The forum seems really slow lately. Takes several seconds to pull up a thread after clicking on it.
Wazzup wit dat?

I have been noticing this since I first registered. It's abnormally slow. I frequently have pages time out completely or I get server errors. I am assuming the hosting package for the domain just doesn't have enough bandwidth.

I am willing to bet that the regulars would be happy to donate a few bucks yearly to go towards a faster server.

Slow at times but fast enough right now! (for me)



Assumption - the mother (or should that be father) of all f___-ups...

lots of other things it could be - in fact given the that the page weight is fairly small for a forum like this (unless someone has linked a huge image - which in any case will not be served by the Chiff host) it is more likely to be backend server 'speed/power' and not bandwidth at fault - still a hosting problem of course. Then again it could just be the shear size of the ever growing site!!


Patience is a virtue...
I click on a few threads I want to read to open in new tabs - by the time I've checked the the new posts list they are open waiting for me - no wasted time - but really is several seconds to open a post worth worrying about?

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“When a Cat adopts you there is nothing to be done about it except put up with it until the wind changes.” T.S. Elliot

Well I didn't want to get too technical, but yeah, basically there are server issues. If it was simply the issue of a large image here and there, only the image would be slow but the surrounding text should load quickly. It's also pretty simple to set image size restrictions to keep that kind of thing from happening to begin with. Regardless, frequent page time outs and server errors shouldn't be happening. An error is an error.

Perhaps it would help if the board software was updated....the latest version of phpBB is 3.0.11, is that what's running? I would imagine the copyright notice on the bottom would be current if that's the case.

And yes, it is too slow. It's annoying. I open things in multiple tabs too, but I realize that's just sending more requests at once and further taxing the server. This board isn't that big or busy to be as slow as it is. I belong to some huge forums with thousands of users and usually over 200+ active users on at a time - with hundreds of active posts - and they are not nearly as slow as this one, which has a fraction of the traffic. I pay subscription fees to belong to those boards and some of that money goes to maintaining/upgrading the servers as necessary. It seems like there is a loyal base of members here, and improving the page load times and putting an end to the server errors seems like something Dale & the moderators should at least consider. Being that this board isn't super heavily trafficked, I'm guessing that even opening up a optional paypal donation fund for server upgrades would be enough to cover the cost for improved hosting.

Yes, we're aware of the problem. And yes, the problem is with the back-end SQL, not bandwidth or server load or phpBB version or hosting service. Certain intermittent processes are hogging and not releasing threads.

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Vivat diabolus in musica! MTGuru's (old) GG Clips / Blackbird Clips

Joel Barish: Is there any risk of brain damage?
Dr. Mierzwiak: Well, technically speaking, the procedure is brain damage.

Need us all to log out? Is it possible to refresh/compact/whatever the database to spruce it up?

That easier said than done for me. Most of my internet browsing lately is through a small touchscreen phone. Multiple tabs quickly can become a pain in the @$$.

great!

everyone seems to like bacon...

shoot the thread hogs!!!

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Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free
It's dizzying, the possibilities. Ashes, Ashes all fall down.

This is a problem we've had for years. I have the forum hosted on Dreamhost. It's a very large and fairly affordable service, but it doesn't offer the kind of support we need, since none of the moderators nor I have the SQL expertise to get under the hood. We tried a a couple of years ago to recruit someone to help us with it to no avail. Also have looked into moving the board, but the options are complex and overwhelming and the move itself would be quite an undertaking. And, it's mostly a chronic but intermittent problem. So, a few days ago, the board was incredibly sluggish, as reported on this thread. Today, it's much better (at least it is for me). So, about the time things so bad that we have to do something, the problem more or less goes away and we lose the motivation to research and execute the move. The current board installation is 11 years old with a million+ posts. It needs big work and none of really know how to do it.

I don't think this is the current phpBB install and I don't feel competent to update the software.

I've always figured that, sooner or later, the thing will crash completely and we'll end up a diaspora.

Dale

Dreamhost unfortunately is not very good anymore. I used them several years ago, but fled back when they messed up the billing and erroneously and randomly charged all their customers large sums of money. It made national news. They took about a grand out of my checking account right before my mortgage payment came out. That was fun. :/ Worst part was the overly silly tongue-in-cheek email they sent joking about someone tripping over a cable or something. It was such an unprofessional response to a MAJOR mistake that caused many. many people to get charged overdraft fees. Some people's bills were accidentally overcharged by thousands of dollars. Anyway, since switching hosts, I've been much happier, because I've realized how much better my new host is in terms of uptime, server upgrades, etc.

Dale, I used to be much geekier than I am now, and ran a few boards, but it's been years. My significant other is still geeky and does freelance IT work here and there. He's moved a lot of sites to different hosts and may be able to help or advise. I'm a newbie to the board, and no one really knows me, or him, but if you are interested, I can see if he has time to help out.

I got Internal Server Errors for a good hour this morning before I could get the site to load.