membership numbers part of the server "drain"?

[zoney!]

I am wondering if the number "registered members" is a drain on the server?

 

[Elvis]

nope. its the size of the db, the server speed, and memory.... not to mention having A LOT more traffic lately, as well as a lot more visits by search engine spiders.

We're a victim of success

Although I'm attempting everything possible in order to get it under control to avoid having to buy a new server... ultimately, I fear that's what's going to have to happen. Presently premiums basically pay the monthly bills to maintain the servers interference currently uses (yes, multiple servers)... and a new server will be somewhere around 2000$, so I'm not quite sure what to do... *sigh*

 

[martha]

Bake sale.

I'm for lemon poundcake if someone who lives in Placentia brings me lemons.

 

[zoney!]

Elvis...

Is it possible to "spin off" certain segments of the site(s) to different servers?

(mind you...I am sure you have explored many possibilities...and I should be regarded as "the marketing guy trying to find solutions for the IT guys")

 

[BAW]

I'm not sure how many we can bring this time...our trees have been pretty poopy this year

 

[gorman]

Elvis - If you want, send me an e-mail (gorman@modblog.com) or contact me on AIM (g0rman). I deal with all of this stuff for a living, and I've become an expert at making large sites work on not much hardware

I'm not sure what all you've been trying, but maybe I can think of a few ideas. There's really a limitless amount of things you can adjust in MySQL's server settings and your individual queries that can make a world of diference. Anyhow, if you need a hand, feel free to get in touch.

 

[martha]

I'm not sure how many we can bring this time...our trees have been pretty poopy this year

Well start saving them in case we have to sit in front of the damn Ontario Convention Center with a butcher paper sign with "fundraiser for a new server" painted on it in blue tempera paint.

 

[Tomer]

 

[Liesje]

Make it $6 to post and $12 to be Premium. Anyone can still browse for free.

 

[Elvis]

The goal is not to discourage people from becoming members.... and charging for all members to post would discourage people.

 

[Liesje]

But if people keep joining and posting left and right, doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of fixing the slowness problem and/or charging people to be Premium in the first place? I paid for Premium so that $$ could be generated to keep the place running and now people keep posting/joining and making it impossible for anyone to post. Given, $12 is nothing, but I still paid for a service I can use maybe 25% as much as I used to. It's also annoying when you spend 20 mins typing a post and then when you post it, you the the server busy message. I'm all about being open to everyone, like having it free to browse, but since you have to register to post anyway, why not charge? Or give paying members higher priority with the bandwidth or whatever? I'm not exactly sure how you do this, but we have something like it at school. The servers know what's what and who's who and internet browsing (e-mail, homework, research) always gets bandwidth over downloading and gaming. If no one's doing homework, I can download around 8MB/sec but on weekends and exams times, we can hardly download a song even though it's a T1 connection.

Otherwise, is there anything that's not necessary that can go? Like all the graphics (sigs, avatars, smilies - fun and helpful, but do we REALLY need them?). Even things like profiles and journals. I know people will kill me for saying that, but there's plenty fo free blog places on the net to put a journal. I guess this would all depend on what specific areas are causing the slowness.

 

[Elvis]

we're getting a new server... it should solve all the problems.

 

[Liesje]

woohoo!

 

[Elvis]

lol.... I guess you missed the donation thread thats links to in bold red at the top of every page?

 

[Elvis]

oh... and dont forget... in my signature too...

 

[Liesje]

No, I guess I thought you meant you're getting a new server very soon and have reached the $$$ goal, not getting a server at some point. I've been to the thread and actually checked yesterday but your last post said you'd what you're up to later on. But now I'll go check since it's probably been updated...