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Working on Getting a New Server

by Thomas Hawk | 30 May 2007 | General | 100 Comments

Thanks to everyone who is hanging in there with Zooomr right now. We got a bit of sleep last night and are scrambling hard this morning to try and arrange some new servers in order to get Mark III back up and running. We are sorry for the outage and for the difficulty that we’ve had in launching Mark III.

It was fun hanging out with so many of you last night and for our brief 10 minutes of live Zooomr Mark III. We are resolved to getting Zooomr back up and running.

We think the controller on our main database server is bad. We went down to our data center week before last in the middle of the night as some of you know when one of our drives went out on our main database server. Our other hard drive went out when our system was hit with a surge in demand at our launch. Rest assured though that we did make a back up of the database just before launch and all of the photos are backed up and replicated on other drives. The photos are safe, Zooomr today (without the database) just doesn’t know where the photos are.

Kristopher will have to put our database on another server and then we will try to launch again. There has been a lot of outreach from so many people in the last 12 hours. Thanks to SilentQ for driving Kristopher down to the data center at 2am last night and thanks to Scoble especially for caring enough to get involved as well. And thanks to all of you who have supported Zooomr in your own way, through the donate now button, through blog posts and kind words and comments. Your support more than anything is what is keeping this alive right now.

There are a lot of great things Zooomr can do with photosharing. Stock photography, worldwide localization, interesting new social features like Zipline and Global Conversations and Discover, and ZooomrTV, where we plan to (and continue to even now) broadcast live and share our plans and visions and direction with you in as transparent way as we possibly can. But ultimately Zooomr is all of you and we are building it for you. A site for photographers who are passionate about photography.

Again, we apologize for this outage. For the delay in getting Mark III out. For our server being down right now. Know that we are trying and committed to doing everything we can to make this dream happen.

100 Comments

  1. bluemonki said on 30 May 2007 at 10:39 am:

    Good luck guys - spend the donated money wisely :)

  2. homestar14 said on 30 May 2007 at 10:40 am:

    Another great post! :)

    Take your time, we can wait. Good luck at finding a new server. Mark III is totally worth it. :)

  3. BG said on 30 May 2007 at 10:42 am:

    Much love Thomas and Kris.

    Thanks for the hard work. We’ll play hard on the other side of M3…

    -McBLG

  4. rkalajian said on 30 May 2007 at 10:48 am:

    Keep up the good work.

    You’ve got a lot of dedicated Zooomr users backing you.

  5. Tanguillo said on 30 May 2007 at 11:04 am:

    Take it easy… you are almost there…
    Nice attitude SilentQ :)

  6. Tim Van Loan said on 30 May 2007 at 11:14 am:

    Hello Thomas, I heard about some of the challenges you had overnight with your server, and I’m here to help. I’m the Sun rep here in San Francisco and would love to find out how we can be of assistance. I’m here and happy to help :)
    -Tim

  7. dawn said on 30 May 2007 at 11:15 am:

    Thanks for the update, Thomas.

    People kept writing that you guys hadn’t apologized — but here you are, being as honest as possible and putting an apology in here. I’m not sure many of us needed it — we’re in for the long haul because we know this is something worth being around for. But I think that the openness you and Kris have been sharing has been wonderful.

    Thank you.

  8. Karoli said on 30 May 2007 at 11:19 am:

    No apology is necessary, at least, not to me. Having watched you over the past week-plus and seeing the heart that’s going into this, I know how much you want to see this launch, and launch smoothly.

    Hang in there, things will get better.

  9. Spidah said on 30 May 2007 at 11:46 am:

    Good luck with everything guys, we’re all rooting for you!

  10. Trevor Carpenter said on 30 May 2007 at 11:57 am:

    Woo-hoo! I’m loving this ride. These problems are like separating the wheat from the chaff. I’m glad to watch the chaff fly away.

  11. john said on 30 May 2007 at 11:58 am:

    Good luck Thomas and Kris

  12. fabydreams said on 30 May 2007 at 11:59 am:

    With patience the dream will be reality.
    Good luck and take care.
    Love and kisses
    Faby

  13. Jen Ochej said on 30 May 2007 at 12:19 pm:

    I’m with Trevor - enjoying all of this, despite all the trouble and the setbacks. It’s great getting to know other Zooomrs in the chat and through Ustream. Keep it up, and have fun! :)

  14. Mace2000 said on 30 May 2007 at 12:54 pm:

    Cheer up! We are patient. :)

  15. StevieB said on 30 May 2007 at 1:00 pm:

    I guess if people want the certainty of a big company backed with big resources that’s fair enough, but you can’t have a big company and the kind of community of equals that Zooomr offers. So you have to make a choice: if you want the former, cough up your money and find a paying site, and know that your money is going to bolster somebody’s profits. I want the latter, and I’m happy to wait for it despite the frustrations.

  16. gareth thomas said on 30 May 2007 at 1:11 pm:

    Keep it going guys, we are all behind you.

  17. Taavi said on 30 May 2007 at 1:44 pm:

    I’m hanging in,
    There ain’t no doubt.
    And I’m hanging tough,
    Over and out.
    -G.C.

  18. onebadpenny said on 30 May 2007 at 2:59 pm:

    I got into this with a random mouseclick about 6 hours before the actual launch happened. (Yes, I already have a zoomr account, so I know what it is, but I’d no idea there was an impending launch/upgrade) It took little more than a few moments of watching zoomr.tv and the chat going on with it to realize that Zooomr is truly an honest to goodness community. You hear all the time about online communities, but to actually see it in action was something new for me. I am by no means good with words, so I’m shutting up now… right after I say that this is definitely a group I plan on being a part of. however small my support may be, it’’s there.

  19. Atakan E said on 30 May 2007 at 3:10 pm:

    They need all support even small ones.

    The community is here. There were over 180 people from all over the world watching ZooomrTV and waiting for the launch.

  20. d.m.m. said on 30 May 2007 at 3:43 pm:

    kristopher, get some sleep! we understand!

    much love to both of you

  21. mcraft said on 30 May 2007 at 3:54 pm:

    I’m sensing some positive momentum! :) Good luck rebuilding your server(s) and getting Mark3 launched (again)!

    I’m loving how the community is coming together for this. I also like how you’re responding to various comments made on this and other blogs. Mature - understanding - hopeful - determined - inspiring! You guys are great.

  22. flightblog said on 30 May 2007 at 4:05 pm:

    Hang in there guys, this will all come together soon and you’ll have something to really be proud of.

  23. peppeg said on 30 May 2007 at 4:15 pm:

    yep!

    i’m still here…

    :P

    with love

  24. nak said on 30 May 2007 at 5:10 pm:

    This is gonna to be so good… Can’t wait for Mark3 (re)launch. Neither my latest photos! :D
    Keep it going guys!

    Best regards from Portugal

  25. Phil said on 30 May 2007 at 6:40 pm:

    Goodluck. Stay strong.

  26. boiler97 said on 30 May 2007 at 6:51 pm:

    Hang in there Kris and Thomas. Your commitment is inspiring!

  27. Cory Krug said on 30 May 2007 at 7:10 pm:

    You guys rock, seriously! I love that you and Kristopher are working live from time to time. It really helps put a perspective on who is behind the machine. I truely believe that all this is going to do nothing but make Zooomr that much more popular!

  28. hahaha said on 30 May 2007 at 7:11 pm:

    hang in there, we’re all here
    good luck from Vietnam

  29. rleong101 said on 30 May 2007 at 9:35 pm:

    I’m with you guys all the way. Best of luck resolving whatever technical issues are in the way.
    Please don’t forget to take care of yourselves in this whole situation. Your health and sanity are more important than some database.
    Cheers all,
    rleong101

  30. ElPatriote said on 30 May 2007 at 10:48 pm:

    Hang on guys…Good luck for finding better hardware and getting zooomr up.

    Who is writing the german blog? Its totally out of date.
    If youll let me i would write there…

    el_patriote

  31. gougy said on 30 May 2007 at 11:04 pm:

    Good luck mastes and don’t worry we can wait.

  32. John Rowlands said on 30 May 2007 at 11:22 pm:

    Well, despite being fed-up with the wait, the Zooomr team really warrants congratulation for keeping us all up-to-date on what’s happening.

    Anyone ‘migrating’ to other sites might want to think about that long and hard before doing so - this is an excellent site, run by hard workers. I’m sitting tight for as long as it takes, because nothing else is anything like Zooomr.

  33. Trapac said on 30 May 2007 at 11:40 pm:

    In years to come, you will both tell stories about the horror, and the tiredness, and the weight of expectations, and the personal cost to down-time with family and friends, of hopes dashed, and stories of little trains. However, I have no doubt you will follow that with further stories of an amazing community response, of help offered unconditionally from the least likely quarters as well as the obvious ones. Of comraderie, of the first glimpse of the interactive potential that U-stream offered and ultimately of triumph over adversity…

    Somewhere in that story, one net-naive person encountering Zooomr for the first time in the midst of all this, will log-on and buy herself a Mark III Zooomr account.

    Hang tough! :)

  34. Pashimito said on 31 May 2007 at 12:37 am:

    Have some sleep guys ;)

    I’ve got my fingers crossed.

    Good luck from Poland

  35. Goldmund100 said on 31 May 2007 at 2:07 am:

    The NeverEnding Story II

    Crossing fingers!

  36. Thomas said on 31 May 2007 at 2:10 am:

    That is Murphy’s law…
    Keep on - stronger as before!!

  37. Iolede said on 31 May 2007 at 2:25 am:

    Hello!
    Have a rest and sleep well. And: Don´t let the (bed-)bugs bite you.
    I think no one wants you to blame for keep us waiting. So take all the time you need and we are looking forward to the coming “birth” of Mark III Zooomr - IT WILL COME, DOUBTLESS!
    Thanks for your previous work and, of course, for keep on working.
    GOOD LUCK from Germany!

    P.S. If you still need anyone for translation, so …

  38. Rich Watts (uk) said on 31 May 2007 at 3:39 am:

    In the words of the once-great NKOTB “hang tough”. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it seems appropriate.

    I might also implore some of you who may feel your loyalties waning to “keep the faith” as the mighty Jon Bon Jovi once instructed - Who needs to turn to scripture for guidance in hard times when there is so much secular wisdom to be found in the grooves of the libraries of ‘Pop’?

    Good luck. I look forward to the happy conclusion.

  39. Carlos said on 31 May 2007 at 4:47 am:

    no offense taken, keep going!

  40. Jonathan Ward said on 31 May 2007 at 5:09 am:

    in the words of bryan adams….when the feeling’s right / I’m gonna run all night….

    i’m sure soon zooomr will be feeling just right!

    keep going guys

  41. Sean McGee said on 31 May 2007 at 5:29 am:

    I’m glad the servers went down before I could use MK-III myself…I’d be even more disappointed.

    Keep up the good work guys, and don’t forget, there’s a lot of us rooting for y’all.

  42. sean said on 31 May 2007 at 6:31 am:

    OK, everybody - stop quoting crap ’90s bands - or else I’ll have to, in the words of Def Leppard, “Get the rock outta here”…

  43. Ellis Web said on 31 May 2007 at 6:34 am:

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  44. Rich Watts (uk) said on 31 May 2007 at 6:50 am:

    “give me one good reason for leaving, i’ll give you ten good reasons to stay. You’re the only one I believe in; I’d be hurt, I’d be hurt if you walked away” (Too many broken hearts - Jason Donovan)

    I really feel those words right now…zooomr, please don’t leave! hahaha…gotta love the 90s trash.

  45. boomerang said on 31 May 2007 at 6:51 am:

    so let´s start the “final countdown” for zm3.
    good luck from austria and keep on zooomring.

  46. TerraPosse said on 31 May 2007 at 6:56 am:

    “Its a dirty job but someones gotta do it…
    We care a lot”

    To keep with the theme…8-)

  47. Fogview_Tom said on 31 May 2007 at 7:40 am:

    It’s great to see the community pooling together and everyone helping in their own way. It’s wonderful to see the smiles on Kris’ face when he sees all the people in the chat room sticking with him and offering support these past 10 days.

    It just goes to show you that something good can come out of what seems like a disaster.

    Good up the good work guys.

  48. Thomas said on 31 May 2007 at 7:54 am:

    BTW, Dan Heller has written an interesting article about a Virtual Stock agency:
    http://danheller.blogspot.com/2007/05/virtual-stock-agency.html

  49. ronald said on 31 May 2007 at 8:46 am:

    hav u seen picli.com ? you guys could work well work with them

  50. Sebastian said on 31 May 2007 at 9:21 am:

    Ever thought about creating a Twitter-account for the development process? You could post little updates fast - users would be informed, and everybody would be even more happy. Also, it wouldn’t require following the chat to get the latest updates. (Which many people who work can’t do all day.)

  51. Alan said on 31 May 2007 at 10:01 am:

    This is the end, beautiful friend
    This is the end, my only friend
    The end of our elaborate plans
    The end of ev’rything that stands
    The end

    No safety or surprise
    The end
    I’ll never look into your eyes again

    Can you picture what will be
    So limitless and free
    Desperately in need of
    some strangers hand
    In a desperate land

    Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
    And all the children are insane
    All the children are insane
    Waiting for the summer rain
    There’s danger on the edge of town
    Ride the king’s highway
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    Ride the highway West baby

    Ride the snake
    Ride the snake
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    To the lake

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    The snake is long
    Seven miles
    Ride the snake

    He’s old
    And his skin is cold
    The west is the best
    The west is the best
    Get here and we’ll do the rest

    The blue bus is calling us
    The blue bus is calling us
    Driver, where you taking us?

    The killer awoke before dawn
    He put his boots on
    He took a face from the ancient gallery
    And he walked on down the hall

    He went into the room where his sister lived
    And then he paid a visit to his brother
    And then he walked on down the hall
    And he came to a door
    And he looked inside
    Father?
    Yes son
    I want to kill you
    Mother, I want to………….

    Come on, baby, take a chance with us
    Come on, baby, take a chance with us
    Come on, baby, take a chance with us
    And meet me at the back of the blue bus

    This is the end, beautiful friend
    This is the end, my only friend
    The end

    It hurts to set you free
    But you’ll never follow me-aca

  52. Nick said on 31 May 2007 at 10:18 am:

    Hey, you could at least complete the “Mother, I want to…” line (I mean, he got kicked out of a club for it and all that)

  53. JeffH said on 31 May 2007 at 10:41 am:

    Re: Dan Heller’s latest article. Human behavior will change dramatically once a financial incentive is introduced, which will occur when the new Marketplace feature in Mk3 is introduced.. Zooomr should definitely consider incorporating Dan’s proposed business model. It it will solve the issues that will potentially arise with Zooomr’s merchant system, (at least as I understand it will be initially implemented with few checks and balances and pricing totally open to the merchant photographer.)
    The potential issues with an open system are; price undercutting, keyword manipulation or ‘pollution’, and negative rating wars, as well as any other type of manipulation that people can come up with to game the system to promote their photos over and above those of other photographers. Dan’s ‘Editor’ user model would provide an incentive for photographers to ‘play nice’ with the system and each other, eliminates price undercutting and ultimately would enhance the friendly community which Zooomr has created and hopes to grow. If you want to see what can happen to a photo community that introduces financial incentive without checks and balances, go take a look at http://www.picprizes.com and read the user forums. Users came up will all kinds of ways to cheat the system in order to win photo contests which had some very small monetary prizes. Hate wars and negative rating wars broke out, cheat voting was rampant. The few checks and balances that were added, were too little and to late, the damage was done. Most of the original users got frustrated with the out of control situation, deleted all of their photos, and left in disgust. The site is still there, but the developers do not appear to be maintaining it over and above keeping the servers up. It is now a dead site.

    JeffH

  54. anatol said on 31 May 2007 at 11:21 am:

    Nise site!

  55. anatol said on 31 May 2007 at 11:22 am:

    Nise site!

  56. anatol said on 31 May 2007 at 11:22 am:

    Nise site!

  57. sue said on 31 May 2007 at 12:22 pm:

    DUDES!
    congrats on teh servers, don’t forget to give them each good names.

  58. YY said on 31 May 2007 at 6:17 pm:

    I just hope it won’t take another week (or even longer) to have the service back online…

  59. bopo said on 31 May 2007 at 7:45 pm:

    I spy with my eye an Apache test page. =)

  60. Rukasu said on 31 May 2007 at 9:37 pm:

    indubitably!

  61. Nacho (MSTRCHSQLL) said on 31 May 2007 at 9:55 pm:

    from now my blog looks weird (”picless”)

  62. Sieghart said on 1 Jun 2007 at 1:35 am:

    mine too! my blog looks Weird! no pics at all! hahaha!

  63. Sieghart said on 1 Jun 2007 at 1:37 am:

    yay! some of my pictures on my blog are back. some are missing though

  64. Paul @ www.photographyvoter.com said on 1 Jun 2007 at 3:04 am:

    Best of luck with it. Looking forward to seeing how the site pans out…

  65. Peter-Paul de Meijer said on 1 Jun 2007 at 5:48 am:

    I have a lot of pics to upload when you guys are ready.
    Good luck!

  66. Carlos said on 1 Jun 2007 at 7:11 am:

    make this our lucky friday! fingers still crossed!

  67. Mojo said on 1 Jun 2007 at 9:40 am:

    How about another update on the blog for those of us who don’t have time to watch live streaming at work?

  68. Sean McGee said on 1 Jun 2007 at 10:39 am:

    :( I miss Zooomr Beta.

  69. Bryan Pearson said on 1 Jun 2007 at 10:41 am:

    A blog post would be nice, but its cool. We all know you guys are busy, so keep up the great work and get to us when you have time.

    Thanks for all of the effort you are putting into this project, and it means as much to us as it does to do.

    Thanks again, and good luck.

  70. Evil Woman said on 1 Jun 2007 at 11:35 am:

    You’re all going to want to check this post out for updates.

  71. Paul said on 1 Jun 2007 at 12:49 pm:

    Amazon S3 and to save some money on a server?

  72. Nicki said on 1 Jun 2007 at 1:03 pm:

    @Evil Woman - thanks for the link. :)

    @Thomas/Kristopher - Keep your chins up, we’re rootin’ for y’all! :D

  73. max said on 1 Jun 2007 at 2:43 pm:

    Much love & respect for the warm words and the hard work!

    Go, Zooomr, go!!!

  74. Andrew said on 1 Jun 2007 at 3:49 pm:

    This blog is not saving updates currently, which is the reason for the ‘lack’ of info here. The link here is to a wiki set up to inform you guys how things are going…
    Temp place for more Info.

    Don’t for get the Ustrem chat - usually updates in the topic or initial message from Anya

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