Forum Optimisation?

[ortega]

Is there a thread where users can post suggestions/feedback to improve this site.

yes, FAQs and Feedback

and you are in it.

BTW thanks to all who are working behind the scenes in CS

I don't mind the subscription as well

 

[shyanyap]

Wow. Totally flabbergasted when I saw this comment.

First of all, "all the money you guys are collecting" doesn't come close to covering the costs of maintaining the site on an annual basis - some months we cover, some months we don't, and over the long term, ClubSNAP is still funded out of our own pockets (and also our time and sleepless nights when issues crop up)

We acknowledge that there has been some problems with the servers, especially during the peak hours of 10pm-1am and we sincerely apologise if that has inconvenienced members.

There are usually 2x the number of users online compared to the daytime hours and it has been a challenge to be able to anticipate peak demand and to ensure that the servers are performing adequately.

As with all software/hardware combinations, there are always several factors to consider when making changes or tweaks, and we have taken a more cautious approach to fixes as there is a lot more at stake now.

At the end of the day, we take solace that, although we do not expect outpourings of gratitude and garlands of flowers placed at our feet, we feel proud that we are doing our best to maintain this community that brings together photographers.

We strive to please most of the people most of the time, we will not even comtemplate trying to please all the people all the time.

Hi there,

I have some under-utilitse server place and bandwidth.

If these are something Clubsnap can tap into, drop me a note.

Cheers.

 

[jOhO]

perhaps TS did sound a little ungrateful, but i have to admit that when CS is down, i will be on msn with fellow CSers going "what the heck are they doing it's down AGAIN!"

while i'm not about to say the admins etc are doing a poor job, but there's no hiding the fact that the servers/service whatever the right term is (i'm not IT inclined) is POOR nowadays.

of course, on one hand i can totally understand they are out of pocket and work tirelessly, and i dun comment much (except in private!) because they are already aware of the problem, no need to rub salt into the wound.

for all those supporting the admins here, i am one of you. however there is a problem and we can't just brush it off becos "everyone is being nice". and for those who can/want to help, perhaps you can talk to them, suggest etc. i can't help in terms of knowledge, but i do pay my subscription for my webspace to help, when i have my own hosting already.

 

[wanzw]

this is still an interest free group forum after all. users must understand the high maintainence cost involved in keeping the forum from such heavy usage.

let's all be appreciative of what clubsnap can offer us now.

if you say pay = good service. look at H*Z and V*Z

 

[dr34mc4st3r]

if the TS can do better, pls carry on. too many ppl like to complain abt anything but when asked to do something, all diam diam.....

 

[wiz23]

Empty vessels make the most noise ... My advice: Try to find out what it takes to maintain a server for a forum of this scale, taking into consideration the fact that u already have a full-time job, then make your comments.

As the others have already said, this is a free service, we enjoy ourselves here ... If u think u can do better, go ahead, start your own forum ...

Sorry, guys, I usually refrain from making negative comments, but I couldn't tahan the insolence of the TS ...

Thank you, admin, for the hardwork

 

[Drudkh]

you know..... with all the money you guys are collecting, i really dont know what is going on but this is by far the most disrupted website ive ever visited.

its almost become a joke to be honest.

Then don't visit CS at all. Get your ass off this forum.

 

[scramblur11]

if the TS can do better, pls carry on. too many ppl like to complain abt anything but when asked to do something, all diam diam.....

haha....u r spot on....totally agreed with you~!!~~~!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ...... alot of ppl jus like to talk alot behind the screen......


Thanks to all the mods and admins for keeping this place nice and clean~!...:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[jOhO]

the TS may have sounded insolent, but his rebutters sound like they do NOT MIND that CS is down more often then it should be, by standards of other forums, or at least by past standards of CS itself.

i'd like to repeat myself that while the delivery of the TS' message is not optimal, the content is spot on. i would have to agree that this is the most disrupted forum that i attend.

for me, it's irritating, and as many of u mentioned, it's "free", so we can just either shut up, or help. but facts are facts.

the reason why CS is a good place, and also why i stay, and alot do, is because of the b/s and MOs/MSs. be clear about that. if this place has got poor uptime, the "vendors" and "clients" will move on.

i'm sure the admins are wonderful people, i myself have had good experiences with them, or at least none bad. but there is no doubt that the server has problems, and it's not gonna go away by constantly carrying their balls. those that do so, but do not help, either by constructive suggestions or by subscribing to webspace to help financially are empty vessels too, just one that's coloured pink and with a yellow smiley.

 

[jdredd]

listen, all of you can think im the big bad wolf by saying what shouldnt be said, but a fact is a fact and ill call it how i see it. maybe in retrospect my language may have been a bit harsh, but i stand by what i say. i dont doubt the good intentions of the admins and they fact they may be working hard to solve the issues, but frankly, and those in the software industry will know, that this kind of downtime for a website is unnacceptable.

and to those who say, who are you to say, you dont pay. wake up and smell the coffee. this is a forum where people can and do offer their opinions on EVERYTHING. so this is no different. if there is a Forum Usage, Terms and Conditions that says i cant offer criticism of the admins, please show it to me and ill retract everything i said.

the fact of the matter is, people do pay to use this site. to-date, ive yet to see any detailed explanation as to why the site is experiencing the problems that it is. to me, it boils down to one of 2 things.

first, the bandwith is not enough.
second, some kind of software or hosting issues.
or third, a combination of both.

if the bandwith is not enough, then it behoves the admins to -
tell US about it. alternatively,- either see if its possible to find cheaper bandwith, or take steps to reduce bandwith usage. one simple solution could be to ban the use of quoting.

im more than happy to make some contributions to their funds if it means the site will run properly. and this is no bare promise. PM me ur bank account details or PAYPAL account and the money will be sent. and there may be well others like me out there.


again, if it a software issue, then let us know. in some detail perhaps.

look, theres what, 15,000 members on this forum. who knows, if the admins aired their problems, they might well be able to find osmeone who could offer some assistance, e.g. cheaper bandwith solutions, technical assistane.

that is the point im driving at. and to be fair, if you are taking money for a service and the service isnt there, you are at least obliged to account to those you take money from (im not asking for me) to say look, the money has been properly spent but we still dont have enough bandwith. or whatever. so that doubts dont crop up in peoples mind as to what is being done with the money. or that it isnt being properly spent

what is unnacceptable to me, is to just keep quiet about it, scratch your head in the background and give reassuranes like "forum optimsation is being carried out"..

 

[Darren]

We have taken note of the comments made in this (and past) threads, and to clarify matters as transparently as possible, here are some pertinent facts.

a) Bandwidth - we have recently moved to another ISP and have made sure that the bandwidth to support the forums and gallery are adequate to cater for the anticipated increase/growth over the next year.

b) The downtime issues have been narrowed down to the database server which was last upgraded about 2 years ago. As part of the software update exercise yesterday, we have increased the amount of memory being utilised by the database server as well as optimised the settings as advised by the forum software vendors.

We may still experience some minor hiccups this week as we finetune the database server settings, but we are confident that the major issues have been overcome.

Thanks to all who have supported us and we also acknowledge the brickbats along with the praise.

 

[Morphis]

im more than happy to make some contributions to their funds if it means the site will run properly. and this is no bare promise. PM me ur bank account details or PAYPAL account and the money will be sent. and there may be well others like me out there.


again, if it a software issue, then let us know. in some detail perhaps.

look, theres what, 15,000 members on this forum. who knows, if the admins aired their problems, they might well be able to find osmeone who could offer some assistance, e.g. cheaper bandwith solutions, technical assistane.

that is the point im driving at. and to be fair, if you are taking money for a service and the service isnt there, you are at least obliged to account to those you take money from (im not asking for me) to say look, the money has been properly spent but we still dont have enough bandwith. or whatever. so that doubts dont crop up in peoples mind as to what is being done with the money. or that it isnt being properly spent

what is unnacceptable to me, is to just keep quiet about it, scratch your head in the background and give reassuranes like "forum optimsation is being carried out"..

Donation details are just here.

http://forum.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=150168

Hip! Hip! Horay!
:cheergal: :cheergal: :cheergal:

 

[Jason Ho]

listen, all of you can think im the big bad wolf by saying what shouldnt be said, but a fact is a fact and ill call it how i see it. maybe in retrospect my language may have been a bit harsh, but i stand by what i say. i dont doubt the good intentions of the admins and they fact they may be working hard to solve the issues, but frankly, and those in the software industry will know, that this kind of downtime for a website is unnacceptable.

and to those who say, who are you to say, you dont pay. wake up and smell the coffee. this is a forum where people can and do offer their opinions on EVERYTHING. so this is no different. if there is a Forum Usage, Terms and Conditions that says i cant offer criticism of the admins, please show it to me and ill retract everything i said.

the fact of the matter is, people do pay to use this site. to-date, ive yet to see any detailed explanation as to why the site is experiencing the problems that it is. to me, it boils down to one of 2 things.

first, the bandwith is not enough.
second, some kind of software or hosting issues.
or third, a combination of both.

if the bandwith is not enough, then it behoves the admins to -
tell US about it. alternatively,- either see if its possible to find cheaper bandwith, or take steps to reduce bandwith usage. one simple solution could be to ban the use of quoting.

im more than happy to make some contributions to their funds if it means the site will run properly. and this is no bare promise. PM me ur bank account details or PAYPAL account and the money will be sent. and there may be well others like me out there.


again, if it a software issue, then let us know. in some detail perhaps.

look, theres what, 15,000 members on this forum. who knows, if the admins aired their problems, they might well be able to find osmeone who could offer some assistance, e.g. cheaper bandwith solutions, technical assistane.

that is the point im driving at. and to be fair, if you are taking money for a service and the service isnt there, you are at least obliged to account to those you take money from (im not asking for me) to say look, the money has been properly spent but we still dont have enough bandwith. or whatever. so that doubts dont crop up in peoples mind as to what is being done with the money. or that it isnt being properly spent

what is unnacceptable to me, is to just keep quiet about it, scratch your head in the background and give reassuranes like "forum optimsation is being carried out"..

Theres only one fact, the site goes down from time to time due to bugs and testing. And we dont deny that. Other than that, I want to correct a few misconceptions.

1st People DONT pay to use this site. I dont think we have ask any member to pay up for posting any photography related question or sharing their pictures with others.

2nd we have shared our problems and difficulties on public from time to time. We never hide the fact that the server was facing bandwidth issue and software bugs.

3rd we believe we have given short and sufficient explanation to pre-empt members of what maybe happening. We dont scratch our heads in the background. We are trying options that we seek advice from *other mysql/php folks and even the VBB people*.

Alot of things dont work as simple as 1+1=2. For example, theres no straightforward formula to say which settings is good for how many users. In every software environment, there are many factors and variables. And moreover theres no simulation tools for us to test which setting is right or wrong.

And when the site is down, I can assure you that the admins are the people who get worried most. If anyone is keen, I will be more than happy to share how much time (sleepless nights) the admin spend on making sure the site is back up asap.

I dont doubt and blame anyone for their criticism. I give everyone the benefit of doubts that their intentions are good irregardless how tactless or harsh their tone is. At the same time, I also have one request : spare more considerations for us. Whenever a problem arise (site down), the last we need is harsh criticism without constructive suggestions. But even if anyone still feels CS admin deserve those non-constructive criticisms, feel free to post. Anyway, I am the one who asked for members feedback in the 1st place isnt it.

Last but not least, if theres anyone who is good at PHP and MYSQL and willing to volunteer their time to CS, please feel free to PM me and Darren.

 

[Morphis]

the 1.TS may have sounded insolent, but his rebutters sound like 2.they do NOT MIND that CS is down more often then it should be, by standards of other forums, or at least by past standards of CS itself.

i'd like to repeat myself that while the delivery of the TS' message is not optimal, the content is spot on. i would have to agree that this is the most disrupted forum that i attend.

for me, it's irritating, and as many of u mentioned, it's "free", so we can just either shut up, or help. but facts are facts.

3.the reason why CS is a good place and also why i stay, and alot do, is because of the b/s and MOs/MSs. be clear about that. if this place has got poor uptime, the "vendors" and "clients" will move on.

i'm sure the admins are wonderful people, i myself have had good experiences with them, or at least none bad. but there is no doubt that the server has problems, 4.and it's not gonna go away by constantly carrying their balls. those that do so, but do not help, either by constructive suggestions or by subscribing to webspace to help financially are empty vessels too, just one that's coloured pink and with a yellow smiley.

John,

With all due respect. Kindly please refer to ya posting above.

1. Rude.

2. I personally mind but the admins/mods r not blind or turning a blind eye to da issue.
It takes time to locate da problem n nip it. Give them time to solve it instead of blah blah blah.
I believe very much tat ya sure have some problem couple and very difficult to satisfy, if ya dun then very lucky.

3. Da B&S, MO & MS are well moderated and orderly maintained. Who da ya tink is doing tat? Nigerian Bank Manager?:sweatsm:

4. When compliment, praise or support due is carrying balls then :bsmilie: hope I dun have to carry ya's.

I'm just 'The Gardener' weeding the turf.

 

[Stoned]

Why don't you guys just go do something else when the forum is down? It's not a life and death matter is it?

 

[lightning]

Hi Admins;

I am a person who have used MYSQL for a long period of time for e-learning, and supporting concurrent user of about 20K plus. One weakness I find in mysql is in the way they store their data, every table created is a file, and when the file grows very big, the file system will have lots of trashing and it will eat up a lot of memory. You can continue to give it more memory and more memory, mysql or should I say the operating system will just keep eating it up. That is the reason why industrial / banks do not use MYSQL even it is supposed to be fast!

You might want to evaluate some database sever which uses RAW file system. Such databases do not suffer when the database grows very big, but the down side is if it crash, it is harder to recover, so regular backup needs to be done. Oracle is one such databases. Cost may be an issue to purchase the database, but since we have 15K users, I think to rasie the funds for it may not be a big issue.

 

[Jason Ho]

Hi Admins;

I am a person who have used MYSQL for a long period of time for e-learning, and supporting concurrent user of about 20K plus. One weakness I find in mysql is in the way they store their data, every table created is a file, and when the file grows very big, the file system will have lots of trashing and it will eat up a lot of memory. You can continue to give it more memory and more memory, mysql or should I say the operating system will just keep eating it up. That is the reason why industrial / banks do not use MYSQL even it is supposed to be fast!

You might want to evaluate some database sever which uses RAW file system. Such databases do not suffer when the database grows very big, but the down side is if it crash, it is harder to recover, so regular backup needs to be done. Oracle is one such databases. Cost may be an issue to purchase the database, but since we have 15K users, I think to rasie the funds for it may not be a big issue.

hi lightning, we are left with very limited (or no option) for database because the forum software vBulletin is developed using PHP and MySQL.

 

[lightning]

hi lightning, we are left with very limited (or no option) for database because the forum software vBulletin is developed using PHP and MySQL.

You mean Vbulletin works only with Mysql and not any other database? This is very strange. Cos many "free" forum software outside do support a few databases...

BTW, what file system is the OS using? Else you might want to explore XFS develop by SGI, or even the reiserfs(no as fast). Both of these FS are Journed FS, and is able to recover from error faster.

 

[wiz23]

the TS may have sounded insolent, but his rebutters sound like they do NOT MIND that CS is down more often then it should be, by standards of other forums, or at least by past standards of CS itself. ...

... i'm sure the admins are wonderful people, i myself have had good experiences with them, or at least none bad. but there is no doubt that the server has problems, and it's not gonna go away by constantly carrying their balls. those that do so, but do not help, either by constructive suggestions or by subscribing to webspace to help financially are empty vessels too, just one that's coloured pink and with a yellow smiley.

I personally do mind when CS is down, but I choose to move on to other things I can do instead of complaining and pointing fingers here and there ... After all, there is life outside of CS :bsmilie:

I still stick to my advice: Try to find out what it takes to maintain a server for a forum of this scale, taking into consideration the fact that u already have a full-time job, then make your comments. Better still, PM Jason, as he has invited, and find out what the admin goes thru ...

I don't think thanking the admin and showing appreciation is carrying their balls ... I don't think many of us will have the expertise to help the admin solve the server problem, the least we can do is cut them some slack and show them the appreciation

Cheers!

 

[Jason Ho]

You mean Vbulletin works only with Mysql and not any other database? This is very strange. Cos many "free" forum software outside do support a few databases...

BTW, what file system is the OS using? Else you might want to explore XFS develop by SGI, or even the reiserfs(no as fast). Both of these FS are Journed FS, and is able to recover from error faster.

Yes, thats what it officially supports today.

As for the file system, I will need Edmund to help to answer this question.