📣 We’re Back Online!
Friends, Members, Internet Dwellers—lend me your screens!
We come not to mourn the downtime, but to celebrate the return of our beloved site! For though the forces beyond our control did cast us into the void, we have risen once more, steadfast and unbroken.
Know this: the fault was not ours, nor was it of ill intent, but merely the whims of fate (and a few server gremlins). Yet here we stand, our forum restored, our community reunited!
So let us post again, let us debate, let us meme! And if, perchance, you find any lingering spectres of error, speak forth, that we may banish them to the digital abyss.
Now go forth and reclaim your forum kingdom! 🏰🔥
— Belly, Inc. Team
What Happened, Doc?
For those interested in the specifics. We want to clarify that there was no ill intent from our VPS provider. They’re good people and mean well.
The Move to Nginx
As you may be aware on 6th February, we successfully moved from an Apache to Nginx server for better performance. The results were immediate—we saw a noticeable performance boost right away.
The Unexpected OS Upgrade
On March 20, 2025, our VPS hosting provider prematurely pushed an OS upgrade (Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS – Jammy Jellyfish). This update broke our entire setup including our forum at Bellyinc.com/discuss. This affected other customers with Nginx setups with the same provider. Our VPS were supporting all customers on a case-by-case basis.
Enter “Neo” – Our Troubleshooting Hero
During this time, we brought in a talented developer, someone who has helped us many times before. We refer to him as “Neo.” 😎 He confirmed that the fault was on the VPS provider’s end, as our site was correctly configured. However, the error logs weren’t readily available as before, making troubleshooting nearly impossible.
Data Safety & Backup Plan
Throughout the downtime, our data remained safe. I was confident we could restore services quickly if needed, even if that meant moving to another provider.
The Ultimatum & The Resolution
To push for a resolution, I gave our provider a deadline—fix the site by April 6th, or Neo will migrate us to a dedicated server with Vultr, a well-known and reputable hosting company.
Thankfully, our current VPS provider met the deadline (#shoutout to Greg and his Team at DH), and it looks like we’re back online! 🎉
