Are we there yet? Why yes, I think we are! B)
As of Thursday night I am unaware of any site move related bugs (as
compared to all of the bugs that followed us over here). That means that
if YOU are aware of some new bug, please be sure to let me know.
Okay,
technically, I just remembered that there is a (sort of) new
bug. Some people have been reporting that if they are idle in a room for
an extended time, or they go to a different browser tab, that the room
will
reload, causing them to lose all of the conversation,
which can be pretty annoying. There's a command I added awhile ago called
!patch. That might help, so if you haven't tried it yet,
give it a shot. Type an exclamation point followed by the word 'patch' to
activate it, once you are in a room.
I am working ways to make the web socket connection more stable, but
!patch may help in the short run. This also sets a cookie
so once you have run
!patch, you won't need to run every
time you enter a new room.
Thanks to all of you for being a part of Chatlands! I have many more plans
for the future on this site, but I won't "spill the beans" on them just
yet.
===underdog===
November 18th, 2021 4:50pm
Chatlands Server Move - "closing in on it"
The server move has been more work than I'd hoped, but it's been
manageable... We are in the part of the project I call "closing in on
it"... Wolfhome was generally operational by around noon today (okay okay
1:30 pm) - and we have had bug reports throughout the day since then that
have, I believe, been mostly resolved. During the day there were several
sites that didn't have operational admin pages, pose reviewers, trouble
ticket handling, site maintenance pages, and I am sure there'll be some
more bumps still, but we're getting there. I am told "getting there is
half the fun" so .... you're welcome?? B)
Seriously, I am sorry for this extended downtime and I truly appreciate
how consistently supportive y'all have been! Thank you. I started this
site move at noon on the 14th ate lunch, ate dinner, and finally went to
bed at 2 on the 15th, then woke up at about 8:30 and was working on this
again by 9 am - ate breakfast (Robin fixed me Korean French Toast - yum!)
- ate dinner - and I stopped at around 7 tonight - so it's been quite a
slog.
But we're almost there. The biggest hurdle that I am aware of is that
PayPal payments are being accepted but the instant payment notification
step is failing. I have a notice on the payment page warning that the
deltas may take a lot longer to arrive in your Chatlands account until I
get that resolved. Otherwise if you want to report a problem or you want
to hear about the latest progress, please direct your conversation to the
CL 2020 Discord. If you're just interested in the summary, I'll post more
updates here tomorrow.
If you need discord invites:
CL 2020 discord
Wolfhome discord
Again, thank you for your amazing patience and encouragement and I hope to
see you online sometime.
===underdog===
November 15th, 2021 10:15pm
THE CHATLANDS CHAT SITES ARE UP BUT UNSTABLE.
You probably want to wait to log in but I am going to permit access.
I may be restarting the server from time to time or there may be other
"surprises". I'll post again when I think things are actually stable.
PLEASE NOTE: The
Chatlands
forum and
Wolfhome forum should
be available during the move but may be unavailable for brief outages.
status updates are being announced on the
Chatlands 2020 and
Wolfhome 2D Chat Site
discord servers.
Sorry for the downtime. We'll be back soon.
===underdog===
THE CHATLANDS CHAT SITES ARE CURRENTLY OFFLINE.
THEY SHOULD BE ONLINE BY Monday, 11/15/2021 AT 9:30 AM EASTERN.
We have started the process of moving all of our Chatlands servers to new
hardware and software on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 9:30 AM Eastern
Time.
PLEASE NOTE: The
Chatlands
forum and
Wolfhome forum should
be available during the move but may be unavailable for brief outages.
status updates will be announced on the
Chatlands 2020 and
Wolfhome 2D Chat Site
discord servers.
Sorry for the downtime. We'll be back soon.
===underdog===
CHATLANDS IS GOING OFFLINE FOR ABOUT 24 HOURS
ON 11/14/2021 AT 12:30 PST
I am moving all of our Chatlands servers to new hardware (and software)
on Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 12:30 PM Pacific Time. This move will
update the code to PHP 7 and MySQL 8.
I thought I could do this without bringing the sites down, but the changes
in PHP 7 and MySQL 8 are so significant that other things had to change
too. For example, the current email library, "swift mailer" doesn't run
on PHP 7. There's several things similar to that.
So at
12:30 PM PST on 11/14/2021, the chat sites will be offline
for at least several hours, possibly longer depending on certain hard to
predict things like switching over DNS. I am estimating that we will be
back online in less than 24 hours.
PLEASE NOTE: The
Chatlands
forum and
Wolfhome forum will
remain online during most of this because I've already moved them to the
new server and they are on a separate database. They do share some
resources, so they might be unavailable for brief outages.
You can check for
status updates during this conversion on the
Chatlands 2020 Discord or our new
Wolfhome 2D Chat Site Discord
server.
As always, thanks for being a part of Chatlands!
===underdog===
COVID Vaccination Free Deltas (July 10th, 2021)
Hello there, Chatlanders!
To show our support to those people who are choosing to get vaccinated, we
have decided to give away TWO DELTAS to their Chatlands account. To claim
these deltas, take a REDACTED photo of your vaccination card along with
the account that should receive the two deltas (see the image for an
example). Send this to
chatlandsguardians@gmail.com.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
1. Before sending us the image,
please be sure to BLOCK OFF YOUR NAME
and any other personally identifiable information. If you don't live
in the United States, that's no problem! We are a global community after
all and this disease knows no boundaries.
2. This offer is limited to one award (i.e. two Chatlands deltas) per
person.
3. Please email us (at the same address) if you have any questions or send
me (underdog) a DM on the CL 2020 Discord.
Here's a link to
the server in case you don't have one yet.
As always, thanks for being a part of Chatlands!
===underdog===
Random Refreshes and a Possible FIX (March 31st, 2021)
We've been plagued with a random refresh bug on Chatlands. The details
seem to be that every once in a while your connection to a room will
RESET and you end up reloading the room. It's annoying, and there might
be a FIX.
Try this: when you enter a room type !patch. That will
show a message telling you that you ran the patch. It will play a very
low noise continuously that makes Chrome think that the tab is busy and
it doesn't put it to "sleep".
===underdog===
Chatlands 2020 Double Deltas (October 22nd, 2020)
Yesterday we sent emails to ALL of our Kickstarter supporters with
information on how to redeem the DOUBLE DELTAS pledge. If you think that
you should have received that email and you didn't, please contact me and
we'll get that fixed ASAP!
===underdog===
CHATLANDS SITE WIDE UPGRADES! (June 1st, 2020)
We're in the process of upgrading our Chatlands servers. This is going to
cause some downtime but the outcome should be better performing servers.
Sorry for the outages. Our provider assures us that this shold be a
relatively fast process.
===underdog===
The Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter completed successfully!
The Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter finished and we are busy working on the
fulfillment step. We sent out emails with links to the fulfillment page a
couple of weeks ago (and the reminder emails too). If you made a pledge
and haven't gotten any emails about fulfillment, please let underdog know
asap! Thank you.
We are setting up a CHATLANDS specific forum where you can learn the
details about what's coming to Chatlands 2020 later this year! We will
post a link to the forum here when things are ready to go.
I want to once again say THANK YOU to all of the Kickstarter backers AND
to the many people that contributed their art and their energy to make
this a campaign a success! It's good to have a community right now and I
really appreciate the strong show of support.
Sincere thanks to each of you,
Bill Underwood
===underdog===
The Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter is
here!
We have officially launched the
Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter!
We worked
furiously to bring together what some people have
described as
the biggest event in Chatlands history and it's finally live!
Visit
http://chatlands.com/2020 to see the kickstarter
page" and learn the amazing details about what's coming to CHATLANDS
later this year!
Dear Chatlands Community,
First, I would like to thank you all for all of your support with the
launch of the
Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter. Within the first few days
of its launch we met our initial goal and we are already well on our way
to reaching our first stretch goal. None of this progress towards
Chatlands 2020 would have been possible without all of our gracious
contributors and backers.
With the launch of the Kickstarter, and the imminent revamp of
Chatlands, we will unfortunately be discontinuing the reassignment
program of dead/unused chat shells. Beginning immediately all abandoned
or inactive chat sites will be taken under review and removed in
preparation for relaunch. We apologize for this inconvenience, however we
have much in store for our projected October relaunch and we hope you
will join us for the momentous occasion.
Sincerely,
===underdog===
HOODED RATS HAVE COME TO
CATSPAWISLAND!
January 23rd, 2020
A band of rats have decided to make CatsPawIsland their new home! Please
welcome the Hooded Rats drawn by our very own Beta, Howlagan in
celebration for the Year of the Rat!
Additionally, if you've ever wished to start a Noodlecat band to play
along with your fellow Noodlecat music lovers, now your dream can finally
come true! The artist of the pose set, Howlinkiro, has added three new
poses to the set so you can show off your musical talents! The new poses
are: Drummer, Guitar, and Singer to set you on your path to Noodlecat
musical fame and glory and eventually end up in the Rock & Roll Hall of
Noodlecat Fame!
WOLFHOME 20TH ANNIVERSARY!
October 31st, 2019
October 31st, 2019 was the 20th anniversary
of the Wolfhome 2D Avatar Chat
We had a great time. I hope you were there for it! As we do every year,
the site was set to free subscriptions until after Halloween.
HOWLOWEEN VILLAGE was a big hit. Folks got lost in the corn
maze, wandered around the haunted forest, checked out the spooky graveyard
and lots of other new rooms.
UNDERDOG, FOURPAWS and lots of old friends were there! Underdog even
talked a bit about the Chatlands 2020 Kickstarter. More details on that
will be posted here shortly!
===Underdog===
P.S. Here's the list of contributors to Howloween Village
WOLFHOME HALLOWEEN // 20TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT CREDITS
UNDERDOG
Event Coordinator, Coder
LAIKA
Event Coordinator, Room Artist: Twilight Grotto
https://imgur.com/a/OEfk4EU
REYES
Object Artist: Ghosts, vampire coffin, pumpkins, alleyway items (trashcan, box)
https://imgur.com/a/IDjZl9p
BLOODIATH
Room Artist: Graveyard
https://imgur.com/a/CBdV06k
DIABLO
Room Artist: Village Square, Corn maze
https://imgur.com/a/yG904z8
GUILLOTINE
Room Artist: Creepy Alley
https://imgur.com/a/QOGNf9c
MAYTITAN
Room Artist: Haunted Forest
https://imgur.com/a/dfJdSMA
CHUNHEI
Room Artist: Pumpkin Patch
i.imgur.com/Xzcz7Z8.png
SEVENTHUNDERBOLTS
Room Artist: Haunted House
https://imgur.com/a/WC27HAl
ARESUN
Room Artist: Fortune Teller
https://imgur.com/a/jnCbtHm
Please let me know if I missed anyone!
===Underdog===
CONVERTING TO HTTPS
June 24th, 2018
For far too long, Chatlands and the related sites such as Wolfhome and
Cats Paw Island have been running on clear text connections. While our
sites don't send or receive any financial information (all of that is
handled via PayPal) we do process email addresses, passwords and other
things that might be indirectly useful to criminals. For instance, many
people use the same password on multiple sites. If a hacker learns your
email address and password here, and you're using the same login information
at your bank, that's just not a good idea in
general, but we can at
least try and keep that information from falling into the wrong hands on
our site.
Well, it turns out Google Chrome has the same idea. They've announced that
their new version of Chrome, coming out sometime in July, 2018, will warn
people about insecure connections. FireFox already does this. It's the
push we needed to switch over to HTTPS and we're doing that as soon as
possible.
However! That means that there's a very good chance the site will be
*offline* (or showing some problems) for the next several days while I
try getting SSL working correctly. Thanks in advance for your patience on
this. I've been at it for several hours already today, and I'm making
progress, but there's several hours (possibly
days) of programming
left to be done before we're finished.
===Underdog===
CHATLANDS™ REGISTRATION
CHANGES
July 23rd, 2017
We are changing the Chatlands™ registration
policy.
Some people have been using disposable email in order to "ban hop"
on Chatlands™. There's also "Hotmail" and other Microsoft email servers
that
delete what they consider spam, rather than putting it into a
"spam" or "junk" folder. This means that the user has
no
idea that they received that email. This makes it impossible to
validate your Chatlands™ account. For these and other reasons, we have
decided to require that
when registering for a new account only
the following email domains will be accepted.
aol.com, gmail.com, icloud.com, me.com and yahoo.com (including yahoo's
international domains)
We will update and expand this list from time to time. If you don't already
have an account with one of these email services, you will need to create
one first (it's free) before you create your Chatlands™ account.
Note: This only applies to new accounts. If you registered with some
other email address, you can keep using that one. We apologize for this
inconvenience, but we feel that this will help us to provide a more pleasant
experience for all users on Chatlands™. Thank you for your understanding.
If you want to help Chatlands™ grow, please
tell your friends!
- Thanks! -
