MDapps is down :(

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Venom5 said:
B-b-b-b-b-backup!

I'm sure Xaelia was smart enough to back up mda regularly
..... I hope
Click to expand...

i highly doubt it seeing as he trusted 100's if not 1000's of people's application data with a hosting company run out of someones basement.. theres a reason why people shouldn't skimp on technology
Members don't see this ad.
 
Not a day goes by that I can't use this gif

panic.gif
 
I hope it comes back up. I was planning on making one.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I'm thinking you guys should chill. You're complaining about a free resource provided by a guy that has a life, a job, and other stuff to do.
 
xaelia said:
I know MDA looks like some sort of semi-professional operation... but it's really just me, with a friend of mine hosting it for free. Perhaps it's time to find it a new home....
Click to expand...

Wow, that's impressive dedication. I haven't spent a whole lot of time on there, but I definitely assumed it was some sort of professional venture based on how nice the interface is.
 
Narmerguy said:
I'm thinking you guys should chill. You're complaining about a free resource provided by a guy that has a life, a job, and other stuff to do.
Click to expand...

Is anyone else shocked that this actually needed to be said?
 
The site's been down for almost 5 days. That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. How can owners not be concerned about this? Pretty bad for business on their part ( probably lost a lot of potential profit already) and completely inconveniences everyone right at the peak of the application season. Imagine what would happen to the companies if Facebook or Google were down for 5 days. Their stocks would plummet like crazy...
 
Narmerguy said:
I'm thinking you guys should chill. You're complaining about a free resource that many depend upon provided by a guy that has a life, a job, and other stuff to do.
Click to expand...

People have a right to complain about a vital resource that they rely on being down.

collegestud2013 said:
The site's been down for almost 5 days. That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. Pretty bad for business on their part and completely inconveniences everyone right at the peak of the application season. Imagine what would happen to the companies if Facebook or Google were down for 5 days. Their stocks would plummet like crazy...
Click to expand...

More than a million hits in 5 days? Very unlikely
 
One more 502 proxy error and I might just ripe MY FACE FROM MY SKULL!!





Nah, I didn't really use mdapps that much anyways.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
collegestud2013 said:
The site's been down for almost 5 days. That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. How can owners not be concerned about this? Pretty bad for business on their part ( probably lost a lot of potential profit already) and completely inconveniences everyone right at the peak of the application season. Imagine what would happen to the companies if Facebook or Google were down for 5 days. Their stocks would plummet like crazy...
Click to expand...

It's a free service. He doesn't have shareholders or profits and I doubt he cares about public image.
 
wait are people not joking when they act upset about this?.. I knew the site was down but kind of thought this was all a joke. don't you guys have other ways to keep track of your applications? you know people can lie about everything on there right? ohmygosh..
 
1289 said:
wait are people not joking when they act upset about this?.. I knew the site was down but kind of thought this was all a joke. don't you guys have other ways to keep track of your applications? you know people can lie about everything on there right? ohmygosh..
Click to expand...

AjjzI.jpg
 
Narmerguy said:
I'm thinking you guys should chill. You're complaining about a free resource provided by a guy that has a life, a job, and other stuff to do.
Click to expand...

This x1000. MDapps is nice but it's hardly vital. You will survive without it for a little while, I promise.
 
collegestud2013 said:
The site's been down for almost 5 days. That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. How can owners not be concerned about this? Pretty bad for business on their part ( probably lost a lot of potential profit already) and completely inconveniences everyone right at the peak of the application season. Imagine what would happen to the companies if Facebook or Google were down for 5 days. Their stocks would plummet like crazy...
Click to expand...

LOL...

The site is just a guys old hobby to practice coding. It isn't a business that his livelihood is riding on. He claims that it brings in ~400$ a month with ad revenue...but as a physician that is a drop in the bucket.

Lol again at comparing it to facebook or google.
 
collegestud2013 said:
That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. How can owners not be concerned about this? Pretty bad for business on their part....
Click to expand...

Well, there are no "owners". There's just me. To call it a "business" is sort of an exaggeration.

It gets about 2,000 unique visitors a day and serves up about 15,000 pages a day. It targets a pretty narrow audience, and those numbers have been pretty stable for the last few years. It is what it is. It's a free tool I made years ago ...and then dumped $35k into it to hire someone to redesign it (for better or worse, sadly), and the Google ads that run pretty much serve as a slow trickle of funds to justify having paid someone to redesign it.

Supposedly I'll hear more about its return tomorrow night.
 
xaelia said:
Well, there are no "owners". There's just me. To call it a "business" is sort of an exaggeration.

It gets about 2,000 unique visitors a day and serves up about 15,000 pages a day. It targets a pretty narrow audience, and those numbers have been pretty stable for the last few years. It is what it is. It's a free tool I made years ago ...and then dumped $35k into it to hire someone to redesign it (for better or worse, sadly), and the Google ads that run pretty much serve as a slow trickle of funds to justify having paid someone to redesign it.

Supposedly I'll hear more about its return tomorrow night.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the update!
 
i am so curious to know how some people would react if SDN also shut down :p
 
Venom5 said:
Yes. They have the right to complain. Doesn't mean they should/shouldn't
Click to expand...

The entitlement... it burns...

This would be akin to receiving free food and then complaining about it because it doesn't taste good. Who cares? It was free in the first place. Xaelia is obviously doing the best he can. If you don't like what's happening, build your own website. Of course I doubt you can do that, so you will probably continue to complain about the work he voluntarily puts into this project for your own benefit.

(sent from my phone)
 
Oh my God, Nick. Were we this uptight 2 years ago? I'm with Narmer. Chill, guys.
 
xaelia said:
Well, there are no "owners". There's just me. To call it a "business" is sort of an exaggeration.

It gets about 2,000 unique visitors a day and serves up about 15,000 pages a day. It targets a pretty narrow audience, and those numbers have been pretty stable for the last few years. It is what it is. It's a free tool I made years ago ...and then dumped $35k into it to hire someone to redesign it (for better or worse, sadly), and the Google ads that run pretty much serve as a slow trickle of funds to justify having paid someone to redesign it.

Supposedly I'll hear more about its return tomorrow night.
Click to expand...

DAMN:eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
Hemorrage said:
i highly doubt it seeing as he trusted 100's if not 1000's of people's application data with a hosting company run out of someones basement.. theres a reason why people shouldn't skimp on technology
Click to expand...

Lol

"how dare the site I use for free on my own volition Have technical difficulties!?!? Don't they know how important I am !?!?!?"
 
NickNaylor said:
"Hello, Anonymous? Yes, I would like to order a 'distributed denial of service attack' on the Student Doctor Network, please."
Click to expand...

Well, to be honest, if anon heard about all the personal information of highly intellectual, successful individuals in such a centralized location, I bet they'd have a lot of fun with it... especially considering how sensitive the medical school process is.

Basically... I wouldn't suggest referring 4chan to SDN/MDApps
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Well, to be honest, if anon heard about all the personal information of highly intellectual, successful individuals in such a centralized location, I bet they'd have a lot of fun with it... especially considering how sensitive the medical school process is.

Basically... I wouldn't suggest referring 4chan to SDN/MDApps
Click to expand...

I dont remember inputting personal info... email maybe?

Did we even have to give a name? it's been so long...
 
Blais said:
I dont remember inputting personal info... email maybe?

Did we even have to give a name? it's been so long...
Click to expand...

A lot of times it can come down to a simple email and IP address being logged. SDN contains a lot more personal information that could be used accordingly.
 
PreMedOrDead said:
A lot of times it can come down to a simple email and IP address being logged. SDN contains a lot more personal information that could be used accordingly.
Click to expand...

IP doesn't reveal anything if the person has half a brain. The FBI learned the hard way recently (if you've been watching the news) when they raided the wrong person's home because someone ELSE cracked the WPA key to their wireless and was leeching off it. Additionally, if you use internet on a large network (like a school) theres practically no way of identifying you if you take precautions such as MAC address spoofing (easy to do btw). In terms of the email address, most email providers such as Google have limits to the number of logins per hour and even disable the account in event of a brute force login.

Most passwords are "secure" if they are larger than 7 characters and contain a mix of numbers/letters. The amount of computing power/memory required to crack a salted sha5 hash that is larger than 7 character is something 99% of hackers don't have access to. Just to be safe though, i would urge everyone that had an MDApplicants account to change their password immediately. Xaelia has not revealed how the passwords were stored in the database- there are 3 situations that could arise.

1. (WORST): the programmer stored the passwords in plain text in the database. In this scenario if you use the same password for alot of different sites you best change your passwords ASAP.

2. (Somewhat secure): The programmer used a hashing algorithm such as md5 or sha. In this situation if the passwords were "easy" dictionary words, software such as rainbow tables and decently powered computer can crack it. If your password was not "easy" and over 7 characters, then you will most likely be safe.

3. (Best): The programmer used a salted hashing algorithm (md5/sha). In this situation the passwords will be incredibly difficult to crack. Still i'd change it anyway.

ADVICE: CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD
 
Hemorrage said:
IP doesn't reveal anything if the person has half a brain. The FBI learned the hard way recently (if you've been watching the news) when they raided the wrong person's home because someone ELSE cracked the WPA key to their wireless and was leeching off it. Additionally, if you use internet on a large network (like a school) theres practically no way of identifying you if you take precautions such as MAC address spoofing (easy to do btw). In terms of the email address, most email providers such as Google have limits to the number of logins per hour and even disable the account in event of a brute force login.

Most passwords are "secure" if they are larger than 7 characters and contain a mix of numbers/letters. The amount of computing power/memory required to crack a salted sha5 hash that is larger than 7 character is something 99% of hackers don't have access to. Just to be safe though, i would urge everyone that had an MDApplicants account to change their password immediately. Xaelia has not revealed how the passwords were stored in the database- there are 3 situations that could arise.

1. (WORST): the programmer stored the passwords in plain text in the database. In this scenario if you use the same password for alot of different sites you best change your passwords ASAP.

2. (Somewhat secure): The programmer used a hashing algorithm such as md5 or sha. In this situation if the passwords were "easy" dictionary words, software such as rainbow tables and decently powered computer can crack it. If your password was not "easy" and over 7 characters, then you will most likely be safe.

3. (Best): The programmer used a salted hashing algorithm (md5/sha). In this situation the passwords will be incredibly difficult to crack. Still i'd change it anyway.

ADVICE: CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD
Click to expand...

Either I missed something (even after checking again) or you just didn't read the thread. No one is saying passwords were hacked or there was an attack or anything. Power went out at some guy's house that was hosting the site and they are taking FOREVER to get it back up. I do not think it is any more serious than that... is it :confused:
 
Yeah, it's not like /b/ is doing a raid on SDN/MDApps, I was just pointing out that this is a pretty popular website with a lot of person information on it. AKA - I wouldn't suggest playing with them. There was no attack on SDN/MDApps.
 
you guys are missing the point. If you read what xaelia said, the host that he was using was actually some ***** running a computer in a basement. What does this mean? Well that server (joke to even call it that) is located in an insecure location. Someone, including the former host himself can gain access to the database for MDApps and get the passwords or password hashes.
 
I would switch to Leaseweb instead of using some "basement" host. Offshore hosting is very nice.
 
I'm sure I've given my password to sketchier sites than MDapps, so I'm not going to worry about it :laugh: ....... :xf:
 
Why is the site hosted out of some guys house?

It's common to have hosting services with guaranteed three 9s uptime for <$10/month. This minimal cost could be easily covered by AdWords or a donation button.

(Three 9s ~ maximum 9 hours downtime/year)
 
PreMedOrDead said:
Yeah, it's not like /b/ is doing a raid on SDN/MDApps, I was just pointing out that this is a pretty popular website with a lot of person information on it. AKA - I wouldn't suggest playing with them. There was no attack on SDN/MDApps.
Click to expand...

Unless they're going to use my IP address to BACKTRACE my physical address and order a bunch of pizzas to my place, I'm not too worried about it.
 
NickNaylor said:
Unless they're going to use my IP address to BACKTRACE my physical address and order a bunch of pizzas to my place, I'm not too worried about it.
Click to expand...

Why are u worried about pizza. Just pay for them and bring them to ur lecture, you will become the most popular guy in med school!
 
xaelia said:
Well, there are no "owners". There's just me. To call it a "business" is sort of an exaggeration.

It gets about 2,000 unique visitors a day and serves up about 15,000 pages a day. It targets a pretty narrow audience, and those numbers have been pretty stable for the last few years. It is what it is. It's a free tool I made years ago ...and then dumped $35k into it to hire someone to redesign it (for better or worse, sadly), and the Google ads that run pretty much serve as a slow trickle of funds to justify having paid someone to redesign it.

Supposedly I'll hear more about its return tomorrow night.
Click to expand...

$35k is in insane amount of money. MDApps is nice, don't get me wrong, but holy **** you overpaid. How long did it take him to redesign? Did he do under-the-hood stuff that regular users can't see?
 
collegestud2013 said:
The site's been down for almost 5 days. That's potentially millions of customers in site traffic they're losing right there and may ruin Mdapps's public image. How can owners not be concerned about this? Pretty bad for business on their part ( probably lost a lot of potential profit already) and completely inconveniences everyone right at the peak of the application season. Imagine what would happen to the companies if Facebook or Google were down for 5 days. Their stocks would plummet like crazy...
Click to expand...

lmao stfu
 
Paine said:
$35k is in insane amount of money. MDApps is nice, don't get me wrong, but holy **** you overpaid. How long did it take him to redesign? Did he do under-the-hood stuff that regular users can't see?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I would have done anything you wanted for much, much less than that, and I have some pretty significant web design experience.

$35k? I think that's more than I've ever made.
 
IDK that 35k is all that outrageous. Think about all the background coding that no one is even seeing - the database side to it that allows users to search. Yeah, what the user sees may not be all that great and could definitely use an update and some new features, but 35k is not that outlandish.

Say you went to a company and said you wanted a site like MDapps made and they said its going to cost 35k and it would take them 4 months (which seems reasonable). They then have to pay the overhead and what not and the guys that does the work. In the end though, the guy that does the work is probably not even making 60k a year when its all said and done. If you think about it that way, it actually seems somewhat reasonable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

TheCerebralAssassin
School is shutting down my email that is attached to all of my med school apps, what do I do?
Replies
6
Views
740
onycho
O
C
Can someone break down the extracurricular activity requirements for me?
Replies
14
Views
872
LindaAccepted
LindaAccepted
Round786
ScribeAmerica is down?
Replies
0
Views
644
Round786
Round786
A
  • Locked
AAMC Gateway Down?
Replies
1
Views
337
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
S
  • Locked
The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action
Replies
2
Views
2K
gyngyn
gyngyn
Top