# New Thread on Board Performance **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 30, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442 "2014-07-30T19:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/21 "2014-08-01T10:09:03Z")
I think I posted it before but another messageboard using this version of VBBS noted a significant slowdown with long threads and capped thread length at ~500 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/22 "2014-08-01T17:44:20Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The typical knee-jerk go-to first diagnosis is “the indexes may be corrupted; must re-build.” I always wondered about that – why would a bad index slow things down? I would thing a corrupt index would simply totally break the database. However, I do understand how indexes can get slower as the data increases (has to do with keeping it “balanced” as new records are added). Re-building the indexes is supposed to fix that. \ Without knowing exactly what maintenance plans are in effect at the SDMB, I can only speak in generalities. Yes, indexes do get fragmented with usage. If the index was created with 100% fill factor, then the first time a record gets added, the page where the index key resides will split to accommodate the new key. This is not a good thing. Rebuilding will fix that fragmentation, but until the fill factor is adjusted, it will be fleeting improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/23 "2014-08-19T01:03:57Z")
Since this is apparently the new home for “zapped!” messages…I was zapped (read: last activity time immediately updated to the present) twice in a row - once last night, once today. I hadn’t been online for almost a week before that, so I don’t know if it’s actually getting worse, or just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/24 "2014-08-19T02:32:28Z")
It’s been better for me lately. Hasn’t happened in almost three weeks (knock on Formica). ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/25 "2014-08-19T08:18:18Z")
Getting zapped almost daily now. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/26 "2014-08-20T02:04:30Z")
Make that three days in a row. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/27 "2014-08-22T02:19:25Z")
I knew it was too good to last. Just got zapped for the first time in 22 days. But an interesting twist. When I first logged in, it correctly showed my last active time as 2:47pm yesterday, my time. Then I clicked on User CP to check my Subscribed Threads but immediately got one of those Internal Server Error screens. And as soon as I got away from that, my last active time was now and everything marked Read. I’ve noticed a few more Internal Server Errors lately. Could that have anything to do with it? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/28 "2014-08-22T02:45:54Z")
The last time it got bad, we experienced a general slow down of the board. Internal Server Errors could certainly be related, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/29 "2014-08-22T07:32:50Z")
And zapped again. After 22 days of no zaps, I’ve gotten it twice in one day now. Indeed, twice within five or six hours. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/30 "2014-08-24T02:33:18Z")
I’m having a terrible time with posting anything, in particular PMs (of which I’m writing a lot at the moment for fantasy football). Basically every time I want to PM someone, I’ll hit send, wait 30 seconds while nothing happens, then it again and immediately be told that I have to wait 30 more seconds to send another PM, except the PM isn’t in my ‘Sent Items’ folder. If I wait several minutes, it may or may not show up there, and in either case I have no idea if the PM actually went through. Very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/31 "2014-08-24T15:53:13Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > … > I have re-built plenty of indexes, too. At my former job, it was – wait for it – always our first knee-jerk fix when customers called in with problems. That solved the problem surprisingly often, too. We recommended re-building indexes daily, and in fact wrote that into the batch file that started the app. It only took a minute or two. > > Our in-house joke was, whenever a customer called in a problem with the app, our first knee-jerk response should always be “FDISK!” I’ve been off Microsoft forever, but isn’t FDISK a DOS command dropped long ago? (Although I understand the point.) ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/32 "2014-08-26T13:26:42Z")
‘Zapped’? I like it. The term, I mean, not the event, which seems to be happening all the damn time. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/33 "2014-08-27T01:25:39Z")
First few threads were very slow to load…then, ZAP! Zapped Again. Yawn. Not been a good day. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/34 "2014-08-27T16:59:47Z")
Glacial slow to open threads. Anyone out there care? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/35 "2014-08-28T05:26:34Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Glacial slow to open threads. > > Anyone out there care? > > Anyone? Yes indeed. I click on the ‘go to new posts’ link (unless I’ve been zapped, in which case there are **no** new posts) and the page starts to load and just hangs. I have to click on the link a second time and then the page generally does load. It’s irritating in the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/36 "2014-08-29T02:12:20Z")
Zapped again. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/37 "2014-08-29T12:52:21Z")
Everything is randomly periodically slow on the site lately. It’s been somewhat tolerable, but it’s starting to get really annoying now. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/38 "2014-08-30T00:08:32Z")
It’s running more slowly for me too. I’ve been wondering how I was so lucky to have gone 22 days without a zap recently, until I started getting zapped left and right again this week. Admin here keep saying they can’t get the problem to duplicate. I winder if the increased slowness and Internal Server Errors could have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/39 "2014-08-30T04:21:49Z")
Zapped again. But this time it’s that weird zapping in which some threads are marked Read interspersed among others that are still marked Unread. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442/40 "2014-08-30T12:29:07Z")
I see that interspersed behavior at the office, where I read SDMB without logging in. It sometimes seems like we track read/unread with cookies for unregistered accounts, but with the last activity time for registered accounts. I suppose that makes sense, since cookies are probably the only reasonable way to track unregistered people - there is no context for them in the database. And registered users might want to log in from more than one place, and cookies wouldn’t follow them. I have no idea if this is related to what happened to you, though. I’m not sure I see how that type of error could happen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-thread-on-board-performance/694442.md?page=3)