I DO NOT LIKE to be the one person whinging about a service that is free and extraordinarily good value but I feel I have to speak the truth.
The fact is that for me since the weekend of administrative work the boards have become MUCH slower.
Now, I live in Australia, and usually log on at the end of my work day, about 1.30 to 2.00 am in Chicago. I am used to what I think of as “antipodean service”, with almost instant connection. But suddenly it’s taking ages and ages.
I get messages saying that things have “timed out”, and pages that end halfway down with the words “typeface helvetica” in big letters and just slooow slooow connections.
I tried logging on during work (9.30pm or so Chicago time) and wow! super fast!
Is it my computer? Am I, like handy, the deca-kiloed poster, subject to inexplicable and quirky laws of physics?
Did they put all the 1.00 am hamsters onto an 8.00pm shift?
Not just you, Redboss. I’m running into the same problem; I’ve been trying to check over the boards for the last four hours, and I’m getting pretty much the same thing. Also in Australia, also usually get on with no problem in the US wee hours, but tonight I’ve been reduced to bashing my head against the wall in frustration [sub]and that hurts my brain[/sub].
Please don’t say someone’s running some humungous search routine…
Things were pretty bad for a while back there, but I figured that was while maintenance was actually still being carried out. Since the “SDMB Maintenance Complete” announcement has been made, I’ve found it pretty much smooth sailing.
Keep in mind that slow-down could also be a result of the ‘Red Alert’ virus that has been affecting some of the servers around the 'net.
I know that in my case (Minnesota connecting via Qwest DSL) the service has been irregular. Sometimes it flies, sometimes it lags. When I called Qwest technical support, they said that they were taking pre-emptive steps to the possible problems the virus may cause.
-Just a thought.
I’m in the U.S., east coast, and since the work was done on the board over the weekend it’s been flying for me whenever I check in while at work, that’d be about 8am to 4pm Chicago time. I’ve noticed some slowness later in the evening but if I recall correctly it was relatively ok last night as compared to the night or two before. And I’ve never actually timed out. Lucky me!
I’m in the US, near Chicago, and it’s running really slowly for me, too. Much slower than usual, so I doubt it’s due to my modem speed or whatever. I log on all hours of the day and night, but it’s pretty much the same always.
You want to know what its like when its working fast? I was there then. What happens is you click on a page, it loads, you click reply, that loads, you type your message & submit & that loads. No waiting at all between these things.
I’ve got the same probs as you. Since the upgrade, I’m timing out at times that used to fly for me. However I think/hope it is a Red Worm problem because it isn’t just the Straight Dope which isn’t working. Last night I couldn’t get to fathom at all, lego.com timed out, neopets was unreachable.
I suspect it is that virus, which is causing havoc all over the place.
As the fix for this particular virus makes the rounds (and more and more rebooting of servers goes on), this will be less and less of a problem.
On the board side of things, the board is actually running faster and accommodating more users than ever before; I’ve seen more than 200 signed-in users and over 50 guests at one time and the board just moves along nicely.
I don’t know what to tell you except try to be patient and hope for some clearing of this Code Red thing. Sorry for your inconvenience, there’s hardly any of us that don’t understand totally what’s going on with you and truly feel what you’re going through.
Waitamoment here… We have a thread here started by Redboss, complaining about a supposedly “unexplained” problem, which turns out to be likely due to the Code Red virus. Coincidence? I think not.
I’ll betcha you’re one of them damn Commies, too, aren’t you.
Well, I’m going for ten thousand posts… and I won’t be happy until I get there.
So, to boost my count, could I offer an inane post?
O.K… I will then… thanks.
What’s wrong with you people? Can’t you at least acknowledge me and my post that quite possibly pointed out the problem of the slow connections?
Come on, acknowledge me DAMMIT!!
Don’t make me employ some more attention getting devices…
Another Aussie confirming Redcode’s comment. When I was on the boards at (board time) 10am it was working fine. This early morning (2-3am) it has taken about 1.5 hours to get as far as this reply window, when according to the front page there were only 17 people here. Hope it’s general weirdness and we Aussies aren’t paying for the fact that for us the Boards have always been pretty quick.
