FictionAlley News, Status and Updates

Thanks to Techie Paul, FictionAlley Park is back up and running (and has been for a while now - sorry for the delayed update).

As usual, please report any issues to help @ fictionalley.org.

FictionAlley Park is currently down. As of right now, we are unsure of the cause, but are working with our Techs and Dragon.com to try to restore everything ASAP. We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience while we work to figure things out!

FictionAlley is currently down, due to an issue with our server provider. We've emailed them about the problem, and hope to have everything back up and running again soon.

Please follow our twitter page, or this LJ, for updates.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

EDIT: As of 11:51PM US CST, FictionAlley is back up and running. Hurrah! Please contact us at help @ fictionalley.org if you notice that something isn't working.

The final list of chapters and/or stories that need to be resubmitted to FictionAlley (see our previous post for details) has been compiled. I am putting it below, underneath a cut-tag. If you're an author on FictionAlley and submitted anything to the site between 11 July and 5 August, please read the list. If your name appears on it, resubmit the chapters and/or stories in question ASAP. Thank you!

( Fics and/or chapters that need to be resubmitted to FictionAlley )

To view the thread on FAP with this same information, please go here. As always, questions or concerns can be sent to help@fictionalley.org.

While we'd originally thought that all fics/chapters uploaded to the site between July 10th and August 5th were still safely on-site despite the database issues, this has turned out to not be the case. We've discovered a fairly simple solution to this, but it's going to require your help.

If you submitted a story or chapter to FictionAlley between the dates of 10 July and 5 August, 2009, you may need to resubmit.

We are working on compiling a list of all chapters/stories uploaded to the site during this time period. This list is being posted bit by bit to the Announcements forum in FictionAlley Park. You can follow the thread by going here.

If you submitted something during this time period, chances are very good that you'll need to resubmit. Please watch the list linked above to see if your story or chapter appears on it. You can also check your own author's page and see if there are any broken links. If there are, feel free to resubmit the missing chapters or stories at your own pace. Just put a note in the "notes to the fic intake team" box that says something along the lines of "lost fic" so we know what we're dealing with when they come in.

If you have any questions, please email us at help@fictionalley.org and we will get back to you ASAP.

Due to the database errors we've been experiencing, there's been a slight glitch with the fic submission system. While we *are* accepting new submissions, we aren't able to process them at the moment, so the ten-day time frame we usually need to handle the fics will need to be extended. Because of this delay, we'd really appreciate it if you'd hold off on submitting any new chapters or stories to FictionAlley until the upload problem can be dealt with. A Park-wide announcement will be made once the upload issues are resolved.

We apologize for all the recent issues with the site. We're as frustrated as you are with the whole thing, but are hoping to have everything straightened out soon. Thank you for your continued patience.

FictionAlley is back! Hurrah!

There was a loss of data in the Park - all posts made after July 10th are lost - but on the fic-side of things, all fics/chapters that were submitted before August 5th are safely on-site.

If you encounter a problem with anything, please email us at help@fictionalley.org and we will take a look at it.

Enormous thanks to Techie Paul and the folks at Dragon.com for getting us back online, and thank you to all the FAPers for your patience as we worked to restore the site.

Happy HP-ing!

First of all, we apologize for the ongoing issues with the site. We are aware of them, and are working on them, but thus far haven't been able to fix them. We're working with Dragon.com to sort out the problem and hope to have things resolved soon.

Sorry for all the inconveniences - we're doing all we can to get back up and running.

We're as frustrated as you are.

We had a new server installed less than a month ago, and it looks to all the experts like one of the drives on the server has failed or is failing. Luckily, we have a backup - at least to about two weeks ago - of everything on that server, so it's possible that we will lose some content, but not very much, if we have to do an install from nothing. And we are working to recover as much of the content off the drive as possible.

However, it's possible that the drive is fine, and that the issue has something to do with unsecured cabling, a BIOS issue or even heat. Techies on the ground at Dragon.com will look at it again today, and test all those possibilities out.

Anyhow, the non-techie explanation of all this is, we're working on it, and trying to get everything resolved as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience, and feel free to use this LJ post for discussions that would otherwise be in the park, as well as for questions (or to let us know if you've got server maintenance experience and can volunteer some time for FA in the next week or three).

Also, please add our twitter status feed thingy so you can keep up to date on server issues and the recovery process.

But our Lead Techie, Paul, who needs to tinker with things to get us back online, has been on a business trip this week, and stuck in a hotel with terrible internet access. He's on his way home now, and will have everything back online this weekend. Sorry about the delays, but August can get Complicated.

We apologize for the ongoing server issues we've been experiencing today. The Park is down, but the fics and the HPWiki are up - and we hope to bring the Park back up later today. Techie Paul is working on it!

We're currently experiencing server issues that are preventing us from processing new fic submissions. Don't worry - everything through last weekend is fully backed up, but it may take some time to get things completely up and running again. You can continue to submit new fics, but we cannot guarantee they'll be uploaded to the site before July 20.

If you have further questions, or if you're an expert in PHP with time to volunteer, please contact help @ fictionalley.org.

( Nifty contest where we're all challenged to showcase the art of potions-making! )

Their FAQ is here, and the winner will have his or her video featured on the front page of YouTube later this summer. Cool toy to play with!

Some of you may have been experiencing an inability to get into the Park, Artistic Alley, etc, today. We are aware of the problem, and are doing our darndest to get everything back up and running as quickly as possible. At the risk of sounding like an automated phone recording, we do apologize for the inconvenience. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon so you can all get your Potter fix!

Thank you for your understanding. :)

- Plumeria, on behalf of FA

HPFantrips is giving away two tickets to EQUUS this Thursday night! Enter here and don't forget to put FictionAlley in the box where it asks how you heard about the contest.

Warner Brothers just sent us a set of links so you can download the brand new trailer for Half-Blood Prince that's set to debut in theaters in front of Twilight next week.

Check out the trailer! There's even an ipod-friendly version so you can carry it around with you!

And don't forget that you can watch HBP on opening night - July 17, 2009 - at HPEF's Azkatraz fan-conference in San Francsico. The IMAX showing is about 2/3 sold out, so register today to get your tickets!

( Here's the links! )

Over the weekend something went haywire in the fic uploading process; we're still trying to figure out precisely what went wrong and how to fix it.

We won't be able to do an upload until it's fixed, but you can continue to submit fics in the regular way; it'll just take a little longer until they get online.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

If you're planing to order Beedle the Bard from Amazon in the US or the UK, please use one of the links below, and a portion of your purchase will help FictionAlley support fan-events in 2009, including Azkatraz in July:

Purchase the Collector's Edition from Amazon.com

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition (Offered Exclusively by Amazon)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition

AOL has the Half-Blood Prince trailer online now. WB just sent us an email about it.

Harry Potter Comes to San Diego Comic-Con!!!!
From 10:30-11:30 on Sunday, June 27th, In Room 2, The San Diego Comic-Con will be presenting it's first Harry Potter panel! It's Muggles, Wizards, and Fans in the World of Harry Potter— Panel members Erin Pyne (author of A Fandom of Magical Proportions), Sue Upton (senior editor of www.the-leaky-cauldron.org and co-host of Pottercast), Melissa Anelli (author of Harry: A History), and Heidi Tandy (webmaster, Fiction Alley) will have wands at ready as they discuss what makes Harry Potter fans so different from members of other fandoms. How has the HP fandom affected the development of the books and movies? Moderated by notorious Muggle Eric Bowling - the panel will include a Q&A with our panel and should be great fun!
Low Price Sunday Tickets are still available but Comic-Con sells out FAST. Go to: http://www.comic-con.org/ for more information.
This will hopefully be the beginning of what will be a successful partnership with Harry Potter Fans and CCI. Come out and show your support!!!