Forum hosting changes

[holidayboy]

Hi folks.

We've been trying to pinpoint the cause(s!) of site performance problems recently and after tweaking as much as we can at our end, we've decided to try a new hosting provider on a short term basis.

We hope to migrate over the weekend, probably Sunday AM UK time as that tends to be a reasonably quiet time.

Please stick with us, we're determined to get these niggles fixed.

We'll post more details soon.

[leroys1000]

It acts a lot like memory leak problems that I have seen in games.
It runs smooth for a while,then the site loading slows down and eventually becomes inaccessable.
Is it possible there is a problem with the forum software that is causing all the available memory to be used up?

[barnabas1969]

It acts a lot like memory leak problems that I have seen in games.
It runs smooth for a while,then the site loading slows down and eventually becomes inaccessable.
Is it possible there is a problem with the forum software that is causing all the available memory to be used up?

If that was the case, then I would think (or at least I would hope) that the hosting company would notice it and tell the site admin to fix the problem.

[STC]

Is it possible there is a problem with the forum software that is causing all the available memory to be used up?

No, our own use resources are fine. We attribute it to a shared hosting plan and some of the shared stats confirm this.

[holidayboy]

We've ruled out memory leaks, CPU limits etc..

Hopefully our new (possibly) temporary shared hosting provider will give better feedback with regards to shared hardware usage - and the number of customers that are using that hardware.

We're doing what we can to keep this site advertisement free, as well as doing our best to give good site performance.

Believe me, nobody feels more disappointed than us when we suffer slowdowns and outages, whatever it takes, we'll get there.

Thanks for sticking with us folks, we really do appreciate it

[leroys1000]

Actually,a little advertising wouldn't bother me if it helped pay the bills as long as it didn't
get seriously obtrusive like some of those sites with popups and stuff.

[STC]

[barnabas1969]

I agree that advertising wouldn't bother me as long as it's not pop-overs, pop-unders, and that sort of stuff.

To be honest, I don't mind the performance of the site... especially since it's free. It's only been totally down a couple of times since you guys started it. That's not terrible.

[barnabas1969]

Let's also not forget that the mods on this site are paying for the hosting and domain name out of their own pockets!

Thank you for that.

[holidayboy]

We're looking to migrate over to the new hosts at 10 AM UK time.

Once we move to the new server, you may need to clear cookies etc.

We'll leave the old install in read only mode while DNS sorts itself out.

[holidayboy]

I'm still uploading some attachment files so expect some missing stuff for a while.

DNS will take a while to sort itself out too.

[richard1980]

I've said from day 1 that I would be willing to monetarily support this site. However, I am not willing to look at advertisements. So if there's ever a plan to start advertising, can you sign me up for the direct billing option instead?

[holidayboy]

We have talked about asking for donations a few times but didn't feel that the site was performing well enough to ask.

We're still on shared hosting which is pretty cheap, the only other cost is the domain name.

Hopefully the new hosts will be able to give us that extra bit of performance. If not then we'll be looking to move to a semi-dedicated plan, or a VPS setup.

At that point our costs would go up by a lot and we'd definitely need to find a way to help cover the costs.

[CyberSimian]

We're doing what we can to keep this site advertisement free

I realise that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but I find animated advertisements to be appallingly intrusive.

The UK TV site that I follow (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk) started using animated advertisements some years ago, as a result of which I installed a "hosts" file that prevents access to the major sources of internet advertising. It suppresses most animated advertisements, and most of the static ones too. Digitalspy shot themselves in the foot as far as I am concerned, since now I see no advertising on their site.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[holidayboy]

Stay tuned for details on a possible way to help support the site....

[holidayboy]

Makryger has set up an affiliate link in post #19 that will help cover our costs every time somebody buys a new infiniTV6 from Amazon (a Newegg link is being worked on):

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 654#p50654

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBX ... sguid01-20

[leroys1000]

Might try a newegg deals feed linked to your affiliate account in the hot deals forum.
Make a sticky post with live updates.
I think you can still do that.
I regularly check deal sites and don't see how a sticky post should bother anyone.

[holidayboy]

Good idea, we'll try and get something set up properly soon, we're still settling down after the migration.

Everything looks pretty good hosting wise so far...

[leroys1000]

Yep,been looking good here so far.
Pages are loading real quick.

[barnabas1969]

We're doing what we can to keep this site advertisement free

I realise that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but I find animated advertisements to be appallingly intrusive.

The UK TV site that I follow (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk) started using animated advertisements some years ago, as a result of which I installed a "hosts" file that prevents access to the major sources of internet advertising. It suppresses most animated advertisements, and most of the static ones too. Digitalspy shot themselves in the foot as far as I am concerned, since now I see no advertising on their site.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

I agree, if you're talking about the ones that float across the screen or make the page gray, and appear in the center of the screen.

Bud ads in the side bar or at the top of the page don't bother me at all.