As the count down continues, we have experienced increasing server problems. I suspect that the server will get busier in the next 100 days. To expect Phil to buy a million dollar computer in order to handle the TB2000 load is unrealistic. Instead, we should be thinking about how to take some of the load off of Phil's computer and distribute it at multiple points elsewhere throughout the internet. This may be accomplished in several ways. Here's two ideas:

If Phil allows us use of his software to run on different machines, we could post introductory statements here with links to the rest of the thread elsewhere on other computers.

And/or we could develop a dozen or so web sites where web pages are thread pages; people are manually converting the most important threads into web pages that can be accessed by links from the forum.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 22, 1999

Answers

Excellent! Distribution AND condensation. At 100 days, we have to think and do things differently.

How about Read-Only mirror sites to get the day's news and commentary, then print-out (or copy into WP) your favorite threads and posts, scribble your comments, and ONLY THEN come back to the main site to post?

Me, I printout the Top menu and take it with me that day, to circle what I want to click into when I get the chance. I'm going to miss a lot either way, but at least I'm not clogging the server.

-- jor-el (jor-el@krypton.uni), September 22, 1999.

Another thing we can all do is to eliminate unnecessary post. As an example, many times I have seen a significant number of follow-up post that basically say, I agree or I had the same thought, etc. There is also a large number of OT (off topic) post that have no bearing on Y2K, which could be eliminated.

I think we could cut down on the server traffic if each of us would just take a minute and ask ourself, is the post I'm about to make Y2K related and of value to others?

Another possibility is to cut down on the number of times each of us accesses the site each day. Personnally I have limited myself to checking for posts to the first thing in the morning, at lunch or early afternoon and again in the early evening. This may not work for everyone but for some of us it should provide enough access to keep up with what is going on.

Just my thoughts.

-- (southeastern@my_deja.com), September 22, 1999.

You know, I'd *PAY* for a monthly CD (with text search!!) archiving this forum and the prep forum. Has anyone approached Phil with this idea? If it starts generating revenue for him he might be willing to put some of that money back into new hardware...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), September 22, 1999.

I'd think a bunch of people could be eliminated from the email notification list..... punching those e's out after each post takes lots of CPU.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), September 22, 1999.

I don't have that many problems with the server, but I gotta say MCI is royally *** as I've been having access problems with AOL. ALL their access is via MCI.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), September 22, 1999.

Something doesn't seem right.......how many hits per day is this site receiving? Can anyone get me the numbers? Also, how many simultaneous users can it handle?

The only drain on a server is the actual time that it takes to download the page to you........how long you take to read it is immaterial as http is a static protocol......there is no 'active' connection.

A million dollar computer??????? Huh.......Servers are not that expensive. It seems to me that if money is a factor, why not do what most other sites do and sell banner ads on each page.......good revenue potential there and easy to set up.

Anyone know what platform this site is running on and what type of database back end is being used? There are thousands of sites out there that no doubt have more traffic than here that don't seem to have the same 'Server Busy' problem.

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), September 22, 1999.

If memory serves, and I do NOT swear to this, it's on a series of IBM Mainframes at MIT.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 22, 1999.

And EVERYTHING is Proprietary, pretty much BY Phil.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 22, 1999.

The answer is simple, a process used all over the Internet to save space. Take all of the archives that are over 6 months old and Zip them by month into compressed files. If you want to go back, you just download say, the month of February, unzip it and peruse at your leisure.

But I can hear it already, the full-time forum addicts crying "but I go back and look at the old ones a lot". Maybe so, but this is a small sacrifice to make for the many people who can't afford the newest and fastest equipment. We might even get some new participants with fresh perspectives who have been previously discouraged by traffic jams.

-- @ (@@@.@), September 22, 1999.

This is a job for the Mad Deleter, or any other sysop with the testicular fortitude to do it. Delete and prohibit ALL OT posts. It is only going to get worse unless we do something different.

-- semper paratus (almost@always .ready), September 22, 1999.

And Chuck... believe in runs on Unix. With Oracle.

So, we'll all have extra time for preps.

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 22, 1999.

Also, how long before someone, as a malicious act, runs some kind of programme to continuously ping page requests or hacks the host in order to blow it altogether. In short how prepared is the forum software and hardware for Y2K?, or even the coming months? Where is the contingency plan? Will this forum be the first casualty of Y2K? IMO, sadly I think this is very very likely.

-- Christopher (christopher@philosopher.net), September 22, 1999.

Energyland.net

-- Me (me@me.me), December 22, 1999.

Check the Chicago Board Options

-- Me (me@me.me), December 22, 1999.