Technical issues appear to be resolved (update 2, Friday afternoon)

[EarlG]

Last edited Fri Mar 7, 2025, 03:19 PM - Edit history (2)

UPDATE FRIDAY 2:20 PM ET:

We switched back to normal mode this morning and everything has been working fine so far. We can't be sure, but we now suspect that the issue may have been something to do with a major botnet attack which occurred yesterday -- it wasn't directed at us specifically, but many sites appear to have been caught in the crossfire. Details are in reply 28 below. As of now things appear to be back to normal. Our apologies for the inconvenience.


UPDATE 9:40 PM ET: We’re still having issues when attempting to open the site to all visitors, but it’s looking increasingly like “server weirdness” (that’s the technical explanation) rather than anything nefarious.

The site is currently running smoothly in “members only” mode, so we’re going to leave things as they are overnight and see how things are in the morning. If the issues persist, we’ll need to do further troubleshooting.


ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

We appear to be experiencing unusually high traffic, which is causing the site to slow down and crash

In order to compensate while we investigate the situation, we've temporarily switched to registered members only, which significantly reduces the load on our database. Hopefully this is not a major problem, and we'll have an update for you soon.

[highplainsdem]

1. Thanks, EarlG! Hope it isn't a DDoS attack.

[EarlG]

6. I don't know anything for sure yet, but I suspect that's not it

Probably more likely to be a DB glitch. We did do some regular maintenance earlier today which is normally not a big deal, but maybe something went awry with it.

[magicarpet]

78. Just had four Cloud Error Messages,....

... starting at 7:13pm. Finish reading my chosen thread - then back to the Latest Discussion page - that is when the Cloud Error page shows up. Wait a bit - then log on - then all is okay.

Thanks for tweaking the works and keeping things up and running. Have a good night.

[NotHardly]

22. Your experiencing folks are pissed & speaking out!

[Kali]

2. interesting

I just had a gateway error for the first time in a long time and wondered if it was me. why do you think traffic is up? the daily chaos of asshole or something else?

[EarlG]

8. We're not sure yet if it's high traffic or a database issue

The database is getting overstressed, but it could be a software glitch.

[Submariner]

25. FYI: DU has been slow on initial loading

for about a week. No timeouts. Just a slow load then normal clicks between pages in Maine.

[FullySupportDems]

57. They always blame the database!

Lol In a previous life, I'd make sure all the indexes were functioning. I wonder if any of them do that anymore...it's probably all point and click now.
You'll get it, I'm sure of that!

[HarryM]

65. AHH... The old software glitch

Here's a little poem we used to recite about that:

99 lines of code in the app,
99 lines of code
Take it down
Debug it 'round
1,965,842 lines of code in the app

Granted I wasn't a coder, but I did troubleshoot systems, apps, networks, etc. for about 5000 folks for about 30 years
Thank the gods I am retired

You guys here do a great job of holding the thing together.
Keep it up. We need you.

[BigmanPigman]

31. So did I but

I am a tech moron and have no idea what anyone is talking about of this thread. Tech talk is like Greek to me.

[3catwoman3]

53. I tell people I have made it out of the Stone Age when it comes to technology...

...but that I doubt I will ever make it to the Renaissance.

One of these days, I want to learn how to post pictures.

[BigmanPigman]

64. It's really hard when you have no immediate feedback

I live alone and have to figure out everything on my own. It's time consuming and very frustrating. On top of that Cox and Samsung always seem to make devices and provide service that are crap. I constantly run into issues.

[kimbutgar]

3. Thank you I couldn't go on DU I got the message it was a cloud flare problem

I’m glad this site wasn’t hacked!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Thank you so much, my dear EarlG!

I appreciate your keeping us in the loop.

[William769]

5. Thank you.

Trying to post today has been horrendous.

[sheshe2]

7. Thank you!

[Pisces]

9. If the site was hacked or under attack how would we communicate or know? Would members receive and email from you?

[EarlG]

12. There are a number of ways

We have a mailing list which you have to sign up for separately (we send out one email a week on Mondays, which is a recap of the previous week's most recommended threads). I'd send out a message to all our subscribers on that. The sign up form is on our Contact page here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=contact

We would also post on Facebook (our Facebook account is generally unused, but does exist). Finally, even if the site is completely taken down, we should have a way to post a simple message on the front page of the site with information about the situation.

[Pisces]

35. Thank you!

[Sneederbunk]

10. And it's not even election night.

[wolfie001]

11. repube snowflakes probably

[Marcuse]

15. Yeah. Probably.

[Ellipsis]

13. People looking for answers.

[GreenWave]

14. Join up perusers! We are passionate!

[TommyT139]

45. What GreenWave said!

'Twas a "members only" lockout that got me to finally sign up!

I had been lurking since early in Trump's training regime first administration.

[Hekate]

16. Thanks for letting us know. Best of luck.

[ms liberty]

17. I'm in the BFE, I figured it was my broadband connection

[tavernier]

18. I thought it was eloon's spaceship explosion

It rocked our house

[orleans]

50. holy crap! you felt it? what a p.o.s. he is! there should be a law to stop his crazy rocket ass. nt

[BBbats]

19. Hope it's not MAGA hackers.

[BBbats]

21. Believe it or not

People & MAGA's have been discovering this site & checking it out. I certainly never discuss it but I've overheard people who are in the center( but lean right) talking about DU.
Surprised the Hell out of me when one said the info here was generally accurate & more reliable than where they usually get their news from.
That's a good thing!
I think people are realizing they've been had. As I overheard one say "You can't even trust Jimmy Dore anymore!"

[CaptainTruth]

20. I've been getting a 504 from Cloudflare.

[SunSeeker]

41. Me too.

[Butterflylady]

23. Thanks, thought it was on me.

[Cne99999]

24. D.O.S.?

I hope it's not a denial of service attack.

If not it could be a good sign in disguise.

[Cha]

26. Thanks, EarlG .. It was a rough time but

working well now.

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. Thanks for letting us know, EarlG.

I was getting Gateway 403 messages that said DU was the problem.

[we can do it]

28. Bots

https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/03/massive-botnet-that-appeared-overnight-is-delivering-record-size-ddos

[mahina]

40. Ruh roh

[EarlG]

54. It could possibly be related

Folks have been reporting slowness on other sites today too.

[John1956PA]

55. I, too, thought of this. A spam-like attack designed to overwhelm the site's resources. n/t

[Fla Dem]

72. OK, not being a TECH WIZARD, does this impact everyone?

In other words, have all our devices been infected with this malicious malware? And if so, what should we do to secure any personal data on our laptops,
iPhones and other equipment?
Thanks for any light you can shed from n this.

[Blue Full Moon]

29. Hopefully it's Bluesky people checking out DU

[mountain grammy]

30. Thanks for the heads up..

[MustLoveBeagles]

32. Thanks EarlG

At first I thought it was just me.

[LilElf70]

33. Good luck

[surfered]

34. I hope Big Balls has not launched a cyber attack. Speaking of launched,

reports are the Space X rocket failed today. Too bad Musk and Trump weren’t on it, Orem would have gotten the answer to his question that we all want to hear: “Is he dead yet?”

[Captain Zero]

63. Maybe DDOS got the SpaceX launch?

Or just a coincidence?

[True Blue American]

67. It exploded!🌷

[Ford_Prefect]

36. Thanks. I keep looking for that "Elon Arrested" headline....

[William769]

37. It just got considerably worse.

[mahina]

38. Thank you EarlG and DU

I was worried.

[SunSeeker]

39. I got this weird error message I've never gotten before:

[Rhiannon12866]

69. I've gotten those errors numerous times before, but never so many as when I tried to log on early last night

[GAJMac]

42. Thanks for the heads up.

[Orrex]

43. When I tuned in, I was kind of hoping that a major obituary was the cause.

Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day.

[Cheezoholic]

44. It's happening all over the web, at least for me n/t

[MyMission]

46. Thanks for the update

With the members only access I haven't had a problem reading or replying to posts, which was happening earlier today. I appreciate all you do!

[Rhiannon12866]

47. Thanks, EarlG! I had trouble gaining access today, kept getting those Gateway Time Outs.

[Demnation]

48. You guys rock. Thank Zeus and the Universe for you guys. OMG. Where would I be without DU!!

[CaptainTruth]

49. Thanks for the update!!!

[calimary]

51. Thanks for letting us know, EarlG.

This site isn’t just a site. It’s a political lifeline.

[Sailingdiver]

52. Thank you

For your incredible support

[OldSWODog]

56. this is pretty complicated...

EarlG, greetings...I can't begin to comprehend what's happening but I'm glad you and your colleagues are on top of it...thanks much...cheers, OSD

[oldsoldierfadingfast]

58. Thank you ...

Earl G and all who are working on this. Now, walk away for awhile and don't think about it. Get a good night's sleep!
Here's hoping that it gets solved tomorrow.

[LuvLoogie]

59. Elon's A.I. looking for political targets?

Maybe all of us are flooding the social media zone with news of The Vandal's fuckery, and we're hurting feelings out there.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

60. I don't know who the site works with, but never trust Cloudflare.

Never, ever. Dark shit is afoot over there. No details, just take my statement for what little it is.

[Bayard]

61. Wonder if this is why everything I post goes up twice?

So does every post I recommend.

[True Blue American]

66. Earl, I move around

On board and several are having the same problem. Negative robots are flooding several trying to gas light and pretend we do not have a serious mess in Government.

MODS are having trouble weeding them out.

[malaise]

68. Thanks for the update

[KY_EnviroGuy]

70. Thank you for keeping DU alive and well.

DU is needed now more than ever......

I remember the days of Reagan's and W's time when we were naive and thought it could never get any worse.....


Good luck with your diagnosis and we hope it's an easy fix.

[Quanta]

71. Got a strange message earlier

That said my connection wasn't secure and that somebody may be trying to steal my credentials that mentioned DU specifically. I wish I had taken a screen shot.

[cbabe]

73. Still happening. Comment thirty one.

[Rhiannon12866]

74. It's been happening again to me as well, lost 3 posts to Gateway Time Outs

[progree]

75. Lots of difficulty posting in the last several minutes, server timeouts

[highplainsdem]

76. The problem's back this evening. New thread in Community Help.

[doc03]

77. I tried to make a post three times and get 404 forbidden

[boonecreek]

80. That's different.

I was getting the 504 gateway timeout like yesterday and about the same time.

[doc03]

81. i got that one several times trying to log in, gave up after a

two or three times.

[FalloutShelter]

79. Thanks Earl,

For all you do.

[progree]

82. I'm now getting a lot of "503 Service Unavailable" -- I try again a few seconds later and it might be OK or might not

but when it is OK (returns to normal), then I very shortly get hit with another one. Several times now.

[William769]

83. EarlG We just had a big problem with DU being unavailable.

You probably already know, I'm just throwing this out there.