Avatars not working + can't change it
 

I can't see avatars, except some few users here and there. I also can't seem to upload/change my avatar, not through a link nor from my computer. It just says "Upload failed due to failure writing temporary file." I couldn't find anyone else asking about this...?? Is everyone else having the same problem or just the good ol' me?

Sorry if this has been asked, tried to search for some answers for hours.

its not just you. It has something to do with the forums going down and the owners changing hands and what not.
We hope it will be back when the user Ayumi gains full control?
Im not too sure how this will happen, but hopefully everything will be fixed soon.

thanks for info. just realized this and would like to upload a new pic as avatar :)
I'll wait and try again

you can still use default avatars, it's better than nothing! :)

Can you guys actually see my beautiful avatar? I somehow can D:

^I can see your avatar. :) It's one of those rare ones that I can see when I'm using my iPad. :3

I can clearly see yours, too. I guess it really is because we were using our avatars for quite some time so the old back-up still contains them.

My avatar also is gone.
SO...the owner of AHS has changed? So.. that's why it was offline a while?

For some reason the server wasn't renewed and the forum went down. Member Ayumi paid for the domain and took control of it and now is working with the mods to restore thr forum.....I think is the whole story :)

Wow, the avatar backup must be REALLY old because I had my avatar for AGES and it's gone lol

I used to have a different avatar but I changed it because I couldn't see my avatar with iPad. I love my new avatar though so I think it stays here for a while. 8D

Changed mine to one of the defaults, hope it will get fixed soon though!!

I want my avatar back ! but I'm glad that AHS is not over like we all thought few days ago..

I had the same problem and switched to one of the defaults as well. I can see some avatars (like Zeke's) but most of them are just the word's "so-and-so's avatar".

Any news on the forum status?

No, afraid not. The situation is still the same as last month. We are trying to get in contact with the admin to fix the issue. Server access is required, something we don't have at the moment.

I can't upload or link to an avatar, so the problem still exists?

I hope the problem can be solved as quickly as possible, thanks for the effort all the staff is putting in, I can imagine how difficult it can be to work in this way right now. AHS fightin'!

What effort? All they have to do is e-mail the admin or server host and wait for a reply. xD

^ The admin has been notified. As far as I know, it's being worked on, but the mods haven't been updated on the situation in a while...

You do realize it's more complicated than that, right?

The people who have full access to the server are MIA, which obviously means they aren't replying to any kind of message.

I think it isn't fair for you to assume anything about the situation unless you actually know more on what happened/what's going on.

Just thought I'd pop a post in and ask about the status of this problem?
Any progress?

Are we still waiting to hear from the administrators? It's been months! Is this some godforsaken forum that they left behind in a past life? I mean jesus fucking christ the forum went down in the beginning of April and we're now in August, an ahs member had to use their own money to buy the forum just so it wouldn't be lost forever. The two people that run this place are isaac hiew who according to his page hasn't logged in since 17th January 2012 and SurrealDreams who according to his page hasn't logged in since 19th October 2011.

We're like that one part in Titanic where the ship is going down and they start sending out flares so hopefully someone will notice and the camera zooms out and it's this tiny little light that lasts for a few seconds in the middle of the ocean surrounded by black nothing-ness for miles and miles.

Good news, everyone! (I hope you all read that in Professor Farnsworth's voice.)

I'm happy to finally share with you that a solution to the broken features and neglects from lack of administration access is happening! There is A LOT of hard work that needs to be done before we can get everything back on track, so I will have to ask you (once again), to please be as patient as you can.

Things are actually being done now, but it will take more than just a day to fix it.
Things are changing and we hope that you will enjoy the new AHS once it arrives.

I really hope that this message will motivate you to stay even longer at AHS!

Would like to apologise deeply for all the mess that has happened here since April, and I want to thank all of the loyal and cute users, and the great staff that has been around. I know most of you don't know me, but I really hope that we can all have fun on AHS together from now on.

AHS will never die. ♥ ♥ ♥

Aaah, that's so amazing to hear that it's being fixed soon! I don't personally mind it taking time, just knowing something is happening is more than enough! :yes

Just hope that everyone knows that this isn't another "We're doing the best we can" thing, but more of a "Hey, things are actually happening because we're finally able to fix it now!" :3

Ayumi that's really fantastic news! Thank you and everyone helping in the process!

:love Thank you for the hard work!
If you need help with respect of software issues, don't hesitate to contact me :)
(I bet I am not the only computer savvy in this forum)

Amazing news! ;_; *crying for joy and relief*
Thanks for all the effort you put on this forum!

It's a great relief to be proven wrong. (sort of. Still no word from the administrators) Thanks Ayumi. :D

I was given permission to post the update by an admin, which is why they didn't say anything yet. So don't worry!

Thanks for the effort, it's so nice to know AHS will soon be fixed♥ I'M HAPPY!

Any news on avatars working again? I thankfully was able to change my signature (I thought I couldn't) but the avatar keeps being bothersome. In fact, it's the only thing that AHS lacks right now for me lol

The admin who told me he was gonna renew everything and fix the problems has just gone MIA again. Sigh.. I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

Sorry, guys. It doesn't seem like anything will/can be done at this point. :(
I have 0 access to any kind of content, only the domain.

I guess this is the end of AHS as we know it.

hm. I wonder why the admin just cant give access to another person? This is just strange. Or what about the ability to clone the website and make new admins?

I do have a backup of the forum, and I own the AHS domain.

But I don't own the vBulletin license so installing it wouldn't really work.
And to be honest, as much as I want to see AHS live, there is no way I have that kind of money to save a place already as dead as this.

I tried to contact the founder but he never replied.. last time I talked to him, he told me he wanted to fix everything, update the board version and make me admin so I could deal with issues. But he hasn't, so we're stuck. : (

Haven't seen him online in a few months either so..

Tbh the forum is relatively dead when compared to other forums but isn't it worth saving because it's one of the last 'big' jpop forums? All the other ones are dead anyway and I suppose if worse comes to worse, we could move over to jpopcentral.

do you have any of his contact info? If you're not willing to keep this up I can.

As I suggested before, we could find another forum software (free) and use that instead, but that means we'd have to start over and who knows how many members would be up for that.. Not sure I would be able to transfer the content (threads/members) to a free software since those are always very limited with features.

I do, but he stopped coming online there so there's no use to give out his username since you wouldn't be able to talk to him because he isn't there to accept your friend request. We're talking about the founder, btw. I guess it's time I mention that since it doesn't seem to matter anymore. He did have legit reasons to leave, which I can't disclose, but it's a shame he didn't just give me access to take over like he said he would. Then I could at least find a few people from various timezones to help me out with administration stuff.

As it is now..
The forum is still here. The domain still works. And aside from the annoying avatar upload issue, what other things are there that don't work?

We'd never be able to actually renew the place, but we can still be here like it is. I think the forum software license is permanent, and as long as I have the domain, then this place should always be up running.

I do like the idea of a new free forum, but yes, a lot of people wouldn't go there. Also, the fact you, Ayumi, paid for this one, makes it kinda mean to use another one. I think, like you said, since the avatar issue is the only bothersome thing, we can learn to live with it :D Don't worry! <3

Restarting would be the kiss of death for this already dying forum, lol. I've never seen a forum really come back from it, they pretty much are only ever a tiny fraction as active as before.

^Prime example Utada-Online. However, their biggest problem was transitioning. Whenever you start a forum over from scratch, only ever 1/4 of the original members sign up. Utada-Online went "offline" and they started up "UO-Temp" which was a temporary forum for people to join, that was up for about 2 months and then they shut that down and made Hikaru.sc which was supposed to be the permanent replacement. So they made people transition twice, and I think by the time that site died, not even 600 people even signed up. Utada-Online by the end of it's life, had over 8,500 members.

We really should think about it though. Just in case it has to happen. We don't want to be up a creek without a paddle. We need to have something to fall back on.

____________

Yeah I just checked the way back machine that let's you view previous versions of websites. By the end of Utada-Online's life it had 8,586 members, and by the time hikaru.sc was shut down, it had 560 members with 275 of them being active.

This site has over 24,000 members (90% of which aren't active) imagine the small number who would be willing to sign back up.

Don't worry, I'm gonna keep the domain alive as long as I can. It's just a matter of when the forum license expires. It isn't mine so I won't be able to renew it..

And also, you're a moderator. I'm not. This isn't my forum.. had I had that kind of access, I would still ask you for advice or suggest stuff. It would be up to you (and the other mods) to implement it. It goes both ways.. if there is anything I can do that you want, just let me know.

If I had that kind of money, I would just buy my own vBulletin license and import the forum backup I got from ZeF. But $249 is too much money for this little activity.. not saying it isn't worth it, but you know what I mean. I can't prioritise it. So we'll just have to stick around and pray for ZeF to return or give someone full administrative access. lol

I didn't pay for it! I was just given the domain before it expired completely. The forum license is something else.. I have 0 access or any kind of power of the forum or the server its running on.

Starting over would be VERY bad. The only way it would work, I think, is if we were able to move all the threads and posts.. but that doesn't sound very likely to happen. :v

If you buy the vBulletin license and use the back it would it eliminate the middle man Zef who isn't really here anymore right? Would we have full access to everything?

We could always start a donating/pay-pal like system and send the funds to a trusted member to buy the license. 249 for one person is a lot, but it's only take like 20 people to bring that number down a lot. Just a possibility.

Basically $5 each if you can get 50 members, $10 for 25, not unreasonable. Could even do a kick-starter page lol, might get some new forum in the process

I'm soooo late, i was struggling with my avatar and wanted to make a thread about it and then... I absolutely had no idea of what has been happening with the forum for the past months :c I'd be willing to participate and pay if we happened to have to buy the license

^ Same.

I'd be very sad to see this forum go. I've been using it since maybe 2007? Even though I'm not as active as I used to be, and have had a couple of start ups, I still visit this forum. I would help donate as well if it kept it going in the longer run.

I'd be willing to donate to a Kickstarter for AHS!

I'd also be willing to donate :)

Out of what we could of lost, at least it was just the avatars. I guess it was like getting given a car but without the keys with the ownership of AHS

So the only thing that is 'bad' is that we can't select our own avatars?
I remember reading that Ayumi said something about the forum license expiring.... When would something like that happen and is it bad?

So essentially it's not a question of if but when the forum is eventually taken offline correct?

Having been away and out of touch for some time, I'm not in the loop on exactly what the problem is, but I'm looking into things now. AHS will not be taken down.

I think avatars can be uploaded now. Please try and let us know.

^ It has worked!

It worked. Thanks so much.

Yaya..finally new pic

Yeeees, thank you for fixing it! ♥

vBulletin licenses do not expire. Once you purchase a version, it is yours forever. (ZeF is the forum software license owner, still.)

Domains can expire though. And I think the AHS domain (which is now owned by ZeF again) will expire later this year without being auto-renewed. The admins on AHS can then registered it again and gain 100% access.

The hard part is the servers that hosts the forum software.. even with full access, I think it's still owned/rented by ZeF?

I've never realized that I could be this happy...to see a new avatar uploaded again! :laugh That's how long it's been & to have the avatars back in action, now...was totally worth the wait. :D Thanks to nmskalmn & any other mods here, for restoring the avatars for everyone! :heart

Bless

so happy to see avatars again =)

I'm so happy. T_T Now I have my dearest kami oshi of anime everywhere I go.

Thank you so much!

I wonder if we should have another Avatar Matsuri just in case, aha.

Great that this is working again, I may finally get me a new set :laugh Thank you for the efforts and information :yes

Thank you so much! I missed avatars so much (I often remember users by their avatars rather than their usernames haha) and I can finally use my own avatars ^^

Thanks for fixing this.

Thank you very much Ayumi and the whole team for your effort! It will be easier to identify who you are speaking with/quoting!

maybe we should get in the process of making a AHS 2.0 type of thing. Like start getting as much from here and moving it to a new site if the worst is to happen. Or at least have a backup plan. This does seem to be ayus best fan forum and would be bad just to be left in the dark when the expiry happens with nothing that can be done. There might also be a way to get the ownership if there is a way to appeal to the forum provider/host people or contact them, as they may be able to give some advice on what could be done, if there is anyone to contact. Though the owners should be on some time or another. I'm curious to know how AHS is funded, like is it not that much for the its yearly cost and has is has it been funded by the owner all this time. I suppose we all owe a big thanks to who ever has been paying for it this long

And just because of ownership issues (not hearing from them), not because it went out of fashion, will make it more sad if it happens. Everyday users may be smaller than what it used too but the numbers always climb back up on days of her new releases and big news

OMG AVATARS WORK AGAIN!!
thanks!!

It's great that the avatar problem is fixed. :)

this gives me some hope that AHS isn't going to die afterall! :D

Oh my god they ARE working!! Incredible! Thank you! :)

For some reason I can't change my avatar. I''ve tried uploading, I've tried using a link from another site, but still can't change it. It's been a couple of months already, but I see that some users are managing to change theirs. Any help?

^weird. Did you try to use one of the gallery too?
Are you sure that the pic you chose doesn't exceed the maximum size or weight?

I can use any pic from the gallery (it's my salvation) and the pics I'm trying to upload don't exceed size or weight. I don't really know what to do anymore :(

I contacted an admin. I hope he'll be able to resolve your problem.

Thank you!