Thread Purge is Upcoming!

[Forum Staff]

In order to improve server performance, we are announcing an upcoming purge of all threads in the OOTS forum where the last post was earlier than December 31st, 2006. The purge is expected on or shortly after February 1st, 2009.

The sole exception to this process will be the official "Discussion Threads" for each comic (or each month, if you go back far enough).

If there is any thread where you wish to retain the information, we suggest you copy the relevant portions to your hard drive. Note however that this is NOT an excuse to bump old threads in order to keep them from being deleted; any Thread Necromancy between now and the purging will earn an infraction.

(Note also that this will also result in reducing the number of posts made for most users.)

[Grognard]

:smalleek: im going oth vae 0 posts!

[Kaytara]

So that includes the threads in the Archives, doesn't it? Interesting.

[Assassin89]

I don't really care that much because some threads I created are dead anyway.

[Doran]

I would recommend saving the threads Rich posted in,
as quite a few people refer to them on issues.

[Wrecan]

How does one download a thread?

I want to download the prior Number of Character Appearances and Class and Level Geekery threads. Do I have to download each page of posts separately?

[Spoomeister]

Or, you could rely on google caching, and after checking that google's cached pages has most everything, purge everything but the story comment threads.

Or you could do a public-tv-fund-drive kind of thing, and raise money for a better server and ISP. I'd pony up for such if there were mugs and signed t-shirts and bound editions of all the previous books.

[ThisIsNotDan]

Can someone link me to an all-encompassing Haley gibberish translation thread? That one's handy for reading through the archives again, although I've only ever used Google to find it. Unless that whole episode took place in 2007 or later, then I guess we're good.

[Jimorian]

While thread necromancy isn't allowed, I would imagine that if there are particularly useful reference posts that are in threads that fall under this situation, it would be ok to create a new thread to contain them in reposts (crediting any work done by the original poster of course). Maybe one for any of the Giant's commentary on the strip that's not already in the official threads.

This would preserve important data while streamlining where it's contained We'd be left with the actual content while all the side discussions would fall away.

I leave it up to the moderators whether this is a good idea or not.

[Hunter Noventa]

This could be a problem for some people, as some very good reference threads (The Original Batman Wizard guide for example) would be lost in this activity. Will an effort be made to save these kinds of topics?

[Optimystik]

Noooooo! I just got Barbarian a few days ago! :smallfrown:


Can someone link me to an all-encompassing Haley gibberish translation thread? That one's handy for reading through the archives again, although I've only ever used Google to find it. Unless that whole episode took place in 2007 or later, then I guess we're good.

Check the stickies...

[Lira]

Noooooo! I just got Barbarian a few days ago! :smallfrown:Look at the dates involved. It's not going to affect you.

[xyzzy]

Plus, other than the occasional pixie-hater, I don't think most people pay that much attention to titles. It's not really a big deal.

I think an archive of posts by Rich would be quite useful.

[Optimystik]

Look at the dates involved. It's not going to affect you.

Oh. Right. I knew that. :smallredface:

[Morgan Wick]

Is the very, very early Order of the Stick thread that predates even the monthly era (indeed, predates the strip itself) going to be kept?

In addition to everything else, I think I would like to keep The Sticks Awards (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34791) complete, just because it's not worth it to throw out eight or so rounds of voting because they happen to fall before an arbitrary cutoff.

The FAQ thread, and possibly the main FAQ itself, should probably be updated.

[Morgan Wick]

Or, you could rely on google caching, and after checking that google's cached pages has most everything, purge everything but the story comment threads.

Not sure if you were around for TV Tropes' "Great Crash" but Google overwrites its cache when pages are updated. Theoretically deleted threads never get updated per se and would remain in cache, but just in case, have the Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org)handy as well.


Or you could do a public-tv-fund-drive kind of thing, and raise money for a better server and ISP. I'd pony up for such if there were mugs and signed t-shirts and bound editions of all the previous books.

I would much prefer this route, even though I wouldn't give any money, but both of us hint as to why that will probably never happen. They would have to pay for the mugs, t-shirts, and books on top of the server.

In general, I would say any thread currently linked from a thread that's not being cut should be kept, just in the name of not breaking links. That may be difficult to determine though, depending on how robust the mod tools are.

I'm building a list of threads that should at least be under consideration for keeping. Should I post it here, and does anyone have any suggestions no one has brought up yet?

[Blue_Bear]

Okay, there has to be done something.
Either get some more server power or clean up a lot of old stuff.
Really, you can literally hear the server coughing when you click on any part of this wonderful website.

[Morgan Wick]

Okay, there has to be done something.
Either get some more server power or clean up a lot of old stuff.
Really, you can literally hear the server coughing when you click on any part of this wonderful website.

Yeah. Instead you go hacking through a quarter of the archives and the boards STILL slow to a crawl when a new OOTS gets posted. It's like using your home computer to run Google.

[Silverraptor]

Does anyone know if you can delete Threads you've posted? Because then we could help with this Thread purge by deleting debates no one goes in.

[Ancalagon]

All is still crappy and slow. The simple truth is: The server/connection is just too small for the popularity of the content on this site. You simply have to face that fact.

Already "convinced" readers will deal with the HUGE lags (that ALSO happen when no new comic is posted!) but new ones won't show that much tolerance.

Suggestion for you:
If one super big server that can handle OotS is too expansive, buy/rent/get at least another smaller one and put the comic and the main page on two different servers (that, of course, hang on different connections). If the forum gets hit hard again, it at least won't drag the comics down (and that's the main capital of this site).

Offer from me:
If the giant were to prepare some "small" extra booklet with some "few" comics that costs around 5 to 10$ which whom a super-fast, never-lagging server is financed - I'm getting it (ok, I'll buy all OotS-comics anyway, it's just an idea in case a big server is too expansive for the load here).