.

For Editors
What this means for editors is that for 3 days next week we will not have the ability to perform editing tasks. For some this may be nerve racking , as some editors are a bit addicted. For the rest of us, its a great opportunity to take a(nother) break and get other things accomplished. The other thing, is that it is a positive step in the right direction for continuing to improve the project.

For the Public
What this means for the general public is that unfortunately for approximately three days, certain public functions will also be affected. DMOZ will still be navigable and up-to-date through the beginning of the downtime. What will primarily be affected are functions requiring editor actions. Some features that may not function during the down time include site suggestions, update requests, and new editor applications. This is an inconvenience to all of us, but hopefully the work will result in an increase of performance that will be a much appreciated improvement.

Here is the Public Announcement at Resource-Zone:

 

Dmoz.org partial downtime 30. July 2007

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According to DMOZ staff, the editing server will be moving to a new storage platform. For this reason it will be in “readonly” mode for approx. 72 hours starting Monday, 30. July 2007. Beside the fact that editing will not be possible, URL suggestions, update suggestions and becoming an editor will be inactive during that period. Public access and search will still be available.

Staff is sorry for the inconvenience this causes, but hopes future increase in performance and system support will make up for that.

These are necessary changes that will help improve the system. I think (hope) that the changes will be a great leap forward in progress for overall performance. While the downtime will be another inconvenience, hopefully it will be counted by the benefits that the change will result in.

Regards.

Back To It

Well the vacation is over, now I need another one . Unfortunately the mountain of ‘real work’ on my desk yesterday says otherwise. It will be at least a week before I catch up on things around here, but at least the time off was enjoyable.

For vacation and in addition to the hotel pool, we managed to spend some time at a real beach. This was a real treat for our kids, as it was their first experience with swimming in something as big as Lake Michigan. They are used to swimming pools and our local lake, so seeing big waves crashing in and dozens of other kids to build sand castles with was something I think they really enjoyed. On our way back home, we managed to stop at a large Dairy Farm where the kids got to learn about milk and cheese production. I grew up on and around farms, so I am familiar with animals, but for the kids (and anyone not familiar) seeing 2 dozen cows hooked up on a big ‘merry-go-round’ taking their turn at being milked is amazing.

Upon returning to the ODP I have spent most of my time catching up on the happenings over the last week. A lot really can happen in 7 days when you have a few thousand people involved. I was pleasantly surprised to see many indications that the directory is moving in a positive direction. Obviously I am not at liberty to divulge any details, but some of the things I have seen the last couple of days are extremely positive and I think we are finally getting turned in the right direction of recovery. It of course won’t be a fast change, but since the “Great Crash” of last fall I have seen a lot of positive things occurring. I look forward to seeing more in the not-so distant future. I am even more confident now, that DMOZ is not dying like the detractors are always predicting. IMO, every day seems to be a step towards making even more improvements.