Keeping The Board Working Smoothly

As you have noticed, the board has been taking off services to its members this month because of an overload problem. It's been an ongoing problem for many months and measures have been taken to solve it.

One of these measures have been to limit the size of avatar and signatures combined (Click here to see those rules) to reduce the use of bandwidth, to help the server and the users. However, although most of the board members have complied, there seems a trend for some people to disregard the rule. Some don't comply out of ignorance or because they don't bother to read the rules.

The second group rebels the rule by having a signature and avatar 10 kb above the rule, or 15 pixels above the set height limit. Some have picture of the right size, but add another small picture and/or one, two or more lines of text for "good delinquent measure". Such behavior is counterproductive now. >Only 10kb< or >only 15 pixels< multiplied by 4000 users adds up fast.

The last group knows about the rule, can&#39;t care less and won&#39;t comply; often posting pictures and animation many times over combined limits and continue to do so even after being asked to change it.

If things were going well with the board, I wouldn&#39;t bother mentioning it. However, as the board has such difficulties coping with the traffic, I don&#39;t think such huge sigs should be tolerated. Moderators should be able to simply notify the users without having half the board >attacking< those people (mods and users). They should able to enforce the rule without having the board members attacking them for trying to make it better for everybody.

As for the group of delinquent-by-a-hair-for-the-principle, it would be better to all if they complied to the set rule. Clipping 10 Kb or 15 pixels on a picture (Paint can be used, available on all Win systems), so that one thing is good for all. And if they believe the rule should allow a tiny bit more, they should petition to change the rule. However, it&#39;s difficult to request such a change when delinquent&#33;

Lets all try to do our part to keep this board running. Please fix your sigs and avatars and/or allow the moderator team to enforce the set rules without argument.

i couldn&#39;t agree more

nice post

listen up neotheone... <_<

with all the ads on the main site, isn&#39;t it enough to pay for a better server?

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Originally posted by kAb@30 July 2003 - 05:54
with all the ads on the main site, isn&#39;t it enough to pay for a better server?

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i wonder what the ratio of hits for the forum pages:main site is?

anyone know?

I do not even use sigs or Avatars no more since being back.More concerned about what Album I am going to download next then what my image is.

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Originally posted by 3rd gen noob@30 July 2003 - 06:58
i wonder what the ratio of hits for the forum pages:main site is?

anyone know?

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Try clicking on the nedstat symbol on the bottom of this page.

I still say signatures shouldn&#39;t be images. ;)

Seriously though, why even warn the people (often repeatedly) about their signature/avatar size? Why not just have the mods chop it off? ;)

:ninja:

bandwidth usage by sigs and avatars dont affect the server as they are not on the server, the person computer veiwing them does the query for the images not the server.

another thing we can do to help them forum, is not to have more than one window open from the forum, say there 200 people online, and 50 or more have 2 or more windows open, it adds up. and slows down the server as the make multiple requests. :D

why not turn off the built in avatars then (that do eat into the servers bandwidth), although it seems a bit harsh to force everyone to find a host

This forum has built in avatars?

:ninja:

Nice post, Somebody1234. B)
I think everybody can understand this is important for the proper functioning of the board. :)

yeah there are built in avatars, not many people use them tho, so maybe it would be a waste of time to remove them.

Nice post somebody, I agree completely. Guess I&#39;m doing my part eh? ;)

I would like to ask either mods (if they know) or the admins please, (without starting a whole new topic) what company provide the ads and pay?
And how much do you earn a month from it?

If you dont want to say, thats fine. :)

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Originally posted by 3rd gen noob@29 July 2003 - 20:49
i couldn&#39;t agree more

nice post

listen up neotheone... <_<

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yeah ill fix my sig

There is a hack that says Only show each user&#39;s sig per page.

That might help. Although this site isn&#39;t hosting the sigs so its not a big deal.

But its something :-)

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Originally posted by neotheone+31 July 2003 - 13:21--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (neotheone &#064; 31 July 2003 - 13:21)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-3rd gen noob@29 July 2003 - 20:49
i couldn&#39;t agree more

nice post

listen up neotheone... <_<

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yeah ill fix my sig[/b][/quote]

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The last group knows about the rule, can&#39;t care less and won&#39;t comply; often posting pictures and animation many times over combined limits and continue to do so even after being asked to change it.

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See what I mean? neotheone is still over 290 KB in total. <_<

How long can it take to remove 2 links to images in his controls?
Hours? Days? or more? if ever. (we don&#39;t know yet) :angry:


Quoted directly from the &#39;Avatar/Signature Size&#39; rules:

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Signatures and Avatars that do not comply may be removed or edited by a moderator or administator.

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Let&#39;s go mods... Do you job. :beerchug:

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Originally posted by Livy@30 July 2003 - 12:06
bandwidth usage by sigs and avatars dont affect the server as they are not on the server, the person computer veiwing them does the query for the images not the server.

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Absolutely agree. :)

Images/Signatures only become an issue when they are excessive in dimension
or excessive in bitsize because it will affect those

1 ) with small screen resolution. eg. 800 x 600 resolution.
2 ) have slow d/l speeds.

moderate sized images add charm/ character to a board.

i agree that sigs and avatars should comply with the rules, but it&#39;s worth emphasising the fact pointed out earlier that the only strain it causes is on each members bandwith as they load each page, it doesn&#39;t affect the server since the images are not stored there.

but as i said, rules should be followed, i hate huge sigs, they are annoying and not aesthetically pleasing, and although they all pretty much load instantly for me on cable, i&#39;d rather not contribute to my bandwith usage with sigs and avatars when it can be used for much better purposes.

This thread was not meant as a place to debate whether or not the sigs and avatars are the cause of the problems with the board or the server.

It was meant as a place where we could discuss about the fact that many members are delinquent when it concerns this rule. And we need to find a better strategy in order to deal with them.

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Lets all try to do our part to keep this board running. Please fix your sigs and avatars and/or allow the moderator team to enforce the set rules without argument.

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Why not add these few lines when the user updates his avatar/sig?

I stole this from iezzi.ch

<?php
&#036;u = &#036;AvatarToUpdate

&#036;ourhead = "";
&#036;url=parse_url(&#036;u);
&#036;host=&#036;url["host"];
&#036;path=&#036;url["path"];

&#036;fp = fsockopen(&#036;host, 80, &&#036;errno, &&#036;errstr, 20);
if(&#33;&#036;fp) {
echo("error");
exit ();
} else {
fputs(&#036;fp,"HEAD &#036;u HTTP/1.1&#092;r&#092;n");
fputs(&#036;fp,"HOST: dummy&#092;r&#092;n");
fputs(&#036;fp,"Connection: close&#092;r&#092;n&#092;r&#092;n");

while (&#33;feof(&#036;fp)) {
&#036;ourhead = sprintf("%s%s", &#036;ourhead, fgets (&#036;fp,128));
}
}
fclose (&#036;fp);

&#036;split_head = explode("Content-Length: ",&#036;ourhead);
&#036;size = round(abs(&#036;split_head[1])/1024);
print &#036;size;
?>

That works quite nicely. Just rinse and repeat for the signature. It&#39;s simple to check for size limits with this.
Also, checking for the size of both images and text combined isn&#39;t much more complicated.

@chalkmongoose,

Could you more precisely tell us what that script will do?

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Originally posted by Somebody1234@1 August 2003 - 00:21
This thread was not meant as a place to debate whether or not the sigs and avatars are the cause of the problems with the board or the server.

It was meant as a place where we could discuss about the fact that many members are delinquent when it concerns this rule. And we need to find a better strategy in order to deal with them.

Quote:

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Lets all try to do our part to keep this board running. Please fix your sigs and avatars and/or allow the moderator team to enforce the set rules without argument.

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Well, that&#39;s just a bit snotty sounding. I wasn&#39;t aware that your threads were any more exclusive than anyone elses. Your comments might be warranted if the thread had been clearly highjacked but I just don&#39;t see that here. Lighten up and enjoy the board and if something appears out of order, contact a mod to deal with it. ;)

If the board&#39;s bandwidth issues get reduced/dealt with, perhaps guests could be allowed back on the board (in read-only mode of course) so long as the total number of users visiting the board at that moment is less than some value.

Either that, or like most other message boards make them register to use it.
But... that&#39;ll mean lots of 0 and 1 post &#39;newbies&#39; joining every week. :(

Before making overbearing comments and jumping to conclusions, balamm, you should know the facts.

I posted this thread at the request of another mod. I was asked to post it because, and I quote: "It always seems to work better if it&#39;s posted by a "regular" member." It seems to me that the mods are not talking to each other.

The mod team should get together and discuss this issue and come up with a unified answer so that one mod doesn&#39;t shoot down another mod’s efforts and confuse the hell out of board members trying to help. Talk about disgusting the members. No wonder so many good ones left.

I was under the impression that I was going to get the team&#39;s support with this. That&#39;s perhaps why I seem to sound snotty. I feel like I was left to deal with this all by myself as the members were saying thing like, sigs being oversize don&#39;t cause a problem with the server. It seems the mods have chosen also to ignore the situation concerning neotheone.

I know it has been said in the past that going slightly over the set 100KB rule would be tolerated. How much over 100 is "slightly"? (My first post tries to clarify this.)

I also just have to say it, balamm, your avatar/sig is not within the rules. As a mod, shouldn&#39;t you set an example you set for the other members?

Yes Balamm, the man has a point, you&#39;re at least 20kb over the limit...

Neotheone&#39;s signature has been edited.




Come on guys, think of the 56kers here. It takes at least 15 seconds for a 56k modem even to load 100k (which is the limit).
Multiply that by 15 posts per page and you have 1500k, which takes nearly 4 minutes to load.
So it&#39;s a bit antisocial to post oversized images.

Well said that man, come on Balaam lose the silly pics.

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Originally posted by Nagler@1 August 2003 - 18:30
Well said that man, come on Balaam lose the silly pics.

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It&#39;s Sir Bufton, got any more stars?

No I think Bufton is still banned, serves him right. Anyway he&#39;s too busy molesting farm animals to bother with you children.

Maybe Nagler got a few stars then?

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Originally posted by Lamsey@1 August 2003 - 14:07
Neotheone&#39;s signature has been edited.

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It&#39;s been made bigger.

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Originally posted by Somebody1234@1 August 2003 - 13:52
Before making overbearing comments and jumping to conclusions, balamm, you should know the facts.

I posted this thread at the request of another mod. I was asked to post it because, and I quote: "It always seems to work better if it&#39;s posted by a "regular" member." It seems to me that the mods are not talking to each other.

The mod team should get together and discuss this issue and come up with a unified answer so that one mod doesn&#39;t shoot down another mod’s efforts and confuse the hell out of board members trying to help. Talk about disgusting the members. No wonder so many good ones left.

I was under the impression that I was going to get the team&#39;s support with this. That&#39;s perhaps why I seem to sound snotty. I feel like I was left to deal with this all by myself as the members were saying thing like, sigs being oversize don&#39;t cause a problem with the server. It seems the mods have chosen also to ignore the situation concerning neotheone.

I know it has been said in the past that going slightly over the set 100KB rule would be tolerated. How much over 100 is "slightly"? (My first post tries to clarify this.)

I also just have to say it, balamm, your avatar/sig is not within the rules. As a mod, shouldn&#39;t you set an example you set for the other members?

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The facts are that you&#39;ve been anal about your threads in the past ;)

So, I&#39;ve done my part "for the board". Where&#39;s your&#39;s?

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The mod team should get together and discuss this issue

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Another good point. This appointment seems a bit unilateral.

You tell him, your posts are never anal Balaam, if anything you could do with a bit more sphincter control to cut down on your verbal diarrhea.
You do more than your share on this forum Balaam so bend and break as many rules as you wish( I like your silly pictures really, a touch of class ).

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Originally posted by Rumbum@2 August 2003 - 12:19
You tell him, your posts are never anal Balaam, if anything you could do with a bit more sphincter control to cut down on your verbal diarrhea.

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Look who is talking&#33;

weel, it looks like rumbut still doesn&#39;t like it here.

Not my decision this time really, that decision was made earlier by the rest of the mods. Looks like you&#39;l be away for a while again.

Bye.

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Originally posted by balamm@ 2 August 2003 - 00:32
The facts are that you&#39;ve been anal about your threads in the past

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While &#39;Somebody1234&#39; sometimes does come across a little pedantic, more often he is going out of his way to help other members. Balamm, however, seems to me to have a slight attitude problem. To often i&#39;ve read him being sarcastic, dismissive and even just plain rude to other posters - particularly newcomers.

Unlike all other members of the mod team, who post with maturity and intelligence, Balamm seem to be enjoying his &#39;status&#39; on the board a little to much.

On topic. I agree that sigs need to be a sensible size, but only to reduce the loading time for slow connections. I don&#39;t see how that will make any difference to the smooth workings of the board.

Well said my haggis chomping buddy. Face facts Balamm youre an obnoxious little jobsworth. You cause more friction on this forum than anyone else Balamm, including me.

This might help you Nagler, a very helpful meditation


However, there is a basic practice which is suitable for everyone bacause it is so simple. Being simple, it is deep and beneficial; benificial because its simplicity means there will be few mistakes. We begin with loving-kindness, working at the level of our present understanding and with our present conception of the world, by trying to imagine the nicest, purest form of happiness we know. This will vary from person to person but it does not matter we just think of the very best thing and as soon as we have formed it in the imagination we share it with all beings, praying that they may have this happiness equally. Not to think of ourselves but just about others, wishing them this relative happiness we think so nice. this is the first step. It makes little sense in the ultimate but it is, on our level, a start.

The next step is to call to mind any friend or acquaintence who is happier or better off than we are and just try to be happy for them. appreciate their achievement. Think of friends first because it is easier. Then do the same, but for someone who is not so close to us. When we can do this we move on to someone who is not very kind to us and try to appreciate, pray for, their happiness. Then progress to someone who is really cruel to us, who really hates us and finally to someone that we really hate. If they hate us, it is minor; if we hate them it is major because our hatred makes things very hard -there are many strong feelings to overcome

You see that my solution requires a change in the way you think. You need to work on yourself Nagler.

Yet again...started of good and degenerated.

Sorry Somebody1234.


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