[Closed] The community here is great, but the forum software and servers SUCK!

The forums are not finely divided enough. Topics sink onto the 2nd page sometimes within hours.

No no no! Bring back the old single forum, it was much better. Thank god for the "Overview" link.

You're not wrong about the monotonous regularity bit, though.

This site goes down with monotonous regularity.

There's got to be a joke in here somewhere..... 😈

The forums are not finely divided enough. Topics sink onto the 2nd page sometimes within hours.

And it's alot easier to find the second page than trying to remember which sub division of which sub division I posted that black spokes are faster than silver. 🙄

Pehaps a new section for time wasting threads??

forums with loads of subdivisions = horrible

ahhh 7hz, you made the same mistake as me... posting a preference that old school STWers don't share, sit back and enjoy the telling off 😆

(i agree with you by the way, sub-divisions would make it easier to avoid all the car threads, political threads and stuff.. meaning i could focus on a "messing around" type sub-section and a "videos" section)

[img] [/img]

[b][u]NO NO NO Don't sub divide any further![/b][/u] It's spot on as it is when it is working.

Format is fine, but the hamsters need a holiday.

forums with loads of subdivisions = horrible

yes but they work, ive never understand the 'form over function' ethic of this forum....

i go on loads of other 'sub division' type forums that have just as much traffic if not more and never go down. you soon get used to them.

if you want to post a questions about a car, you post it in the car section...

Forums with endless categories and sub-divisions are horrible, this is perfect.
And if you hadn't noticed, if you click on your user name up at the very top, you can find all your posts immediately making it dead easy to track old threads down.

yes but they work, ive never understand the 'form over function' ethic of this forum....

I disagree, they don't work: you miss loads of potentially interesting threads because they're on a board you never check out.

I say keep it as it is. I couldn't deal with anymore than 2 seperate distinct areas to look at.

Sometimes I look on the bike forum and someones started a 'chat' topic there. This makes me sad.

Imagine how sad multiple divisions would make me...

Personally I think what makes this forum a nice place to hang out is that there is quite a focus on banter & interesting/fun off-topic posts. I'm a member of about a million (give or take) other forums & whilst I don't think this format would work on most of them, particularly those of a more technical nature, somehow it suits STW to be like this imho. If it were down to me I'd roll back the software to the days where you could see who was online over there on the left <---

This forum will be sub-divided over my dead body. 8)

...especially as we need a permanent edit function and a pm function more.

I think that you'll find that 203mm rotors are overkill on an XC bike, but you can always give it a try.

i find having lots of sub forums a nightmare, unless you know exactly what you want to read you never find anything. You have a question where does it go to get an answer?

Leave it as is it works, and works far better than most other forums out there.

people can't seem to manage bike/none-bike/classifieds how the hell are they going to manage with even more categories.

I think I'd miss some decent threads if it was split too much.

Reliability problems? Have I missed a recent crash? I've not been on here as much as usual - sorry must try harder.

Please dont subdivide any more, some of the best threads on here are about stuff I have no interest in or expert opinion to offer, and just click on because I am bored!! I would miss them otherwise!

EDIT: D0NK beat me to it!

Luddites!

At least a few categories would be better than the current cluster****.

Jog on?

Abuses this place then goes for swear filter avoidance!!, ban him!!

how come nobody jumped on the PM suggestion up there?! when i suggested it i got told off.... i demand equality 😈

of all the forums i am a member of i come back here time and time again. the reason: because the forums aren't separated.

Personally I think all they need is a SQL guru to have a really good look at the database and give it a bit of tuning.

Nothing against TdB but, in my experience, even the most db savvy of developers won't have as much success with a badly performing database as a 'proper' db Admin.

Anyway, currently, servers are in a state of flux as I understand it so I'll reserve judgement until they've finished making chnages.

A bit more info on what's happenign when might be handy, though.

philconsequence:

how come nobody jumped on the PM suggestion up there?! when i suggested it i got told off.... i demand equality

No-one likes a grass Phil.

[i]At least a few categories would be better than the current cluster****.[/i]

So OT would be divided into sections such as -

Angry people
Deluded people
Drunk people
Mental people
Dumb people.

I'm just not too sure that it would make it easier working out where to post.

[img] [/img]

Can I stab him with it? Can I, can I?? He only posts over there<< normally anyway.. please??

if i'm going down i'm taking you all with me! 😆

The forums are not finely divided enough.

Bike / Chat / Classifieds. + Overview

Seems pretty perfect to me. Simple and works very well.

I hate forums with 147 sub-topic forums each with a single lonely post in them (usually with a reply saying something like "Wrong forum you idiot: this forum is Bottom Brackets: Shimano: General. Your post should be in Bottom Brackets: Shimano: Square Taper: UN26"

I only ever use "overview" anyway!

PM system as well - yes please.

Can we drag this forum into the new millennium please?

Sorry about the swear.

This is an improvement for a start - http://wonder-tonic.com/geocitiesizer/content.php?theme=2&music=4&url=www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-community-here-is-great-but-the-forum-software-and-servers-suck

I wish this forum was not as nice to use. Then I would get my life back.

It doesnt need dividing up any more !

I like being able to browse the chat forum just to see what is being talked about, might be stuff I had never thought about which other wise I would miss.

The search function can be a bit annoying but helps you find anything you should wish.

The downtime and glitches can be annoying at times, but I dont pay to come here so I dont see its really some thing I can get too upset about. If I was paying for lots of annoying flashy advertising though, I think I would get a tad upset.

http://goo.gl/rK9gp

Heh...that Geocitiesizer is pretty cool. Takes me back....

I like it when it goes down. I get work done.

Here's another cluster of ***s

[img] [/img]

I like this forum layout. Shame about the people, but you can't have everything 😉

I would like a PM function though.

This site goes down with monotonous regularity.

As in sometimes on a Sunday evening unless there's maintenance going on to make it stable. You must permanently think you have diarrhoea unless you only shit once a week.

The forums are not finely divided enough. Topics sink onto the 2nd page sometimes within hours.

It's a busy forum, subdivisions aren't going to happen they've already divided a few times from what they were. Your not going to get a multi divided forum on here, as you can see a majority don't want it.

PM will put extra pressure on the DB so unlikely to happen.

Personally I think all they need is a SQL guru to have a really good look at the database and give it a bit of tuning.

Toms are doing just that they're working behind the scenes and have a few plans, it takes time. "...600 database queries performed every second during normal conditions." is a lot of pressure.

The server has been upgraded and was due some hardware tests, as I mentioned in the sticky this may have been in the early hours hence the downtime earlier.

These problems aren't being ignored, if you think they're causing you worry not visiting your favourite site you imagine how the guys who make a living from ST feel.

The weakness with the forum as I see it.

1. Opening a previously read thread does not take you to where you were last.

2. No distinction on posts between read and unread / new posts.

3. No quote buttons on posts make quoting needlessly awkward.

All simple and basic features.

Also when maintenance is being done a holding page is nice feature.

As in sometimes on a Sunday evening unless there's maintenance going on to make it stable. You must permanently think you have diarrhoea unless you only shit once a week.

If we ever get avatars Drac, may I suggest this:

[img] [/img]

😉

Thanks Drac - as I also said things are changing and there's no point getting upset 'mid-flow'.

However, I think more info on what the issues are in the background might help defuse concern without necessarily openign the debate for everyone with a bit of db experience to chip in with a solution that's 'bound to work'.

It's like when the train's sat outside the station - people stay calmer of the guard keeps them informed about what's happening...

Please no subdivisions......... it's fine as it is. But there must be hardware/software issues somewhere as the delays/slow response times are far more frequest than they were 12 months ago - I can't beleive it's [i]that [/i]busy.
If the servers are hosted in-house then it may well be time to get it into the cloud which would certainly fix the speed/reliability - only issue is the potential cost.

So moderators can swear but the proletariat can't?

The site seems to be down at least once a day at the moment. That would seem to be monotonously regular WRT server / site uptime. I don't understand your analogy between that and 'permanent diarrhoea'?

There are constantly posts going into the wrong section because of the 'overview' button and people being clueless.

Sorry for the moan. Site is generally good. Hugs and kisses.

I have a theory that it's the embedded videos that have caused the crashes lately.

Seems like the servers are getting worse.

I think its a ploy and a working one... Since the rubbish servers my browsing of this site has gone down to once/twice a week rather than daily. In a few months things will be fine because the amount of people viewing will be a lot less. 😉

1. Opening a previously read thread does not take you to where you were last.

So it would have to store the last post number of every thread that you have read, and do this for every user? The database is already struggling!

2. No distinction on posts between read and unread / new posts.

Again that would require storing a value to say whether or not you had read every thread. Or at least storing an expanding list of all the threads you have read. More work for the database.

(They used to do this with cookies, back in the day, but the cookies would become massive and the site would stop working unless you manually deleted your cookies)

3. No quote buttons on posts make quoting needlessly awkward.

Discourages people from quoting entire posts instead of just the bits they are answering.
How hard is it to copy-paste text then highlight it and press quote? I manage it on a phone.

Also when maintenance is being done a holding page is nice feature.

Agreed. Ideally it could present a read-only version of the forum and just prevent new posts.
Failing that it could at least offer a reason and a rough idea when it will be sorted.

So moderators can swear but the proletariat can't?

Nope I have the same rules, shit is allowed as long as not used in an abusive way. If I said I called you a shit then I'd been moderating myself.

There are constantly posts going into the wrong section because of the 'overview' button and people being clueless.

This would still happen on a multi sectioned forum, in fact probably more so. Least here they have a 50/50 chance.

The site seems to be down at least once a day at the moment. That would seem to be monotonously regular WRT server / site uptime. I don't understand your analogy between that and 'permanent diarrhoea'?

Seems but it's not, has been better of late but yes sorry not great. The diarrhoea part was a joke try not to dwell on it.

And yes your right we maybe should give you a bit more of a heads up of what's going on.

Also when maintenance is being done a holding page is nice feature.

They're usually is a note but if the server is unplugged then it won't work but yes that has been raised and is on the plans too.

3. No quote buttons on posts make quoting needlessly awkward.

Please no quote button, one thing I hate is threads on other forums that consist of posts endlessly quoting other posts only to put a 😈 at the end of it

Please no quote button, one thing I hate is threads on other forums that consist of posts endlessly quoting other posts only to put a at the end of it

+1

oops forgot this... 😈

If I want to post a photo of my 29er SS on the MTBR forum, do I post it in the SS forum or the 29er forum? As it's to be used for endurance racing, should it also go in the Endurance Racing forum?

sub-divided forums = shit

GrahamS - Member

So it would have to store the last post number of every thread that you have read, and do this for every user? The database is already struggling!

Please no quote button, one thing I hate is threads on other forums that consist of posts endlessly quoting other posts only to put a at the end of it

RE: Quoting. It's very easy to have a quote feature strip out previously quoted content to reduce large nested quotes e.t.c. Only last quoted post is needed. Large threads are quite often awkward to read because of no quotes. I know cut + paste e.t.c but that is like saying vi is perfectly easy to use, yes it is but if there is a nice GUI text editor for most people it's nicer to use.

like forum as it is but it is failing ot load with a failry regularily for me theses days am I alone in this. Sometimes I nned to do other things in the internet and find other ways to procrastinate [shudders]

This is not a particularly big forum

In comparison to what forum?

[url= http://bbshowcase.org/forums/view/top100 ]Check this out if you want some figures.[/url]

This is not a particularly big forum..

Isn't it?

Chat Forum: 1,114 pages
Bike Forum: 2,054 pages
For Sale: 2,796 pages
Wanted: 96 pages

40 thread topics per page = ~242,400 threads some of which are hundreds of posts long.

It is quite a big forum.

Mods: actually is there any reason all the "For Sale" thread are currently kept? I guess it is nice being able to check a seller's history, but perhaps that could be handled some other way. e.g. a classifieds feedback on the profile page.

Thanks for the drac, I'd have never discovered [url= http://www.dailykitten.com ]The daily kitten[/url] otherwise 🙂

There's now over 1,000,000 posts in the bike forum alone. So yeah not that big.

My pleasure Ian.

Mods: actually is there any reason all the "For Sale" thread are currently kept? I guess it is nice being able to check a seller's history, but perhaps that could be handled some other way. e.g. a classifieds feedback on the profile page.

Yeah for checking sellers history, the feedback thing has been discussed but not a priority so don't get excited as the classifieds is an addition to forum in a sense but don't say never.

If I want to post a photo of my 29er SS on the MTBR forum, do I post it in the SS forum or the 29er forum? As it's to be used for endurance racing, should it also go in the Endurance Racing forum?

sub-divided forums = shit

Seriously?

I don't think posting pictures of a niche within a niche is the issue.

On the main bike forum here, there are all kinds of topics. At least taking out the top 4 topics and giving them their own forum would mean that posts don't sink faster than the titanic.

This works for almost every other forum on the internet. I'm not sure why it couldn't work here, apart from people not liking change...

This site is gfine with everything easy to find. Can you imagine if I had to spam a dozen sub forums with BBB promotion?

What is PM?

But variety is what makes life great 7hz. Doesn't it make more sense as it is, so that the people who like lots of sub forums can go to websites with lots of sub forums, and the people who don't like em have here.

I'm not sure why it couldn't work here, apart from people not liking change...

why give people something that they clearly don't want? why change, just cos it works on some other forums?

What is PM?

Personal (ie, direct) Message.

I support servers for a large comms company for a living. I know all too well what problems can arise, but I also know what I'd do if one of my customers was having the level of problem that STW has been having - I'd migrate the site / software to a different server until the problem was resolved. I believe that the server hosting STW has hardware issues, but I fail to understand why that has to be service-affecting unless the "hosting company" is Honest Dave's Used Servers.

WRT site "upgrades" the one thing the site really, really needs as a priority is to stop hotlinking images from external sites. It's really bad practice, getting other people to supply your bandwidth, and it's only a matter of time before a disgruntled SysAdmin spots it and we have Goatse pictures throughout the forum.

On the main bike forum here, there are all kinds of topics. At least taking out the top 4 topics and giving them their own forum would mean that posts don't sink faster than the titan

So your suggesting taking out the 4 topic areas and giving them their own topic areas, creating 4 topics. A bit like what we have now, the overview is a quick reference area let's call it an overview of the 2 main forums. If you want to see more post on the chat forum click chat forum. If you want to see more post on the bike forum, well I'm sure you an work it out.

Forums with endless categories and sub-divisions are good for the occasional posters/new members because topics can be browsed effectively.
The 'all-in-one' mash up forum is good for the old lags and forum queens because it makes it easier for them to see if 'someone's wrong on the internet'

The sense of community is AFAIAC pretty much a bogus phenomena perpetuated by the above mentioned OLs and FQs in an attempt to convince themsemves they 'have a life'

End result, STWf is pretty much only serving a very limited subset of its members who will continue to argue amongst themselves with increasing intensity over trivia and intangibles.

Soon it will be time to abandon all pretext of being an 'mtb forum' and just be honest about it being a 'mid life crisis' forum 👿

The 'all-in-one' mash up forum is good for the old lags and forum queens because it makes it easier for them to see if 'someone's wrong on the internet'

I'm not sure that's right.

sub-divided forums = shit

Try adapting miketually's example a bit - he has a question about his 29r SS, that he wants to use for racing - which of the 3 theoretical sub-forums does he put it in? Whichever one he puts it it, he's potentially missing out on x% of forum users who won't be browsing that sub-forum.

On that point, I don't even think the last division of the classifieds into sell/want works - previously i'd browse looking at stuff for sale, see an wanted ad and think 'yeah, i've got one of those in the spares box that i don't need' - but i'd never trawl the wanted ads now on the off-chance that someone might want something I have to sell.

So your suggesting taking out the 4 topic areas and giving them their own topic areas, creating 4 topics. A bit like what we have now, the overview is a quick reference area let's call it an overview of the 2 main forums. If you want to see more post on the chat forum click chat forum. If you want to see more post on the bike forum, well I'm sure you an work it out.

Your sarcasm does not befit your status here.

I am obviously talking about the bike forum.

No reason it couldn't be split into a few sections. The current setup is a joke that only the people used to this forum like. Look at any other forum for clues. I'm not suggesting going to the extremes of MTBR though, although that has IMHO many benefits.

Not having PM is a total PITA here.

Since this forum is the biggest user of the software it runs, I suspect the code needs much improvement and optimisation, and that STW is banning it's head of off the limits of the software.

I'm neither an old lag or a forum queen and the site still serves me well in its current format of only 4 subdivisions. When its not broken, that is.
Just get some powerbalance bands for the hamsters and all will be fine.

Edit- And 7hz, your use of acronyms is starting to GOMT.

Other forums are available.

Try adapting miketually's example a bit - he has a question about his 29r SS, that he wants to use for racing - which of the 3 theoretical sub-forums does he put it in? Whichever one he puts it it, he's potentially missing out on x% of forum users who won't be browsing that sub-forum.

Sorry, you are wrong.

Post about racing? Racing forum.
Post about 29er wheels / frame? 29er forum.
Post about SS? SS forum.

It is called keeping things on topic.

I'm convinced he's wrong. Which way to the pointless discussion area?

I for one am very happy with the forum and have no complaints 🙂

I look around this planet and see things to worry about, but luckily for me this forum is not one of them.

I am obviously talking about the bike forum.

Obvious to you maybe.

No reason it couldn't be split into a few sections.

Ok suggest some areas then?

.... only the people used to this forum like

Which is kind of the point.

why give people something that they clearly don't want? why change, just cos it works on some other forums?

EGG-ZAKKLY!!! 🙂

Look at any other forum for clues.

I did. I prefer this one.

-------------------

I'm another one who thinks splitting the classifides wasn't really necessary too, for the same reasons previously stated. (Where does a SWAP go too)

Ditto Simonralli2's post (apart from the looking around worrying bit)

Sorry, you are wrong.

Post about racing? Racing forum.
Post about 29er wheels / frame? 29er forum.
Post about SS? SS forum.

It is called keeping things on topic.

That's only your opinion that he's wrong. I think it's a great example of why STW works: You spend less time looking for something interesting to read! 🙂

It is called keeping things on topic.

I don't think STWf does 'on topic' it's part of it's quaint charm apparently 🙄

If there's to be any further sdubdivisions I'd suggest at the very least a 'dumping ground' for those posts which decsend into the same old same olds flexing their ideologies at each other.
So maybe For Sale/Wanted/Bike Stuff/Off Topic and In Orbit with Mods able to move any thread they decide is a fapping contest into the In Orbit section......

"Where does a SWAP go too"

quiet carpark just off the A3 near Wisley apparently.........

Drac - Moderator

... only the people used to this forum like

Which is kind of the point.

So it is 'official STW policy' to pander to the regular posters at the expense of newbies then.....

Sounds good to me 🙂

Ditto Simonralli2's post (apart from the looking around worrying bit)

Well that wasn't meant to be so negative. Worry as in thinking about how best to spend one's energies and deciding to try and work with environmental charities, universities and social enterprises for the protection of the environment and people in poverty 🙂