Since the optimization helped, what about doing it regularly (weekly, monthly, quarterly)? Perhaps at least until the whole thing can be migrated to new message board software with a new database configuration.
I should say I deeply appreciate all the comments, especially from people with knowledge of the message board software. I’m learning from you and it’s all much needed.
We really are all singing off the same page here, from management on down. Everybody wants a better experience and is ready to do what it takes to get us there within the confines of what is available in resources and budget. You can help get us there; you may be able to have actual buy-in to better outcomes. This is the community you built and it seems appropriate that you are here to take us forward as well.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
Since it has proven (so far) to be effective I would think it would be a tool for future consideration as needed. Hope we don’t need it but we do seem to have something useful here.
As to whether it would be a routine part of our scheduled vB system sweeps, I don’t know if it works like that or if it would be appropriate. I do know it’s not an automated or scheduled procedure; an actual person has to be available to run it and check it. That by its nature puts this fix in a different category than the usual maintenance duties. It costs us extra, among other things, for the extra effort and time.
But we know it worked this time and may work again if needed and that is something we didn’t have 24 hours ago.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
I simply can’t thank you enough for all the information, Tuba Diva. I started this thread in deep frustration, not only from the issues but also from the dearth of information. It’s amazing how much simply knowing what’s going on alleviates all that.
I’m impressed by and grateful for the Sun Times’ commitment to this site, which, as we all know, isn’t exactly lucrative.
Please continue to keep us in the loop.
Thanks, nelliebly.
It is also my hope that with a better platform we’ll keep the current users happy, attract new users, and even maybe coax some of our old Dopers to come back in.
We’re not trying to keep you in the dark. Sometimes there is no information because we don’t yet know fully what is going on or how to resolve an issue right away. This is especially true when there’s a situation that involves different people and places and it’s not like I can round all these cats up and get the continuing story out of them.
TPTB also have a newspaper to put out every day, with all the time and attention that takes. Not that they like the paper and hate us – it’s not personal at all, even – it’s that the paper is, say, the big meat on the plate and the SD is a side dish. We all want a complete meal but tasty as it might be your main focus is not on the sides. 
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
That was my feeling too–that knowing what’s going on helps. Many thanks for the information, Tuba; and I’ll note that things are working much more smoothly for me today, so please pass along my thanks to whoever was working on it.
Perhaps she frightened her IT department, as things are clicking right along today. No spinning wheels, no time outs.
It happened on my board when I scrapped vBulletin 4. It’s not like it’s 2005 again, but posting activity and traffic went up, and a lot of users we haven’t seen in a while came back. The board runs a LOT faster, too. New member numbers stayed about the same, though. (Facebook groups and a subreddit in the same subject area stole a lot of my site’s thunder.) Nobody complained about the switchover; the reaction was very positive.
Some Dopers will probably complain. The learning curve of a new message board system isn’t that steep, but your muscle memory will need a week or two to adjust, especially for admin/moderation functions.
Color mine.
This if you can afford it folks. 
Upgrading the software makes sense. Although I’m a little skeptical about attracting previous posters and members back in with faster and better software (how many people really left because of that, at least up to the last 3 months or so?), at least the board would be able to keep current posters like me who have been about fed up, and for new ones who stop by to see what we are, they won’t be turned off by timeouts and error messages.
I’m already a paid member, and I don’t know about giving money to a business. I understand they’re losing money. If they started making money from this board, where would it go? I also appreciate that they value the Straight Dope and want it to continue, but I’ve worked for newspapers all my life, and it’s the rare paper (or parent company) that can afford to carry a money-losing proposition for very long.
If they could spin off the Straight Dope into a non-profit, so maybe contributions could be deductible, I’d definitely be a lot more willing.
One thing that may help the board’s viability is to make a greater connection to the paper. Maybe there are things that will drive traffic to the paper’s website. Perhaps have a clickable headline or two at the top of the board which takes people those articles. That way they can attribute some of the paper’s traffic to the board and the board won’t have to live or die based on it’s own revenue.
That’s what’s happening to the Reader, you know; it’s becoming a nonprofit. Apparently they have a better chance of staying around getting grants and donations and such as a nonprofit than they do in the commercial world. And of course old style dead tree publishing has been circling the drain for some time now; you hear about papers closing up shop all the time these days.
The Sun-Times is bucking that trend by continuing to fight for survival, to continuing to publish an actual buy it on the street paper paper. They’re also promoting their digital side as well; they’re reaching out to new markets and partnering with other companies to offer things they think people might like. I appreciate their fighting spirit and hope this pays off for them; it is truly a great battle as much as it is the triumph of hope over experience.
It’s easy to be cynical and pessimistic; the strength of optimism can take you so different places maybe. At least you tried. I can live with that.
And they want to carry us too. I hope we can fight alongside them. It IS a business and we can’t lose sight of that. It’s also kind of a heroic quest; we’re tilting at the windmill. Smart money sez publishing is dead meat. They might well be right but we’re gonna do this just the same.
It is impossible to predict the future, so difficult to tell what might be where TSD ultimately goes. This is the path chosen so far and I’m determined to run down it as hard and as fast as I can for the greater benefit of this joint. It is our handbasket here and we may be on the way to hell, going directly to hell, do not pass GO, do not collect $200 but like the Sun-Times, all we can do is try.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
I’m pushing that too.
I think they have been hesitant to link to us too obviously mostly not wanting to offend potential advertisers who don’t really want to see their product featured alongside questions like “what’s the calorie count of sperm?” We may up ultimately putting some of the more robust content behind a screen or something so people can be advised straight up they’re going to something that might be NSFW or that might be a shock to the system or inappropriate for children.
A lot of the stuff that was okay for the alternative newspaper world is often considered to be insensitive or even offensive in today’s society. We didn’t change but the culture did. The Sun-Times has to be sensitive to that.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
I don’t have much money, but I’d gladly donate. Yes, the Sun Times is a business, but it’s a business that believes in this place, and at a financial loss. If there’s a way to make that more doable for them, I’m all for it.
I just read the thread; thank you, TubaDiva for such patient, detailed posts. Information does more to soothe than even music.
Jenny, if users want to “donate” to the SDMB, is there any way they can buy advertising? It might be something to consider for “SDMB 5.0”.
My bad. I confused Discourse with Discord, which a lot of subreddits use for chat. I’m still not a huge fan of the Discourse/Vanilla format, where the front page is a list of the most recently updated threads from the start, and subforums are in the form of thread category tags; the same concept as the new posts page on vBulletin/XenForo/IPB/etc. It’s not easy to install. There’s not the same number of plugins. It would involve a big shift in tech, too – from PHP scripts and a MySQL database to Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL.
Discourse is pretty horrible. There’s no nesting option and it’s continuous scroll. Worst of all is that so very many of its internal functions are governed by number of likes received. It’s not for us unless there’s no other choice.
The Steve Hoffman Music Forum, which seems to get a lot of traffic* uses XenForo 2 and they don’t have slowdowns like we’ve had here,
*Discussions:739,242 / Messages:22,338,583 / Members:90,280
why did it take almost 3 months to figure out the fix?