I just tried sending you a test message, and I got the same error.

Yep, the system was indeed full. It took the whole site down. I was shocked to see it too.
Too many images, animated gifs (thanks Ted) and forum content.

I quickly freed up some disk space by removing some old backups, but need a long term solution. In other words, I need a bigger (virtual) hard drive in that server.

So if you have been thinking about making a (monthly) donation to the Pinside, this would be an excellent time to do it!

I'm gonna set up an alert to make sure this doesn't happen again. Sorry for the trouble everyone!

it's all acdc's fault

Hi Robin,

I am fairly new to Pinside, but I have been in the hobby for years. I really enjoy your site and appreciate all the time and effort that you have put into it. You have a good group of followers here. Just curious what kind of funds do you need to raise for a larger virtual hard drive...... I have been thinking about sending a donation your way. I know it will not buy you a new HD but at least its something .

HAHAHAHAHAH Classic Quick Ted, post a .gif that fits this situation.

Donation made....

you could just eliminate the use of gifs...

unless of course they have bouncin boobs>> those are cool!

Cut the GIFs.

Don't cut the gifs, donation made.

I think we are all so addicted, that he could do Pinside like one of those peep shows. Every so often, close it down with an error screen, and you'd have to put up more money to keep looking.

(No, really, don't do that. I'd go broke.)

donation made

Donation made. Hope it helps

Reoccuring donation started.

This was a donation conspiracy.

And +1 - just started my recurring as well

Wow thanks, that was fast - you guys (and girls) are awesome! Your donations give me enough financial support to keep the site running!

But just as important, it's so cool to see appreciation for my work so thanks to everyone who donates to the Pinside.

To answer your question, with the disk space upgrade I'm looking at hosting fees of little over $100 per month. I used to have to cough this up myself for years (although the fee used to be lower as we didn't have as much visitors) but thanks to the growing community (and the Pinside heart) the site costs are now covered by voluntary donations! That rocks

I've got some new features coming to the site soon, a system that turns our forum into a knowledge base by linking games in our archive to topics on the forum - stay tuned for that!

It's been a while since my last donation to Pinside. Donation made, keep up the good work Robin!

So the server basically deallocates something every time this is encountered? Because my messages went through fine after seeing that.

LMAO!

I thought Robin made it quite clear that it was Ted's fault.

hilarious!

Reached into my pockets. Recurring.

How can I say no to you guys?

Donation made. Save the gifs!

Consider it done sir!

Another donation on its way. Sincere thanks Robin.

I'll keep disk space in mind when posting pics. I'd hate to suggest setting image size limits, but maybe it's time to at least cut off super high res stuff...

Keep up the good work. We'll keep coming back.

Brian

Why don't we just have users upload in a script or something similar to imgur.com? No need to host all that stuff here.

Regardless, donation made.

Now I feel bad. I must have put 10 pics in that last tommy thread . Going to get the wallet now.

Have been set up on a recuring donation since shortly after signing up (which was not that long ago). Not braging just saying.

Way to go Ted!
Your official Pinside "Affliction" shirt is in the mail! (Don't worry, it's Hawaiian themed... )

One thing we all can do is to make sure our image up loads are less than 200kb, don’t really need 2mb image of a broken diode, busted switch or bouncing boobs.

EHEM ... ixnay on the oobsbay. I vote bouncing boobs have exemption to resolution limits.

I last donated in June. Time for a, er, re-donation?

BTW, I <3 Boobies is a t-shirt for breast cancer. That's my excuse. :p......

I vote to cut the gifs...it's kind of weak. But anywhom, this whole argument finally got me to donate, so some good comes out of it.

Here ya go Robin,keep up the good work.
I like Ted's Gifs to

Dan

Why don't you cut the crappy attitude all the time. I've got plenty of PM's from members that say they enjoy the Gifs a lot.
If Robin says no more pix or Gifs... that's the person I listen to.

after reading this thread i thought it i should do my part. donation made.

Ted!! This is not a pm!! Your gif generator robot is awesome and definitely has a place in the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. By the way, watched the deadly spawn the other night.

Awesome

Done. Best website online. Been a wile since I gave to the church of pinball anyways.

Donation made. The last thing I need is for this site to die off. I think losing this site in combination with the impending winter would kill me

Whoa, can't believe what I woke up to. Thanks everyone for your contributions!

Thanks! There currently is a limit 3MB limit when uploading files. It's fine if you upload a big file, but if that resolution is not necessary, resizing to something like 1024x768 sure is appreciated by the server and me

The reason is that I want to keep control of the images. Let say someone posts a fantastic solution to a problem with his Jurassic Park. Loads of pictures. Then the image host (e.g. Imgur) goes bankrupt, is absorbed by Google or whatever and gone are all those images, turning a valuable forum post into just some text with no illustration of any kind.

The Pinside has been around for almost 10 years now and we've seen quite some webservices come and go. Will Imgur be around in 10 years from now? Will Flickr? Will Photobucket? The only thing I know for sure is that the Pinside will be!

I was hoping to not bother the user with those kinds of decision. Although there is a limit currently of 3 MB (soon to be elevated to 4 MB to allow uploads directly from the iPhone when iOS6 is released).

Oh no, please guys, don't make me have to build an "ignore animated gifs" option.
I'm sure there is a plugin/add-on/extension for that for your browser of choice.

Donation sent.. Great work Robin, we'll keep you alive!

Haha, thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

GIFs are cool and all that, but I'd like the "ignore animated gifs" option.

Ted!! this is also not a PM!!! Your GIFs bog down my ability to read pinside and when you go on a nice GIFing spree in a tread, they often make it unreadable for me.

I probably need a new CPU or should find a better internet provider... Not really sure... All I know is that any thread with these damn GIFs is just adding to the noise/useful info ratio and makes my pinside experience less enjoyable since I can't even properly scroll when the GIF troll shows up.

Robin, is there any way that Pinside could get sponsors for the site (i.e. Pinball Life, Marco Specialties, etc.)? The site is almost a conduit for which a noob like myself comes on and says, "Hey, I need parts! Where do I look first?!" Then, there's a stickied forum of reliable, awesome parts stores.

Monthly plan set up now by TG, too. It isn't much but at least now it won't dawn on me that I keep forgetting to donate every once in awhile.

Or maybe have people sign up and have, say, $5 a month automatically added to your account.

auto-0085cigar.gif

Then you switch from voluntary taxation to forced membership.

I personally think things work pretty well the way they are. Robin just needs to give us all gentle reminders that he needs more donations from time to time.

I am pretty heavily embedded in the non-profit industry. This is my arena.