You whippersnappers… I remember the Slow Times clearly, when it could take a minute or more for a page to load, and you had to copy-and-paste every post because the chances that you’d time out and lose it were at least 50-50. And we loved it!
Let’s face it:
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There’s a problem with timing out specifically related to the Straightdope and nobody’s gonna do a damn thing about it but continue to take the subscription fee every year.
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The TPTB will continue to blame everyone and everything but the Straighdope.
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Opal, and other posters who dispute this rarely have a problem, have the fewest posts, least time spent on the Dope, etc.
Regards.
Judge me not by my post count, I don’t usually have a lot to add but I have an extremely boring job with internet access. I’m probably on the dope 7 days a week for 2-8 hours a day, during all hours. I always just assumed that it was my roadrunner/DSL connection that was keeping me from experiencing all the issues I heard everyone else gripe about. The only reason I responded to this is because An Arky said he had issues with the dope despite having a “wonderful internet connection” and I thought I would speak up to say that with very few rare exceptions I’ve never had a problem with the SDMB.
Very rarely a problem with the SDMB these days. Other boards are far worse but all tend to be intermittent and fairly seldom.
Is it just a coincidence that **Opal ** appears on the third item on your list?
I wasn’t judging, just attempting to point out that, in addition to browsing, frequency of posting would bring the timing out problem to the forefront more readily. I do think having a great internet connection helps, but I posted my impressions that there were problems with the Dope because, as I said, I post all times of day and night, on a variety of internet connections, and in personal, public and business settings.
Sapo, as you know, in addition to its mention in the rules promulgated by the The 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS), it is a Doper convention that every third, numbered item must mention Opal. 
The SDMB switched to a less reliable host in January, at least as measured by Netcraft. What in that listing indicates that the new host, NoZone, is less reliable than RackSpace? It’s not listed. RackSpace is famous for its reliability and customer service, but it’s also more pricey. You get what you pay for (I am making the assumption that the SDMB is now paying less. WebHostintgTalk is littered with offers from NoZone employees for uber-cheap hosting). You can find a post critical of NoZone, and a rebuttal from a representative here.
Actually we were slower under Rackspace; we had far more complaints. And Rackspace is the “Cadillac” of hosting companies, with prices to match.
It’s not a perfect situation now but it is better, which I think is attributable mostly to the new server. And we’re working towards improvements, if not at a pace you would like. You can take that statement at value or not.
It’s not an invitation for people to fall in here and complain; if that’s what you want to do please visit the Pit and go to, go to.
I’m afraid that’s simply incredible, unless by “always on this site” you mean that you always have a page up whose buttons you do not click.
<sigh> No.
What Opal complained about was lists of two items. So if you had a list of two items, you added “Hi, Opal!” to the list as item three.
Some posters, not understanding, would simply make item three of any list be “Hi, Opal!” These posters immediately identified themselves as Trying To Be ‘In’ When In Fact They Are Not.
Ummm, :rolleyes:.
I understand exactly how it’s used. I alsol have a sense of humor.
Ironically, since I posted this thread in a fit of pique, I haven’t had any trouble.
Perhaps next time you’re experiencing slowness, PM me and I’l post some carping diatribe and everything will be golden!
:o
I never have a problem with the SDMB these days. I think back a couple of years to the times when getting pages to load was like wading through molasses. Today it’s one of the most responsive sites that I frequent.
Responding to my own post in the interest of accuracy, to say that this is no longer true. I took several months off from the SDMB, and when I came back a month or so ago, I had excellent response times from the board. However, I think this was coincidental based on my hitting the boards at a good time, because now I’m getting lag, slow loading, and occasional timeouts. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s still significantly better than it used to be, when every single fricka-fracka time I tried to load the site, it would time out, but still, the above quoted post is not entirely true.
Anyway. Carry on.
The basic problem is that whenever server capability improves, so does usage, until the Board again reaches a just-tolerable state, at which point equilibrium sets in. Other boards that do not have this problem have already saturated their target demographic. When, eventually, we saturate our target demographic, we will also get consistently good performance.
And this will happen eventually. Assuming that our target demographic consists only of humans, it must necessarily be no larger than the population of the Earth. The UN estimates that the human population of the planet will reach a maximum of approximately 9 billion, or approximately 150,000 times the current SDMB membership. So a server with 150,000 times the capability of the current one would be able to handle such a maximally-saturated load at approximately the same level of quality as is currently found, and a server with a little more than that would handle the load at a high quality (since the load would not grow any further). Assuming that all relevant aspects of server capability continue to grow according to Moore’s Law, it will take less than 26 years before the server capability reaches this point. So no, the current slowness is not a permanent affliction.
Man, you really do take the big picture view!
It will be a tad quicker than that, as some of the population are trolls or Luddites(my cow-orkers). Nice to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Mark it on your calendars: 18 July, 2033.
Not true in my case - my experience of the board is generally an adequate-to-positive one (in terms of response time etc, anyway).
My geographical location probably does help in this - I think the period of peak activity might coincide with the time I’m driving home from work, eating dinner, putting the kids to bed etc - when I get back on the board - typically late at night here - things still seem OK.
There goes the neighborhood.
Who let the rabble in?