We need a mirror site for subscribers

[Drewsworld]

DW
I dont want to start a flame with you.
But I dont understand your vehement opposition...I think Im missing the principal behind it...Nothings really free any more... I think there are certain things that are worth it...I would even say (after seeing a recipe on ebay for eliquid for sale for $2.95) that someone could easily make that up on their first purchase of an ecig...How many people have you seen intro themselves by saying I just payed XYZ Co. $150 for a DSE 901 that ABC co. is advertising on here for $49.95...I also agree with Lu's point #3 that it would force credability to register a credit card...Again NOT FLAMING DW, just my 4 cents

 

[dumwaldo]

Forcing people to pay in order to post would kill this forum and promote the hell out of another e-cig forum. In the end it would punish the sellers that put in the most money because it would drive away the audience that they benefit from.

I think we have gotten far from the intent of this thread and that was asking for an added benefit for those of us that did pay, not finding ways to reduce the numbers of people that don't pay.

There is certainly enough money going into the site that a private mirror site would not cost an extravagant amount of money.

DW

 

[rsngfrce]

Its irrelevant whether the site is worth paying for, the fact is that REQUIRING payment WILL prevent many people from using the site... this is the real world here we are talking about. What if that person is the one who discovers HOW to really clean an atomizer? I have seen MANY amazing quality posts from new users that would probably be lost if payment was REQUIRED.

Let's not forget that this is an e-cig forum, not a social forum (despite what some seem to think, IMO). Having non e-cig related discussions is fun and is a benefit to the forum overall, but don't forget the ultimate purpose here, there are social forums elsewhere.

In my opinion, paying for membership here is worthwhile if only because it gets rid of the advertising!

I, being e-dicted to the forum, also begin to get the shakes when I get the "server busy" message, but the point seems to be moot... SJ has said in the past when questioned about this that he has PLENTY of bandwith so the question is... why are we actually getting the server busy message?

 

[mamu]

What about a one shot payment for new members...say $5 to join the forum?

Excellent ideas Lu. I think right now it's $2/month or $20/year.

Peaple can lurk... but have to pay to play!

 

[dohsma]

My opinion... for what it's worth. At this point I realize the value of ecf, but if the first day I visited the forum and saw that there was a $5 sign up fee to post I probably would have looked for a different source of information.

 

[CellWho]

I don't think it's a bandwidth issue, as there is a response from the server it just says it's too busy to handle. Generally when this happens it's either CPU, memory, or database. If the logs aren't showing any issues, I would check for database locks, available connection in the database connection pool, sustained CPU utilization, and memory utilization.

I would engage the hosting and explain the problem. Work with them, ask the right questions, run some testing, isolate the problem and throw money at it to resolve the situation long term.

Who knows, maybe it is a bandwidth issue and they are just having some problems with the traffic shaping.

 

[dumwaldo]

It happens EVERY day. That just makes me super glad I paid to help support the site.

DW

 

[Drewsworld]

Now if everyone was as generous as you, we wouldnt have that...And if it cost a dollar there wouldnt be as many spammers and other trolls because they would have to register an address and CC...Seriously though, Iread your above post and you made your point, but I still think accountability and support is important...Keep up the good work

 

[Kimpetuous]

Speaking as a forum user, and not a moderator: I think a solution would be to allow 'free' users to read, but only supporting members to post. It would certainly cut down the spam. It also might encourage use of the 'search' function.

As long as we are making suggestions....the search function can be lame. You can't search for VG, PG or 510 because it is too short or too common or whatever.

I realize there are sub forums dedicated to some of these topics, but when I want to do a quick search on VG, it's impossible. I could search for vegetable glycerin but that's not how people refer to it in the majority of posts.

If there's a better way to use the search function, someone please tell me!!

 

[Oliver]

Hi all -

Whoa, before things kick off I'd better state that there is no way that we will start charging individuals to access the forum.

I also want to thank everybody who gives me technical advice - it's very useful indeed and shall definitely be taken on board. Those who have posited that it's a server issue rather than bandwidth are absolutely correct - I did upgrade the server a few weeks back, but it looks that either it wasn't enough, or the settings aren't quite right.

Here's what's going to happen - I shall be working on tweaking server settings, installing new caching systems etc over the next few days. We'll run that and see whether we get the requisite improvements.

If, however, there is no difference, I will happily have the ISP install another server - that's not a cost issue, since it pales compared with the bandwidth charges - the issue is the time it takes to do the configuration changes.

Unfortunately I cannot change to a different ISP until next January at the earliest - but that said, I'm not sure that I'd want to - the current ISP may be expensive, but the technical support is superb and I couldn't run this place without it.

I'm really sorry about the loss of service, and I promise to get everything back on track asap. Please bear with me!!

 

[dumwaldo]

Thank you Sj for letting me know I am not talking to a wall. I appreciate you letting me know you are indeed concerned about it and are actively working to find a solution that is amicable for all involved.

DW

 

[CellWho]

I'm glad you are working on the issues, and I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Do you just pay for rack space and bandwidth or does the ISP actually host the service? If ISP hosts the service then you must have an SLA in place and they should be monitoring the server for CPU, hard disk, and memory utililization which should include automated alerts for specified thresh holds (you should be included on those alerts). Generally speaking running a forum on a server is fairly light on server resources. Without looking at the logs, it is hard to tell, but my gut feeling is it is probably an issue with the DB connection pool. It may be as simple us upping the limit on the DB pool or upping the concurrent connections on Tomcat/Apache

Without having monitoring in place, you have no way of knowing if a new server would resolve your issues. I have a feeling that it's not the server hardware. If for whatever reason you decide to migrate to a new server, moving the site and DB shouldn't be a difficult task and should only take an hour or two.

Feel free to PM me if you have any question and if I can help in this process.

Hope you get it straightened out without to much more frustration.

Hi all -

Whoa, before things kick off I'd better state that there is no way that we will start charging individuals to access the forum.

I also want to thank everybody who gives me technical advice - it's very useful indeed and shall definitely be taken on board. Those who have posited that it's a server issue rather than bandwidth are absolutely correct - I did upgrade the server a few weeks back, but it looks that either it wasn't enough, or the settings aren't quite right.

Here's what's going to happen - I shall be working on tweaking server settings, installing new caching systems etc over the next few days. We'll run that and see whether we get the requisite improvements.

If, however, there is no difference, I will happily have the ISP install another server - that's not a cost issue, since it pales compared with the bandwidth charges - the issue is the time it takes to do the configuration changes.

Unfortunately I cannot change to a different ISP until next January at the earliest - but that said, I'm not sure that I'd want to - the current ISP may be expensive, but the technical support is superb and I couldn't run this place without it.

I'm really sorry about the loss of service, and I promise to get everything back on track asap. Please bear with me!!

 

[Drewsworld]

Sj, Thanks for the news..I too am willing to help in any way I can, but I am exspensive...I charge 100 usd and hour..Unfortunatley I have not been able to post a pm or get my mouse to work properly for 3 days...So I will probably be un available until March 2013...If you require any services before that please see CellWho...In the mean time I will be talking to my freind Mr. Bucket as he is a better listener than DW...Thanks again
Drew

 

[Oliver]

Thanks again for your suggestions. I've spent an hour chatting with the technicians and it seems that an upgrade is in order. I will try to get this done over the weekend, but I can't make any promises.

 

[Slea]

As long as we are making suggestions....the search function can be lame. You can't search for VG, PG or 510 because it is too short or too common or whatever.

I realize there are sub forums dedicated to some of these topics, but when I want to do a quick search on VG, it's impossible. I could search for vegetable glycerin but that's not how people refer to it in the majority of posts.

If there's a better way to use the search function, someone please tell me!!

Yeah, Google:

site:e-cigarette-forum.com search terms here

Okay, not quite the answer you were looking for, but it's what I started doing when I was looking for info on the EVO (too short, of course.)

 

[lordmage]

also what some of us fail to remember is with an entity as big as ECF and Google their maybe communication issues when Google comes to crawl us or even any big search provider who uses a automatic scan method which will of coarse slow things down to a brick wall but i hope the upgrades help with that. i can only imagine the headache and phone calls my prayers are always with SJ and ECF