# Yes, the forum went down.



## Mike Greene (Feb 8, 2020)

At least this time, it was only for a couple hours, instead of 12 like this morning. They assure me that this time they found the actual cause. Yep, for sure this time. Yep.

Unfortunately all new posts earlier today didn't survive, which is really too bad, because two of them were mine! (And none were Jay's.)


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## tack (Feb 8, 2020)

<insert my previous joke about Jay's prolific posting here>


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## JEPA (Feb 8, 2020)

I couldn't buy anything as recommended cuz of the dawn time as I was just looking at "deals, deals, deals..."


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

See if you'd just made this as a Kontakt forum library rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with a VI-Control player, you wouldn't be having these issues...


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## JEPA (Feb 8, 2020)

but I took a screenshot of "deals" page to accompany me in times of darkness...


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## JEPA (Feb 8, 2020)

before this goes down again: what about to open a Twitter account for the forum, to keep informed about this sort of things, events, etc?


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

JEPA said:


> before this goes down again: what about to open a Twitter account for the forum, to keep informed about this sort of things, events, etc?


There's the Discord, which I remembered this time to link to my laptop in case VI-C goes down again...


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## Ben H (Feb 8, 2020)

Which button did you accidentally press THIS time, @Mike Greene ?


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## JEPA (Feb 8, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> There's the Discord, which I remembered this time to link to my laptop in case VI-C goes down again...


huh... macOS doesn't open "discord" addresses...


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

JEPA said:


> huh... macOS doesn't open "discord" addresses...


You have to go here to join the chatroom: https://discord.gg/0vF7cfyHaTDLf8YB (It's possible you need to enter from the home page of VI Control under "chatroom.") Then you need to open the discord from there by accepting the invitation. It works for me on my Mac using Chrome.


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

Posting is taking a lot longer than usual.


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## Mike Greene (Feb 8, 2020)

Ben H said:


> Which button did you accidentally press THIS time, @Mike Greene ?


Apparently abc123 isn't as secure a password as I thought.


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## Ben H (Feb 8, 2020)

OMG we have the same password!!! :emoji_astonished:


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## creativeforge (Feb 8, 2020)

To be precise, the downtime was caused by *malicious intent*. Thankfully, our hosting was proactive, and now that they found the vulnerability that was used in the server's armour, they removed that vulnerability, it should be safe from harm.

NOTE: speeds should go back to normal at some point too (posting is slower, and isn't usual).

But these mothas never sleep, their street creds depend on causing havoc. And despite this one being a tough motha, we're back here able to do what we love : complain. 

Just kidding, but carry on!


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## ProfoundSilence (Feb 8, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> To be precise, the downtime was caused by *malicious intent*. Thankfully, our hosting was proactive, and now that they found the vulnerability that was used in the server's armour, they removed that vulnerability, it should be safe from harm.
> 
> NOTE: speeds should go back to normal at some point too (posting is slower, and isn't usual).
> 
> ...



Fun fact, there are people who literally use robo dialers to spam call 911 systems. Some people are just garbage, im sure the jerk who decided they wanted to harass the provider didn't stop to think maybe, just maybe we'd like a place to complain about sample libraries and have nothing to do with the company


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## Ben H (Feb 8, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> To be precise, the downtime was caused by *malicious intent*. Thankfully, our hosting was proactive, and now that they found the vulnerability that was used in the server's armour, they removed that vulnerability, it should be safe from harm.



So it wasn't a hard drive failure then!


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

Getting a database error on one machine. Still able to access here.


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

So strange that Vi-C works on one machine but not the other.


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## tack (Feb 8, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> So strange that Vi-C works on one machine but not the other.


I found this as well on my phone. I had to clear all cookies and stored site data and log back in.


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## creativeforge (Feb 8, 2020)

Ben H said:


> So it wasn't a hard drive then!



The error message that came to the hosting usually only happens when there is a hardware malfunction (damaged HD). So they assumed it was. But after testing it was clear it wasn't the HD. All is good there.


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## Geoff Grace (Feb 8, 2020)

As before, thanks for all your hard work to keep this site up and running.

Best,

Geoff


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## Rex282 (Feb 8, 2020)

I’m pretty sure there was six 8Dio Flash sales in that time...


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## jbuhler (Feb 8, 2020)

tack said:


> I found this as well on my phone. I had to clear all cookies and stored site data and log back in.


Yes, this is what I had to do as well.


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## Eptesicus (Feb 9, 2020)

So search doesn't seem work. Is that right?


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## Jdiggity1 (Feb 9, 2020)

Eptesicus said:


> So search doesn't seem work. Is that right?


Correct. But only temporarily.
Search caches need to be rebuilt, which will take a little time.


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## OleJoergensen (Feb 9, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> So strange that Vi-C works on one machine but not the other.


I had to delete history and webdata on Safari to make it work....


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

After we recovered, if you were able to access the portal but not the forum, it's a matter of cache. If you're seeing this message here on your phone, but can't access the site on your computer, all you need to do is: *CLEAR YOUR CACHE AND RE-LOGIN and it should work.*

Cheers,


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> So strange that Vi-C works on one machine but not the other.



Possibly the respective browsers may have been caching differently. After we recovered, if you were able to access the portal but not the forum, it's a matter of cache. 

For example, if you're seeing this message here on your phone, but can't access the site on your computer, all you need to do is: *CLEAR YOUR CACHE AND RE-LOGIN *and it should work*.
*
Hope this helps!

Andre


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## M Abela (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> After we recovered, if you were able to access the portal but not the forum, it's a matter of cache. If you're seeing this message here on your phone, but can't access the site on your computer, all you need to do is: *CLEAR YOUR CACHE AND RE-LOGIN and it should work.*
> 
> Cheers,



I did, on Google Chrome. Still doesn't work on that computer.


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## jbuhler (Feb 9, 2020)

M Abela said:


> I did, on Google Chrome. Still doesn't work on that computer.


I'm using Chrome, and it worked for me after I cleared the cache. Clearing the cache is a pain though since it means signing into everything again, not just VI-C. Thank goodness for password managers... 

For the iPhone I just needed to go into Settings>Safari>Advanced>Website Data and then delete the VI Control data. I didn't have to wipe the whole cache.


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## Jaap (Feb 9, 2020)

M Abela said:


> I did, on Google Chrome. Still doesn't work on that computer.



Likewise. This solved it on my phone but not on Chrome on my pc.

Edit: nvm, cleared the cashe and cookies again (5th time) and now it works for some reason.


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## ProfoundSilence (Feb 9, 2020)

I'm having to reclear cache often for some reason now. (on android chrome)


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## jbuhler (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> Possibly the respective browsers may have been caching differently. After we recovered, if you were able to access the portal but not the forum, it's a matter of cache.
> 
> For example, if you're seeing this message here on your phone, but can't access the site on your computer, all you need to do is: *CLEAR YOUR CACHE AND RE-LOGIN *and it should work*.*
> 
> ...


Both Macs using Chrome. Go figure! But then this morning the Mac that wasn't having the issue had it.



jbuhler said:


> For the iPhone I just needed to go into Settings>Safari>Advanced>Website Data and then delete the VI Control data. I didn't have to wipe the whole cache.


For Chrome on the Mac, Settings>Advanced>Privacy and Security>Site Settings>Cookies and Site Data>See All Cookies and Site Data. Then search for VI-Control to delete cookies. That fixed it for me without needing to clear all cookies and caches.


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## tack (Feb 9, 2020)

ProfoundSilence said:


> I'm having to reclear cache often for some reason now. (on android chrome)


Yes, the sessions are eventually throwing back the database error, requiring one to clear site data and re-log in each time, until a few minutes later it fails again.


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## muk (Feb 9, 2020)

tack said:


> Yes, the sessions are eventually throwing back the database error, requiring one to clear site data and re-log in each time, until a few minutes later it fails again.



Same for me. After clearing the cache the site works for a bit, until it fails again (Windows, Firefox).


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## OleJoergensen (Feb 9, 2020)

The same here. OSX Ipad safari


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## proxima (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> To be precise, the downtime was caused by *malicious intent*. Thankfully, our hosting was proactive, and now that they found the vulnerability that was used in the server's armour, they removed that vulnerability, it should be safe from harm.


Was the site redirecting to anything malicious, to your knowledge? While most of the time I got server errors, one time it linked to a page saying that the site was undergoing maintenance.


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## ptram (Feb 9, 2020)

This morning I posted the secret formula for happiness. Shame I don't remember it any longer!

Paolo


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## Ben H (Feb 9, 2020)

a cache clear... a cookie clear... and trying 2 different browsers didn't work for me... finally it just decided to let me back in again 🤷


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## todo10 (Feb 9, 2020)

Does anybody else still having database error messages or issues trying to log in?


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 9, 2020)

I finished a song but I missed you, guys 🤣


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## Ben H (Feb 9, 2020)

@todo10, I HAD been until literally 5mins ago, when it finally came good


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## JEPA (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> we're back here able to do what we love : complain.


let's go guys!


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## Zedcars (Feb 9, 2020)

​


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## sIR dORT (Feb 9, 2020)

Soundcloud links aren't showing up now, since the site was down. They're appearing like this, at least on my computer.


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## Ben H (Feb 9, 2020)

Youtube links too.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

Zedcars said:


> ​


 
In a sense, all the libraries and composing stuff, that's the good (yet costly) excuse we give ourselves to break the isolation, congregate and have an online community with people who dig it too...  Out of that comes outstanding music works, and even friendships are made! 

Musicians helping musicians... on so many levels...


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

sIR dORT said:


> Soundcloud links aren't showing up now, since the site was down. They're appearing like this, at least on my computer.



OK, let me take care of that. Hold on.

I think it's normal to have a few adjustments to make after the events of last night, but we can't know which ones until the site is back online. Then the adjustments are revealed through the behaviour observed. Thanks for letting us know! 

I'll be updating you when it's done.


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## chimuelo (Feb 9, 2020)

No biggie here, but when saving site to Favorites, you get a Red 404 logo.

Whenever any site goes down, I go on to delete cookies, history to it, etc.
Then fetch and save to Favorites again once access is back up.

Hacks can get access from anything these days and disguise it.
Recently reverse engineer hackers stole data by sneaking in through brightness option on an Monitor/LCD.


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## RobbertZH (Feb 9, 2020)

sIR dORT said:


> Soundcloud links aren't showing up now, since the site was down. They're appearing like this, at least on my computer.



Soundcloud site is up and running. 
It appears that the media plugin used by the vi-control site is currently not working and you get an error message instead of the embedded youtube video or soundcloud track.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)




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## Mike Greene (Feb 9, 2020)

proxima said:


> Was the site redirecting to anything malicious, to your knowledge? While most of the time I got server errors, one time it linked to a page saying that the site was undergoing maintenance.


No, that was all it should be.

The site was maliciously attacked, but other than causing some damage, nothing on the site itself was compromised or taken over. Not that there's anything particularly sensitive here anyway ... other than the nude pictures of Jay Asher that people keep sharing privately.


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## Hans Adamson (Feb 9, 2020)

Thanks Mike! Good job. Everything working perfect here. Never even noticed it was down.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)




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## RobbertZH (Feb 9, 2020)

Mike Greene said:


> The site was maliciously attacked, but other than causing some damage, nothing on the site itself was compromised or taken over.



Thanks for solving the media plugin problems and sad to hear that even this site is being attacked.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

RobbertZH said:


> Soundcloud site is up and running.
> It appears that the media plugin used by the vi-control site is currently not working and you get an error message instead of the embedded youtube video or soundcloud track.



OK, can you check on your end? I upgraded the addon and reinstalled it. It looks good from here, but let me know how it is for you?

Cheers,

Andre


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## Ben H (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> OK, can you check on your end? I upgraded the addon and reinstalled it. It looks good from here, but let me know how it is for you?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Andre



Working fine here.


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## RobbertZH (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> OK, can you check on your end? I upgraded the addon and reinstalled it. It looks good from here, but let me know how it is for you?



Both youtube and soundcloud work again in my posts.


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## Loïc D (Feb 9, 2020)

Guys, 2 consecutive crashes, this is the apocalypse, the great crash of mankind...

Let us hold our hands together and sing a (8dio) Requiem to save our souls (and our projects).


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## sIR dORT (Feb 9, 2020)

All good here @creativeforge, thanks!


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## dathyr1 (Feb 9, 2020)

Just got your news email Mike on VI control being down at times. Hope everything is ok now. I have been away from viewing VI control forum for a while now because of doing some other things. Take care Mike.


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## Uiroo (Feb 9, 2020)

Really interesting, I get database error if I click on forums or just visist vi-control.net, but not if I click the threads the e-mail.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

chimuelo said:


> No biggie here, but when saving site to Favorites, you get a Red 404 logo.
> 
> Whenever any site goes down, I go on to delete cookies, history to it, etc.
> Then fetch and save to Favorites again once access is back up.
> ...



Which browser are you using? And when you say "save to favorites," do you mean "Bookmar?" Do you have a screenshot of this?

Thanks!


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

LowweeK said:


> Guys, 2 consecutive crashes, this is the apocalypse, the great crash of mankind...
> 
> Let us hold our hands together and sing a (8dio) Requiem to save our souls (and our projects).



It was one attack, with one aftershock and clean-up. My understanding is that the attack was directed at a software used by countless hosting companies. VI-Control was basically victim of a drive-by hacking. 

OK, cue music!


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

Uiroo said:


> Really interesting, I get database error if I click on forums or just visist vi-control.net, but not if I click the threads the e-mail.



Hi, did you clear the cache AND browsing History in your browser? Please do so and see if it fixes it?


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## Michael Antrum (Feb 9, 2020)

I reckon it's all stunt to soften us all up for subscription.....


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## chimuelo (Feb 9, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> Which browser are you using? And when you say "save to favorites," do you mean "Bookmar?" Do you have a screenshot of this?
> 
> Thanks!



Safari/Duck and Go.


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## creativeforge (Feb 9, 2020)

chimuelo said:


> Safari/Duck and Go.



I can't read what it says, the pic it too small. Could you tell me what it says?


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## biggiantcircles (Feb 9, 2020)

Honestly I'm really disappointed in Vi-control after this.

No, not the site going down, this:


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## Uiroo (Feb 10, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> Hi, did you clear the cache AND browsing History in your browser? Please do so and see if it fixes it?


Clearing my browser history for a forum just isn't an option, but just clearing the cache thankfully worked.


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## chimuelo (Feb 10, 2020)

creativeforge said:


> I can't read what it says, the pic it too small. Could you tell me what it says?



sorry, we are down for maintenance


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## MartinH. (Feb 10, 2020)

I didn't clear anything and it worked again after a while. Thanks for fixing it! This was scary... again.


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## creativeforge (Feb 10, 2020)

chimuelo said:


> sorry, we are down for maintenance



Check again after clearing your cache? This could be cached by your browser...


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## Batrawi (Feb 10, 2020)

Next time when the forum's down, it would be good to embed within the error message a link to Drama Zone (preserved in another server) so tha we can kill time going through it like the back of a shampoo bottle..


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## PaulieDC (Feb 10, 2020)

Hey Gang, I'm back from my hike in the Himalayas! Did I miss anything??


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## Fredeke (Feb 16, 2020)

Mike Greene said:


> Apparently abc123 isn't as secure a password as I thought.


Try qwerty123. Always worked for me.


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## JEPA (Jun 4, 2020)

Did it happen again?


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## doctoremmet (Jun 4, 2020)

JEPA said:


> Did it happen again?


Has been down for me the entire day. At least for 8 hours Cloudflare stared me in the face (I’m in The Netherlands)


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## dzilizzi (Jun 4, 2020)

It was for me also. But what was strange was VI-Contol.net was still up. Just the forum was down. 

And yes, there was some withdrawal symptoms happening....


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## rudi (Jun 4, 2020)

Fredeke said:


> Try qwerty123. Always worked for me.


I use..... "N" as my password!


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## creativeforge (Jun 4, 2020)

JEPA said:


> Did it happen again?



There was a quirk happened as the server got rebooted by the data plant and for some reason it caused an unforeseeable issue. Our hosting has been working to bring back the forum and investigating now what happened exactly. 

Sorry it happened, looking for solutions to avoid this downtime ever again.


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## creativeforge (Jun 4, 2020)

rudi said:


> I use..... "N" as my password!



Golly, man, you had been warned N'ot to do that...


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## mekosmowski (Jun 4, 2020)

Mike Greene said:


> Apparently abc123 isn't as secure a password as I thought.



Add 4U&me to comply with the latest password standards.


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## schrodinger1612 (Jun 4, 2020)

Servers caved in from all the Westworld posts


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## dzilizzi (Jun 4, 2020)

schrodinger1612 said:


> Servers caved in from all the Westworld posts


Yes, for some reason, after posting to YouTube, it is a requirement to create an account, say you’ve been lurking for years, and post your video.


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## ptram (Jun 4, 2020)

VI-C going down is like the radio no longer transmitting other than static, while outside that strange snow continues to fall...

Paolo


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## MartinH. (Jun 4, 2020)

These were dark times. I even got some work done.


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## chillbot (Jun 4, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> These were dark times. I even got some work done.


You have work?? Did you bring enough for everyone?


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## Lassi Tani (Jun 5, 2020)

Didn't even notice it...


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## JEPA (Jun 5, 2020)

sekkosiki said:


> Didn't even notice it...


...only the hardcore on a daily use (addict) members noticed this...


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## Paul Grymaud (Jun 5, 2020)

Whew! I was afraid Mike hadn't paid for the hosting.
Now, I'm gonna be able to get out of C.P.R.


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## doctoremmet (Jun 5, 2020)

JEPA said:


> ...only the hardcore on a daily use (addict) members noticed this...


Because I couldn’t type away in at least a dozen threads, I created an extremely long post (my best work yet 😂) offline on my phone and as SOON the forum went up again, I posted a bible’s worth of content. Including pictures and a 6 hour Spotify playlist.

Yes I need help.... Is a VI-Control intervention a thing?


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## Lassi Tani (Jun 5, 2020)

JEPA said:


> ...only the hardcore on a daily use (addict) members noticed this...



I know, I used to be an addict...


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## MartinH. (Jun 5, 2020)

doctoremmet said:


> Yes I need help.... Is a VI-Control intervention a thing?



It *should *be! Not even joking :-/.


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## Loïc D (Jun 5, 2020)

*grabs a paper bag to breathe in*

How many deal posts have been lost while it was down ?
How many Westworld entries ?
How many reverb talks ?

The Earth just opened under my feet...


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## doctoremmet (Jun 5, 2020)

LowweeK said:


> *grabs a paper bag to breathe in*
> 
> How many deal posts have been lost while it was down ?
> How many Westworld entries ?
> ...


Apparently there are now ten new sales on reverbs we never even heard of, which have been used on competition entries we never even heard of, but couldn’t have won because we didn’t own the current hip reverbs everybody except us are using these days, because they got them in sales we never heard of....


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## schrodinger1612 (Jun 7, 2020)

lmao


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