Maybe this belongs in “About the Message Board” but since it is a complaint, I guess it belongs here.
I left this board about a year ago to take care of some real life business. When I left, this was one of the nicer looking sites on the web and the speed was no worse than most others. Now I return to find it to be the slowest and least reliable site on the web. Not only that, but the design and layout is a jumble of different hues of blue that make me want to jump off the roof.
My point: I left this message board in the same pristine condition I found it in. I leave for a little while and when I come back I find that someone has screwed it all up (Picture an Indian with a tear running down his cheek.)
My question: Is this a permanent condition and if not, what can be done to put it back the way it was?
Also: Why the need for three moderators in this forum? When I was here last, this was pretty much the “anything goes” forum.
The same answer for both questions: more posters. Waaay more posters.
We have a burnt-out tech staff that is constantly tweaking the various aspects of this board so that you can even access this forum to bitch about how slow it is. Our server is running at max capacity as it is.
What can I say, Elmer? You can never go home again.
0 replies, 0 views. Apparently you didn’t even want to look at your own post, huh? Was it that much of an eye sore? Did you type it blindfolded? Maybe a color blind monkey butler moved the mouse for you to click after you were done.
I make sure never to post after labor day wearing white. I use only the freshest words and the leanest cuts of grammar. My posts are 99.44% pure and I love what it does for me. I am Miss Manners. Scratch that. Miss Manners is Miss Manners (third person and all(hey, as an aside, ever wonder what Miss Manners screams out during sex?)). We as the mannerly collective feel that the Straight Dope Message Board (Acronyms are fubar) has done its duty to God and its country and has obeyed the law of the pack.
So while the Straight Dope Message Board might certainly be crappy, it is by no means slow. There is enough caffeine running through these posts and posters to make an electrically charged pomeranian on ritalin look like a three toed, one legged sloth after ODing valium. Hmmm…that was just way too long of an analogy to possibly be funny.
And Alpha’s right- the main reason for the slowness at times is that we’re just too damn popular for our servers to keep pace. That’s also the reason for the new look- we transferred to software that could handle the board better (you think it’s slow now? Imagine this traffic on UBB. Gaaah).
Whoa boy! Have you missed a lot! The whole shebang went straight down the shitter right after we had to ban that Ed Zotti character. We never guessed until it was too late that he was really the hamster in the wheel of the SDMB. Ah well.
On the up side, we’ve got sub- and super-scripts now. So there.
I’ve heard of the sheep thing (shudder!) and my imagination (if not other parts of my being) is flexable enough to figure out what one might do with a pen, however, I do think you’re probably thinking of someone else.
You think this is bad? You missed how it was right before the upgrade - the boards were crashing daily and it was virtually impossible to post. Then they were down for a period of days, causing some pretty severe cases of withdrawal. I personally was forced to go do something useful. It was horrible!
That’s the problem right there. We need a better server. And since the Reader is lax about forking over cash to upgrade it, why don’t we hold a fund drive on the boards to raise cash for an awesome server. I’ve suggested this before, but it still seems like a good idea. Quite often, for the past few weeks during the middle part of the day, I haven’t even been able to access the boards yet alone post because the server is so run down. I’m not one who likes to complain but we need a server that can handle larger loads than this one. It’s like we have a 100-ton-truck-trailer being towed by a-rope-attached-to-a-pinto.
Silo, you’ve brought it up, I’ve brought it up, Anth has brought it up…why the HELL doesn’t the admins/the Reader want us to help out? Yes, I’m starting to get pissed. We’ve offered to send money to get a better server. Hell, I’d fucking send $100. So would a hell of a lot of people here. Either take us up on it, or QUIT FUCKING WHINING ABOUT THE SERVER.
Silo, check out ATMB. There is a whole thread about donating money. I’d post a link, but I’m at work and sneaking. Can’t have too many Straight Dope windows open when you’re sneaking.