Slashdot Posting Bug Infuriates Haggard Admins 262
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.
Congrats taco (Score:5, Interesting)
Can anyone actually find it to see - I tried but could only get to 16777217 [slashdot.org], its likely to be in a journal or just a reply to an older article.
Check out... (Score:3, Interesting)
Mmmm... CT, are you sure the parent index was your only problem?
So was it fixed in Slash? (Score:5, Interesting)
Give Slashdot Subscriptions to the borkers (Score:5, Interesting)
If you can find the first guy who COULDN'T reply due to the limit, give him one too. He deserves something for his trouble.
Today is the first day I've had to type subjects. (Score:4, Interesting)
I certainly admit I wasn't thinking 0-based when I wrote that. The question is, though, should we blame the person who wrote the last valid comment (therefore ruining the fun for the rest of us), or whoever wrote the first broken comment?
Also, is everyone going to add the obligatory 'parent' link on their posts today?
[ Parent [slashdot.org] ] - [ Reply to this [slashdot.org] ]
Access to the Database? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why are all 16 million+ comments in a single table (Score:5, Interesting)
So why, pray, is this usage pattern not accounted for in the database design?
/. copyright question (Score:5, Interesting)
Regardless, while writing this post [slashdot.org] regarding why the
Comments on
If I own the copyright on the comments I've made, shouldn't I be able to rescind publication rights on them, and prevent
Or are publication rights, once granted, irrevocable?
Of course, I suppose asking questions when there's no way for people to hit reply is a specific form of vague insanity...still, I'm curious.
"flogging definition" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: /. copyright question (Score:3, Interesting)
IMHO, probably. When you published a comment, there was no mechanism available to you, for removing comments, or even the slightest hint that one might appear in the future. You knew what you were getting into, so it could be argued that you accepted what happened.
In a more general sense, it is well-known that sending a packet to the 'Net is like opening a bottle and letting a genie out. Once you do it, it's out, and if you ever manage to shove it back inside, it'll be more a matter of luck, rather than something possible because of policy.
Re:Only one thing to say (Score:2, Interesting)
Nothing like a 3 hour update taking 18 hours.
(though I suppose the + can mean 15hours...
Are we gonna find out what happened to the time space continuum?
You should call in Hiro Nakamura.