 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Site News : Forum speed
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I'm aware of the forum speed problems. Usually the pages will take less than a second to load, but sometimes they can take several seconds. Over the last few months, these slow pages are becoming more common. There are a few reasons for this, including a cluttered database, too many user files, a growth in visitor numbers, and bandwidth restrictions. I dont want to place further restrictions on what users can upload ( images and files ), other than the restriction already in place. Nore do I want to cut back on the number of visitors. So I'll need to do some database work and/or upgrade the hosting for the site. This may be a few weeks off, as I need to earn a living, and as the income from this web site is pretty dismal, the paying jobs come first. A note on my income from the site. As you may notice I use google adverts on the site, and these earn a few dollars per day. Google ads are not the money earner they once were, back in 2010 the site would earn around $25 to $35 day, which is why I put so much work into growing the site and adding content. But the income has shrunk since then, and now I average around $5 per day. Out of that I need to pay for hosting, and my time for maintenance. Not a good business model. But thing is, I find the content of the site of interest to me, its a hobby. And I really like the way our forum members have helped each other, shared their knowledge and grown a community. Thats the real reason the site and forum is still running, people are benefiting from it. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I'm currently testing a VPS solution to the site problems. A VPS ( Virtual Private Server ) is basically a server in the "Cloud" as they call it these days, that I have full control over. I have remote desktop access to it, so its just like having the server at home, but with more bandwidth. The big advantage is I have full control over the server, so can do things to keep the forum running smoothly that I cant do with a normal web hosting service. I've uploaded a copy of this site and forum, and so far testing has been good, the forum is fast and reliable. I need to configure a few things yet, like the mail server, etc. If it all looks good, I'll transfer the DNS for this site later next week. This means for a few hours the forum will appear to be locked, you can still read but wont be able to post. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Forgot to update this. I had reported the speed problems to the hosting company, and a few days later it resolved itself. Since then speed has been much much better. Meanwhile, I did some further tests with the VPS server and it all looked pretty good, so I know I can always go down that path at a later date. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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