Dear Chuck at Gather Support ~ Frantic Emails Through the Night

Bob, please send me your outside email - I did have it at one time, but no longer. I had emailed Chuck at his outside email and got some advice, which has helped. Tom Gerace had an article up on Gather with the same advice, which does not help if a person cannot see it.

Here is what to do:

Clean your cache on your computer - your browser history - then restart. If it doesn't work the first time, do it a second time.

Gather had a problem with images displaying - I was getting error 404 - page not found - or under construction for nearly 24 hours. A few times, I was able to get on but images were not displaying.

Chuck had emailed me from the outside email I had sent him and he gave me the above advice.

The first time, I did remove my cookies, as well. Then I had to sign in again to Gather and also to Earthlink. I don't think it is necessary to clean out your cookies, but to be safe, you might want to. Just know, that if you do remove your cookies, you will have to re-sign in the first time.

They'll get back to you in a few days...if they get back to you at all. With no more Guides, it's going to be rather difficult to get any kind of response and even tougher to get action from Gather. Even under normal conditions, it usually takes Chuck 2 or 3 days to respond to E-mails. With no more Guides, it's going to take even longer than that. I was unable to get onto Gather mid-afternoon (around 3:00) Thursday. I gave up trying at 9PM. At 7:00 Friday morning, I was finally able to get on. Many were experiencing the same problem, but some were able to get on as evident by the publications notifications I received sporadically throughout the down time. Since I was able to get back on Gather Friday morning; I've experienced no others problems, while many continue to feel the frustration. It ticked me off, too, as I had the Feature article of the day on Gather's front page many did not even get the chance to read. It also quashed my attempt to wish all of my connections...all 922 of them... Happy Valentine's Day and pass love along to them. Thanks, Gather!

Thanks Kathryn....I'm going to copy and paste your instructions and send to magi, faith and mariana. I will also send you my private email.

bob

Wow when gather gets fleas, they get big one, I have been locked out for 2 count them 2 days!! I just got back this minute! I can't think of how my point counts will be effected as I couldn't post for 2 days either my stuff or to others.

I guess not many people will make their 3,000 points this month. I hope we all get some kind of point bonus like at least 300 points or more as I usually try to rack up between 150 and 200 a day, only because I'm not working now, so I can and have the time to devote to all on here. Once I start working, I'll be lucky to see the emails I might get.

Rob,

In the past, when Faith and I were locked out two weeks ago, Chuck was most helpful and got us back in twelve hours. I'm sure the Gather techies are working this week-end to get everyone back online. Reread Kathryn's comment, it may prove helpful to you in the future.

Jean:

I'm glad you are once more back on Gather and can read and post articles and comments.

I've never known a site to experience so many glitches. Every upgrade brings fear to my heart.

I see you, like so many of us, have outside contacts with a lot of people. I think it's what helps keep us sane when this kind of thing happens.

Tom Gerace has an article about this - check 100 most viewed articles or look under his namespace:

tom

This is nuts, but it's good that we can get advice from each other. Unfortunately the gather guides are gone and will be sorely missed.

Ina...right now, magi, faith and mariana are feeling like "lost babes in the woods" without a Gather crumb to follow....thank goodness for "outside emails".....we, who are still on Gather, can relay their messages.

bob

Thank you for posting this to the new and improved BEST ORIGINAL PHOTOS,
ART AND WRITING FOR 2008.

Since I was too tired last night to take care of group moderating
the new format will take place after I accept or decline the 65 submissions
left over from last night.

If you don't know the new format check out the article:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977259395&grpId=3659174697251628&nav
=Groupspace

well, I am always sorry when people get locked out of Gather.... but you guys do make for entertaining reading even when ...

Danielle, The Gather Guides are gone so we have no recourse but to head to the Top of the Mountain and email Tom and Chuck. I'm sure all hands are on board at Gather working on this problem. Though frustrating to us, it must be even more frustrating to them.

Just got another email from faith and she's done everything Kathryn told her and she is still locked out. It's 12 Midnight in Perth, so I suspect magi has gone to bed. I did talk with him over Skype this morning and he's hangin' in there...hasn't lost his wonderful sense of humor despite the frustrations.

Glad you excepted this Marilyn...with all that is going on in my private email...completely forgot the new rules.

flit...we are an entertaining bunch, aren't we????!!!

Bob - I finally got on through Mozilla firefox -not through aol my regular deal - so here I am and will finally go and comment - so sorry and dern this messed me up - thank you so much for trouble shooting - now, I have to read and see what the trouble was or is - I get frantic emails as well from as far away as Michigan so it's not just a West Coast problem! Salud.

Wooooo-hoooooooo, Mariana....you are back on Gather.....so good to see your face....now let's hope faith and magi come on soon too. I sent both of them kathryn's full article on contacting their ISP.

bob

Lyla...I wasn't off this time....just my dear friends and I was trying to trouble shoot for them. Kathryn did an awesome job with her article. Hopefully it works for magi and faith.

Well, after three days of no gathering, I'm back, but to any help from the Office of Gather. No, I found out how to "fix" my end of the problem through another website chat room! One of my connections was kind enough to send me a copy of the instructions on how to get back online with Gather. I know there were nice articles posted here with instructions on how to "fix" the problem, but what good is that when you can't get on the site to read the article? I guess it was some help since connections who could get on forwarded it to those of us who could not.
I'm off to e-mail those I can also.

An update from Faith at 4:37 P.M.:

I've just had an emergency visit from my son to help get me back on the internet. KEO sent me an email with this info, and in my brave but challenged manner, I decided to unplug and replug my cable modem and router myownself. Wrongo, faithy. I knocked myself way out of the internet. So Joester responded to my whinging and crying and found a new router and played around with my machine and got me back online. he did say I had to contact mediacom, which I have done, to have them fix it from their side. That may take who knows how long. Joey found that when my computer was sent searching for Gather it was being directed erroneously to a site called www.bostonsandboxers.com, which it seems sells boxer and boston terrier puppies! ha! now I can blame Tonia and Deb.

at least i am online for now.

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So, as yet, faith isn't back on Gather. Magi should be waking up pretty soon...we'll see what's up with him.

Guess someone came by and gave me a DB1 for some reason. Funny, I didn't think I offended anyone with this article....but then again, one never knows who might have a hair up their ass. Blessings, DB1'er and may your life be filled with joy so you don't have time to downrate articles.

Yayy! Just got back on after a long 3 days locked out. I had been on here & got up to do something and my grandson grabbed the computer. When I got him off & tried to get back on, I couldn't. I've been blaming him for messing it up. I could tell from the emails that others were getting on so I thought it was my computer. It just came back without me doing anything. Now I owe my grandson a BIG appology.

I had a few days with no images, but that seems better now. I always forget to rate, but I did give a ten. Good info, and laughs. Some Gatheraholics may need to join GA
Gatherholics Anonymous!!

Bob, touch wood - no, grab the bloody plank! - I'm back on Gather. But I don't know how many comments I can post before I'm once again sent to the Gather sin bin in the wilderness.

Mr Beelzebub is being kept informed and is taking names ... certain personages responsible for the debacle will, in due course, be attending off-key bagpipe recitals in the burning pits.

Magi...your back on...yahoo! No more sin bin for you, I hope! Great talking to you just now on Skype...I could tell how relieved you were!

Yup, Bridget...I think a whole lot of us should go to Gatherholics Anonymous! I have several articles I wanted to publish but have spent the last twenty-four hours trying to sort out this mess for friends.

Nancy, you do owe your grandson a BIG apology! LOL!

Good to see you running around Gather once more, Nana. Three days....wow!

Bob, thanks to all the higher powers I am back as well. I am crossing fingers (and as Carolyn said, legs too but that's been the usual) that I'm back for good. I don't know whether to thank Joey, Mediacom or Gather, but I think the prize goes in that order.

I was fortunate. I only lost pictures for a while... I'm glad you were there looking out for your Gather friends. :-)

Gee... I guess I picked the right 3 days to be offline out of town -- for ONCE.

Faith, I am pleased to see you back and whether it was Joey, Mediacom or Gather I am dancing for joy with my legs spread apart.

Lisa, I think this Gather glitch taught us all a good lesson. It's best to have other ways to contact our friends on Gather outside of Gather.

Jean, you most certainly picked the right three days and look what you avoided...a whole lot of angst! It appears now that everyone is back...or at least I hope so.

I'm going to have to research this problem and of course find someone to blame. It of course is probably someone from Down Under.

Oh William...I have no idea where the blame resides but REJOICE, I think the problem has been fixed!

Magi was taken to the zoo vet and fixed!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my!

A joke for your regional neck of the woods.

I was in New York's Grand Central Terminal on my way to visit friends in Connecticut. I had never taken the trip before and was wondering if I needed to switch trains in Stamford.

Walking to the train, I saw the conductor and asked, "Do I need to change?"

"No," he replied immediately. "You're fine the way you are. Your bag matches your shoes and your earrings are the same color as your outfit. Very coordinated!"

Oh William...you sound much more yourself this afternoon. I hope you are feeling better. After reading two of your poems earlier today, I was a bit worried about you.

This is the email I got from Chuck at Gather Support:

Elizabeth,

Good afternoon! I am reaching out to you today because you had previously reported to us symptoms of a technical issue that affected the Gather website last week, and I wanted to provide you with an update on this. Gather.com had an issue with our external public DNS & image caching providers. This led to a series of problems for many of our members â€" some members were not able to load all images on Gather, while others were not able to access any Gather webpage at all. The root cause of this issue was due to an incorrect DNS configuration change on Thursday afternoon (EST), February 14, 2008. Although the problem was discovered and a fix implemented very quickly (within 15 minutes), it took approximately 72 hours for the fix to propagate through the entire Web. That meant that certain members were able to access Gather before others. At this point we are not aware of any cases of members not being able to access Gather. I want to assure you that we have taken the necessary steps to make sure that this issue never happens again.

Thank you so much for your patience throughout this ordeal. If you are still having trouble loading certain images on Gather, this is normal and should fix itself soon. If you are still unable to access Gather at all, let me know right away. Have a great week!

Best,
Chuck McGuire
Gather.com Member Support

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Thanks, Chuck.

I don´t really like technological glitches at all, but when they spawn laugh tracks and the funniest comments on the planets then perhaps I should pray for them!