# How about a State of the Message Board? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 16, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389 "2006-12-16T11:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/1 "2006-12-16T11:20:53Z")
This was posted alllllll the way back in 04’. I found it after I had the same idea this morning and did a search to see if this had been addressed before: [QUOTE=kunilou] It’s the start of a new year, we’ve been on the subscription model long enough to see if it’s working, and I for one would like to know how things are going. Perhaps Little Ed or one of his subodinates could give us an update. How many paid subscribers do we have? How many signed up after the initial period? How much bandwidth are we using and how much capacity do we have? Stuff like that. [/QUOTE] It was never officially addressed. In fact, there was only one reply and it was some member chiming in to say “good idea”! You guys seem to be very good at replying to questions about the board when asked nowadays, so I figured I would just bring this back up. So, has there ever been an official thought about having a yearly board update? Or is this forum just kind of considered the ‘fluid’ equivilant of one where questions and concerns are resolved/answered all year around? ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/2 "2006-12-16T14:14:17Z")
Good idea. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/3 "2006-12-16T19:38:48Z")
On the site I run (“On the site I run” is starting to become a cliche, I know), I just started to post monthly indicators such as members, number of posts monthly and daily, estimated date of Big Boards attainment (500,000 posts), unique visits, ranks from Google and Quantcast, and so on. Members are really interested in the stats, and they offer indicators of the site’s overall health and direction. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/4 "2006-12-19T10:19:35Z")
I free bump. ::nudge nudge:: ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/5 "2006-12-19T14:06:01Z")
This is a great idea! I would also suggest a time series report, how many members joined each year, so we could see attrition of membership from previous years or how membership is accelerating through time. ---
**Author:** ![jdavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jdavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jdavis)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/6 "2006-12-19T16:03:54Z")
The state of the message board is good. Subscriptions are continuing. Ads are supplementing subscription revenue. Expenses are manageable. A new server is about to be brought online to address performance issues and allow for growth. In short the Chicago Reader is investing in the SDMB and plans to continue doing so. While I understand the desire to ask for more specifics I’m not going to be give out more detailed information. Sorry. I hope you can gauge how the board is fairing from the above broad strokes statement. Things are good and continuing. Jerry ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/7 "2006-12-19T16:25:42Z")
[QUOTE=jdavis] In short the Chicago Reader is investing in the SDMB and plans to continue doing so. [/QUOTE] Cool! We’re no longer that nasty red-headed step-child living under the stairs! This calls for my favorite Project Song: Eff You! En Dee Eye En Gee! We got funding, we got funding! Yeah! Yeah! ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/8 "2006-12-19T18:19:46Z")
A new server??? ::morinic - er, moronic moose breaks into Snoopy Dance, slips on walnut shells left by inconsiderate roomie, breaks antler, spends six weeks convalescing, but declares it worth it:: ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/9 "2006-12-19T20:22:03Z")
Aha. A new server, eh? I remember hearing this was due about 2 months ago… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/10 "2006-12-20T00:31:18Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Aha. A new server, eh? I remember hearing this was due about 2 months ago… :eek: [/QUOTE] I suppose a State of the Message Board Address was bound to be followed by the opposition response. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/11 "2006-12-20T03:58:34Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Aha. A new server, eh? I remember hearing this was due about 2 months ago… :eek: [/QUOTE] **2 months ago**? Ha, if only. > **[Fucking Board Speed](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=368272)** > > God Damn board is acting like ASS!!! Who should I pit? The country-ass Georgia internet pipe? Or the board’s server? Please tell me, because one of them is being a serious fucking dildo!!! > [@Ed Zotti](#): > > Jerry says he’s going to upgrade the server when he gets back from vacation, which I think is **sometime next week.** Bolding mine. That was on 04-22-2006, 10:10 PM(GMT) I asked > [@](#): > > If I may ask though, what kinda upgrade? Hardware, Software or OS? The reply was > [@](#): > > Possibly all three. I defer to Jerry on such matters, but the tentative plan was to split the load between two servers, one to run the database and the other to handle the front end. We’re a few releases behind on the vB software; Jerry is conservative about such things but last I heard was contemplating an upgrade. He favors FreeBSD as the OS; not sure if that’s a change or not. Business as usual…Oh look over there, something shiny. :rolleyes: Remember those things that couldn’t be talked about in detail but would make signing up again even more worth it that **tubadiva** talked about. Same same. Buzzwords and bullshit, nothing to see here, move on… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/12 "2006-12-20T04:02:21Z")
I’ll add, if the load was actually spread over two servers then you need to look at what you did as the the board is running like a pig. Sometimes it’s grand but there are time out quite regulary. If the content of the board wasn’t so worth reading you’d be dead. People are working around this shit, not with it. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/13 "2006-12-22T14:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=yojimbo] I’ll add, if the load was actually spread over two servers then you need to look at what you did as the the board is running like a pig. Sometimes it’s grand but there are time out quite regularly. If the content of the board wasn’t so worth reading you’d be dead. People are working around this shit, not with it. [/QUOTE] It’s been said before, and probably will be again. However I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that we’ll get a new server soon and it’ll fix the problem. I have noticed that the board has been a lot slower over the last few days – holidays I guess. If fact the only thing I’m **really** worried about is the missing threads. We’ve been offloading old threads to keep the database running for a while now. The official line has been “We’ll look into restoring them when we get the new server. No promises.” In other words, the usual. Hopefully the new server will at least solve the problem and halt the cull but I’m not sure we’ll ever see the older posts again (but I could be wrong). It annoys me but there some good interesting stuff missing now and other stuff going soon. But the copyright policy of the board prevents me (legally) archiving the threads myself and they’re not archived anywhere else (i.e. Google cache or in the Internet Archive) as the board is closed to bots. Like you said it’s the contents of the board that keeps people coming back – it’s just a shame that part of that is melting away. SD ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/14 "2006-12-24T01:50:33Z")
[QUOTE=SpaceDog] Like you said it’s the contents of the board that keeps people coming back – it’s just a shame that part of that is melting away. [/QUOTE] I feel the same way. Technically it will be very difficult to get old messages back; it may involve merging portions of tens of old database backup files, and it’s not a simple copy-and-paste operation. I went through a lot to convert mid-1990s-era messages from an ancient message board format (WWWBoard) to vBulletin, just to preserve old posts from the earliest days of my site. Is SDMB management willing to do the work that is needed to extract the old posts from backups and merge them into the existing database? I hope it won’t be another “low priority” operation as with what seems like everything else SDMB-related. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-a-state-of-the-message-board/384389/15 "2006-12-27T21:34:49Z")
This is a first for me. I have never been part of any of the threads complaining about board performance in the 7 years I have been here. Enough is enough, though. This is by far the worst-performing mainstream board that I know of. It will drive people away, if it has not already. It\*s been going on far too long. Also, I have to assume that one of the goals of the Reader in having the SDMB is the intangible goodwill and increased reputation it gains from being associated with a well-run, successful, useful site. The continued problems undercut that to a significant degree.