Other ways to reduce database load besides reduced posts per page?

[Bionic-Badger]

Is there some other way the database performance can be improved without resorting to this terrible 8-posts-per-page down from 25? It really sucks having to sort through page after page to read through the content.

Maybe get rid of the top 15 stats, or don't show as many threads in the list, or remove the search feature? How about disabling many features (and increasing ads) for people who aren't members, such as really old posts?

I'm sure you'd know best. It's just that this 8-posts-per-page is really annoying.

 

[hakzaw1]

agree--

is there a way we can go to a post using the post number and the thread title?

i took me a long time today to find an old post

 

[bobhaha]

First point of call would be looking into static HTML cacheing, it will drastically alleviate server load, by cacheing pages rather than regenerating them every time a request is made... this seems to be where the issue lies, hence the 8 ppp.

Also increasing the MySQL cache size and query cache limits would help as well.

I haven't seen the database load analysis, here on this forum... but I'm not sure if there is really a reason why it should be so overloaded, unless there is a lot of traffic from non registered members!?!

 

[danefex]

I'm glad someone is shedding light on why these pages have been post reduced. I've been away for some time & recently checking back, I wasn't sure about the short pages being a browser or forum issue. Thanks for posting this badger!

:beer:

 

[ARG]

I sent a message along these lines to Ave, asking to increase the posts per page, even just a little bit to say 12 or 15.
Apparently it's because it makes it too easy for people to DDoS the site.

I completely agree though - the forum is nearly unreadable now with so few posts on each page. Have to sort through three times as many pages to find information.

 

[c0ldshadow]

I reset it to 16 posts per page instead of 8. I found some other server settings that should hopefully reduce the impact of when DDoS does happen. In the past reducing the posts per page did help a lot but hopefully the settings I changed should help out enough

If you notice anything odd please let me know.

 

[ARG]

Thanks Ave! :beer:

 

[Sigurthr]

Thanks Avery! Much better now! I had thought it was a browser error at first, heh.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Thanks for looking into this Cold! The forum is far more readable now, even if not quite back to where it was.

 

[bobhaha]

I reset it to 16 posts per page instead of 8. I found some other server settings that should hopefully reduce the impact of when DDoS does happen. In the past reducing the posts per page did help a lot but hopefully the settings I changed should help out enough

If you notice anything odd please let me know.

Just out of curiosity what did you change? Seems to be better now, thanks!

 

[hakzaw1]

Yeah-- ty -much better:thanks:

 

[Grix]

I don't mean to offend, but surely it must be possible to manage this forum better. Of all the forums I browse, this is the one with the most ads (they take up an entire screen on the top of the page and more! wtf!), AND it asks for hundreds of dollars in donations every month. And yet, apparently we can't afford proper servers and bandwidth that can handle a decent amount of posts per page, and also mods are severely lacking (spam threads can take hours to be deleted, and BST threads can take days to be approved). Those other forums I visit have none of these problems, even with comparable amount of users and without the ridiculous ads.

 

[hakzaw1]

^^ cannot disagree--

While it would not free up much space AFAIk I often wonder why we keep the member list with the perma-banned members on it. I started a social group for Texas members and we got several who never posted and spammed us - it looks bad in our group list to see these banned members- IMO they are spammers who tried to look legit but just joining any socail group- I REALLY would like to remove them from LSLF- BUT i CANNOT DO THAT.

for a short time I was a MOD at another forum and all the mods got a daily email with a list of any duplicate member IPs--so the longest wait for action was about one day or less-

BUT having filters in place that auto ban a member is not a good way-
it makes for bad blood between the forums- a threads get started about a ban and never goes away even if the ban was by accident--most recent was a mistaken ban ( not sure whose was a fault) so a thread was started & the thread maker is one of the nmost respected forum members and the other was Dr Sam ( even MORE revered)
there was no ban- Daguin and myself came quick to fix this ands the thread is still there even tho neither were banned ( IIRC it was something like a password glitch)- it keeps getting bumped because of crap at other forums so it looks on the surface as LPF is banning great members for no reason,.

members there keep it alive with posts and the title although it does not mention LPF BY NAME is still there & we are mentioned in the OP-

pick ANY page of our members list and more than half are ones with NO posts or they are banned members

IMO it would be a good idea to make any new members post 10 times in the first 60 days or be deleted from our list(but NOT banned)--

also age and location- a must-do and it should be very clear that if any member is dishonest on age or location once this is known they should be perma-banned- this a cannot be stressed too much when we talk of high power handhelds being freely sold to those under 18 and in some cases MUCH MUCH younger-
'
'age of consent- if you dont know what that means you need to find out.

example having 5ex with a minor

-not actually knowing age OR getting consent has NO bearing on 'statutory rape'-- even if ther parents gave consent--

I will not ship may completed lasers to any member w/o knowing thier age-- I need their phone number and home addy in order to ship - once i have that there are ways to find out actual age- I start by looking for a landline phone number ( duh... white pages on-line)that goes with the address- and make the call- my answering machine can record this call to save for later--

Last time i did that I already knew the member was under 18- I spoke with his Mom- and she told me her son was a great kid and was doing very well in school- she said she would get back with me on the laser sale once she had the time to get with dad on this.
I never heard back but I still sleep well knowing no laser I sold went directly to any children..

hak

 

[Marco Polo]

I'm against requiring people to publicly disclose location and age. It is, quite frankly, none of your business where other members live and how old they are. If their failure to include this info is a problem (e.g. trading, selling things, etc.) then IMHO just don't trade with them. If the person gets mad and complains then too bad, they have to understand that it's on them because they didn't provide the info.

I agree that no person should do business/trade with another member if said member's age cannot be verified. CYA and all that.

The admins can narrow down the person's location based on IP, anyway, can't they? Unless they are using a proxy to hide behind, in which case any age statement they make is just as dubious as their spoofed IP numbers.

But anyway, not everyone withholds this info due to some ill intent. It's mainly due to comfort and boundaries and whatnot. I generally don't disclose location info online, although on this forum I decided that doing so would be worthwhile. If a member doesn't disclose location/age that should be fine, they just need to be OK with folks not selling/trading with them.