This was a frustrating weekend.<\/p>\n
Inexplicably, still, some people are unable to access the site. The servers are online as usual. The DNS entries for the site are configured correctly. So why some Comcast, then Earthlink and now MSN users are unable to access the site? I don’t know, and can’t figure it out yet. Most of the problem areas were cleared yesterday about 1 pm – as evidenced by a sustained usage spike on the site; and for a period I thought the problems were cleared. However, today, when I got to work and checked my email, there were several messages still complaining about the inability to reach the site.<\/p>\n
To help with this problem, I’ve added two links on the left of this blog. For a long time now, since 2002, I’ve owned the domain storiesonline.xxx, but since.xxx is not supported by the ICANN, normal DNS servers don’t lead you to the site if you simply typed ‘http:\/\/storiesonline.xxx’ into your browser’s address bar. The company selling those domains, New.net<\/a> has instructions on how to access their DNS servers. But, since it requires the installation of a plugin for Windows users, I never made it public (Mac users can just type ‘new.net’ into the search field of the network control panel and gain access to the whole new.net network, including storiesonline.xxx).<\/p>\n However, on the weekend, it was brought to my attention (thanks cmsix) that anybody can use http:\/\/storiesonline.xxx.new.net<\/a> to access the site without any need for plug-ins.<\/p>\n The second link is the direct link to the site’s main IP address. Accessing the site at this URL bypasses any DNS servers. However, if the site were to move to a different IP address, that URL won’t be valid anymore, so don’t bookmark it.<\/p>\n The two links are now permanently linked at the left, so if you bookmark this blog, you’ll always have alternative ways to access the site, if the need arises.<\/p>\n A side effect of the problem is that the site should be slower for everybody. To accommodate the new links I’ve temporarily redirected the stylesheet links (.css) to the main server, instead of the offload server at storiesonline.org. So the stylesheets would be served from the same server as the other pages and it should work for any URL that you use. But that puts a great strain on the site’s main line (an extra 100k hits per hour) slowing access for everybody. 24 hours after I stop getting complaint about the inability to access the site, I will redirect the .css links to the bandwidth offload server at storiesonline.org.<\/p>\n By the way, for those who experienced the inability to connect to the site, before you try the new links, flush your browser’s cache before trying one of the new links. Sometime browsers cache the error pages and keep displaying them even when it can connect to the site with no problems.<\/p>\n Another topic is the ongoing beta.<\/b><\/p>\n So far, response to the new layout has been positive in general. So as soon as some of the new features are tested extensively, the beta period will be officially finished and the new layout will replace the old one permanently.<\/p>\n Some of the new features added and changes made yesterday:<\/p>\n – The ability to center the stories’ text in the window — with purple bars on both sides instead of just on the right. By the way, this is one feature that few have noticed. The Story Style Page<\/a> allows you to almost completely customize the look of the stories’ display for your eyes’ comfort — font size, background color, text body width; all can be customized.<\/p>\n – The ability for premier members\/authors to bypass the confirmation of deletion from the library and bypass the extended info form for the addition of bookmarks to the library. The default is like before: to confirm everything. To set the new preferences go to the library’s preference page.<\/p>\n – Renamed the ‘Read’ link to ‘Home’. I received the most complaints about the lack of ‘Home’ link.<\/p>\n <geek><\/p>\n Privacy<\/b><\/p>\n A topic that is near and dear for everybody that I know is personal privacy. A while back, I found a new tool that helps personal privacy greatly. It’s called ‘tor’ from EFF.org (Electronic Frontier Foundation). It’s a proxy server that needs to be installed on your system, and once it is, it can reroute all the internet traffic that you initiate from the computer you’re using through a maze of anonymizing proxy servers. So no one watching your traffic can tell where you’re going and sites can’t tell where you’re coming from.<\/p>\n
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