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So what happened to the HN server?

news.ycombinator.com

101–110 of 133 posts

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#101
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The superior results from my browser's back button far outweigh the inconvenience of the expired link. I click on a link from the "Ask" front page, reply to the top comment, and my comment appears in the thread. Next I click "back" on my browser and I'm back at the front page of "ask". I do that much more often than I hit an expired link.

That doesn't really have much to do with the expired link issue. That issue exists because the targets of links are stored as closures on the server. What you want is to serialize those closures into the URL itself, instead of letting the URL be a pointer to a closure stored on the server. In traditional web applications, you'd have to do that serialization manually (although if you've never used such a closure based…

[deleted]

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#102
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the functions which generate pages get garbage collected. Once the function is gone, there is no reference point. I suspect hindering spam and vote manipulation plays a part in the architectural decisions. It also makes it possible to create different HN's for different users - e.g. the hellbanned, royals, and plebeians.

I know about hellbanned, but what are the royals and the plebians?

Theoretical particles required by my unified theory of HN.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#103
post #99
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling that you choose to misunderstand. If there is anything I can add to this line of discussion I will gladly do it, but I have to admit I'm a bit lost as to what your problem is here.

I didn't choose your words.

No, but you did choose to interpret them in a totally different context, deliberately giving them a meaning that was clearly not part of my statement. Then you ignored, yet still replied to, my clarification.

From my perspective this looks like either a huge misunderstanding or the definition of straw man rhetorics. And I have to say I don't get where your hostility comes from, but I neither recognize my message as it was apparently understood by you nor do I appreciate the tone. I'm always ready to admit that issues like these could be my fault as I all-too-often like to hide behind the fact that I'm not a native speaker. I just don't see it this time though.

In the spirit of being constructive: I don't think the application of the label "normalcy" or the lack thereof is a value judgement in any way, and being "normal" is something that must be interpreted within the given context - otherwise it makes no sense because it's not a global property that encompasses the entire personality of a person.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#105
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When blocked browser behave differently. btw I'm in Beijing too, maybe we met in open parties?

This looked more like the block you get when you are on the site's black list. How many HN readers are in Beijing? In zhongguancun?

I must admit that my first thought was whether I accidentally got hellbanned.

When I saw http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://news.ycombinat... I realized that I wasn't.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#106
post #56
post #21

Saturday, I thought: "This guy (PG) is really brave, everybody is nowadays using virtualized server environments on mulit-core machines and PG just gets some bare metal and puts his app on one core and one thread. WTF, this guy is a genius, single-threaded apps on bare metal FTW, this is so great and I am doing this too." After seeing this thing down for several hours -- and Google hate downtimes, they punish you ins…

What would the benefits of using a virtualized server for a relatively small (in terms of server needs) site like HN be? The way I see it so far, is that virtualization is mostly beneficial for hosting companies that can provide cheaper hosting and have better isolation and easier resource allocation. But I can't think of any big benefits for the site owner, assuming they can afford a dedicated server, and I can see…

One thing is abstracted failure-proof(ish) disks. I'm considering moving from Linode to Hetzner for the enormous amount more RAM I can afford on a bare metal box there, but the one thing that gives me pause is having only RAID1 redundancy, and having to manage it myself.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#107
post #89

I have only one portal onto the Internet - this site. I check it first thing and last thing, and when it was down today I had a weird epiphany - I did not mind. HN is not a service, its not a startup trying to get mindshare - its a (luvvie alert) community - and one where the downtime had a known and obvious cause and did not matter - rtm would fix it, I would catch up, I knew this thread would exist and I would stil…

I am not familiar with "luvvie alert" ?

Imagine you are at a nice party in London. You are chatting to an interesting sounding person who turns out is an actor, and then you hear phrases like this

"just one summer with the RSC back when I was younger".

"Of course Johnny said, ... umm, Gielguld of course dahling, did you see him in the Tempest in 74? Wunderful"

"I was saying to Sam just after that Quantum thing. You really should talk to Barbara about directing the next one. I have her number; charming lady, did I ever tell you about the time she ..."

A small red rotating flashing light will rise up out of the coffee table next to you and the words "luvvie alert" will be flashed across your field of vision.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#108
post #72
post #47

PG wasn't aware that PetSmart closes an hour earlier on Sundays, so he was forced to wait till opening this morning to get the additional hamsters needed to keep this place running.

amazing... Just amazing... Would you happen to know what breed of hamsters he is using?

I think they are deadly poisonous Zanzibar hamsters. Genetically engineered from rat and hamster DNA.

Re: So what happened to the HN server?

#109
post #100
post #47

PG wasn't aware that PetSmart closes an hour earlier on Sundays, so he was forced to wait till opening this morning to get the additional hamsters needed to keep this place running.

I remember when this would have been considered noise here; now it's the top comment.

Probably because thats what powers my computer nowdays. Though it's not hamsters, its a plump labradore australian cattle dog mix. Going green.
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