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What The Hell Is Wrong With the Forum Software?


sventvkg

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It Guys, whys are these forums so slow to load and in general the most {censored}ed up running BBs on the net? Seriously...These forums were some of the most populated and smooth running on the net and it's getting frustrating. I'm not pointing any fingers or blame and I don't want to hear any political answers. We're all big boys (and a few girls) here and bottom line, what the {censored} happened to these forums and what can we collectively do to help fix it?

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I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem. I'm not inclined to be the first to ask about it since I have a pretty slow DSL connection that's sometimes flaky, however this forum does tend to be more cranky than most web sites. I've found that if I stop trying to connect (press ESC on Firefox) and then try to load again, it often comes up pretty quickly on the second try. Maybe there's a particularly slow port on a router and we who experience this sluggishness are hitting it just by chance.

But yeah, it used to work consistently better.

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Well, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I am currently running a security scan which has found 33 pieces of malware out of 3,000,000 files and counting. It slowed steadily down over the last several days -- until it doesn't work on other sites as well as Harmony Central so I finally broke down and ran a scan and was not delighted to find what I found.

If anyone else finds malware, collect the names of the files and we will compare notes.

For now I am doing all my browsing here from my Google Nexus 7 tablet which is fine for reading but a total pain in the neck for typing or using forms.

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Quote Originally Posted by MarkydeSad View Post
Stop whining

Have you nothing better to do?
The nasty part is that it's intermittent. You can come into the forum, breeze through a bunch of posts, and have no problems and wonder what all the complaining is about. But someone else can come in and wait for three minutes just for a thread to open, give up in frustration, and wonder how anyone could possibly say "I dunno, works okay for me."

Times like this, I wish I was an IT expert...
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I really don't mean to complain...I just wanted to see if anything could be done about it. Man, it seems like so many of the old timers are gone and I don't know if the performance of the forums has anything do with it. I hope it has not hurt the forums.

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I question whether it's a forum software issue. What I get is inability to connect. Not sure whether it's DNS, connectivity, or server issue, though. Next time I'll pay more attention. (There were times earlier this year where I had repeated DNS problems for this site, but no idea if that's the typical cause these days.)

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Hard to connect...slow.....and hangs up when you are trying to post or edit a post you made. There is no redirect when you try post after being idle for a while.....say you write something and then get called away before you post it. You get back and you hit submit only to be told you are timed out and to use the back button.....which takes you nowhere and you lose your post.

No disrespect intended at all but I just don't get it. Like everyone else I frequent a lot of forums and they do not have these problems. When they do it is several hours down, maybe a day...while they do the required maintenance or upgrade the server whatever.....and they are back in business. This issue here at HC just plods on the same. I have not seen any remarkable improvement. I also remember the situation somewhat recently when the site was down for days right? And there was a complete change to the forum also some years ago wasn't there? Yet things don't get better as far as speed and clunkiness.

Like Sventkg I'm not bitching......I'm just confused as to why this cannot be corrected. Surely, whoever the entity is that funds/runs/created whatever...this forum, can do something about it...change the software, get a better server.....something? Is that what it is? (from a non understander of how forums work) Is it that, whatever software or program the forum was originally made with.....if found to be substandard etc.....that it now cannot be changed without losing all the archived content from the past? To go to a new and improved software and a new server etc would risk losing all the posts and articles from years gone by, members would lose their post count and "seniority" etc....stuff like that? Maybe it is a security thing and the site is constantly being hacked?

But yes.......there has been a noticeable decline in posting and all to my mind anyway......is it because it often takes too long and a person loses interest? Whatever.......why don't "they" just fix it?

One thing I will say......it seems this is a very big site. I have often wondered if there are so many people posting simultaneously or reading articles etc from all around the world, that it is a massive draw on the server and it cannot handle it. Is that a likely reason?

What's a server anyway.............icon_lol.giffacepalm.gifrolleyes.gif

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Quote Originally Posted by temnov

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The best way for me to be here is to use iPad. On PC it's very slooowwwwfrown.gif

 

 

Quote Originally Posted by Huh?

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That's weird temnov that the device makes a difference. This is my 2nd reply to you.....first one got eaten.

 

I am browsing using my Google Nexus 7 tablet the software upgrade shin is relatively quick but about every other time that I go to an HC URL I get a timeout.
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Quote Originally Posted by temnov View Post
The best way for me to be here is to use iPad. On PC it's very slooowwwwfrown.gif
Quote Originally Posted by Huh? View Post
That's weird temnov that the device makes a difference. This is my 2nd reply to you.....first one got eaten.
I am browsing using my Google Nexus 7 tablet (while my software scan on my desktop continues) the software operation at first seemed relatively quick but about every other time that I go to an HC URL there is a timeout. Also, save and edit operations takes forever.

On my desktop I was using firefox but it had a big time slow down issues. I am assuming that this was related to the worms that I picked up somewhere.

Actually it turns out that the operation is also really slow on my tablet now too.
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Yes it has impacted traffic, and yes it's a problem. FWIW the powers that be solicited vBulletin experts to submit bids on going through the site and fixing it, but they all withdrew because they said a site of this size (which truly is unusual in vB world) would require a whole bunch of stuff, from gear to people, that we don't have in order to get it right.

Other options are being explored (and no, it's not Jive smile.gif). There is a definite and clear commitment to get the forums working properly, but the time frame is a moving target.

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Quote Originally Posted by Anderton View Post
FWIW the powers that be solicited vBulletin experts to submit bids on going through the site and fixing it, but they all withdrew because they said a site of this size (which truly is unusual in vB world) would require a whole bunch of stuff, from gear to people, that we don't have in order to get it right.
Too many eggs in one basket? Too many plug-ins on the tracks? Too many songs on the hard drive? I like small hard drives, analog tape, and pieces of paper with notes that I seem to have a hard time finding, but usually find something else useful while looking (just like on a forum).

Keep hunting.
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