if the site goes down again

General Biker Banter
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chaz
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Forum down time

Post by chaz »

*EDIT** by Sirch345 on 17 April 2014.

For those of you who came here in search for the alternative site, the link is:
http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/index.php? ... eamvtr1000

Always handy to save a link to it just in case.

Chris.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________


as a member of a WW1 forum, I have come across this bandwidth problem before. drastic actions had to be taken.
the problem occurs with the number of hits the forum gets not necessarily by members but casual viewers as well.

we have a certain allocated bandwidth for example a litre of water, everything works fine untill that litre is gone, when the next person wants some there is none left. every visit drains a small bit more. Every month it gets re filled but only lasts as long as whats put in.

with this in mind can we try the following.
A/ purchase more bandwidth, which may mean extra cost or membership, who would pay/want to pay or do we go for sponsorship and banners popping up every page?
B/ cut down on the signatures at the bottom of your posting.
C/ when replying dont use the reply function that posts up the original or previous reply.
D/ keep picture attachments to the smallest possible size, bear this in mind when replying to posts.
E/ try posting pictures by a image host rather than the forum.
F/ which will probably be the hardest, keep idle chat , pictures, off topic subjects to a minimum.

the question to ask is would you rather have the forum available the whole month or just say 25 days of it? bear in mind that more members/hits could reduce to 20 days!!
its just unfortunate that the forum has more or less outgrown itself, and without sorting will only get less accessable. Remember if you visit 5 or 6 times a day thats more use than 1 or 2.

Im not a killjoy but just want access when needed, unfortunately I cant programme the bike NOT to break down outside forum limits!!!
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VeetyR
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Post by VeetyR »

I would also be up to making a lil donation every now n then if it helps.........there are enuff people on here that if we all helped it would ease the strain on others pockets. :)
Keep it gutter...Keep it grimey..........one!
VTRbob
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Post by VTRbob »

i don't mind paying for something i use :D
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Squiffythewombat
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Post by Squiffythewombat »

Actually i have to disagree with chaz...i run several websites and am currently doing a degree in web design...

The amount of times you logon, the filesizes of the picture you post etc really are not going to have that much difference on bandwidth!

For example, the site is indexed by googlebots daily, thus one of the most frequent visitors will be the googlebot...it will regularly index ALL of the threads....

...in the same way there are lots of hits that are not registered users...

...google "vtr pictures" and every time google displays something from the server a little bit more bandwidth is lost..

Without the host statistics its very hard to determine where most of the bandwidth is going!

Limiting photos in your reposts etc really is a drop in the ocean and unless EVERY user does this.

Easiest option is to get a better host, it really should cost pennies and the cost could EASILY be recuperated by running google ads on the site. That way, with the large amounts of visits the site, would in fact pay for itself! (you can even set it up so that only non-registered users see the ads)

If need be i might be able to piggy back the site from my host, i have unlimited space and bandwidth!

Please dont start posting in weird ways and cutting sigs, it hampers the enjoyment of the forum for little gain...

"F/ which will probably be the hardest, keep idle chat , pictures, off topic subjects to a minimum. " >>>>>> this is half the fun lol!

~end of rant~ :D
Squiffy_The_Wombat

Eagles may soar but wombats dont get sucked into jet engines!!
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warby221
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Post by warby221 »

VTRbob wrote:i don't mind paying for something i use :D

Ditto
This is a fairly friendly forum so I don't mind donating if some thing can be set up
As long as
People aren’t harried in to paying :evil: :x
Im a member of a VFR forum to and now registered users are being cajoled in to being sponsors and a large part of the content is for sponsors use only
me I only go on to post in the tech section answering peoples questions on the older VFR
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chaz
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Post by chaz »

squiffy, feel free to disagree but facts are facts, the site Im on is one of the top 10 First World War ones and with over 15,000 registered members. this year marks the 90th anniversary of some of the major battles and there is massive interest.
We have debated this to death since the first server overload, even changing to the next level which soon topped out. Figures have been calculated and the question arises what happens if you host and then sell the bike and leave, what happens to the forum?

we dont want pop ups, links off site to picture hosts, as same thing happens if you delete your hosted pics you get a meaningles thread.

then you get into the arguement regarding paying/donating. I donate to the WW1 forum, Im here free as I have a storm, I wont pay to keep the forum alive as I will probably sell the bike at the first opportunity, also charging has been proven to make new members turn away.
I dont pay for the Harley sportster forum Im on (we have 3 sportys in the family), problem is, although I can post threads there are certain areas that links wont work because Im not a paid member. this is frustrating when you are in the middle of reading help topics.

the dirt rider forum Im on also times out, but there are only 3 mods and an owner to police, at the moment many of the core members from even 8 months ago dont show up, if we charged then no one would be there.

being on at least 10 forums I wont have any money left to pay the broadband monthly charge if I donated to all!!
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Kitch
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Post by Kitch »

The best answer is better server.

The scale of the issue is hard to define as yet as it doesnt happen all the time. Regular forum use even with attachments and images wont eat up so much unless the original bandwidth is really low to begin with.

Could even be basic request flooding DOS attacks.

Hard to say without knowing the server and full details.

Personally, I'm not averse to donating for a better server either. Between the regulars who've already expressed such an interest we've probably covered it for very little cash already.

We need to get a dialogue going between the tech people and the server owner and see where it goes from there.
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Pete.L
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Post by Pete.L »

Squiffers said
Please dont start posting in weird ways and cutting sigs, it hampers the enjoyment of the forum for little gain...

"F/ which will probably be the hardest, keep idle chat , pictures, off topic subjects to a minimum. " >>>>>> this is half the fun lol!

~end of rant~
I pretend to know the answer to the problem but all I can say to this bit is "Hear, Hear!"
My sentiments exactly :D
Pete.l
My new ride is a bit of a Howler and I love to make her Squeal
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kevg
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Post by kevg »

Al has asked for a donation in the past when the server needs paying for etc...i've not spoken to him in a while and have a stand i need to return...was thinking of maybe doing it this weekend, if i do i'll ask about this and updating the site, or giving more access to Kaz and Cuppa. Nutty tried updating the blade site from the second phb version to version 3 and it changed everything about the layout and the way the site looked, she returned it back to the second version she had built it on. i think this site might be an even earlier version, i know the second version has an automatic birthday list and things like that, that this one doesn't.

i'll see what Al says.
cheerz

kev
Beamish
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Post by Beamish »

As a relative newbie I do not mind one bit chipping in to keep what is an excellent site.
I see myself as a sensitive intelligent man but with the heart of a clown that causes me to **ck things up right at that crucial moment........'Jim Morrison'
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Squiffythewombat
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Post by Squiffythewombat »

chaz, i think your at cross purposes from me maybe? Im not saying everyone should pay, just that there are ways to solve the problem without limiting posting techniques.

Googleads are NOT popups or any form of spyware, they are used on hundreds of thousands of sites all over the net. I also said that they would not be shown to registered users.

Your correct, many people will leave the forums once they sell the bike, however many, like myself, wont, i will stay here regardless of what bike i own like the many other *cough* BMW riders on this forum!

Kitch - i totally agree, if us regs club together im sure within a couple of days we would have enough for a couple of years DECENT hosting! Personally i dont think DOS attacks are likelly but its more than possible!

We really could do with chatting to Al and getting some results from the servers logs!
Squiffy_The_Wombat

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firestorm_al
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Post by firestorm_al »

kevg wrote:Al has asked for a donation in the past when the server needs paying for etc...i've not spoken to him in a while and have a stand i need to return...was thinking of maybe doing it this weekend, if i do i'll ask about this and updating the site, or giving more access to Kaz and Cuppa. Nutty tried updating the blade site from the second phb version to version 3 and it changed everything about the layout and the way the site looked, she returned it back to the second version she had built it on. i think this site might be an even earlier version, i know the second version has an automatic birthday list and things like that, that this one doesn't.

i'll see what Al says.
Hi Kev,

Are you going to make it to the night out on the 15th??

Kaz & Cuppa both have full admin access to the forum.

I have updated the site to the latest version of revision 2 of phpBB as of this evening.

The birthday list is a modification to the software and not standard.

I'll be keeping an eye on the bandwidth over the next wee while. In the mean time I have put a block on other sites using images from this one and remotely linking to images from the gallery. Hopefully that is what has been killing the monthly bandwith quota (10Gb).

It may be that I have to axe the Photo gallery but with all the free photo serving sites out there I don't see that being a problem to most users. That will mean that all the bandwith will be used for serving the forum pages and not by folk using pictures. I'll implement a method of inserting images into posts to make up for that.

That's all for now.

Al.
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firestorm_al
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Post by firestorm_al »

Squiffythewombat wrote:Your correct, many people will leave the forums once they sell the bike, however many, like myself, wont, i will stay here regardless of what bike i own
That's what I said and I am supposed to be taking care of the site! :oops:
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kevg
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Post by kevg »

Ello Al, yup, me and Nutty will both be out on the 15th.
Sorry about the stand, i'll try and get it to you sometime this centuary, lol.
Who made me a mod? you... thanks...need to learn what i'm doing now, lol.
cheerz

kev
Jim67
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Re: if the site goes down again

Post by Jim67 »

Not really about the site going down but a possible glitch, I have posted in the workshop section and it normally goes to the top of the list but for some reason it has'nt ???
Maybe I am talking ball-ocks !!!!!

Jim.
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RACIST!!! not me....I'll race any fooker!!!!
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