Donations to improve this site and make it faster.......

[Ponce]

OK guys, I'll open the bed with a $50.00.............who's next?

[crazychicken]

I said I'm in on another thread.

CC

[Twisted Titan]

Let them locate exactly where the problem is first.
What we will be the cost to rectify: (repair or upgrade,etc)
Send out a General request for support.

That is all that can be done.

Most important thing now is patience.



T

[chad]

2 words:

shared hosting

[Ponce]

People keep on talking as to how we should change the government and make America free once again but when it comes time to grab a gun no one does anything about it..........well, same thing here... everyone talks about improving the site but no one is willing to give a couple of bucks........come on guys.

[DMac]

People keep on talking as to how we should change the government and make America free once again but when it comes time to grab a gun no one does anything about it..........well, same thing here... everyone talks about improving the site but no one is willing to give a couple of bucks........come on guys.


If JohnQPublic put out a call for donations I bet he would be covered several fold in terms of operating costs. Without the call for donations from the owner there isn't much we can do.

[zap]

I'll put in 50 just tell me where to send it.

[General of Darkness]

I'm down for 2 troy ounces. But like TT said, first things first, let's fix the problem.

[chad]

just an observation, but there really doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency about this :oo-->

[hoarder]

Let them locate exactly where the problem is first.



T
The problem: It ain't V-Bulletin.

[mightymanx]

Call me crazy but I nave never seen or experienced any of the problems other people are so mad about and I use multiple locations. I am not calling any one a liar I am starting to think it is a local thing.

Can anyone in the PNW confirm or deny my suspicion?

[steyr_m]

Let them locate exactly where the problem is first.
What we will be the cost to rectify: (repair or upgrade,etc)
Send out a General request for support.

That is all that can be done.

Most important thing now is patience.
T


I agree, this site was fine at one time. There could be many causes. Getting a new/dedicated server may not be the answer. If this is a shared server, and another site is hogging the bandwidth, we can contact the admin and get some bandwidth limiting. Did someone make the server a ftp site and the admin doesn't know about it? Is there a DDoS?

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

Call me crazy but I nave never seen or experienced any of the problems other people are so mad about and I use multiple locations. I am not calling any one a liar I am starting to think it is a local thing.

Can anyone in the PNW confirm or deny my suspicion?




Same here. I get the occasional mysql error but the reload button makes it go away.

[wildcard]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?

[YukonCornelius]

Let them locate exactly where the problem is first.
What we will be the cost to rectify: (repair or upgrade,etc)
Send out a General request for support.

That is all that can be done.

Most important thing now is patience.
T


I agree, this site was fine at one time. There could be many causes. Getting a new/dedicated server may not be the answer. If this is a shared server, and another site is hogging the bandwidth, we can contact the admin and get some bandwidth limiting. Did someone make the server a ftp site and the admin doesn't know about it? Is there a DDoS?


If you were at all focused on improving this site, conveying your opinion or sharing information with others you wouldn't have such a distracting avatar, limiting others' focus and attention on your posts.

:P

On a serious note, identify the problem and the donations will come, although like few others, I rarely experience problems with this site.

[Twisted Titan]

just an observation, but there really doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency about this :oo-->


We dont know what is occuring behind the scenes.

What "looks" like nothing

Could actually be "plenty"


Afford them the time.

T

[Fortyone]

Ill send $50 or two Troy, whichever they prefer. Ponce, you opened the thread, thats 8 rolls of TP for you to send as well ;D

[Saul Mine]

It's obvious there is plenty of money waiting, as soon as somebody decides that money would help. I pledge some money, but not until it is determined that money is needed to fix the problem.

[mrnhtbr2232]

I must confess I was close to leaving as well - server problems on my end a lot. Instead, I took some time off away from GSUS, deleted all my old posts, and regrouped. Now that I'm back I see people bailing out and the forum generally going through a period of rediscovery as well. I'll say this - I've yet to find another collection of people like here (and from GIM before this). It's a hard habit to break away from intelligent and provocative discourse - especially in these times. Accordingly, I am willing to pay my way. I just went through a period of evaluating rage, fear, and the control it grants to others over me. By stripping out the emotion and sticking to facts and observations I hope to free myself of the habit I had to embellish comments with slander and threats. These are dangerous times, and GSUS remains a conduit for advance notice and keeping an eye on the ball - something the majority of the population doesn't even bother with. If/when I see a mechanism to donate and be more of a "member" than just registration I'll do my share. Long live the 1st Amendment.

[Ponce]

"Don't you squeeze my Charmin".......rather send $50.00.

[MNeagle]

"Don't you squeeze my Charmin".......rather send $50.00.


hmmm, Ponce's priority levels: silver>tp>frns

[Saul Mine]

I spent the day poking around other forums and found one where they had exactly the same problem from time to time. They traced it to the search function. The fix was to reindex the data base, which was time consuming, so whenever the problem gets too bad they just shut it down for a weekend and do the reindex thing.

BTW the members of this forum run several websites thru the same host and they all love the host immensely. So if you decide to look for a new host I can send along the url. They used to have a special price for members of that forum, but the regular prices don't look too bad: $15 a month for the fanciest deal.

[Grand Master Melon]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


Well, I just smited you and it appears to be running well for me still. ;D

[undgrd]

I'm with Saul Mine on this one. FRN pledge is ready to go if that is the requirement.

[madfranks]

I've asked the site owner (John Q Public) how much money it would cost to get a dedicated server for GSUS. I'll post here when he answers so we can tally up how much we need versus the amount of donations offered.

[JohnQPublic]

Thank you all for promises of donations. As Saul says, I want to be careful that we know what we are fixing. I was having problems, and still occassionally do, but I feel things are much better than they were a week or two ago. I do not think it is tinychat.

The biggest thing I did was switch from the "premium" to the "utimate" shared hosting. This did not require me to take the site down then revive it on another sever. By switching, purportedly, I doubled the number of simultaneous active connections permitted, and potentially migrated us to a different physical server (or this may eventually happen, I suppose as the system does load balancing vs. service contract). I think that has helped. I also tweaked some internal software switches which should have taken some load off the server.

The next easy move would be to go from shared server to a grid server. I do not have a clear answer if this would help, as there are some issues with shared databases on grid servers, so I want to be sure before I consider this. This is also a substantial price increase per month (but not nearly as big as a dedicated server). The advantage (if it is suitable) is that the transition to grid happens in the background (i.e., I do not have to shut down the site and restart it; it migrates).

The next step between grid and dedicated is "virtual dedicated" servers. These are shared server racks with guaranteed RAM, hardrive and bandwidth. These do not migrate.

If I leave my current host (GoDaddy), then clouds are also an option (I think clouds and grid are very similar).

I really don't want you all to have to donate money if that is not going to solve the problem. Plus a dedicated server requires a lot more administration than a shared server.

If we do go to some server requiring a shutdown I would then also consider changing hosts, and I appreciate some of the suggestions.

Also, I would probably consider taking on a volunteer administrator to help. It is clear that we have some capable people here. What worries me is that I may end up blaming something incorrectly on the administrator, and don't want to put a volunteer in that position. I have been through that before. If I pick an admin, I would prefer someone I could actually meet and get to know a little bit.

In any case those are my thoughts at this time. I feel we are better for now, but as we grow, we could face problems again. Eventually something will have to be done. Perhaps sooner is better than later. :)

[chad]

it is MUCH better since you upgraded your hosting plan. it was quite unusable for me before, now it's pretty much okay 95% of the time.

[k-os]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D

[Joe King]

I spent the day poking around other forums and found one where they had exactly the same problem from time to time. They traced it to the search function. The fix was to reindex the data base, which was time consuming, so whenever the problem gets too bad they just shut it down for a weekend and do the reindex thing.

BTW the members of this forum run several websites thru the same host and they all love the host immensely. So if you decide to look for a new host I can send along the url. They used to have a special price for members of that forum, but the regular prices don't look too bad: $15 a month for the fanciest deal.
I wasn't having problems until a couple hours ago when I was trying to search. No matter how many times I tried, "cannot display page" was all I got when searching.

If it's a server issue, I'd still want to know why the main page is always fast, but add /forum to and it's hit or miss. Seems to be it has to be a data base issue in which something has changed, because it wasn't like this for the first 4 months or so.

Also, there's less traffic now. If it was the server, it should be faster, if anything.

How about just re-installing the SMF software?

[Ponce]

Does anyone here really look or care about that semite and thanks things?......I for one never look at it....I alreay know that I am GREATTTTTTTT hahahahahahahahahahahah.

[Gknowmx]

Does anyone here really look or care about that semite and thanks things?......I for one never look at it....I alreay know that I am GREATTTTTTTT hahahahahahahahahahahah.


heh, was that freudian slip? I could careless about the smite thing either; I do like being able to openly thank folks.

I would definitely contribute $$$ to make this a better home.

Thanks JQP for bringing us up to speed on the latest. I am still loading slow much of the time.

[Libertarian_Guard]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


WC might be on to something here.

How about everyone knock it off with the smites for a day or two and we'll see the server/software problems work themselves out.

In any case, it may help some egoes.

[MAGNES]

I've mentioned ponying up many times going back even from day on in PM to John.

He isn't interested in collecting dollars. John is legit.
We need to know who the admins/mods are.
Only trusted people that we know.

We lucked out with Gaillo and MadFranks, I trust Gaillo especially cause of his posting and
fighting on last day of gim. MadFranks himself admitted he didn't post much.

No more phantom lying deceivers.

Nothing was wrong with these forums till recently. WTF !

I said many times I will pony up $50 just for VB. The site extra.
We need that IMO , badly, get out of this software, very limited,
can't find threads and trolls conveniently delete their accounts,
you can't even find their threads, lol, they have non. I can't find
my own.

Set up a blog that is basic, John and mods can post to it as a message board.
We down, go to blog, get info.

Personally I want honest legit people in charge, and deal with tech as it comes.
I don't care for down days as long as everyone here is legit.
Do not take handouts from the devil, and he exists, all this secret mod sh*t
needs to stop for good, no unknown phantom techs, and or another demented
sock puppet.



The problem: It ain't V-Bulletin.


A +

Getting VB gets rid of the troll from hell and whatever he is doing here as well.

I'll volunteer to do technical jobs if they give me something, if that is possible ?
Like find stuff for them on VB forums, etc,



If I pick an admin, I would prefer someone I could actually meet and get to know a little bit.


Pick someone we know well or someone not associated with gim in any way.
John , I don't think you have any idea who Ulysses/Immanti is, I believe this
strongly and this is why I still support you. If I was an admin/mod on here,
not that I want that, but if I was nobody would freak out, well very few,
make JP or MP or his friend mod, one of the 3 troll amigo's , what would happen ,
or one of skyvikes friends mods ? No matter what technical knowledge they should
go jump in a fire. A very deceitful person could pull it off but when in they wouldn't
be able to mask/hide their hatred, lol . They would self vaporize themselves, Poof !

[Libertarian_Guard]

If $50 is typical, count me in.

But I would perfer to sent a money order to a P.O. box.

The administrator should consider a P.O. box as part of the expenses that he should be compensated for.

I don't do paypal.

[wildcard]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


I could care less, but I thought maybe it would bog down mysql. If this place ran great before and now it's gradually bogging then something has changed. Smite all you want.

*I get about 10 smites a day whether I post or not. Either someone is REALLY pissed or they have some kind of bot doing it for them. Could be slowing things down too. Dickheads.

**tell you wat. I'm outta here too. Maybe if enough of us say fuck it they'll do something.

[k-os]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


I could care less, but I thought maybe it would bog down mysql. If this place ran great before and now it's gradually bogging then something has changed. Smite all you want.

*I get about 10 smites a day whether I post or not. Either someone is REALLY pissed or they have some kind of bot doing it for them. Could be slowing things down too. Dickheads.

**tell you wat. I'm outta here too. Maybe if enough of us say f*ck it they'll do something.


Don't go. Maybe someone is just smitten.

[cedarchopper]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


I could care less, but I thought maybe it would bog down mysql. If this place ran great before and now it's gradually bogging then something has changed. Smite all you want.

*I get about 10 smites a day whether I post or not. Either someone is REALLY pissed or they have some kind of bot doing it for them. Could be slowing things down too. Dickheads.

**tell you wat. I'm outta here too. Maybe if enough of us say f*ck it they'll do something.


I don't think highly of the smite feature myself...and for your information, I never smite you or anyone else. If someone doesn't like me and wants to have a piece of me, we can tango in Thunderdome ;]

But on the issue of loading down the forum...it does have some demand on the bandwidth and is not useful in any way...I would feel differently if there was a name attached to it.

[Ponce]

I for one vote for Ponce as the new big shot at this site.......he is respected my myself and loved by everyone at this site, he will maintain this site clean and only will kick out Phoenix for posting to much (by the way, where is he?) , in sum assion a vote for Ponce is a vote for the people ...........VIVA PONCE.

PONCE <---------el presidente, marching to the sound of his own drum with only his cat following him, cat is hungry hahahahahahahah.

OH GOD!!!

[1970 silver art]

I for one vote for Ponce as the new big shot at this site.......he is respected my myself and loved by everyone at this site, he will maintain this site clean and only will kick out Phoenix for posting to much (by the way, where is he?) , in sum assion a vote for Ponce is a vote for the people ...........VIVA PONCE.

PONCE <---------el presidente, marching to the sound of his own drum with only his cat following him, cat is hungry hahahahahahahah.

OH GOD!!!


Ponce? I hate to bring bad news to you but my gut feeling tells me that JQP would win by a landslide as "big shot" at this site called GSUS. ;D ;D ;D

[Sparky]

I'd also like to see vBulletin, even if this software isn't the problem.

[Tumbleweed]

I have said in another thread I would put in $50 if getting a new server would solve the problems. I have never smited anyone and I'd prefer not having that feature. I don't think anything is gained by having it.

[Joe King]

Is it possible to temporarily disable the search function just to see if it might be a part of the problem?

The site will be working fine until I try to search, and I get errors and/or "page cannot be displayed".
After a few minutes it works again. Is it just a coincidence?

[DMac]

Is it possible to temporarily disable the search function just to see if it might be a part of the problem?

The site will be working fine until I try to search, and I get errors and/or "page cannot be displayed".
After a few minutes it works again. Is it just a coincidence?




+1

I think this is part of the problem. When I do searches the site crashes.

[k-os]

Is it possible to temporarily disable the search function just to see if it might be a part of the problem?

The site will be working fine until I try to search, and I get errors and/or "page cannot be displayed".
After a few minutes it works again. Is it just a coincidence?




+1

I think this is part of the problem. When I do searches the site crashes.


Absolutely! I have had a sneaking suspicion that the search is the problem too. Every time I have tried it - every time - I have received an error. I don't try it anymore (I use google), but if someone else is using the search function and bringing SQL to her knees, then we would all experience a problem temporarily.

It's possible that the db isn't properly indexed.

[DMac]

It's possible that the db isn't properly indexed.

Bingo! I bet you and I could fix this site if we had access k-os.

[k-os]

It's possible that the db isn't properly indexed.

Bingo! I bet you and I could fix this site if we had access k-os.


You can do it. ;D I have learned a very valuable lesson here . . . no good deed goes unpunished. I have seen how someone who once contributed their skills to this site is now demonized relentlessly.

[Ponce]

K-os? I don't know what you are talkind about but if that is your picture you are then still very pretty......

Ponce<------------even at 70 he's still a "Don Ponce" hahahahahahahahahahha, like his father ;D

[mamboni]

It's possible that the db isn't properly indexed.

Bingo! I bet you and I could fix this site if we had access k-os.


You can do it. ;D I have learned a very valuable lesson here . . . no good deed goes unpunished. I have seen how someone who once contributed their skills to this site is now demonized relentlessly.



Yes, you should be punished for your good deeds! I personally offer to spank you. :whip

[k-os]

K-os? I don't know what you are talkind about but if that is your picture you are then still very pretty......



Still? Thanks! That photo is a couple of years old, though. ;D

[Ponce]

K-os? to a 70 years old man 2 years is only testerday hahahahahahahahahha.......as a matter of fact to me even 50 years ago was only yesterday.........I was in the army in Alaska brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr >:(

[mamboni]

K-os? to a 70 years old man 2 years is only testerday hahahahahahahahahha.......as a matter of fact to me even 50 years ago was only yesterday.........I was in the army in Alaska brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr >:(


You're creepin' me out Ponce. Your hitting on K-os borders on pedophilia. :baa

[Ponce]

Who knows Doc, maybe I'll get lucky if she decides to come to Oregon on her "Mystery Tour".......better to try and fail to wonder what would had happened............right K-os? ;D

[Liquid]

I don't know much about computers, but I'm pretty good at patching things together with duct tape. In fact, maybe that's what would fix the issues with this board, a little duct tape here and there.

Put me in for a couple of rolls. ;D

Regarding donations, what the admins could do is put a link to paypal at the bottom of the board. I've seen a forum do this before. It makes it easy to donate. We all use this board, I don't see why the forum owner has to incur all the costs. I'd happily donate as well.

[Neuro]

It's possible that the db isn't properly indexed.

Bingo! I bet you and I could fix this site if we had access k-os.


You can do it. ;D I have learned a very valuable lesson here . . . no good deed goes unpunished. I have seen how someone who once contributed their skills to this site is now demonized relentlessly.

Yes but Webhem Goldtechstein didn't seem a very good moderator ;) at the time anyway...

[sunshine05]

I had trouble even getting to the site today a few times. Then when I'm here, it is really slow.

[Ponce]

Could you guys have to much junk in your comp that's slowing you down? my comp is 87% empty and I have no problems here or anywhere else.

[JohnQPublic]

Please take a look athttp://www.kitco.com/ the "Search" thread. I have made the search more efficient. This may have slowed things down today, but the way search was configured could have been part of the problem we are experiencing. When the database was small, it was not an issue. As it is now, it could be.

[Neuro]

Please take a look athttp://www.kitco.com/ the "Search" thread. I have made the search more efficient. This may have slowed things down today, but the way search was configured could have been part of the problem we are experiencing. When the database was small, it was not an issue. As it is now, it could be.
I can see that this could be a problem, is it possible to take away the search function entirely?

[wildcard]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


I could care less, but I thought maybe it would bog down mysql. If this place ran great before and now it's gradually bogging then something has changed. Smite all you want.

*I get about 10 smites a day whether I post or not. Either someone is REALLY pissed or they have some kind of bot doing it for them. Could be slowing things down too. Dickheads.

**tell you wat. I'm outta here too. Maybe if enough of us say f*ck it they'll do something.


Did you miss me? No? Well so wat. I kept getting smites! So much for solidarity.

[Liquid]

Did you miss me? No? Well so wat. I kept getting smites! So much for solidarity.


I missed ya wildcard. Just noticed you've got over 1100 smites...haha. Who ever is smiting you is relentless!

[StackerKen]

Wildcard have you noticed your applauds have gone up?....some of those applauds are from me :)

[wildcard]

Did you miss me? No? Well so wat. I kept getting smites! So much for solidarity.


I missed ya wildcard. Just noticed you've got over 1100 smites...haha. Who ever is smiting you is relentless!


It only shows what a black heart they have. And it will explode and take them to an early grave. We'll see who has the last laugh!

*and thanks ken, but don't worry about it. I really don't care about those numbers. I know there are a few people here that hear what I say and support it. I also know there are others that will never understand it or support it. I have probably 400 applauds from Phoenix.

[zap]

Of course we missed ya Wildcard, and I just gave you a Good Karma! ;)

[k-os]

Would the thanks/smite system bog down the forum software?


You wish, smite king. ;D


I could care less, but I thought maybe it would bog down mysql. If this place ran great before and now it's gradually bogging then something has changed. Smite all you want.

*I get about 10 smites a day whether I post or not. Either someone is REALLY pissed or they have some kind of bot doing it for them. Could be slowing things down too. Dickheads.

**tell you wat. I'm outta here too. Maybe if enough of us say f*ck it they'll do something.


Did you miss me? No? Well so wat. I kept getting smites! So much for solidarity.


I didn't miss you, but that's only because I have been busy. I would miss you if you left, so don't leave.

I don't smite you that much anymore, now I give you the nice face discount. ;D To me, smites are just a way of saying "I disagree." Some people take it a little too seriously. And yeah, if you are getting smites when you are not active on GSUS, that's a sign of an old grudge. Screw 'em. Who cares?

[Ponce]

Remember K-os that anything is only important if you give it any importance......those semites and smile's and thanks are nothing to me.........specially when you know that you are good hahahahahaha.