TJ, what can we do to speed things up?
 

Honestly, man, this is no criticism of you. Just the opposite, really. You have created a spot that we all like enough to devote a significant amount of time here.

But we're on the countdown to the season, and I am sure a lot of us consider the time we spend on the OrangeMane to be an important factor in our enjoyment of football season. And despite what seem to be significant efforts on your part, the site still seems to crawl. I can't imagine what will happen once real games start up. And with a new baby, you probably aren't going to have the time to make improvements in September, October, November, and December.

So, is there anything we can do to help get things moving? I've donated a few times, and I know others have said they have, too. But it hasn't been much (at least for me, anyway). Is it a money thing? Maybe if we had an estimate of what was needed to upgrade to faster servers, we could do something of a virtual fundraiser and come up with it. If it's expertise, I would bet we have some experienced people here that could pitch in time to make improvements. Heck, we'll send smalltowngrll up there to babysit when the time comes, if it will help. :)

I just hate the thought of not having this place during the football season, especially after our hiatus last month. And even if it is up, 45 second per page load times make it pretty difficult to use. Is there anything we can do to help?

I'm having trouble understanding how things got slower.

great idea! Let us know what the next higher category of server will cost you (or the one above that ;D ) . I think we can really get the money needed!

Dom what are you using for connection because I never have any lag? Im on a cable modem at home and it never take more than a few seconds for a page to load

But they are slower for you, aren't they? I just want to make sure it isn't just something with me specifically.

It fluctuates. Right now it's cruising but about the time you posted this it was slow for me too. And yes, I agree with Helmchen; Let's pitch in for an upgrade.

I have WebTv. I am at 28K, so I can't imagine that it would be on my end.

Just kidding. I am on a cable connection. I work from home, so I am on here 10-12 hours a day. Everything else still moves pretty quickly, so I can't imagine it's just my connection. But who knows?

me too. real slow sometimes.

I agree it fluctuates. Sometimes so slow that I bring up another window.

On DSL 1.5 MB here and pages don't even load at times.

Sometimes slow sometimes not.

I sent something last week but would do it again if needed.

I can't understand why we are so slow today. We don't have that many people online today, and new registrations have been closed all weekend. We've don't double the amount of traffic we've had today just fine.

After doing a traceroute, it appears that it isn't *our* server, per se, that is the problem. It looks like there might be some latency in the system that delivers our server to the web.

I'll contact the host and see what they have to say about it.

Ha. I had one of those back in 98. Used it for three months than sold it. It sucked even back then.

I know I am new so I can't compare load times of what it has been in the past. I work at night currently and use this page to keep awake. Babysitting servers in the middle of the night sucks. You need something to keep you occupied. But like I said I haven't had any problems except when kaylore does his Camp Posts, but thats because 1500 people are trying to access them at once

I will also say this... I've been in talks with another Maner about getting an actual Server that I could manually upgrade as the RAM is needed. This site is very RAM intensive, so this is good news. That solution is pending, and I'm doing what I can to keep this one doing its job.

I understand that this is frustrating to folks, and I apologize. There is certainly much that I can be criticized for these days, and I don't blame anyone for engaging in it.

Please understand that this is a "homegrown" site, and as such, we go through growing pains that the corporate sites wont experience. That includes growing out of servers and into new ones like a child might grow out of a pair of shoes. I apologize for the frustrations, and promise that I'm doing everything in my power to keep things on the straight and narrow.

doing a great job taco. This is a good product corporate or not.

I don't think it is that big of a deal. I think most here will help out any way they can.

I totally understand this, and that's why I wanted to make sure you knew it wasn't a criticism of you in any way. I really appreciate the OrangeMane, and spend a lot of time here. I just almost never see you pimping for donations, and I also know the reality of what is about to happen in your life with a new baby. I sincerely want to help if there is anything I could do. I think a lot of people probably feel the same way.

I don't think anyone is criticising you Taco.. we just want to help. If you need some extra funding for the pending solution..let us know :)

I was about to disembowel you over the internet.... :rofl:

Maybe if we cut this d-bag off with all his Chef postings it would speed things up considerably ;D

Seriously ban this fool.

If we need money to upgrade, just let us know.

TJ, perhaps I've not understood correctly in the past, but it seems like it hasn't necessarily been a funds issue. Is that correct, or is it a money issue. If so, we can help get this thing up and running. I don't donate a whole lot, mainly b/c I've heard several people talking about the relative costs in running a site. Perhaps if you answered this question we could all help to end this situation... atleast for a year or two!

Don't know that you want that pain Taco. Would you be getting a dedicated T1 as well?

It's complicated... The more we grow, the more computing power we need. The more computing power we need, the more it costs per month to operate (thus the banner ads, and the gladly accepting donations). The more computing power we get, the more we grow. And thus the cylce repeats itself.

Currently, our server costs are approaching over $2000 per year, payable in six month increments. With Google ads, I'm able to bring in about 50% of that. The rest either comes from my own pocket, or from the donations of you good folks. I don't like to share this information in public for various reasons, but I've been accused recently of using server donation drives to pad my pockets, so I feel compelled to let my guard down.

Our current server is paid up until January. The problem that we have is that we're in a precarious position in terms of upgrading. The next upgrades in the plan are all processor upgrades. That doesn't help us, as our problems are RAM related. To get to the next level of RAM upgrade with the service that I'm using, the price skyrockets dramatically. To the point where it's simply prohibitive, and doesn't make sense. Those levels aren't copacetic with "hobby" websites. That's straight up business territory.

WIth business comes politics. Once business and money start entering the picture, people start getting vicious. As I told you, I'm already being accused of using server drives to pad my pockets. Things get complicated when business enters the picture, which is why I've tried to avoid the business aspect of this for so long. I'm just having fun here, ya know? I'm not looking for drama. Unless that drama surrounds the Broncos, then I want to beat Popps over the head with it (you know I love you bro, lets do lunch, k thx).

Frankly, I don't know that I'm ready to open that pandora's box. It becomes real complicated because it turns into an issue of "Where is TJ's paycheck coming from?" Does it come from advertisements foisted on the population here? Or does it come straight from the members pockets? Either answer is going to draw criticism galore and detract from what we're here for in the first place.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not complaining about my predicament. It's a wonderful problem to have. It's a great privledge to be in my position, and I'm eternally grateful for it. It's just that the bigger we grow, the more challenges I have to manage... and when you're in the "business" of giving everyone in the community an equal opportunity to voice their opinions, you have to be ready to weather a lot of criticism... and do it with poise. Many of us have seen sites completely melt down because an administrator wasn't able to handle criticism and started over-reacting to it.

I think I'm rambling now... So let me get back to some good news. The good news (as I shared before) is that I've been in talks with another Maner here (he hasn't given me permission to reveal his name, so I won't mention it just yet), and he's discussing the possiblity of providing the Mane with a server that I can have on location. Should this happen, it's great news, because then I can go to a co-location service nearby, and contract bandwidth through them. While the costs will still be significant, especially the more we grow, they'll be much more manageable over the long term than what they would be if we were to move up the cost ladder through a box provider. Best of all, if we need a RAM upgrade, I can run to Fry's, grab a chip, drive to the co-location service, pop it in, and be done with it. I won't have to pay for that RAM month after month through our current provider's system, which is obviously geared to make THEM the most amount of money.

I hope that helps shed some light on the situation.

Good post TJ. . . at least I can understand where ya comin' from. Been in situations similar, but not as much cost when a lot of sites I did got popular when I was younger.

Site runs pretty solid for me on my T3 connection.

Makes things a lot more clear. I know a lot of people didn't understand, but this was my main complaint a few weeks ago when talking about asking for more visitors here on the Mane. Don't get me wrong. I love the newbies for their discussion and personalities, but not at the cost that some of us regulars can't even post or sometimes even see what others have posted.

I run at 54 Mbps. I know a few people are around that run at the 100Mbps range and still have problems. For those of you that aren't having problems... CONGRATS!

I can understand your reluctance to make this a "business", but perhaps the volume is dictating the direction you should go. Hate to criticize anything you do here on the Mane Taco, but you asked for these problems. You asked for the volume by making a great site and making it home for so many fans.

TJ, you have 2000 active members on the Mane. I'm willing to bet that you could probably get $5 from half of them in a "Save/Upgrade the Mane" type of drive. Yes, there are a few that will say that you're trying to line your pockets. So what? Seriously, if you are I really don't see the problem with it. I'm not sure how many hours you spend on the Mane throughout the week. But I would guess more than 10 (Maintenance as opposed to posting/reading). I think you get my point with that. The only time I would ever have a problem is if the site was getting the upgrades that the donations paid for and there have been a few people that have gave that impression around here. Thus my question in the first place.

I've got a few ideas for a drive. I'll PM them to you and see what you think.