Delete all records because of duplication bug, pt 2

[crash6711]

You guys closed the original thread without even asking if it was resolved. I hadn’t responded for 2 weeks because it was christmas time… Here is the problem description again:

Hey guys, love the event calendar plugin, but I have a huge problem now. About a year or two ago I upgraded to the Pro version and helped the client create some recurring events. Since then I’ve updated it every quarter or so and at 1 point, a LOT of events got duplicated, I have over 120,000 events instead of about 400. I need to erase everything and start fresh.
I’ve searched through the forums here and found many many many people posting the same problem, with no luck on a verified solution. I know the issue was only for an older version (3.5-ish?), and now I have the newest version of 3.8.1 so it’s probably been fixed by now. But I have the problem of not being able to get rid of all the duplicate entries. I’ve read into, and tried the solutions offered of pressing the button in the plugin settings screen to consolidate duplicates, downloading and running the hotfix plugin to consolidate them, and even the Event Rocket plugin for deleting all event data to start fresh. The last option is the only one that kind of works, but the problem is that it only deletes about 120 events at a time, then hangs at about 1 minute. I tried letting it go for 2 hours, but it didn’t do anything after that initial minute with the 120. It varies between 80-150 each time. the problem is that with 119,204 events left, it would take me 993 more times of doing that to get it to zero, and each time takes about 2 minutes because loading is so bogged down. I need to completely erase all events or the database or whatever it takes to start fresh, how can I do that?
I love the plugin, but unfortunately this has caused a decent waste of time now already between trying to delete things manually, searching FAQ’s, forums, downloading and trying various plugins, and now writing in for help.
Thanks,
-Dave

The issue is still not resolved, and as I painstakingly delete the duplicate entries; they are being deleted, but also at the same time editing themselves and putting themselves into this months calendar after I just deleted the ones from this month so the client could use the calendar still. I’ve spent weeks upon weeks trying to fix this problem, with no solution in sight. I searched the forums prior to opening my thread and tried those solutions already. I clearly stated this, and was given the advice to try them again. That obviously didn’t work just like the first time I tried them. I have lost all faith in your company and will not be renewing any of my several accounts when up for renewal, and will be telling all of my fellow web designers to stay far away from Tribe if you guys can’t come up with a fix for this.

Here’s the link to my thread from last month: https://theeventscalendar.com/support/forums/topic/delete-all-records-because-of-duplication-bug/?source=tri.be#post-911626

How is it so hard to wipe my events database and start fresh? Barry did give me one possible option of crafting some SQL and running it directly into my database. This was the only helpful advice, but a little out of my realm. I’d do it if there is no other option as a last-ditch effort since it could affect my entire wordpress database, but I’ll need a little more specific instructions. Can this get escalated to someone who can help solve my issue?? I’ve been deleting events for over a month now, starting with over 120,000 duplicate events and I’m only down to 70,000. I’ve lost hundreds of dollars in productivity because of this and can’t keep this up any longer. Also, the website becomes unreachable while using your Duplicate Cleanup Plugin, which is the only thing that kind of works. My clients website has been down for over 50 hours already, and still needs 65 more hours of downtime to clean the rest of them up. So far this has involved me to initiate the cleanup plugin in the middle of the night when traffic is at it’s least. The cleanup plugin deletes the duplicate records at about 1,275 per hour. The website becomes unreachable during this time, and for a few hours after the operation stops. Bottom line: Your plugin duplicated it’s own events over a hundred thousand times, and the possible fixes provided so far have not been able to fix the issue. Please help me clear out all events so I can start again from zero events. Also support threads shouldn’t just be closed without asking if they’ve been resolved. There are many many threads just like mine that were closed without a fix, also.

[Rob]

Hi there David! Happy 2015 🙂 I head up the support team here at Modern Tribe, and after my colleague Brook brought this thread to my attention today, I wanted to jump in to see if I could help sort things out. It’s clear you’re frustrated — for which I want to both apologize on behalf of the whole team, and to try and get things back on the right track.

It was absolutely inappropriate of us to close your thread. I can see exactly what happened: as a team, we have a policy of shutting all threads when they’ve gone 2 weeks without getting a reply. In these situations, we generally do not wait for the user to come back and confirm they’re set — if they leave a thread unattended for 2 weeks we assume they’ve either found a solution or moved on. But around the holidays we failed to account for the fact that folks like yourself may be taking downtime, and that 2 week closure window might not be appropriate as a result. To that end I’ve just now instructed the team to leave December threads open a full 4 weeks from the last reply, rather than just 2, so we can spare others your disappointment down the road. I really appreciate your feedback in helping us realize we’d dropped the ball here.

When it comes to the core issue here: you are correct that we introduced a bug related to duplicating recurring events when we refactored the recurrence functionality around 3.5. Though we patched in a subsequent release, it looks like you’re still dealing with the effects of that 3.5 problem. To this end I’ve asked Brook, who will follow-up with a separate reply momentarily, to get a copy of your DB so we can clear it out for you. While we haven’t done this for other users, I want to do right by you here. And although we cannot guarantee his solution will be 100% perfect, it should help out.

That said: I’m a bit uneasy when I see comments like those in your reply that seem to suggest threats if we cannot serve you here. This isn’t behavior that is appropriate for the forums and I ask we have a mutual level of respect across the board. As with anyone, we’ll try our best to help you out here — but I’m unable to guarantee anything. If knowing this means you’d rather take a refund now so that you can begin searching for another solution with a support infrastructure more to your liking, let me know and I’ll get the ball rolling on that. I am optimistic however that we can get you on the right path here and hopefully earn back your faith.

If we’re able to, and if you decide to keep using the product, hit me up (rob @ tri.be) next time your license comes up for renewal. I’d like to comp your next renewal as “on the house” one to show we value your feedback and business.

Thanks again for your feedback, for improving our processes and for helping us grow. Expect a substantive solution-based reply from Brook shortly, and do let me know if you have other questions or concerns.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Rob.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Rob.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by Rob.

[Brook]

Howdy David,

To elaborate on what Rob said I’d be happy take a whack are cleaning out your DB for you, if you are interested in that. To do this I will need a copy of your database. Most hosts allow you to export the database as a .sql file, frequently from the PHPMyAdmin utility. You would need to check with your host if you need specific instructions on how to do this on your server, as it varies from host to host.

From there you can either email the file to support @ this website and reference this thread. You might want to put it inside of a zip file or something to save on space, as it could be rather large with that many entries. What I will do is run the cleanup utility for you, so your site won’t be taken offline. My server is likely an magnitude or two faster than yours if you are deleting them at 1200/hr. Then I can mail you back the cleaned copy of your database, which you could import.

I understand if this option is not one you want to take. But, I wanted to throw it out there just in case. I too would be super frustrated with taking my site offline. Many web developers keep a local server going for occasions like that to prevent downtime. And I am happy to offer you mine if you prefer that route.

Please let me know what you decide. Thanks!

– Brook

[Brook]

Another thing I should expressly mention, your site will be online and completely viewable while I am doing my cleaning. But if you or any other admin goes in and makes changes while the cleaning is happening, those changes will be lost when you import the cleaned database. Same thing if anyone leaves a comment on your blog, if you’ve enabled that feature.

And as Rob said I will do my best to clean it. It is possible a complication might arise and prevent me from doing so. But, should that happen your site will continue functioning as it is. Nothing will have really changed on your live site so there will be no new issue for you to deal with.

– Brook

[crash6711]

Thanks guys for helping me out! I will do this in a day or two and send it right over. I appreciate the extraordinary help with my extraordinary problem, thank you so much.

[Brook]

Thanks for the update David. You are welcome for the help. And I appreciate your understanding of the situation surrounding that bug. I am sorry it has affected you so severely.

I will await your reply. Cheers!

– Brook

[Brook]

Howdy David,

I just received the email you sent. It was forwarded to me a little bit ago from our email support staff. Thanks! I will try to do the cleaning tomorrow and email it back to you.

– Brook

[Brook]

I just wanted to let you know that I responded via email a few days ago because the database we received was incomplete. Just in case you missed that response I wanted to also follow up here and let you know we will need the full set of WP tables to proceed. Let me know if you need anything from me. No hurry on my end, but I did not want to take the chance my last communication was lost.

Cheers!

– Brook

[crash6711]

Ok I’ll send that to you.
Thanks!

[Brook]

Excellent. Thanks, David. I will await the updated database.

– Brook

[Brook]

Since this topic has gone for a spell without an update I am going to archive it. If you do need further assistance, please feel free to open another topic. We would love to help.

– Brook

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