Because it’s taking longer than expected, I want to give you an update on our progress restoring the data that went missing during the community’s move. Please feel free to share this with your communities. I will also post it, and we plan to email it to everyone who reported missing data to us.



First it may be helpful to understand that this upgrade was in fact a move: from one platform to another, from one set of servers to another, from one provider to another. Assembling millions of pieces of data that changes moment to moment, checking it to be sure it’s linked up correctly, and moving it between *two systems that are not the same* is an incredibly complex and time-consuming operation, requiring the full attention of several people from three different companies in three different states.



The good news is that our tech team was able to pinpoint the error that resulted in incomplete friends lists, group membership lists, and other missing data for some members. The other good news is that the data has not been lost; it is still safely stored in the old servers. When the provider that owns the old servers assembled our data for transfer to the new system, they sent incomplete data in some cases. Beliefnet’s tech team has been working with the old provider and the new provider to get new and corrected copies of the data from the old servers re-delivered to the new servers.



Now, if you are like me, the technological explanation is a bit confusing, and you might think it is an easy task to simply move files from one server to another, so why is it taking this long? First, as I mentioned above, it is not an easy task; it’s not the same as moving files on your own home computer. Secondly, the Beliefnet community staff and tech team have been working very long hours doing our part, but some parts of the operation are outside our control, and we have to wait on other people. We are just as eager as you for the new, corrected copies of the data to be transferred to the new system. We want our community functioning at full capacity, just as you do. If it were only up to us, it would be done by now, and we are doing everything we can to keep everyone on track. Some significant progress has been made, but because it is not likely to be done this weekend (not everyone works our crazy hours) I wanted to bring you this update.



While we are waiting on the data, we continue work on other issues. You may have noticed some new features appear, and more will follow. I will send you another update as soon as there is something significant to report. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact us at community@beliefnetstaff.com with any questions or problem reports. We are reading and investigating every issue that is being reported to us by email.



Thanks, as always, for your support!



Martha Ainsworth

Beliefnet.com