I'm writing this because fools are born every minute.
I live in the tropics and they have a word here called "Troppo". It means the heat has got to you. It's midnight, the temperature is 84, but that's cool compared to the 100 degree temperatures in my office during the day, even with a small aircon running. Okay, that's my excuse.
I have two versions of the same site, the main site and a test site. I do things on the test site and when they work, I move them to the main site. I also create database backups using Admirer, but more on that later.
When I thought I was on the test site, I did something very stupid. Instead of logging in as the test user, or using "Logon as Me", I used a little trick which allows admins to update a user's profile simply by going to Members and clicking edit.
Deano, I've decided this is actually dangerous and unnecessary. Can it be removed in future updates?
So I spent ten minutes playing with the profile and completely forgot that I was still logged in as Admin. Having finished with the profile and the user, I deleted it. NOPE! I actually deleted myself! I got a lovely white screen with the horror message - Error, Admin has been notified.
Well, that's what I think I did. I swear I had logged in as the member via the Actions panel, so maybe it's not a good idea to delete members that way anyway.
So I thought it would be easily fixed. I reinstalled the database, but all the photos I'd posted throughout the site were gone. That's okay, I just replaced them only to find that a certain third party module didn't want to show them any more.
Hey, I'm smart. I've got a backup, so all I have to do is replace the script and the database. Well, that's the theory.
I quickly discovered that Admirer, which is a fantastic program and highly recommended by our old friend Geek_Girl, has a limit to the number of records it can copy. Yep, all my backups are truncated about 2/3 of the way through. It can easily handle Cheetah, but when you add a few of Modzzz modules, Admirer is no longer to be admired.
So in trying to be even more clever, I copied and downloaded the database in two parts, joined them on my computer and sent them back to the server as one unit. Well guess what? A third party module I had converted on the Cheetah site and worked perfectly on the test site, is now throwing up database errors on the main site.
Okay, "What next?", you ask. Well first off, I'm about to ask Deano if he can make it impossible for admins to delete their own profile. it's something Boonex obviously overlooked, yet everything needs to be failsafe.
I'm about to copy the test site and try to delete the offending third party module. I'm a little worried because something that works here, should also work there. Some modules don't like being deleted and leave artefacts all over the place. Some really do a good job. I have my fingers crossed.
I'll report back, because these are things that can happen to you, even if the temperature is minus 30. But at least you now know the meaning of being "Troppo".