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I've not been wholly satisfied with the rate of progress from the new hosts on file transfer and communications but work is still underway on file transfers. Once that's complete a saved version of the site(s) will be tested on the new server before restoring an up to date back up and domain direction implemented. It'll be a few days yet plus I'm out of office for two days at the beginning of next week.

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You've got to laugh, Martin. I got the dreaded double-SQL when I clicked on your link!

 

I know you guys think I'm obsessed but my limited experience with BB's suggest limiting Topic/Threads to manageable lengths is a great aid in the smooth-running of any site. The ER thread (for example) could simply be ended as Part 1 and then Part 2 started. As a contributer to ER I cannot imagine many people going back months to check on our drivel prose style anyway.....

 

Best, Pete.

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I know you guys think I'm obsessed but my limited experience with BB's suggest limiting Topic/Threads to manageable lengths is a great aid in the smooth-running of any site.

 

If the database has been well designed then the number of posts and even a lesser extent their size will have a very very tiny impact on the speed of the SQL. Of course if the database is a mess and badly designed, making too many and superfluous sql calls ...

 

Most topics die of their own natural loss of interest. Having them closed and restating as multiples of duplicate topics can be frustrating for those who follow a topic and can be fragmentatory on the forum as a whole. It also requires effort and time of a moderator to make an arbitrary decision point of closure, let alone the potential discontent on the membership at having been cut off in mid discussion.

 

Although personally, (a continuing gripe of mine) I would love to see the "My Muddled Never Ending Work Bench" type of topic split up into separate and appropriately titled topics.

 

Back on topic: Is there going to be a planned shutdown period of the forum at the "go live" point on the new servers? Specifically so that there are no lost posts between the backup and the load on the new server.

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Is there going to be a planned shutdown period of the forum at the "go live" point on the new servers? Specifically so that there are no lost posts between the backup and the load on the new server.

 

Probably but the time/date can't be determined until testing is complete.

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Kenton,

Well, we must agree to disagree. ER is the only thread I can think of where this would apply, right now (@ 27,500 replies it is unwieldy to say the least) and the likelihood of anyone wanting to check on some facts in it is negligible.

However, it is just as possible to do so when one part is closed and a new part is opened.

 

Best, Pete.

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Kenton,

Well, we must agree to disagree. ER is the only thread I can think of where this would apply, right now (@ 27,500 replies it is unwieldy to say the least) and the likelihood of anyone wanting to check on some facts in it is negligible.

However, it is just as possible to do so when one part is closed and a new part is opened.

 

Best, Pete.

 

But it is not 27,500 replies to the SQL call or to the database. We already have topics automatically split into pages. Only the number of posts to display on a single page should be being called at any one time and the caching system (if it worth its salt) should be taking care of any calls to the lower number of pages of that 2,700 so that they should not be impacting on the size of the data returned from the database. In addition the internal caching system within the SQL database and the dedicated database server will also minimise the load. This should make for a very small selection of unique calls on the database itself. In addition the Forum software should also be caching much of the site so that the html code pushed back to the user is optimised and not regenerated for the pages (or parts of pages) that are called every time.

 

When you split into parts you have no idea which part it is in. This is the problem with the long threads that cover many different real topics (rather than those that simply wander a bit) You are ten left with a search facility dependent on the user guessing the correct challenge question. If that challenge is not specific to separate topic part 1, topic part 2 ... topic part n the user is then simply presented with all of the topics and is no further forward than they would have been with one long topic.

 

In other words it doesn't improve size or speed of database, and it does not make it any easier for the user to follow - but it still presents the issues given above.

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Although personally, (a continuing gripe of mine) I would love to see the "My Muddled Never Ending Work Bench" type of topic split up into separate and appropriately titled topics.

 

Hello all,

 

having started this thread and read all the posts, some of them have nothing to do with the move to the new server, but this thread just seems like a good place to have a gripe about any thing that "may" have caused the problems and not telling us about how the move is going.

 

One thing that I have noticed from this morning is that the "hot topic" icon has now gone, no big deal to me.

 

Kenton, I will now put an opening page No. on "My Muddled Never Ending Work Bench" type of thread, but a lot of people who read these type of threads will know how to go to the last unread post in them.

 

OzzyO.

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  • RMweb Gold

Experience at my end today shows that performance is likely to be worse than normal with the transfers going on.

A little pain first, then, but with much more satisfaction to follow. I believe some men pay good money for that experience.....
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Kenton, I will now put an opening page No. on "My Muddled Never Ending Work Bench" type of thread, but a lot of people who read these type of threads will know how to go to the last unread post in them.

 

As much as the offer of that is appreciated it actually doesn't help. The problem is that titles that are changed are transient and for the entire topic. So if I knew there was a 1st class build of a 22xx on the forum, any amount of searching the forum list would not pull it up. Even if I used the "advanced" search and could remember it was your topic, finding all the relevant bits inside the many pages (ok this one started on page 1) is still difficult. There is also the problem of compliance, it is no use one adopting this and everyone else carrying on oblivious.

 

Now I do realise that some see the Forum topics as a substitute for a blog and just use them as a running commentary on kits, life and the world, but it does make it very difficult to follow when one might not be interested in "life" in general or have already read and even participated in all that side of the topic. I also see that having several topics bookmarked and on the go may be difficult for some to manage but the member who comes to the topic years down the line, or revisits, most of the "life" stuff gets in the way as much as switching from one project to another.

 

As I have acknowledged before it is impossible to impose, and that is not what I want, it is just one of those gripes I have and something I find terribly frustrating when I know the information is out there but have to trawl through many pages of current disinterest to get to that rivet/item detail which was so well illustrated.

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I switched to a long running thread when I couldn't find my own blogs unless they were on my Google 'Favourites' list. But the thread is consistent in that it only deals with the building and painting of model carriages so I hope you dont find it a trial if you happen to be looking for something specific Kenton.

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As much as the offer of that is appreciated it actually doesn't help. The problem is that titles that are changed are transient and for the entire topic. So if I knew there was a 1st class build of a 22xx on the forum, any amount of searching the forum list would not pull it up. Even if I used the "advanced" search and could remember it was your topic, finding all the relevant bits inside the many pages (ok this one started on page 1) is still difficult. There is also the problem of compliance, it is no use one adopting this and everyone else carrying on oblivious.

 

Hello Kenton,

 

I can see what you mean, but unless Andy can insert an option for an index page at the start of threads so that people like Jazz, Coachman and people like me who have long running threads can say what starts where. That apart I don't have any ideas, as I don't think that we will start a new thread for all the new builds paint job etc.

 

OzzyO.

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Hello Kenton,

 

I can see what you mean, but unless Andy can insert an option for an index page at the start of threads so that people like Jazz, Coachman and people like me who have long running threads can say what starts where. That apart I don't have any ideas, as I don't think that we will start a new thread for all the new builds paint job etc.

 

OzzyO.

 

I hate (slightly) to bring up the subject of software but the old software allowed for a title on each post, which may have helped. Especially if it could be used to group posts within a single topic (which it didn't in that version). Just think a "My Never Ending WB (or layout) Topic" that could be grouped by post titles into "22xx" or "7mm Turntable" etc.

 

Or maybe the option is already in the current software? With the Group being set up as the "My Never Ending WB (or layout) Topic" with only the Group owner being able to start new topics and then the new topics given the individual title?

 

Another route would be to add the index in say the first post but again this does nothing to help the search or return the result as focused. At least with the Group concept it would enable coachman to have his own area where he could see all his topics listed. Though it would cause a problem for the front page as groups are given too much prominence there ATM - it would look silly if everyone had a group listed in there.

 

Of course the ideal would have been easy to use and working blogs - but at the moment that remains a totally separte and disconnected world with issues of its own.

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IIRC a few of us did try something like that on the previous incarnation of RMweb. The idea was that the first post was a general introduction and whenever a new build started, the first post was edited to add a simple link to the start of the new material. Whether anyone still does this in topic threads, I don't know.

 

Nick

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Guest stuartp

Although personally, (a continuing gripe of mine) I would love to see the "My Muddled Never Ending Work Bench" type of topic split up into separate and appropriately titled topics.

 

No thanks. I've got one for locos, one for the layout and one for rolling stock, and they're hard enough to keep track of and keep updated. Having said that I used your approach on aircraft modelling sites, but on there each model was a project in itself rather than part of a greater whole. I have put an index on page 1 though.

 

Meanwhile, the transfer to the new servers appears to have worked - the SQuirreL was busy burying its nuts all over Model Rail Forum this morning:

 

IPS Driver Error

There appears to be an error with the database.

You can try to refresh the page by clicking here
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Guest jim s-w

As a contributer to ER I cannot imagine many people going back months to check on our drivel prose style anyway.....

Best, Pete.

 

Hi pete

 

My experience is different. I regularily get comments from people saying they have read my layout thread (on various forums) from start to finish and that goes back years.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

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Hi pete

 

My experience is different. I regularily get comments from people saying they have read my layout thread (on various forums) from start to finish and that goes back years.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

Jim, ER and your thread are two completely different things!!!! Have you read ER? Do we care what Bill's hamster was doing back in 2010 or what the weather was like in New York?

 

Besides starting a ER Part 2 does not eliminate the ER Part 1............................you just close it, one can still read it.

 

I don't understand the resistance to it, frankly......

 

Best, Pete.

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Really - Why don't you check out The Gear Page with 100,000 members? They limit threads to 1,000 (I think I can't remember exact number) replies before a part 2 because of performance sucking large threads in the past.

 

But, hey, thanks for being patronizing!

 

Best, Pete.

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