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We are back again
jacko - 8/4/21 at 07:51 PM

Thank god I missed it

[Edited on 8/4/21 by jacko]

watsonpj - 8/4/21 at 09:05 PM

Phew I was sure that was it this time

roadrunner - 8/4/21 at 09:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by watsonpj
Phew I was sure that was it this time


Me too.
Was just about to light the cigar. ;-0

rayward - 8/4/21 at 10:36 PM

yep thought that was game over this time !!

snapper - 9/4/21 at 05:00 AM

Something needs to be done about this, their are a lot of people who regularly subscribe.
This is a hugely valuable resource that would be hugely missed.

Bluemoon - 9/4/21 at 07:58 AM

Glad it's back! To much valuable information on here.

MagicalTrevor - 9/4/21 at 11:48 AM

quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Something needs to be done about this, their are a lot of people who regularly subscribe.
This is a hugely valuable resource that would be hugely missed.


Won't get another penny out of me. I've even offered advice about why it's happening and have been ignored.

James - 9/4/21 at 01:14 PM

Glad we're back- hope you guys are well!

craig1410 - 9/4/21 at 03:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MagicalTrevor
quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Something needs to be done about this, their are a lot of people who regularly subscribe.
This is a hugely valuable resource that would be hugely missed.


Won't get another penny out of me. I've even offered advice about why it's happening and have been ignored.


Chris knows what's wrong as he described in the website feedback forum. Quoted below.

quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
The site isn't going anywhere, don't panic! I've kept it alive this long I am not about to let it die now. I just don't check in here regularly at the moment (combination of my business going crazy and not having time to play with cars) so I rely on someone giving me a nudge if it falls over.

Condensed version of the problem is that the server the site runs on is around 10 years old now and showing its age. My intention is to virtualise it as is the current way and run it in my private cloud at Creslow Park, but with the business going through the roof I am currently out of RAM in that cloud and, although I have plenty of CPU power available, all my hypervisors are up to their maximum RAM.

So long and short of it is I need to buy some more hardware and add it to the cluster at which point I can move the site over. It's just finding time to do it that is the issue!

BTW don't email me on my LB address; I've not checked it for years. Also U2U's here are not a great idea as I get so many things just get lost in the noise. Most of the site elders (am I allowed to call you that?) know how to get hold of me and can get a message to me if urgent.

Cheers, Chris


[Edited on 9/4/2021 by craig1410]

Mr Whippy - 9/4/21 at 06:47 PM

I dread to think what the electric bill has come to after all these years for running the site... It's an amazing effort by Chris to keep it all going this long

coyoteboy - 9/4/21 at 09:58 PM

Sigh. I couldn't be arsed with the endless faff he has to do to get it up and running each time it fails. I'd just duplicate it over to a VPS for a fiver a month and not worry anymore. That's what I did with a bunch of forums I run, I never worry about it anymore and it pays for its own upkeepvin basic banner ads.

craig1410 - 9/4/21 at 11:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
Sigh. I couldn't be arsed with the endless faff he has to do to get it up and running each time it fails. I'd just duplicate it over to a VPS for a fiver a month and not worry anymore. That's what I did with a bunch of forums I run, I never worry about it anymore and it pays for its own upkeepvin basic banner ads.


With respect @coyoteboy I don’t think a basic Linode or Digital Ocean VPS at $5 a month will quite cut the mustard for the LB forum. I’m a web app developer and my current client spends tens of thousands of dollars a month on infrastructure, much of which comes from database hosting and file storage, not to mention network bandwidth.

$5/month goes a long way for a hobby project but not for anything with serious traffic.

Chris, if you’re game, it’d be really interesting to hear some site stats such as DB size, file storage size and requests per minute. I’m pretty sure it’ll be well outside the realms of a $5/pm VPS plan. Not to mention things like resilience. How exactly do you safeguard a database with a single VPS?

[Edited on 9/4/2021 by craig1410]

coyoteboy - 10/4/21 at 12:58 AM

I think you vastly overestimate the forum usage and vastly underestimate what's possible on relativey cheap VPS solutions with a wee scaling as needed.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I used to host a forum with (if you believe the stats on the main page) 10x the max active users easily. I don't claim to be an expert, far from it. But this site is skeletal now. There are what, 20 posts a week? The search function isn't loading anything as its broken and the image gallery hasnt expanded in 3 years because its been broken too. If it took off again, sure it might be a hefty one, but right now it's an archive. The bulk of the active guests are bots crawling it, I'll wager, since 50% of them are "replying" but there's never any replies etc.

TBH I'm bored of this argument, and I just don't bother visiting the site often anymore because it's a ghost town and that's largely due to the endless problems. I wish Chris the best of luck with it, and I'm sure he's very well placed to sort it, but I've watched it crumble for half a decade now and more than anything I guess I'm just a grumpy guy who's watched his own active forums collapse due to FB-mange and kinda hoped this was a last sanctuary.

[Edited on 10/4/21 by coyoteboy]

ChrisW - 11/4/21 at 08:32 PM

Just to address a couple of the points raised:

quote:
Originally posted by MagicalTrevor
Won't get another penny out of me. I've even offered advice about why it's happening and have been ignored.


You told me to turn a setting up on MySQL. I've been doing Linux system admin for 25 years or so; do you not think if it was that simple I would have done that?

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
Sigh. I couldn't be arsed with the endless faff he has to do to get it up and running each time it fails. I'd just duplicate it over to a VPS for a fiver a month and not worry anymore.


It's also not that simple, for the same reasons I have no switched to a far more modern forum system. The code has been modified and messed with extensively over the last 20 years and there are all sorts of other bits and bobs that plug in to it. The SMS system for example, Paypal integration, the photo gallery, Sphinx search. It's going to be an absolute nightmare to unpick it all and I simply don't have the spare time at the moment.

I run/own an ISP as a day job. Server power isn't a problem (other than writing a cheque for the hardware) it's getting the site moved over to that new hardware that is the issue.

quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Something needs to be done about this, their are a lot of people who regularly subscribe.


Unfortunately that isn't the case any more. Years ago yes I had regular subscribers and a bit of advertising income but these days I am lucky to get £10-20 in a month.

sdh2903 - 11/4/21 at 09:36 PM

I don't want to sound a knob. But if there was a prospect of a more up to date forum that spends more time up than down I'd happily contribute regularly. It just seems like the place is dying on its arse which is a crying shame.

loggyboy - 11/4/21 at 10:26 PM

Chris,

What would be the annual cost to get it on an up-to-date software package and running reliably?

40inches - 12/4/21 at 07:48 AM

quote:
Originally posted by sdh2903
I don't want to sound a knob. But if there was a prospect of a more up to date forum that spends more time up than down I'd happily contribute regularly. It just seems like the place is dying on its arse which is a crying shame.

I would be more than happy to set up a monthly standing order, if it guaranteed continuity.

craig1410 - 12/4/21 at 12:19 PM

Same here - I'd be happy to commit some cash now and/or on a regular basis to keep the proverbial lights on. I don't actively use the site that much these days as my Locost is sitting in the garage under a tarp just now but I am hoping to get it up and running again soon and no doubt it'll be useful to have access to the forum once I start working on it again.

This sounds very much like a chicken and egg problem so if we can collectively buy Chris a new chicken then maybe the eggs it lays in the future can fund the ongoing costs.

We just need to fund the initial chicken (server upgrades) and then start using the site more to help generate the ad revenue again, and of course a few regular donations would help. Only Chris knows the economics of it all of course.

So Chris, I'm happy to pledge a £50 initial donation to get the ball rolling if you can confirm this approach would work for you. Maybe if others are able to make similar pledges (doesn't have to be the same amount) then you can let us know when we cross the threshold of making it worth your while at which point pledges can be turned into actual donations. Sort of like a kickstarter.

HTH