Hang on a minute, is STW built on WordPress with BBPress forum plugin?!

This is the problem.

Good luck!

Yes, and in the grand scale of things it’s not that big. Let me put it like this, I have a [older than I’m happy with] server in my office that’s running a database of over 5 million records for one client and I don’t think that’s big at all.

Yes it’s not but this isn’t large company, it’s a forum from a magazine, it’s way bigger than it use to be. Also it would have many more posts but they were lost 2 years ago.

We don’t have the same number of requests by any stretch of the imagination (but that’s dealt with by hardware and load balancing).

So it may have more info but less people accessing it.

A bit like having NYC libary but having a 100 members compared to Todmorden local libary and 100,000 members sometimes it’s going to get jammed.

Drac – Moderator

“This site goes down with monotonous regularity.”

As in sometimes on a Sunday evening unless there’s maintenance going on to make it stable.
2nd time today, it’s been down, possibly more, but you keep believing that Drac. 😉

2nd time today, it’s been down, possibly more, but you keep believing that Drac

Hence the humble pie.

Yes it’s not but this isn’t large company, it’s a forum from a magazine, it’s way bigger than it use to be. Also it would have many more posts but they were lost 2 years ago.

Yes but the IT people should have been thinking about future scalability and upgrade paths. Whoever picked a beta of BBPress (which it must have been at the time) over something established with years of development behind it (such as VBulletin etc) wants firing!

Yes but the IT people should have been thinking about future scalability and upgrade paths. Whoever picked a beta of BBPress (which it must have been at the time) over something established with years of development behind it (such as VBulletin etc) wants firing!

Ah right I’m sure they’ll appreciate your thoughts.

Based on the limited information we’ve either been given or reverse engineered, I don’t -think- that the choice of site software is related to the stability of the site. </speculation>

Besides, given the jerking knees whenever someone suggests having three subforums rather than two, I’d respectfully suggest that changing to different software would be about as popular as a Gary Glitter concert at my local créche.

A bit like having NYC libary but having a 100 members compared to Todmorden local libary and 100,000 members sometimes it’s going to get jammed.

Absolutely, I was just saying that 1 million records isn’t that bid. So it’s likely to be a hardware problem.

Yes it’s not but this isn’t large company, it’s a forum from a magazine, it’s way bigger than it use to be. Also it would have many more posts but they were lost 2 years ago

Exactly and this is part of the problem. STW presumeably don’t make much money from the forum. So the question is whether it’s possible to move the forum to a company that can offer better levels of uptime/service because the finger of blame must be pointing at the current hosts/hardware.
I suspect that if some time was put into research it a better host could be found without too much trouble. But then I’m quite often wrong 😉

Well I reckon it’s hosted by http://www.donhost.co.uk on a couple of servers in Uxbridge on Webfusion’ backbone.

If we’re guessing at these things.

So it’s likely to be a hardware problem.

I think the reason that it’s likely to be a hardware problem is that in another thread, Tom said (and I’m paraphrasing slightly), “it’s a hardware problem.”

The bottom line is, and I know the IT bods don’t give a flying fudge about my opinion, that the hosting company is costing STW money in lost ad revenue due to consistent downtime. If it was my business, and yes I know it is not, I would be kicking off as this has been going on for a while now.

if i was paying for the service i would want my money back.but it’s free so no complaints that the site goes down every lunchtime (which is probably it’s peak usage period.)

Tiger > I’d be interested to see where you’re getting that from. (email in profile if you don’t want to post it here)

if i was paying for the service i would want my money back

…but STW are paying for this service.

I think the reason that it’s likely to be a hardware problem is that in another thread, Tom said (and I’m paraphrasing slightly), “it’s a hardware problem.

I also mentioned once or twice in this thread but hey ho.

The bottom line is, and I know the IT bods don’t give a flying fudge about my opinion, that the hosting company is costing STW money in lost ad revenue due to consistent downtime. If it was my business, and yes I know it is not, I would be kicked off as this has been going on for a while now.

What makes you think they haven’t raised any issues or concerns?

Jamie > if it were my company, I’d have turned up on the Host’s doorstep with a screwdriver in one hand and a two foot length of 3×2″ in the other by now. (-:

What makes you think they haven’t raised any issues or concerns?

That’d be that transparency thing again then.

earlier today at STW towers:

(not dead, just a bit sleepy)

What makes you think they haven’t raised any issues or concerns?

Because nothing has been done?

Actually, I take that back, it’s not really anything to do with us.

Point is, we don’t know what’s going on, so we’re going to do what spods do when there’s a problem on the internet, which is piss and moan about it. 🙂

Graham, you should turn your bluetooth off when you’re not using it. Saves battery!

Mleh, I’d just forget to turn it back on again. It makes it to the end of the day easily enough.
(48% at 3:20pm and I’ve been on here all day)

Edit: Damn the iPhone 4 has a lot more res than my old 3GS

Yep. Twice the res (four times the pixels) same size display.
Males a huge difference to the clarity of text and photos.

1 million posts ain’t that big in the grand scale of things.

It’s over 1 million on the bike forum alone.

Tiny!

German MTB forum is pushing 8 million, and a fraction under 200,000 members. Now that’s getting a bit more sizeable in the grand scheme of things, but I’m sure there’s much bigger out there. ANd in true Germanic style has to regiment everything into 100 sub-forums so you realistically have to hit “show all new/updated threads”, and get it in a format essentially the same as STW 😉

VBulletin is pretty well supported, but not without its (stupid) faults (many of which I fix c/o greasemonkey, due to slack admins that cba to fix those faults), but it costs money (not sure how much).

format = perfect.. those other youth attracting multi sub-sect nonsenses are very dour..

function = not 100% lately

that is all

I’ll be posting an update on the sticky thread shortly.

I’ll be posting an update on the sticky thread shortly.

You must hate us Tom 😉

– forum takes you to last read post in a thread

Click the time under the freshness column and it does

.

er, takes you to the newest post, not the last one I read. Useful but no banana.

er, takes you to the newest post, not the last one I read. Useful but no banana.

Ah. Sorry about that, misread it.

Drac: more to the point, why does that bbShowcase site say STW is American? 😯

A bit like having NYC libary but having a 100 members compared to Todmorden local libary and 100,000 members sometimes it’s going to get jammed.

Yeah but we all know it’s not true. The library bit anyway. Most people in Todmorden can’t read…

OK OK IGMC

We all are American, Graham. What you mean you are a limey sonofabitch?!??!

Get him! Go for his tea! That’s where the British keep their power!

Drac: more to the point, why does that bbShowcase site say STW is American

51st state, innit?

Because nothing has been done?

Ah right ok.

Drac: more to the point, why does that bbShowcase site say STW is American?

My guess the box is in America.

Been down three times today now (so far).

At least split the Bike forum into:

* Bikes and Equipment
* Riding

It is common knowledge that people (in general) don’t like change and sequel like stuck pigs about it, and then a week later can’t remember what all the fuss was about and are happy with the change. Don’t be conservative reactionaries! Be revolutionary!

At least split the Bike forum into:

* Bikes and Equipment
* Riding

and sequel like stuck pigs

Heh.

7hz – you are flogging a dead horse. Its only a tiny minority want the forum split – nothing to do with a dislike of change but we prefer it this way

The debate has been done a load of times and that is the view of the vast majority every time it is debated.

Its one of the things I like about this forum – the lack of subdivisions.

Oh FFS, the server has eaten my new thread…

It is common knowledge that people (in general) don’t like change and sequel like stuck pigs about it, and then a week later can’t remember what all the fuss was about and are happy with the change. Don’t be conservative reactionaries! Be revolutionary!

Can you bring back the coffee forum, whilst you’re at it look for Shaun as well.

Lol bruneep

TandemJeremy – that’s it, I challenge you to a race! On coastkids hidden trail. You on your tandem 🙂

Sequel like stuck pigs? SQL like a stuck pig! LOL.

That’s it, I’m buying out the mag and changing things to how I like, it’s what us idle billionaires do you know…

🙂

Shaun is prolific tweeter – not hard to find !