So slooooowwwww

wymondham

Martin, will you be getting any more bandwidth, which i suspect would have a greater effect on speed?

A_Nice_Englishman

I'm not sure bandwidth is the problem. Once a page starts to download it's very quick. There are few graphics on the site and they are what really soaks up the bandwidth.

The delays seem to be in doing searches and waiting for posts to upload. This would be improved by more processing power - which is what they are providing.

cirrus18

MSE_Martin wrote: »

We've got more new servers coming; the problem is that the forum is hugely interactive with people posting things up and down all the time on large threads - so it is a massive drain on tech resources when there are 7000 on here.

Personally I think this site has got very slow since its last update/makeover whatever when the whole format and appearance got tarted up and changed.
It's getting so bad now that I no longer enjoy my visits here. It's just a pain. Pages are so slow in loading that I often get the message "The browser has timed out, Moneysavingexpert is taking too long to respond" That's very bad.
I don't get any problems on any other site except this one. Other sites the pages open just about instantaneously with no problems.

Martin, I don't think it's just a capacity problem. I think there's something wrong with your server or how the software is configured, because it doesn't matter what time of day I visit this site and even during the day when there's not many people using it, I still get the sloooooooows.

Incidentally, why have the Currently Active User List at the bottom of the Forum's Main Page, slowing everything down. THERE ARE 4215 MEMBERS NAMES listed tonight, and tonight its particularly slow. Why have them? I don't think they are of interest to anybody and is just taking up unnecessary bandwidth.

MSE_Martin

Actually the site is many times quicker these days - the makeover had no impact as it was cosmetic - and the graphics are now on a seperate server.

We work both with our server company and the Vbulletin designers (the software the forum operates on) the scale of this forum is unprecedented for th software so they help us moderate.

This is a massive database issue; and the only delay is getting the info to and from there; we're bringing many more servers to do it. Honestly folks I have the top end people on this - yet we try and improve. The site is much faster than it used to be. There's the occassional slow spell but on the whole; the data - as well as my own experiecne is that most of the time it is much quicker

Martin

SPANIEL36

MSE_Martin wrote: »

. There's the occassional slow spell but on the whole; the data - as well as my own experiecne is that most of the time it is much quicker

Martin

martin:money: is human...his spelling mistake proves it!!!

cirrus18

MSE_Martin wrote: »

We work both with our server company and the Vbulletin designers (the software the forum operates on) the scale of this forum is unprecedented for th software so they help us moderate.
This is a massive database issue;Martin

Martin, you might be getting the run-around from Vbulletin, blaming everything on to insufficient hardware and not their programme.

I did a Google search for Vbulletin to see what other people thought of their software. As I thought, opinion is that it is old outdated software, very bloated, full of unnecessary junky options which only slows everything down.

You've got loads of fancy options implemented on this site, better to cut them out, nobody will miss them, remember, lean is mean and fast.

It stands to reason that if only the minimum data is used for each page you don't have to store so much information, your "massive data base" is reduced and everything moves that much quicker.

Read in particular this: http://www.apaddedcell.com/goodbye-vbulletin-part-1-reasons-switch its also mentioned here that you can now get a free alternative http://drupal.org/image/tid/38 which I know might appeal to your money-saving heart.

full-time-mum

Well, if MSE.com is struggling to keep ahead of demand then this can only be seen as a positive. More people getting involved means more consumer power which should mean more pressure which means more consumer revenge etc etc etc.

Stop moaning at Martin and his staff, I'm sure they are doing their best for us - as always.

wymondham

i don't think anyone is moaning as such, just giving feedback on the user experience, which any site would find useful when considering planning for improvements etc. Everyone loves the site and the fact they stay speaks volumes. as everyone knows the web is variable and always will be, but things have changed recently for whatever reason....

wymondham

i feel really bad now :rotfl:
welcome back!

CAE

I'm sure you would rather have a slow site than no site at all

I don't actually find the site slow under normal circumstances. But this weekends events prove that we should never take anything for granted.

Carol