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Slashdot Posting Bug Infuriates Haggard Admins

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the this-is-never-good dept.

Last night we crossed over 16,777,216 comments in the database. The wise amongst you might note that this number is 2^24, or in MySQLese an unsigned mediumint. Unfortunately, like 5 years ago we changed our primary keys in the comment table to unsigned int (32 bits, or 4.1 billion) but neglected to change the index that handles parents. We're awesome! Fixing is a simple ALTER TABLE statement... but on a table that is 16 million rows long, our system will take 3+ hours to do it, during which time there can be no posting. So today, we're disabling threading and will enable it again later tonight. Sorry for the inconvenience. We shall flog ourselves appropriately. Update: 11/10 12:52 GMT by J : It's fixed.

36 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Only one thing to say by bernywork · · Score: 5, Funny

    *Clap clap clap*

    --
    Curiosity was framed; ignorance killed the cat. -- Author unknown
  2. So does a first post ... by AppHack · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... roll over to be a last post?

  3. I for one by MrBulwark · · Score: 5, Funny

    welcome our 2 to the power of X overlords.

  4. Last post! by buro9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Last post!

  5. who we should REALLY blame by admdrew · · Score: 5, Funny

    Alright, who's the joker who posted the 16,777,216th comment?

    Thanks for breaking slashdot, jerk :D

    --
    LegendMUD
  6. Oh Noes! by The+Mysterious+X · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its like y2k, only worse!

    1. Re: Oh Noes! by PFI_Optix · · Score: 4, Funny

      "it's like y2k but worse"

      I know what you mean. Y2K was supposed to put an end to civilization, but at least we'd have been able to post on slashdot.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  7. Oops by Irish-DnB · · Score: 2, Funny

    As Nelson Muntz would say "HA HA"

    --
    If it's too difficult, I can't understand it !
  8. I sense a disturbance in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    As if a thousand geeks all made the same damn "last post!" joke at once. . . . . .

  9. Better make it longer by The_Wilschon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I mean, look how quick we got to 16M comments. 4.1 Gigacomments will come in hardly any time at all. I predict we'll be doing all this again in merely a few weeks!

    --
    SIGSEGV caught, terminating

    wait... not that kind of sig.
  10. seems strange by jihadi_schwartz · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...why wasn't this problem discovered on the dev system in advance?

  11. It's true that... by 0racle · · Score: 5, Funny
    Anyone could have made the mistake
    But it's so much funnier when that anyone is not you.
    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  12. 2^24 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "2^24 comments ought to be enough for anyone" -- CmdrTaco

  13. Digg? by Afrosheen · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's cool, I'll just pretend I'm on Digg, with its 1981 Commodore 64 BBS-style threading.

      Wait..sorry Commodore fans. I know it had better threading than Digg.

  14. Haggard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Haggard admins? Does this mean that the Admins will go buy some meth and get a massage?

  15. 16 million posts ... by DrJimbo · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... should have been enough for anyone.

    --
    We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
    -- Anais Nin
  16. Holy Chit! by RedCard · · Score: 5, Funny

    No threading? Welcome to Farkdot.

  17. Re:OMG by jZnat · · Score: 2, Funny
    Posting comments is my entire life!! What will I do?? :-(
    I know how you feel; reading them is my life, too.
    --
    'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
  18. we've come a long way since VAXclusters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...and the philosophy of zero downtime.

    Oh wait, we haven't.

    But at least we can use processors several orders of magnitude faster to produce sufficient eye candy to catch what little attention span is left in today's users.

  19. And? by Lars+T. · · Score: 5, Funny
    Sorry for the inconvenience. We shall flog ourselves appropriately.
    And post the YouTube link?
    --

    Lars T.

    To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  20. It's a joke, kids by Temuar+Skylari · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dupe! I TOTALLY posted this story like, last WEEK man! (I laugh, but I betcha someone might post this in seriousness)

    --
    USE colorful confetti ON heavily-armed clown
  21. Did somebody say... by camusflage · · Score: 4, Funny

    Flogging and Haggard in the same sentence? If we can get "crystal meth" in, we'll hit the trifecta!

    --
    The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
  22. Dorks. by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does this mean that Slashdot is going to denegrate into Digg now?

    --
    My blog
  23. May i be the first to say... by zepo1a · · Score: 5, Funny

    Brillant!

    I always wondered where Paula Bean ended up...

  24. RE: 16777217 GET by Stalyn · · Score: 5, Funny

    mod parent up

    --
    The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
  25. Mod parent up by foniksonik · · Score: 4, Funny

    Uhhhh who's your daddy?

    --
    A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  26. MOD parent up! by bazorg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mod parent ... wait..

  27. I think you mean... by rjstegbauer · · Score: 2, Funny

    LOST Post!

  28. Take all the time you need by deaton · · Score: 5, Funny

    Take all the time you need, I'm more than willing to refrain from posting durin.... Oh shit!

  29. Trolls by Jaseoldboss · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least nobody can feed the trolls now!

  30. A real Slashdotter! by QuickFox · · Score: 4, Funny

    And this is why you should not have arbitrary limits in your programs, ladies and gentlemen. Not even limits on the values your numbers can represent

    Now this is a real Slashdotter! This guy knows how to build an infinite computer!

    --
    Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
  31. I disagree with your post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I disagree with your post and I think you are a jackass.
    It is up to the various parents to determine which comment I am replying too.

  32. Let the flamewars begin... by bigpat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would not have happened if Slashdot used PostgreSQL.

    Let the flamewars begin...

    Unthreaded flame wars are much less enjoyable.

  33. graphic artists by Speare · · Score: 5, Funny

    The number 2^24 is of interest to digital computer artists, as that is the number of unique colors combined in the commonly implemented "True Color" RGB8 space. That color space is looking pretty limiting in some respects, but that is truly a lot of unique colors when you think about it. A 16 megapixel image does not need to repeat any color used.

    If all slashdot posts from the history of Slashdot were sorted into color bins,
    • every post including the -2 trolls would get their own unique color,
    • all the colors which are predominantly blue would be claimed as "first posts,"
    • all the colors which are predominantly green would be unfunny memes like "hot grits,"
    • all the colors which are predominantly red would be complaints about editing or journalism,
    • the pure cyan, magenta, yellow shades are moderated as insightful or interesting,
    • the 256 posts corresponding to completely neutral gray shades are actually insightful or interesting

    Once that were done, people could simply post their replies as a reference to existing posts. "Hey, #938D3A to you, buddy!" "Know what I think of that? #F2C2A9!"

    --
    [ .sig file not found ]
    1. Re: graphic artists by quokkapox · · Score: 2, Funny

      If all slashdot posts from the history of Slashdot were sorted into color bins, ...

      So, from a distance the site would blur into an ugly pastiche resembling lime green?

      --
      it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
  34. Finally, a tale for my grandkids in the new era by voidptr · · Score: 5, Funny

    One day, Cmdr Taco is designing his database, and he sits down at a table with three integers on it. First, he tries the baby bear's integer, but exclaims "2 meager bytes is way too small for my appetite."

    Next, he tries Papa bear's integer, but proclaims "4 bytes is way too big for my little site, I'd just end up wasting so much."

    Finally, he tries Mama bear's integer, and extols "3 bytes is just right," not noticing it was really the same as Papa Bear's bowl in disquise.

    --
    This .sig for unofficial government use only. Official use subject to $500 fine.