Current status on March 20, 2026: Forum offline for maintenance. We are working to restore access safely.
What this means:
Next steps:
What this means:
- Browsing and posting on Rifeforum.com are temporarily unavailable.
- No data loss is expected; backups are intact.
- We will post updates on this page as progress continues.
Next steps:
- Complete data integrity checks.
- The vBulletin forum software used is very old. We either have to upgrade to the latest version or downgrade php to a compatible version.
- We have downgraded to PHP 7.1, that is compatible with vBulletin 4.2.5 that we are using. The forum runs, but does not allow logins.
- We are currently setting up and comparing a demo forum to help diagnose the issues. We are hopeful that we can fix the issues this way.
- The forum has been underfunded for years, resulting in no budget to hire experts to fix the forum.
- Please donate to help us bring the forum back online. It makes a big difference as we do not only have extra costs to restore the forum,
- we are also not receiving any subscription payments that are needed to cover the running costs.
- Announce reopening window once tests pass. We hope to have the forum back online in April, we will keep you updated, here.
Latest update
13 Feb 2026, 09:30 UTC
We completed a full backup verification and began migrating the forum to a newer webserver to improve stability. No user action is required.
We completed a full backup verification and began migrating the forum to a newer webserver to improve stability. No user action is required.
Timeline of events
- 13 Feb 2026, 09:30 UTC — Backup verification completed; database engine migration initiated.
- 13 Feb 2026, 07:00 UTC — Maintenance window opened; forum taken offline.
- 12 Feb 2026, 20:15 UTC — Preliminary diagnostics indicated database inconsistencies; scheduled emergency maintenance.
- 12 Feb 2026, 18:40 UTC — Increased error rates observed; temporary rate limits applied.
- 12 Feb 2026, 10:05 UTC — Monitoring alerted on degraded performance; investigation started.
Technical details (non-sensitive)
We are upgrading database components and tightening server configurations to address intermittent read/write errors. The work includes:
- Database engine migration with schema checks and index rebuilds.
- Improved backup routines and restore testing.
- Web server configuration cleanup and TLS renewal.
- Expanded monitoring for query latency and error anomalies.
How to reach us
Questions while the forum is offline? Use our contact page or join our community space for interim discussions on Groups.io. You can also check the Alternatives page for additional resources.