feel free to delete em...

(11-06-2011 06:27 )gazfc Wrote:  If theres a real need to free up space just delete all the a-z threads and any attachment that's over 6 months old or alternatively move to a web host that has enough bandwidth to handle peak times

It's very unlikely that deleting posts will make any difference to the speed of the forum. Freeing up space itself will definitely not make any difference, as we have plenty of space available, nor would adding bandwidth make the slightest difference as we have plenty of bandwidth available too.

The issue is one of server load which is generally caused by the number of requests to the server, about 100 per second at peak times, and by requests which take a long time to process and bog down the CPU. A monitoring system has been set up to log any requests which take a long time to process, so we can easily see what's bogging things down. Just as an example, if it was long threads which were taking time to load we could place a limit on the number of posts per thread. This is just an example, as threads only load one page at a time and so long threads probably aren't a problem. The point is just that if problems are found there is probably something that can be done about it. So far there is no indication that simply reducing the number of posts in the forum would make any noticeable difference.

A simple server upgrade should sort it out then?

fuck the "guests" off during busy times...if they cant be arsed to log in why let them on at all!!!!!

(11-06-2011 08:00 )admin Wrote:  ~~~~
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So far there is no indication that simply reducing the number of posts in the forum would make any noticeable difference.

Limiting the guests access to the forum would make the most difference.

(11-06-2011 10:25 )TheWatcher Wrote:  Limiting the guests access to the forum would make the most difference.

People keep saying that, but if that happened, would it not reduce the amount of potential contributors that might join?

I browsed this forum as a guest for over a year before I could join. If I hadn't been able to view the forum as a guest, I probably wouldn't have felt the inclination to eventually join, as I wouldn't know what was on the forum, due to being unable to view it.

....Ya know?!

When a site demands that I join in order to view most or all content, I assume it's just a spam/malware trap, and don't bother.

Making guests form a queue, with a limit of 500 might work, but if one particular thread suddenly becomes ultra-popular (through some live occurance on one of the channels) and hundreds of members try to view it, it's still gonna grind to a halt, especially if a load of ex-guests (now theoretically members) are online trying to view it too.

Perhaps the more popular threads could be given some kind of real-time priority over less visited threads, in some kind of technical way? Maybe?

"The road to Good Intentions be paved with Hell"

^^ The idea is not to exclude them outright, but just to keep those who do contribute actually logged in whilst they are trying to contribute during busy times..after all if the cappers/vid guys/converstaionalists etc cant post then the guests dont have anything to look at !!!!

(11-06-2011 10:08 )gazfc Wrote:  A simple server upgrade should sort it out then?

It's doubtful if a server upgrade would make much difference. I've just loaded this thread 10 times at an average speed of 0.32 seconds, which would be hard to improve on with over 600 users online no matter what server was being used. It's more productive to try and optimise the forum for speed and remove any potential lengthy queries which would bog this or any other server down. As we already have one of the most powerful servers on the planet, there probably isn't much to gain by adding even more power. Finding where the problems are is likely to be more rewarding and this is what's currently being done. In the meantime anyone who experiences slowness or error messages please continue to post with as much detail as possible.

The forum seems smooth running to me tonight. I'm interested to see if anyone still complains!