Weird things happening with our website and blog
June 19th, 2008
We’ve had a few anxious emails from people who were either unable to access our site yesterday or could not post comments. We’re not actually sure what happened, but have been liasing with our host to try and fix it.
Our host’s own site went down yesterday evening and we know they were having difficulties which obviously had an impact on us too, but it doesn’t explain the other odd things happening during the day. Like, for example, being able to see the main site but not the blog as some commented.
Obviously, like you, the first thing that jumps to mind is foul play – especially since it all happened on the day we launched the violence map! – but our host assures us they cannot see any suspicious activity that we need to feel alarmed about.
We are still experiencing difficulties today but so far it seems to only be the admin side of things. Please, if the site goes down whereever you are, send us an email with your location. While we knew some couldn’t see our site yesterday, our host claimed that they could see the site and were unable to replicate the problem therefore concluded that their side of everything was functioning ‘normally’ (this was before their own website disappeared).
We need to know which locations are affected and how (leaving comments, viewing the blog, receiving our rss feed). If the blog is working, leave a comment here and if it is not, please send us an email (if the website is down we can be reached on info [@] sokwanele [dot] com).
Thank you those who alerted us yesterday.
June 19th, 2008 12:22
Blog seems to be working again.
Read the piece by Peter Oborne in this week’s UK Spectator magazine: We have a duty to protect Zimbabwe. Click on the links at:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/
June 19th, 2008 12:29
Site working fine in Australia, although at times it now takes a little longer to load up.
Is the story from yesterday in Zimbabwe Times re GOOGLE reporting that malicious software was found on the MDC web site coincidental?
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=496
It would be a big worry if China is implicated in this.
June 19th, 2008 12:57
No problems from here in the UK yesterday; could it have been a traffic spike of some sort. Yesterday’s post was a very useful one, very well researched and put together; I linked it on a couple of sites and I’m sure a lot of other people did too.
June 19th, 2008 13:36
I follow your blog via the RSS feed on Bloglines. I saw nothing from you for about a week, and I wondered whether you had been cut off.
Then (I think Tuesday or wednesday this week) a whole batch of posts came through together.
Keep up the good work. Virtue will triumph.
June 19th, 2008 14:14
Yesterday there was no problem to reach the blog but today in the morning i couldn’t get through. Your main site was working all the time here in Germany. Indeed it’s slower now.
Keep it up but stay safe !!!
June 19th, 2008 14:51
There was a major breakdown with an ISP in South Africa yesterday through this afternoon. If the problems were predominantly in SA, it may have been nothing more than technical hitches related to this. I for one have had no access to the internet for the past 36hours as a consequence, and I know others elsewhere in the country who had similar problems.
Keep up the good work. Aluta!
June 19th, 2008 14:58
I am in Cape Town South Africa and been having a problem with the map page. It keeps sending the ”stop script” or ”continue” box…it does that about 3 times before it loads fully…..
June 19th, 2008 15:43
All seems fine this afternoon…some pages were blank yesterday? Someone mentioned spikes…could this must be that stupid FireFox V3 download record where 7 million people downloaded the new version in 24hrs?
btw on the map page – I’ve not had the script saying to stop or continue, but have seen elsewhere with large numbers of markers. Just keep clicking ‘continue’. We can surely wait a bit in respect to these poor people and what is hapening to them! I also think it all seems much better and faster in FireFox as well..Intenet Explorer is so web non-compliant (IE 7. is better).
J
June 19th, 2008 17:53
I am in Canada and have had no problems accessing anything on your site.
June 19th, 2008 18:45
All OK from the US. Was just a bit slow to load yesterday.
June 19th, 2008 19:11
If the elections and the candidates of African politics are determined in the manner described in Peter Orbone’s article in the ‘Spectator’, then we really have a massive problem. Secondly this raises some suspicions as to the results of the elections for Zimbabwe’s independence themselves. Robert Mugabe was the west’s prefered candidate while Joshua Nkomo was seen as a threat, as his desire for land redistribution was one of his main priorities then. Mugabe brokered a deal with the west, then, which gave him poltical power only and not economic power which was still in the hands of the white minority. When Mugabe’s political power waned under the thereat of the MDC, he then pounced on the white minority with impunity, hitting them where it hurt by killing them, exiling them and grabing their land.
We know he was knighted and given honorary doctorates in the UK while he was purging Matabeleland of ‘miscreants.’ Perence Shiri attended numerous military training courses up until as late as 2000.
This makes a mockery of African politics and undermines the very dignity and respectabilty of any attempts at democracy. No wonder Mugabe has lost his soul, he is playing a game to which there is no referee (viz the international, regional as well as local political blocs) because if there was one he’d be behind bars by now. Imprisoned by his very people if they’d had a constitution which divested him of such immense control over the judiciary, the military as well as the police.
June 19th, 2008 21:05
Also in Cape Town…it seems fine now. All last week the RSS feed didn’t work but I could still get onto the site. Yesterday, nothing in the evening. Glad to see Sok is back!
There is still a serious attack of some sinister kind on the MDC website. I’m using Linux so tend not to worry about security threats too much, but even so, Firefox won’t let me access the site.
I would appreciate it if anyone has contact details for MDC in Harare; or knows any other way to get into the MDC website. Please share!
June 19th, 2008 21:27
Also concerned about the MDC website – google search result shows the web address, underneath which is the message :This site may harm your computer.”