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Site problems

Maui

Maui

Zivil Ingenieur
Member
A couple of issues that I've noticed are:

1. On my windows 7 laptop, when I make a post and notice I need to edit it for misspelling, missing word etc. I have to close explorer, otherwise after editing and selecting post it just hangs there and I have to cancel out. If I close explorer and reopen the post I can edit without issue. I do not experience this on my Macbook.
2. When selecting emoticons I just get the little band of choices that run off the side of screen and I can not get to most of them. I don't have this issue when creating a new thread, only when responding. I have the same issue on my Macbook but I can get to a few more than on my windows 7 laptop.

Maybe these can be corrected in the settings on my end, I don't know.
 
Re: forum search

Maui said:
1. On my windows 7 laptop, when I make a post and notice I need to edit it for misspelling, missing word etc. I have to close explorer, otherwise after editing and selecting post it just hangs there and I have to cancel out. If I close explorer and reopen the post I can edit without issue. I do not experience this on my Macbook.
Click to expand...
I have the same issue with Internet Exploder on my Windows work PC, but do NOT have this issue when using Firefox or Chrome on my Windows PC.

I do not experience this on any browser on my Macintoshes at home. It is an inherent issue with Microsoft Internet Exploiter, NOT the vBulletin software. If you reload the post (hit the reload button) before going into edit mode, it will also not do this behavior. Remedy is honestly, just use Firefox and be done with it.


Maui said:
2. When selecting emoticons I just get the little band of choices that run off the side of screen and I can not get to most of them. I don't have this issue when creating a new thread, only when responding. I have the same issue on my Macbook but I can get to a few more than on my windows 7 laptop.

Maybe these can be corrected in the settings on my end, I don't know.
Click to expand...
I have this issue as well on my laptop, where the screen is narrow. I'll work on fixing it; indeed it is an annoyance and I just need to find a fix for it. Thanks for bringing it up.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Not a big fan of Chrome. They seem to track every move you make but I am sure every browser does that these days. It amazes me that whatever I search for one day shows up in the google ads the next time I open the browser.
 
Try putting IE in compatibility view and see if it helps.
 
Use Chrome "Incognito" mode if you are concerned about Beeg Brudder.

:wormhole:
 
Glen said:
Try putting IE in compatibility view and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
I have to use my IE in "compatibility" mode at work so that I can use it with some internal legacy systems that require older browser versions. It still has the issue. I've only seen/experienced the issue using IE though.
 
As with any "free" software installation, make sure you read carefully every dialog box presented. You generally need to un-check some junkware that will be installed otherwise. FireFox and Chrome can be installed without any extras. I use all three browsers simultaneously on both my home and work PC's.

:matrix:
 
OK, I did some tweaks on the "smiley" display. It displays fewer smilies before requiring you to go to the "More" window, but it should be much narrower and fit on smaller screens now.

Please let me know if there continue to be issues with this, and I will do more work on fixing it.

And I added a few new smilies tonight....and took some of the older ones away.
 
"Edit" button has disappeared. I can't edit my posts! It's there when you first post, but then it disappears after about 20 minutes.

Also, now I have to hit the "Reply to Thread" button to get the "Quick Reply" box. It used to be sitting there at the end of the page automatically.
 
Last edited:
Correct. I made settings changes so that there is a time limit on editing posts, and also you have to click Reply to get the reply box.
 
That is going to make it difficult for me to keep my maintenance records on the first page of my "owners" thread.
 
I save every receipt for parts and service so I have everything in hard copy, but I like to track these things in my owner's thread on the front page. I track all maintenance on Fuelly, but I like keeping it here to.

I am curious why the change to the post editing feature?
 
Maui said:
Not a big fan of Chrome. They seem to track every move you make but I am sure every browser does that these days. It amazes me that whatever I search for one day shows up in the google ads the next time I open the browser.
Click to expand...

My latest pet peeve is what happens after making a Google search on my PC, and seconds later having related adds appear on my android phone. Makes you want to move to a 3rd world country to get a little privacy...
 
Is it just me or does the board seem to be running slow the last few days? I've also been getting a server error message.
 
Experiencing the same ! I do notice every now and then that it's slow . Admin ?
 
Maui said:
Is it just me or does the board seem to be running slow the last few days? I've also been getting a server error message.
Click to expand...

It's not you.

I have 50mbps of speed with Comcast, and the site has been slow
 
Yes - same problem on my end, very very slow server response times. I emailed Gerry yesterday, he is traveling this weekend... may be a couple days before he is able to harass the hosting service (1and1.com, in case you were wondering).

:matrix:
 
I'm glad to see everyone else is having problems w site (thought it was just on my end). Answered a couple of PM's a couple days ago, and got gibberish in response (probably what the recipient got from me too)..... :-)
 
I emailed 1&1 but since I'm not the owner, nothing may come of it. Hopefully Gerry will contact them soon.
 
Don't ask me what's wrong with this thing. Until just the other day I thought Mozilla Firefox was the really fat redheaded stripper down at the Clermont Lounge...
 
I have also noticed the issues with increasing site slowness over the past week or two, as well as a significant increase in errors (I get notified directly anytime any site member encounters an error) in recent weeks and months.

The 500Eboard has become a victim of its own success....let me explain.

In short, when I first set up the site 3 years ago, I went with a "basic" hosting package, which was appropriate to support the relatively small (in the low to mid hundreds) number of members and hourly site traffic. At the time, I didn't have any huge expectations that the site would grow as it has -- which has been both strong and steady over the past 5 years.

As the site has grown, we are seeing 3 unique site visitors come on each minute ... approximately one user (registered or unregistered) accesses the site every 20 seconds, and often browses for some time beyond the initial access.

What this means is that the site has grown well beyond the "basic" hosting parameters, and is now morphing into almost more of a small to mid-sized business level of bandwidth and site traffic. It's not just a few dozen or a few hundred hits per day from a few hundred site members. It's in the low to mid thousands of accesses from several hundred registered users and an equal if not greater number of accesses from non-registered users and search index bots from various companies.

Basically, the memory on the server that the site was using was too constrained with too many users trying to access things simultaneously. which is what resulted in the "Internal Server Error" pages that people were starting to see with more and more regularity.

So, I upgraded the resources that the site can draw from. and as soon as this kicks in it should help alleviate the issues. To solve this, I have upgraded the site's dedicated server memory from 30 MB to 600 MB -- a twenty-fold increase -- at significant additional cost. This should give us enough overhead to handle things for the foreseeable future, and if things grow again I can continue to upgrade server memory as needed.

In the next day or so, if you still continue to experience slow page loading and image loading, particularly on high bandwidth wired/wireless broadband connections (mobile phones and wireless access via mobile networks don't count due to a variety of factors) PLEASE LET ME KNOW so I can do further work with the hosting company to get the bottlenecks resolved.

Thanks very much for your time and patience as we solve our growing pains.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Gerry. Thanks for all your dedication to the E500E enthusiasts around the globe. I know you don't accept donations, but if you ever do I will happy to contribute. This site has provided me with ALL my W124 knowledge as well as a great place to just hang out with fellow enthusiasts.
 
Maui said:
Gerry. Thanks for all your dedication to the E500E enthusiasts around the globe. I know you don't accept donations, but if you ever do I will happy to contribute. This site has provided me with ALL my W124 knowledge as well as a great place to just hang out with fellow enthusiasts.
Click to expand...

Same here!
:klink:
 
Just a quick update -- I'm now remotely logged into the back end of the site via ssh (secure shell - a terminal program that allows one to see and control the server remotely) and closely examining all of the processes that run the site, to see where the delays are coming from.

It appears that there are a few "rogue" processes running that are consuming extraordinary levels of processor and memory usage. I am in the process of killing these resource hogs to see if it frees things up.

Here's what the site looks like in real time on the server, running behind the scenes....
 

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gerryvz said:
I have also noticed the issues with increasing site slowness over the past week or two, as well as a significant increase in errors (I get notified directly anytime any site member encounters an error) in recent weeks and months.

The 500Eboard has become a victim of its own success....let me explain.

In short, when I first set up the site 3 years ago, I went with a "basic" hosting package, which was appropriate to support the relatively small (in the low to mid hundreds) number of members and hourly site traffic. At the time, I didn't have any huge expectations that the site would grow as it has -- which has been both strong and steady over the past 5 years.

As the site has grown, we are seeing 3 unique site visitors come on each minute ... approximately one user (registered or unregistered) accesses the site every 20 seconds, and often browses for some time beyond the initial access.

What this means is that the site has grown well beyond the "basic" hosting parameters, and is now morphing into almost more of a small to mid-sized business level of bandwidth and site traffic. It's not just a few dozen or a few hundred hits per day from a few hundred site members. It's in the low to mid thousands of accesses from several hundred registered users and an equal if not greater number of accesses from non-registered users and search index bots from various companies.

Basically, the memory on the server that the site was using was too constrained with too many users trying to access things simultaneously. which is what resulted in the "Internal Server Error" pages that people were starting to see with more and more regularity.

So, I upgraded the resources that the site can draw from. and as soon as this kicks in it should help alleviate the issues. To solve this, I have upgraded the site's dedicated server memory from 30 MB to 600 MB -- a twenty-fold increase -- at significant additional cost. This should give us enough overhead to handle things for the foreseeable future, and if things grow again I can continue to upgrade server memory as needed.

In the next day or so, if you still continue to experience slow page loading and image loading, particularly on high bandwidth wired/wireless broadband connections (mobile phones and wireless access via mobile networks don't count due to a variety of factors) PLEASE LET ME KNOW so I can do further work with the hosting company to get the bottlenecks resolved.

Thanks very much for your time and patience as we solve our growing pains.

Cheers,
Gerry
Click to expand...

Gerry,

We all know that you do all of this for free and its greatly appreciated, some of us may not even own these cars if it was not for this site !!!

You have always said that you would never charge for membership here or accept donations, so that put all of the burden on you.

What about adding a few select venders / advertisers and changing a small fee to help with the cost ?

If its the right companies, those coming to this site will find it useful, it could be a win win.
 
"It appears that there are a few "rogue" processes running that are consuming extraordinary levels of processor and memory usage."

Something like that would seem to be the case from out here, because the current situation came about relatively suddenly at about the time you went away. I just attributed it to general slacking off when the boss isn't around. Electrons will do that too...
 
Last edited:
Especially when said electrons are putting up a massive amount of resistance concerning their avitar!

Klink,

It is a sad day on the 500E board as there seems to be just a little "RESISTANCE" to your avitar.

Maybe a little less resistance would make the system run better?

I vote to bring back the leader of Stalag #13!

What say you Colonel?
 
Trae.....wasn't aware there was an issue with Kilnks avatar. I was wondering why it changed.

What do you mean by "resistance"? Are we getting overly p.c. on 500eboard?

Thanks!
 
Ohms=electrical resistance :)

Thanks for getting on it Gerry! In addition to general slowness, sometimes the site will return a server error for me when I attempt to load a page. Just now when I pressed the "thanks" button on your post above, a pop-up window occurred with an error message. Please disregard if these issues are related to the problem you already mentioned.
 
The errors with the site seem to have been resolved by the hoster, 1&1. Over the past month I have been getting the normal level of error messages (a few per week) that I've traditionally seen over the past few years.

Please speak up if you are seeing/experiencing any errors with the site in recent weeks since the previous problems with the hoster's servers.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
KarlC said:
Gerry,

We all know that you do all of this for free and its greatly appreciated, some of us may not even own these cars if it was not for this site !!!

You have always said that you would never charge for membership here or accept donations, so that put all of the burden on you.

What about adding a few select venders / advertisers and changing a small fee to help with the cost ?

If its the right companies, those coming to this site will find it useful, it could be a win win.
Click to expand...
It's a good sentiment, and would be an extremely easy thing to do, in terms of soliciting advertisements. And the vBulletin software is pre-set up to run banner advertisements, so it could be implemented in mere minutes.

My problem with this is basically one of philosophy: money creates "special interests" and this then CAN corrupt the purity of the site. With no money and advertisers' interests involved, the site retains its purity of purpose. It remains "by the members, for the members."

Once money is introduced, dependencies and expectations (from the advertisers) are created, however subtle. Meaning that if an advertiser places a banner ad on the site, and then someone posts a glowing post about one of their competitors and "disses" the advertiser, it creates the potential to anger the advertiser .. in effect, it creates a conflict of interest.

If this site accepted advertisements and became dependent on the revenue (or Google click-through form of advertising) generated, then an advertiser could "pull" their ads and potentially affect the site's operations.

I do not want that potential situation to arise. The cost to operate this site is a few hundred dollars per year, plus time to administer the site, back up the data every week or two, update/upgrade software, and so forth.

I'd rather have members of the site feel free to perform honest assessments and reviews of the companies they patronize, without potential threat of harm or lost revenues to the site.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Not really a problem but it would sure be nice to be able to access the Bold / Italic / Underline feature right here from the quick post box and not have to go to a whole new tab for it. That's the way it's done on every other site I frequent.

This one last improvement would elevate this site to "perfect" status!

Regards,
Eric
 
I agree, and I don't get an image icon to post picture, am I the only one?

For me the difference between quick post and advanced is the preview post feature

This site
proxy.php




Other sites
proxy.php
 
clarkz71 said:
I agree, and I don't get an image icon to post picture, am I the only one?

For me the difference between quick post and advanced is the preview post feature.
Click to expand...
After you click "Go Advanced", you should see all the formatting icons... that is weird you cannot see them. ??? Even with Quick Reply there should be some icons showing, including the image icon...

:blink:
 
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