Straight Dope is a great site, but I almost never come here because this entire site moves slower than cold molasses.
I thought the problem was my computer. I ran scan after scan: Ad-aware, Spybot, HouseCall, etc.
My computer is bug-free and I have cable access.
And it still takes a page more than a minute to load.
There is a ton of fascinating stuff at this website, but it’s too aggravating waiting for pages to load.
Will this problem ever be fixed?
This message board is run by the Chicago Reader at a fair cost to them with absolutely no revenue from it. Since this is not a money-making thing for them, their interest in keeping these boards running on the fastest computers isn’t very high. They do what they can with tweaks and fixes and whatnot to keep this place running, but every server upgrade or fix that has been done in the past has simply resulted in an immediate increase in demand by us addicted users, bringing the boards right back to their original crawl.
Although it can get really annoying to have to wait for these boards, you eventually reach the point where it becomes part of the experience!
If only there was a thread of frequently asked questions about technical issues that I could read before posting a question.
I tried doing that…
…but I got bored waiting for the page to load! rimshot
Thank you! Thank you very much!
http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/sehrgrosse/large-smiley-014.gif
You mean this?
Arnold Winkelried
Administrator Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 9,110
More details on board speed/performance.
Q: Why would the server be slow even during the middle of the night (continental USA time), when hardly anybody in the USA would be on?
A: Doing a large search can cause everyone to have to wait. So if you have only a few people, each doing a large search, that can slow down all the other users.
Q: Could it be slow because of board maintenance?
A: Usually board maintenance is at the same time every night - from 03:30 to about 04:15 (Chicago, Illinois, USA time) the database is locked down so that we can capture a consistent backup. Due to the current hardware configuration the old system of modifying the status of the SDMB to present a “down for maintenance” screen is no longer in place.
Any special maintenance done by the Information Services (IS) team at the Chicago Reader office could happen unexpectedly and we (SDMB staff / posters) might not always be notified of it.
Q: Why doesn’t the Chicago Reader do anything about this?
A: This message board is not a big part of the Chicago Reader business, and they get very little revenue from it, so they don’t spend a lot of money on it.
Q: Are there any plans to make revenue from it?
A: People at the Chicago Reader are discussing possible ways to start getting revenue from the board.
Q: Would you like suggestions on how to make money from the board?
A: This has already been discussed at the SDMB multiple times, at great length, with many different types of suggestions, so forgive the staff if they don’t become actively involved in any new discussions.
Q: Oh come on, how expensive/hard can it be to beef up the SDMB server?
A: Any hardware upgrades done in the past have almost immediately been met by increased demand, and the board speed went back to its usual, not-so-fast (at peak times) self.
Q: I get a lot of enjoyment out of the SDMB and would like to contribute financially to my host in some way.
A: You can always Buy Straight Dope Stuff. If you already own all the Straight Dope items, you could buy some more and give them away to friends / local libraries / high schools etc.
Aw, we can’t use other peoples’ smilies? :mad:
Okay, thanks for the info. I guess I’ll just keep two IE windows open, and work in the 2nd one while Straight Dope is loading.
“More than a minute to load”? Try 4, 5, 6 or more minutes. The “upgrade” a few weeks ago has made the board consistently slower than at any time over the last couple of years (for me, anyway). As a veteran end user of many systems that have undergone “upgrades”, this one has possibly had the most negative impact. The “more traffic” explanation simply doesn’t make sense–was there suddenly a huge increase of users on the day after the new format was loaded?
I love coming here–I think it’s one of the more dynamic and wide-ranging places to catch people’s ideas, but I see myself spending less and less time waiting for it. Guess that’ll be more bandwidth for the everyone else… 