Uploading pics...

[John]

and mysql database issues.....bah!

Okay, here's where we are...and I've had a couple different people go over this now...

The biggest single problem is the thumbnails...when there are 10 thumbnails in a post, and then 5 posts with 10 thumbnails in a thread, that's 50 calls to the db for that one page PER PERSON...and at peak times, there are just too many people browsing the forum (mostly freeloaders ;) lol )...we are a victim of our own success... :(

So, what happens when people try and post new pics at peak times is, the db is SO busy trying to serve up the images to people browsing that it can barely squeak in new images...and that's if you are on a really fast connection...so most of the time it just times out..

Tonight we are going to try removing older pics from the db and see if it helps any....if it does, what we'll probably do is go into some kind of format where pics over a month (or whatever works) are removed to keep the database fast...

If that doesn't work....the options get uglier from there...

- removing thumbails

- restricting views to certain groups (I know that's a favorite)

- less pics posted at one time and in one thread (not sure that will work)

We just have TOO many people browsing the forum for the database to handle....and it doesn't get any beefier than this server.... :(

I'll keep everyone informed and will let you guys vote on options if removing old stuff doesn't work...

[charlie]

how about no thumbnails? i never really think its that big a problem having to click on the links and them then launching in a new window and stuff.

[danza]

another option could be to move all the pics from the (let's say...) pictures table to another table (let's call that one...) archive... that could be done with post that are older then 7 days or so... that wil keep the pictures table for the forum "small" and fast...

posts in the archived section can then be made only be vissible to a certain group of users... That way the forum is still open for everyone and everyone can view all posts, if they visit at least once a week that is... :)

I understand that would mean you have to redesign a part of the forum to extend it with a special member section, but maybe you can do that in the current version as well... dunno how it's set up now...

any idea about the size of your pictures table right now? how many rows? might be other ways to do it...

:rolleyes:

Danza

[chronman]

Post number one for this 40+ year old freeloader!!

Thought I'd speak up for the rest of the silent freeloaders to say we're not all useless blobs. I don't speak up very often. I prefer to just stop by occasionally to see what's new and leave quietly without causing a stir. I don't download many photos at all, preferring to simply take a quick look and get back to work. I surf the web like this from time to time but didn't realize until some recent discussions on this site that quiet guys like me are causing problems and are a source of irritation to some of you. Sorry, I'm a rather technology-challenged individual and never realized the problem this caused with servers.

I feel very close to a lot of folks on this board, even though none of you have ever heard from me (Daddo, John, Stryder....I've been a fan for a long time). We've all got something very personal in common. Some of us are just shy, that's all. I apologize if my surfing this site has been a source of aggravation. I never intended to be a problem. I'll check in less frequently if that'll help.

Just to show I'm not a useless freeloading jerk, I do support the trample community in many ways other than responding in forums such as this. I've purchased many videos from trample.com, fetish.com and anaconda and am currently supporting Cucciolo in fine fashion as a member of his site since it opened, and have purchased several of his videos, including the most recent ones (stryder's included). I'm doing what I can.

Hope this doesn't come off as negative. It's not meant to be. I'll try to post more in the future if that helps. Just wanted to speak up for us freeloaders. There's apparently a lot of us, but we're not all bad guys. Sometimes we just don't have anything intelligent to contribute. :p

thanks for the great site - let me know how I can help instead of hurt

chronman:beer: :thumbsup:

[John]

Hey chronman..it isn't the freeloaders causing the problems, it's everyone....however, getting rid of some people would definitely fix the problem for the more "vocal" community....

That would be absolutely last resort I think...my guess is people would prefer to do without thumbnails then to go more private...

Anyway, still things to try before we have to worry yet, so we're looking forward! :)

[trew]

i know jack about servers, but would is speed things up if we got rid of the "avatars" and the "smilies"? they are nice touches, but i'd drop them if we could keep the thumbnails, yes?

[John]

Unfortunately, that would not do anything at all... :( Those are not big database issues..

[MistressValerie]

For those like me on super-slow modems, though -- I need the thumbnails, because I need to know which photos are worth clicking on and then w-a-i-t-i-n-g for a very slow download.

I am more in accordance with Danza's idea of creating an archive section, or even just removing the oldest pics. Because of stringent file space limits at Yahoo Groups, we have to remove stuff at least twice a month.

Love,

[The Penguin]

I have to say I don't like whats being suggested here its strarting to sound like what happened to the old board just before it got moved
I would like the thumb nails to stay as I don't need to see every photo large as some are not my taste I think that removing the thumb nails may well increase traffice as everyone clicks to see the pic

Could an archive section be setup with the photos and the clicable link with them after two weeks posted? maybe the pic reverts to a clickble link to another server once two weeks is up so old posts to a thread after two weeks if they have a photo the thumbnail closes and the jpeg link sends you to another server thus spreading out the load (is this possible or is it star trek stuff) (i'm just an ameture with comps I barly know how to set up my connection and email.
I sometimes need awhile as I like many here have a busy life and would hate to miss out;) ;)

[bfrug]

Hi John,

I too have a wind up 56k modem on dial up - if cable or broadband was available here I would have had it the day before yesterday.

I would prefer the thumbnails to stay - otherwise it takes me forever to veiw the pics, not all of them are to my taste (different strokes for different folks) we are all have our preferances.

Maybe achive the pictures after 4 weeks and then delete them completely after another 4 weeks from then ?

btw, I dont post replies as much as I could mainly because I dont want to take up bandwidth/database space for frequent posts just saying "thank you". I tend to post when I have something relevent to say or replying to an excellent or outstanding post and then generally in a positive way. Again, I would only post a negative reply if it was something I felt strongly about (or against) such as animal/living being crush.

Also, as soon as I make progress on stories I am writing someone seems to beat me to it with something with similar ideas - so do I continue even it some of it may then seem familiar ? Please let me know.

Anyway, thats my humble opinion for what its worth, thanks to all the contributors, moderators and everyone who makes this board what it is.

take care & good trample

bfrug

[Sabina]

If this can help...
I noticed that in the International side there's no kind of control on membership. This mean I can enter the board, read the posts and LOOK at the pictures (the expanded view NOT ONLY the thumbnails) without being logged in.
This helps freeloders ;) I think.

[door_step]

Hi John,

Yes, it’s coping with the price of success.
I would regret if the thumbnails would disappear, as it’s such a great way to see if a picture is worthwhile to view in a larger version or to download. As other members already wrote, we’re (of course) not all interested in the same sort of pictures. So taking away the thumbnails might have a counter effect, cause everyone will download or expand every picture and doing so use even more bandwidth.

The best solution is a compromise and compromises always mean that certain members will not totally agree with the decision.

imo the continuation of the board has the highest priority and if this can only be achieved with a solution like Danza says ( on which I fully agree), then so be it.
Your choices are not easy to make,

I wish you well,

doorstep

[mashedup]

John,
Don't lose the thumbnails. Purging the database after lets say pics older than a month sounds like an acceptable idea to me. I am not sure about other people but I don't go and look at old photos. What kind of OS does your server have? MS Win2K Server or Advanced Server? Of course if you had lots of money laying around you could implement a hardware RAID system with independent disk controllers and SCSI hard drives and that would speed things up but Microsoft also allows you to do software RAID system and you could mirror and stripe your harddrives to speed things up a little and still purge your database. Just tossing out some ideas.

Mashedup

[John]

Just to clarify, this is NOT a bandwidth issue...and my GUESS is this must be the real reason that the other forum stopped using thumbnails and finally closed altogether....it's not a money issue, the forum only costs about $1200.00 a month to run right now, so I don't even notice it...I don't see how they could have cared about that small change, either....but it IS a huge pain in the ass and is taking up a lot of time!

The problem is a software and database one...this software is simply not made to handle this kind of load. If you go look at the support forums for this software, there are people clamoring to figure out how to thumbnail the images in the first place...the admins are pretty adamant they will NEVER build that feature into the software (I had this one modified), and I guess exactly for this reason...they know what will happen. :(

I am going to look around for some other software just in case, but realistically, I believe this one is the best there is at the moment...

Anyway, all is not lost yet....we'll see if deleting the really old stuff works, and if not, we'll go from there....I think there has to be some way to do this because there was no problem in the beginning when the database was smaller....

[danza]

HI John,

Guess I have to stick to my previous post... if bandwidth is not the issue, the only other way is to get rid of unnecessary data in the most used tables in the database... that could be done by setting up a second database and then schedule to move data from one to the other...

Or create a new table in the current database, but then you would have to redesign or add some pages...

Danza