Charles,
Here is the latest response from my hosting provider. I'll send this to support as well once I receive a response.
Thanks,
Dave
---------------------
Our techniciance have looked more deeply into the issue you reported with the UBB discussion forums, and have further details about the after-effects of the permissions problem in June.
1. Some permissions were at one time incorrect. These have since been fixed.
2. The index files for the script are corrupt.
3. The files are being updated. However, because the permissions were incorrect before, the information in the index is now out of order.
4. We cannot restore from tape backup because our backups do not go as far back as June.
5. In order to retain your data, and correct the indexes, the files need to be rebuilt by your software vendor.
6. The indexes are stored in separate text database files. Below are examples of just some of the database files that are corrupt. Others may be corrupt as well.
**************************************************
/webroot/data/ubb/Forum1/forum.threads
**************************************************
%forum_topics = (
'000015' => '2452442.1952',
'000007' => '2452375.2319',
'000016' => '2452565.1524',
'000008' => '2452379.0940',
'000009' => '2452379.1020',
'000026' => '2452565.0357',
'000027' => '2452565.0902',
'000028' => '2452565.0932',
'000029' => '2452565.1013',
'000010' => '2452380.0057',
'000002' => '2452369.1142',
'000011' => '2452386.2225',
'000003' => '2452565.1222',
'000012' => '2452407.2347',
'000004' => '2452372.0732',
'000013' => '2452416.2331',
'000005' => '2452376.0855',
'000006' => '2452376.2124',
'000014' => '2452424.0134'
);
1;
**************************************************
/webroot/data/ubb/Forum1/forum_thread_data_0000.cgi
This file seems to control how the program links forward and back through the postings.
**************************************************
$forum_thread_data{"1"}->{"0000"} = {
'02' => [q~A~, q~~, q~<Christopher>~, q~My struggle to see God in everything~,
q~6~, q~1~, q~04-04-2002~, q~12:21 AM~,
q~2452369.0021~, q~<Christopher>~, q~~, q~scottmac~,
q~04-04-2002~, q~11:42 AM~, q~2452369.1142~, q~Scott AOG~,
q~00000004~, q~1~, q~~, ],
'03' => [q~A~, q~~, q~<Barbara>~, q~Thank you~,
q~1~, q~2~, q~04-05-2002~, q~11:32 AM~,
q~2452370.1132~, q~<Barbara>~, q~~, q~<test>~,
q~10-17-2002~, q~12:22 PM~, q~2452565.1222~, q~<test>~,
q~~, q~1~, q~~, ],
'04' => [q~A~, q~~, q~Barbara~, q~The Rock~,
q~6~, q~1~, q~04-06-2002~, q~06:31 AM~,
q~2452371.0631~, q~Barbara~, q~00000007~, q~scottmac~,
q~04-07-2002~, q~07:32 AM~, q~2452372.0732~, q~Scott AOG~,
1;
**************************************************
/webroot/data/ubb/Forum1/000029.cgi
Each time a post is added to the forum, a file is created in the Forum1 directory. The file has the extension .cgi, and contains the database contents of the message. Below is an example of one of the tech's test message.
**************************************************
A||||2||test||testing forum||||1||||test||00000024
Z||000000||test||10-17-2002||09:33 AM||test@awarenessofgod.org||testing forum||208.55.254.110||reg||1||test||00000024||yes
Z||000001||test||10-17-2002||10:08 AM||test@awarenessofgod.org||Test||208.55.254.110||reg||5||test||00000024||no
Z||000002||test||10-17-2002||10:13 AM||||I seems to be working... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />||208.55.254.110||reg||6||test||00000024||yes
If your software provider has a tool or service that will reindex the forums, then this is what you need. The problem is not at this time a permissions issue - it's an effect of having had a permissions issue in the past.