Forum speed

What's up with the site? I just spent 10 minutes trying to open threads and start this post. This has been the slowest server I've seen in years but, over the last week it had almost stopped working entirely.

I know its not on my end, I've tried 4 different 'puters and 5 different browsers, with no difference.


Do we all need to chip in some $$$$ for a better server?

I will pay for my entertainment. This is getting to where I don't have the time to even read the threads.

this has already been discussed, but i agree.. this could easily be partially killing the community in the long run if this gets worse - but i think there'll be some solution soon

Oh look, another thread on the forum speed not inside the Forum Bugs / ideas / issues sticky at the top of this forum

Administrative Sarcasm asside (sorry, it's my job (the sarcasm, not the administration)) (lol). We're about 1/2 way through our maintenance at the moment, the idea is that we'll have gotten to grips with the issue by the time we are done.

I'm not asking for donations, and am unlikely to ever do so. However for those who keep chewing my ear on it, paypal accounts exist on both sides of the Atlantic.

At this point, there is not much reason to complain. We all know that the forum server is about to be thrown to the pasture, and the maintenance has begun.

And all that in addition to the fact that there are at least 5 threads on the topic.

this just shows how important this issue is...

The threads just really get old, and they don't help anything. I'm just tired of all of the threads on it! I hope it will be resolved with the upgrade!

Edited by Yoldering 2006-02-12 10:29 PM

I only hope the first timers visiting here aren't blaming their hpcs for the lag.

I'm going to hijack my own thread.
I have a different take on forums in general.
About 2 years ago I flushed all my favorites folders of special interest forums. I got tired of all the ---"RTFM"-- "DO A SEARCH IDIOT"-- "THIS HAS BEEN DISCUSSED BEFORE"-- blah,blah, blah replies.

If I'm just going to read compiled info on a subject I'll buy the proper books and go to the OEM sites. Don't get me wrong, I think archived data is great, as far as it goes. Some boards, this one included are very "data heavy", you can spend days trying to research a subject, with all the wait time and server time outs.

A forum was a place to meet in public to exchange information and opinions, in a personal and timely manner. Today our forums seem to loose sight of this fact.

Lets take 100 modern, active internet forum members back to ancient Rome, lets say 49 B.C. and but them in the Forum, " Pardon me citizens, I am travelling to Gaul, do any of you have any news of the roads leading over the mountains?" The replies?
" buy a map Cretin! we discussed this last week, where the Hell were you then?, check the library down the street ass@$#%^!, you can't get there from here, etc, etc ad nauseum.

When some "noob" asks if the ACME 2000 wifi card will work with his new Ebay treasure, he is hyped , he has a new toy and the first thing forum regulars do is knock the wind out of their sails.

When someone spends hours trying to figure out some problem that several of us have already been thru, does it really hurt to just say," it's easy, just do this, do that, push this etc."?

I come to a forum to discuss my interests, don't you? Fresh discussion leads to fresh thoughts on a subject. Researching archived info, be it electronic or be it book, only covers a subject up to a certain point in time. Fresh discussion often can spark new thoughts on different solutions to problems. If a person gives the ," RTFM" reply, does that person then have any more PRODUCTIVE input to a suject?

Just my opinion, I might be wrong.

I am just saying that on this topic specifically, because at this point, people are just complaining. I did that too, but now know better.

Why complain, when the site is going down in two days (less now), to be fixed? The new server is incredibly faster than the current one (at least from the information that C:Amie gave me), so there is no reason for these kinds of threads anymore. We all know that the forum is a turtle, lets just all wait for it.

What I do is open two windows, and let one load while read/writing on the other. When I finish with one window, I would start loading the next page, then swap to work on the other window. This is called double buffering.

stftclmshell,

Your arguments are true and valid. However you have to consider it from the perspective of the regulars and the moderators/administrators. Recycling the same information over and over and over again because people don't even bother to try and resolve issues for themselves is not something that provides those who have the expertise any cognitive reward.
The fact of the matter is that there are a large number of people who will see a discussion thread and just post a question into it without even attempting to resolve it for themselves. In a lot of cases people are so caught up in their own self importance that they will just post questions wherever they like. There is a difference between someone in genuine need of help and who tried to be a constructive member of the community, and those who are just out to exhibit their bone idleness onto the Internet - if it weren't the case I would never have to refer people to the support section.
After some while of moderating you begin to develop a sixth sense for telling who these posters are. So I defend my right to act accordingly and politely point them into the right direction.

It's a fair point that you may not want to go off and read a huge long document outlining a fix to a problem. Again though, look at it from my perspective. I wrote the thigns in the first place - as have other contributors. Is it fair to expect us to stat over again on the entire contents of a particular topic just because someone wants a little one on one assistance? I and others didn't put in the hours writing the CESD, HCL and otherwise just so that it would be a reference point for us to go to to re-type the entire document over again in a support forum.


Now, you're not one such person and, OK, my facetious comment above may not have been necessary; it was meant in a tone of jest.

Your questions and comments are fair and valid and are ones that the admins should be obliged to provide answers to the community for. But, as an admin my interest is in keeping the harmony of the forum together and in providing a set of guidelines where by users make the most out of forums. In that there is a sticky thread placed specifically for people to pass comments and I/O with the admins on the forum. A thread where the admins can track problems and know where to look to see what problems people are experiencing.
The fact that there are several which have fallen down the thread listings, makes it harder for us to keep track of them. There is also a fairly new thread on the maintenance process outlining imminent activities designed to combat this.

I am sure that before asking for information on the roads, the Roman would have looked for a copy of the Paris Tribune to source information on the road conditions and pulled out the latest version of Pocket Streets to check his way... So, there was no such thing. So it's probably a valid ask at the local tavern.

I guess that it boils down to who's time you think is more important. I'm bias because I think mine is. Just as each and every one of you think that yours is. Quite right too. However there has to be some degree of self sufficiency on both sides.
The alternate options is that my going rate is a minimum of £70 GPB an hour, excl VAT.

No, actually the folks down in the Roman forum would be saying "Someone pass him the AAA guide" ...

ok, jokes aside. I guess if we take these "new" threads in a positive light, the admins can take it that what they are doing is very much wanted and so its very worth while to continue the hard work despite the various hiccups from the forum source developer side.

On the board users side, I hear your pain. We all do. Why? Because everyone (including admins and mods) experience the delay. So trust the admins when they say that they are working their butts off to get it fixed. (ok, ok, maybe they didn't say those exact words ... but you get the drift! )

I'm joined in the bandwagon back in 2004 Dec and occassionally there's been speed bumps slowing everything down. But mostly its ok. Not as fast as most PHP BBS forums, but ok. This maintenance should get the speed issue fixed.

And about the response to noob, I have to say, ... moderation in everything.

stftclmshell mentioned some good points, if you ask me. From my observation in some forums, the problem is that someone new to a HPC, may earnestly try to search for an answer. But he do not know what he do not know. In plain English, he do not know what to search for.

An example would be someone learning to write in C/C++. He may think he wants to do something, but as a noob, he mostly think in English and not use the syntax and C/C++ keywords. So if he starts searching using English keywords, his search will fail. Likewise for HPCs.

This is what I realised from participating in other forums and this one too. We cannot know what we do not know. And sometimes its hard to phrase our question about something we do not know about.

So ... let's take it easy and try to be moderate.

Wise words from the moderate moderator.

Don't get me wrong folks, I think this pro'lly the most well put together site I have ever seen. Not trying to suck up. Just facts. It is the most complete data source on a subject you will find on the net. It is also been one of the most polite groups I've seen on the net. I wish 1/2 the OEM sites that I spend countless hours trying to access could use this site's layout as a template.

I am in awe of folks that can do code work, I can't, just don't have the head for it. I have laminated DOS and Linux commands cheat sheets. I use the fruits of coders,like this site.

I'm a hardware guy. If you guys saw some of things I have in progress or have tried you'd call the boys with the butterfly nets to take me away. I got into the H/PC's for my field use. I have 2 patents in process and a 3rd almost ready to submit, all in less than 3 years. I do all the background research and engineering outlines myself (it saves about $50k per patent app.) the H/PC devices are invaluable in note taking and field data logging. I even bought a couple of CE embedded devices that log and transmit data , REMOTELY!

I just like the fresh interaction of the forums. As for myself, I read your whole support side and made hundreds of notes, before I bought my first CE device. I spend over 8 hours per day "online" researching various process automation and control systems. Taking 10 minutes to talk to you folks, clear my mind and see if one of you has an answer to a problem or can cut me off before I waste time on something goofy, is priceless.

I guess my point is that we are fans of a dying product and we ought to nurture any interest in our "toys". Who knows, maybe if enough people get to using these great devices, someone will notice and we might get a new model one day.

I didn't take offence at the replies, just more of a comment on what I have noticed on several boards, as well as how much we all differ in our opinions on such topics.

PAX

I'll drink to that