*frontpage

Printing this post atop the VideoSift homepage - frontpage requested by critical_d.

For me in Toronto, http://www.beatfiltering.com is the only way to see the site. The 216.URL is too slow and there's no pics, and the 108.one doesn't work. YMMV

>> ^messenger:

For me in Toronto, http://www.beatfiltering.com is the only way to see the site. The 216.URL is too slow and there's no pics, and the 108.one doesn't work. YMMV


You can't load the IP addresses directly to view the site (well). As I stated, you should add those lines to your hosts file. This will enable your computer to find videosift.com (and cdn.videosift.com which is where our images and other static content come from).

That's what I get for not reading the whole message.

I Googled it, but none of the first 5 hits had the full information for me, on Windows 7.

So here's what you need to know for Windows 7:

Click Start-->Accessories

*Right-click* Notepad and choose "Run as Admninistrator". You may have to enter a password.

Then click File-->Open...

Type c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

At the bottom (after all the lines with # at the beginning), add these two lines:

216.18.199.34 videosift.com
108.161.188.128 cdn.videosift.com

Click File-->Save

Change "Save as type" to "All files (*.*)"

Click "Save"

If your anti-virus program stops you from saving this file, you'll have to change the settings there, follow this procedure again, and remember to change the settings back afterwards.

I thought my employer's IT was blocking VS!

You forgot to say to take the hosts entries out once the changes propagate! Otherwise it'll work completely normally until vs changes IP addresses and then fail mysteriously.

A tweet might have helped spread the info. As it is I just waited til the panic subsided.

I had to take the file out of the ETC folder and put it on the desktop to edit it. Took me a couple hours to figure that out. Stupid accessibility/owner rights or whatnot.

Strangely enough I was able to access VS through the TOR browser which then led me to this fix which worked great. I was just about to call my cable company and accuse them of blocking the site too heh.

-I used Lucky's fix and planted those lines right in the host file and, bingo.2 minutes.


Need me a beer.

>> ^BoneRemake:

I had to take the file out of the ETC folder and put it on the desktop to edit it. Took me a couple hours to figure that out. Stupid accessibility/owner rights or whatnot.
Run Notepad as an Administrator.

A little background info on the stuff discussed in this post. Not everyone is fluent or comfortable with tech talk and that's ok. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any questions.

Q - What is DNS?
A - Humans work well with names and computer work well with numbers. Think of the Domain Name System as the official translator between the two. The time it takes for a DNS "lookup" to happen is VERY fast and unless it's broken...the process is seamless.

Q - What is a hosts file?
A - The hosts file works much like DNS. BUT... instead of relying on another computer to translate videosift.com into 216.18.199.34, you are overriding that step with specific instructions.

More Info:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/dec/03/dns-ip-ddos-explained

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

Nice @critical_d. An even more layman explanation:

When your computer tries to load a domain name like "videosift.com" it asks your local Domain Name Servers (usually provided by your ISP) a question like "What is the numeric address of videosift.com?"

The name servers check whatever their records state and that's what they return. In this case, they were returning an old address that is no longer functional, so your computer says, "Okay, I got the address. Let's connect to it," but it fails and your browser goes kaput with "Can't connect!"

When we make a change to our DNS records, it's at a single place: the authority who has control over our domain (e.g., GoDaddy [though, that's intentionally not who we're with]). Once we've made a change, all the DNS servers around the entire planet need to get updated with the new domain-name-to-IP-address translation. Some get updated quickly while others take a very long time (depending on factors we won't cover in this seminar).

For those whose DNS servers take a very long time, there are two loopholes:

1) Before asking a DNS server to translate a domain name, your computer looks at its "hosts" file. If you've specified the address for a domain there, that's the address it will use. (You could really screw with someone by changing the address of google.com, for example, to some other address.)

2) You can change your computer's DNS servers to something like Google's, which are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. They tend to get updated pretty quickly in many cases, so when your computer asks for the IP address of videosift.com, it will get the right answer.

Clear as mud?

I was actually going to submit a video yesterday. Thanks a lot, DNS error.... and seltar.

http://videosift.com/video/Hula-Cam-at-Burning-Man-2012

The DNS is still not transfered here in Norway.
Removing it from the host still makes it fail, and subdomains don't work with or without it.

Two days without the sift was hell for an addict like me.

As @Deano suggested a tweet would be a good way to communicate these types of problems. A Sift Talk only works if you can get to Videosift. After complaining to my DSL service I was instructed in how to get Vs by using the 216. number. That worked to show me that Vs still existed, but I could only see the first half of your sift talk post--not the instructions on how to fix the host file.

All better now that I can get my fix.
[I freaked out trying to figure if Big Brother was after Vs--or ME!]

Last time I checked, I'm pretty sure DNS used magnets. Just sayin'