PlaymoFriends

Getting Started => Technical Support/Testing => Topic started by: tonguello on April 06, 2012, 19:25:56

Title: Slow forum?
Post by: tonguello on April 06, 2012, 19:25:56
Is it possible that the forum is very slow lately? Is anyone experiencing the same or is it my computer?
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Pynedor on April 06, 2012, 19:28:39
Sometimes when I post replies it lags for maybe 10-20 seconds before continuing. This started a few days ago, but it's not that bad for me. :-\
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 06, 2012, 19:38:22
I haven't had much trouble.... just like pynedor said. I hit post and either it is very slow or nothing happens so that I have to finally just start over and try again. Other than that, no problems, so I figured it was just my internet connection.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: tonguello on April 06, 2012, 19:44:42
part of my problem is that...
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Wolf Knight on April 06, 2012, 19:47:30
I had some difficulty a few minutes earlier, I restarted my laptop and its ok now.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: playmo1989 on April 07, 2012, 03:39:10
hmm.... not much trouble, sometimes when i hit post it says "your session has finished", and i haven't typed much :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 i guess your problem has to do with your internet connection or your computer if you have many programs that make it work slower  :)
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Sylvia on April 07, 2012, 10:08:31

I found a feature offered by our webhosts called "CloudFlare" that might help to speed things up a little. :crossed:

Quote
CloudFlare is a service that makes your website faster, safer, and smarter. Or in other words, CloudFlare supercharges websites.

What CloudFlare Does:
CloudFlare uses a CDN-like infrastructure to make your site load faster. It works behind the scenes to improve performance and block known security threats. Abusive bots and crawlers will be automatically limited from wasting your bandwidth and server resources.

They claim that after installing this package, websites will load, on average, twice as fast as they did before.

It will be interesting to see if anyone notices a difference and remarks on it. Probably unlikely as people usually only comment when things are going slow on the forum. ;)

Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 07, 2012, 13:05:29
One thing I've already noticed... there are a lot fewer "guests" viewing the forum this morning! So apparently it has helped block the bots. Now let me post and see if it's faster. :lol:


Yep, it was much faster!
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Pynedor on April 07, 2012, 14:23:17
Well, this is interesting... I just read this and then I clicked the "unread posts" link at the top and a large error page resulted, clearly run by CloudFlare, which said:

Quote
Host Not Configured to Serve Web Traffic

You've requested a page on a website (www.playmofriends.com) that is on the CloudFlare network. Unfortunately, the host web server does not appear to be configured to accept web traffic or serve web traffic. If you are the owner of this website, you should login to CloudFlare and change the DNS records for to resolve to a server configured to serve web traffic.

The forum doesn't appear to be running any faster for me, with the same slight lag as before. I was able to go back to the site and click the same link with no difficulty afterwards to get back to here.

And as a side note, I don't really trust the cloud-computing technology. :lol: You are the owner of the forum of course, and a lot of companies use it already, but there have been concerns raised about this company's services, according to here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudFlare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudFlare)
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Sylvia on April 07, 2012, 19:08:51
Well, this is interesting... I just read this and then I clicked the "unread posts" link at the top and a large error page resulted, clearly run by CloudFlare, which said:

The forum doesn't appear to be running any faster for me, with the same slight lag as before. I was able to go back to the site and click the same link with no difficulty afterwards to get back to here.

And as a side note, I don't really trust the cloud-computing technology. :lol: You are the owner of the forum of course, and a lot of companies use it already, but there have been concerns raised about this company's services, according to here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudFlare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudFlare)


Hmmm. That doesn't sound good...
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Sylvia on April 07, 2012, 22:23:54

Just looking at the Who's Online list and I can see a lot of bot-like activity (many of the "guests" have very similar IP addresses). I'm not convinced that this new package is doing what it is supposed to do.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 07, 2012, 22:39:47
Yes, the bots seem to be back. We've got three pages of guests as usual. ::)
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Indianna on April 08, 2012, 15:49:37
Just looking at the Who's Online list and I can see a lot of bot-like activity (many of the "guests" have very similar IP addresses). I'm not convinced that this new package is doing what it is supposed to do.

Hi Sylvia -

If there are things that you need to do to maintain the website and money should be spent, then please let us know.  The 5 euros that I spent to join 6 1/2 years ago seems like a very very small price to pay for the value that we members receive here at PF.  Maybe we need to have a "pledge drive" like public TV!   :easterhop:  I would gladly make a donation and I am sure that many other members would, as well.   :bloom:

(love these Easter emoticons!)    :easter:
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Wolf Knight on April 08, 2012, 15:57:13
In our region we had the same problem Pynedor reported a few posts back, for a couple of hours this evening :-\

Indianna has a good proposal.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 08, 2012, 18:15:54
Yes she does. I know you don't like accepting any donations other than the membership fee which is equal for all members, and for very good reasons. But perhaps you should consider allowing us to contribute on a one-time basis at least, privately and voluntarily of course, if there is a need to pay for upgrades, etc. It is worth it to us to keep this forum running smoothly.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Wolf Knight on April 08, 2012, 18:24:53
It is worth it to us to keep this forum running smoothly.

Most definately  ;D
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: tonguello on April 09, 2012, 00:39:15
I agree  :bloom:

What is a pledge drive? Indianna mentioned it in her post....  :-[
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Indianna on April 09, 2012, 01:54:59
. . . What is a pledge drive? Indianna mentioned it in her post....  :-[

Sorry for the confusion!  That is something that happens here in the US - an event where people pledge (promise) to give money.  For example, our public TV and radio stations here in the states have certain times of year when they ask people to give money to help pay for the cost of operation as they do not have advertising commercials the way that regular stations do.   :bunny:
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: tonguello on April 09, 2012, 03:26:55
Sorry for the confusion!  That is something that happens here in the US - an event where people pledge (promise) to give money.  For example, our public TV and radio stations here in the states have certain times of year when they ask people to give money to help pay for the cost of operation as they do not have advertising commercials the way that regular stations do.   :bunny:

oh great thanks Indianna.
I agree it is a good idea and a lot of people here would agree too  :)9
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Rasputin on April 10, 2012, 02:42:12
didn't Collectobil have a simple "donation" button that went to some sort of Paypal account where you could make voluntary contributions for administrative costs? Would something like that work here? I looked around but since the new owner I do not see it or I dreamt it.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 10, 2012, 02:53:34
If you look at the registration FAQ (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?action=join), this is the thinking as to why donations are not normally accepted:

We do not accept any more money beyond this initial fee and will never attempt to solicit our members for donations. Aside from helping to raise funds, the fee also helps all members remain on an equal footing with one another, since everyone who joins makes an identical contribution.

However, I wouldn't be opposed to an exception being made on a one-time basis, if funds are needed.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Rasputin on April 10, 2012, 03:15:05
If you look at the registration FAQ (http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?action=join), this is the thinking as to why donations are not normally accepted:

We do not accept any more money beyond this initial fee and will never attempt to solicit our members for donations. Aside from helping to raise funds, the fee also helps all members remain on an equal footing with one another, since everyone who joins makes an identical contribution.

However, I wouldn't be opposed to an exception being made on a onetime basis, if funds are needed.

I knew there was some kind of physiological obstacle, those darn feeling getting in the way again  8}

I just think it is not fair that Sylvia should ever have to come up with any of her own funds seeing how she donates countless hours already

Maybe we could create new accounts for ourselfs and send in more 5 euros ?
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 10, 2012, 03:24:01
Maybe we could create new accounts for ourselfs and send in more 5 euros ?

 :lol: I like the way you think, but she'd probably notice the IP address. ;) You could always register your kids, but then again, if they're under 13 and you're a member, they're free.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Rasputin on April 10, 2012, 03:41:34
:lol: I like the way you think, but she'd probably notice the IP address. ;) You could always register your kids, but then again, if they're under 13 and you're a member, they're free.

That is easy, I just think the opposite of what I do to corporations  :lol:

 The IP is easy too, just use a diffrent computer and I have access to many  ;) office, wife's, in laws have 3, my dad has 2, my brother has 3, my other brother has 1 and I have lots of friends  ;D
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Sylvia on April 10, 2012, 10:40:14

Hi everyone! :wave:

Thanks for the generous offers and kind suggestions about making further donations. :heart:

I need to inform you that the PlaymoFriends fund is currently very healthy because it is only paying for the hosting costs at the moment. There is enough money saved to pay for several years in advance if we stay on the same plan we are on now, and that's not even taking into account future registration payments from new members.

One day it might become necessary to pay more and upgrade to a dedicated server, but we seem to be coping OK at the moment, I think?
Thanks again. You guys are awesome! :*)
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: bonniebeth on April 10, 2012, 12:15:50
One day it might become necessary to pay more and upgrade to a dedicated server, but we seem to be coping OK at the moment, I think?

Yes, everything seems to be fine for now. No big problems I'm aware of.
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Indianna on April 10, 2012, 13:28:03
. . . we seem to be coping OK at the moment, I think? . . .

Yes, indeed!   :clap:
 
It is good to hear that you have plenty of funds.  Obviously some good management on your part, Sylvia.   :hatoff:
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Pynedor on April 10, 2012, 16:52:36
Yes, it seems fine to me. I reckon a bit of lag is normal, and it seems to have essentially disappeared for me. :)
Title: Re: Slow forum?
Post by: Giorginetto on April 12, 2012, 20:04:28
i agree with indiana