[QUOTE=What Exit?]
A charter member with over 2000 posts and a memorable name.
Did you use to go by another name or have you barely posted for two year after posting a lot? 
[/QUOTE]
I used to be under my real name, Dominic Mulligan.
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party]
I used to be under my real name, Dominic Mulligan.
[/QUOTE]
Now that name I recognize. I was surprised to see a name I didn’t recognize with your post count and start date. I like the change, it should be easy to remember, but what is it in reference to?
[QUOTE=GomiBoy]
Guess reading ain’t one of your strong suits. Oh well, should have known better
[/QUOTE]
GomiBoy, you obviously weren’t trying to falsely attribute something, but one of our rules is that you can’t alter quotes attributed to other users. Please don’t do this again.
[QUOTE=flyboy]
Gomi, you and Lobsang are really giving Brits a bad name today. Maybe you two should take a little time out or something.
[/QUOTE]
Hey I took a time out yesterday. Heck I can’t even remember if I was in any in need of a ‘time out’. I am only reading this thread now becasuse of the sudden explosion of new posts in it.
I started a reasonable pitting of the climate of moaning here on the SDMB and I stuck with it to defend my position. In parts I may have took offence to a few people who took cheap shots at me. I didn’t take any cheap shots at any individual, only called the sdmb a bunch of complainers at best.
It seems like I have touched a few nerves.. the responses to this thread seem to have proved me right to some degree…
And on the other side of the coin, other responses have given me food for thought, that maybe the Powers That Be just might not be giving this the full attention that I first gave them credit for… though I am only taking a few doper’s word for that… From what I’ve seen of the vocal of the staff they do NOT seem like a neglectful bunch.. they have always explained the situation in a way that makes sense. I made a decision to defend these thankless people from all petty moaning.
I’m definitely beginning to believe that the “Let’s all be thankful for all they do for us and not bitch so much” mindset is what has led us here, and it won’t get any better.
I’m really bad with numbers, but I’m coming up with an intake of around $840,000 per year for our dues*. That’s not incuding ad revenue. I don’t think they’ll ever supply any kind of breakdown as to where our money is going, so I can’t help thinking we’re seriously getting fleeced. Anyone have any idea how much it takes annually to update and maintain a database this size (to include all overhead)?
- (74816 members, I’m guessing half of which are charters, so 74816*11.25 (average dues)=$841680)
Flyboy, everyone who has ever registered here is a “member” in that 74k. The paying subscribers are a pretty substantial group I bet - but nowhere in the same universe as 74,000.
[QUOTE=Slacker]
Flyboy, everyone who has ever registered here is a “member” in that 74k. The paying subscribers are a pretty substantial group I bet - but nowhere in the same universe as 74,000.
[/QUOTE]
That’s correct. Ed has said in the past that the number of active posters at any given time is around 2500. Active was defined as something like having posted at least once in the past 30 days. Beyond that, I have no idea how to do the math. Active posters can be Charter Members, Members or unpaid Guests. Also, there are “inactive” posters who still pay a membership fee but rarely post.
Ouch. That sucks. But I’d still be interested to know whether we’re covering the costs of running this thing.
[QUOTE=flyboy]
Ouch. That sucks. But I’d still be interested to know whether we’re covering the costs of running this thing.
[/QUOTE]
We have membership, Google Ads and for guests banner ads.
I tried to work the math a few years ago, but I don’t feel like doing it again and I can’t search for it at the moment.
Jim
C’mon, people. The recent board issues are nothing compared to server problems in the past. Run a search and you’ll see…oh, wait.
[QUOTE=ivylass]
Not quite. I posted in the other Pit thread about this because I am fed up with the problem. The loss of our ability to search, supposedly a perk because we are paying customers, was the final straw.
We have been patient. This latest issue has finally pushed some of us over the edge.
[/QUOTE]
Exactly how I feel. They have had years to fix this persisting problem. When are they going to say “Well, we’ve tried lots of other things, it says that upgrading the VBulletin software will resolve database search problems, it won’t hurt to try it.” and DO IT!? I didn’t get a Greendot card so I could pay to renew my subscription to keep my Charter Member title, I paid up so I could be able to search and edit my posts. 
:smack:
[QUOTE=Lobsang]
Well, no (but it’s your choice I guess), because there are more important things in life, and they have made the decision (on a temporary basis) for a good reason… Not out of malice or that they have anything against you.
And what’s the ‘fee’ 12 quid a… YEAR!
[/QUOTE]
This is the same shitty attitude we’ve gotten in the past, and I refuse to accept such from another poster. I’ve been angered about the board outages and the lessening of the search capability all along. I’ve just mostly kept it to myself. But, I have to say THIS IS BULLSHIT! If a problem has persisted for YEARS and you’ve tried everything else, WHY THEN DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO KNOW A THING OR TWO AND UPDATE THE GODDAMNED VBULLETIN SOFTWARE?! There is no excuse for continuing to ignore this suggestion, it was made a long time ago by techies trying to help. Throw away your pride Jerry, and try the suggestion! Damn! ETA: Or at least come clean and say “I haven’t been able to convince my bosses to part with the money to update our version of the software, I’ve tried for years and they won’t go for the idea that it is worth a try, I must have proof that it will work.” That I could see, and I’d be angry at your dummy stingy bosses.
This post from the Dope Server Issues thread sums up what many of us can see very tidily. :mad: :mad: :mad:
[QUOTE=Hogwash]
I’ve recently installed Ubuntu Linux, and I’ve wandered over to their boards a couple of times. They’re running vBulletin, same as here, only the latest version. Here are the stats:
Threads: 708,751, Posts: 4,527,132, Members: 530,483
Now, over there, you can search even if you haven’t registered (which, as it happens, costs absolutely zip). And, get this, you only need to wait 15 seconds between searches. So, if you factor in the number of registered users, plus thousands upon thousands of guests (there must be a load of Ubuntu noobs using the search function to find solutions to their problems) and the 15 second interval, that database must be getting slammed like Paris Hilton. But it fucking works. It never took more than a couple of seconds for my search results to appear (some queries returned 15 pages’ worth).
So, let’s contrast that with the SDMB, shall we?
Threads: 368,229, Posts: 8,134,684, Members: 74,797
Granted, there are more overall posts in the database (although fewer total threads), but the key factor is that there’s only a fraction of the members capable of searching compared to the above forum. When you consider only paid members can search, and that many of the 75,000 members are inactive, the actual workload for the database is pretty small. At least, not big enough to justify limits of two fucking minutes.
<snip>
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Zabali_Clawbane]
Or at least come clean and say “I haven’t been able to convince my bosses to part with the money to update our version of the software, I’ve tried for years and they won’t go for the idea that it is worth a try, I must have proof that it will work.” That I could see, and I’d be angry at your dummy stingy bosses.
[/QUOTE]
So Jerry should throw his boss under the bus so you can feel better in your righteous indignation? Why should Jerry put your feelings above his own job security? Sometimes you people just don’t think before you just blurt out whatever is stuck in your craw.
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
So Jerry should throw his boss under the bus so you can feel better in your righteous indignation? Why should Jerry put your feelings above his own job security? Sometimes you people just don’t think before you just blurt out whatever is stuck in your craw.
[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, like Jerry’s boss bothers to read anything here. :rolleyes: (Fucker probably doesn’t even know what the internet is.)
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
So Jerry should throw his boss under the bus so you can feel better in your righteous indignation? Why should Jerry put your feelings above his own job security? Sometimes you people just don’t think before you just blurt out whatever is stuck in your craw.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I realize that if that is the case, Jerry probably won’t be forthcoming with that information. HOWEVER, I wanted to make the point “You’re not fooling anyone, we can see what is going on!” because perhaps that can be leverage to get the outdated board software updated. You misjudged me. 