Is it new?

[Emperor Demonking]

Is the "server is too busy" page new? Because if it it its awesome.

[Ego Slayer]

It's gotta be new. This many years and I've never seen that before.

It's win.

[TigerHunter]

It's gotta be new. This many years and I've never seen that before.

It's win.
Coincidentally, I got it while trying to reply.

I'm pretty sure it's new, because like Ego said: been here for a year and half, never seen it before. They said something about updating the server recently, I assume this is part of that.

[Hoplite]

Can someone explain to me what the advantage is of this new feature?

[Jibar]

it paves the way to customising it.
Imagine, loading the site, clicking on the forums, but instead of unstoppable all consuming lag you get:

"Don't you booping dare keep tapping refresh. Wait."

[The Rose Dragon]

it paves the way to customising it.
Imagine, loading the site, clicking on the forums, but instead of unstoppable all consuming lag you get:

"Don't you booping dare keep tapping refresh. Wait."

I'd still tap refresh repeatedly. I'm an impatient bastard.

[Ego Slayer]

I'd still tap refresh repeatedly. I'm an impatient bastard.
Even so, I don't think that's adding much to the lag. :smallamused:

[Illiterate Scribe]

You don't appreciate how often we press the button. In order to have bang-on, up to date information on the state of the forums, I might consider having 100 windows open in firefox, each with the auto-refresh set to one second. Slightly staggered.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Basically, what happens is this: once the board passes a certain threshold of traffic in a given millisecond, it stops trying to actively respond to requests for a bit until the usage calms down somewhat, instead sending an easy-to-load error message that uses fewer resources. This prevents it from lagging out or shutting down completely as it has done in the past, and allows a much faster delivery of the real content when the server decides it's your turn to get it.

Actually, I'm just guessing here, but that's what it looks like to me.

[Serpentine]

Heh, got it twice trying to reply and fully expect another when I try to post it.
I don't know what it is, but I like it. It's probably all psychological - better a quick, straightforward "Nuh. Try later" that ten minutes of white screen... Is it just me/the university high-speed internet, or is it going a lot quicker now, too?

[RTGoodman]

Is it just me/the university high-speed internet, or is it going a lot quicker now, too?

Seems faster to me, too.

Also, did the font for the words "Show" and "Hide" on all the spoiler blocks change with this update thingy? I just noticed that they're a different font than before, but I didn't know if that was the board upgrade or if it had something to do with my getting Firefox 3 whenever it was it came out. Or maybe I'm just crazy...

[Dallas-Dakota]

Still the same for me.
Except that pesky page.
Except for that recent wave of lag, I've had no problems sirree. And then the lag was gone. And then that annoying page came.
So from Lag > No lag > That Page.

Annoying.

[Tirian]

No software upgrade is going to change the fact that "too many" people want to access the server at the same time at various points throughout the week.

But I think that the fix addresses two of my pet peeves. The first is when I click on a thread and the server times out on sending it to me, but updates its own database to note that I have read it. The second is posting a response, having that POST request time out, opening a forum-level tab five minutes later to see that my post wasn't received, posting again in the original tab, and then finding that I've double-posted. (I don't actually know about the second, since I haven't tried posting during a laggy period.) (ETA: In fact, I posted this during a laggy period, and I think that it worked fine.)

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Even so, I don't think that's adding much to the lag. :smallamused:
Now try having a couple hundred people tapping refresh repeatedly. Hitting refresh over and over helps no one.


Actually, I'm just guessing here, but that's what it looks like to me.
That is generally the idea behind any such message.

[Rawhide]

You don't appreciate how often we press the button. In order to have bang-on, up to date information on the state of the forums, I might consider having 100 windows open in firefox, each with the auto-refresh set to one second. Slightly staggered.

This is not funny. Don't even joke about that. You do realise that if you do that, whether it is successful or not, it would be considered a Denial of Service attack?


I'd still tap refresh repeatedly. I'm an impatient bastard.

I'll quote something I said earlier.


Please, please, please, whatever you do, do not do this. This is what kills a server.

Its starting to get a bit slow, so people keep refreshing it when its not working, this in turn makes it slower and people keep refreshing and BHAM, server dead. Its a vicious cycle.

Please, if the server is slow, first try again in 5 minutes. Failing that, wait at least 30 minutes.

[Bryn]

Also, I reccomend not tapping the Refresh button, since that re-loads all the images in the page (and there are quite a lot; every button, backgrounds, etc). Instead, click into the address bar at the top of the page and press Enter; that will just load the page and not the images which are already stored on your computer.

Taking this back, because apparently they changed stuff in the new version of Firefox which means things work differently, and now Refresh doesn't re-load the images and pressing enter in the address bar doesn't re-load the page.

[Jibar]

See. My idea is both funny, and informative.
*nods knowingly*

[Dallas-Dakota]

Rawhide : I try, but sometimes I do not have that time sadly. And I want to post that post I've been working on some time then instead of seven hours laters.(Seven hours because that is roughly my school day)

[Quincunx]

That page was awesome when it appeared at the gateway to the forum itself, warning me off of using any part of it. Now, when I open three threads at any time of day and only one of them gets the message, it's just something else to click past.

[Bayar]

it paves the way to customising it.
Imagine, loading the site, clicking on the forums, but instead of unstoppable all consuming lag you get:

"Don't you booping dare keep tapping refresh. Wait."

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/bayar_m2003/Banners/rect2384.png


:biggrin:

[Jibar]

Now that is what I'm talking 'bout.

:smallbiggrin:

[bosssmiley]

You don't appreciate how often we press the button. In order to have bang-on, up to date information on the state of the forums, I might consider having 100 windows open in firefox, each with the auto-refresh set to one second. Slightly staggered.

And Illiterate Scribe has just answered for us the question "When does 'power user' cross the line into 'obsessive maniac'?" :smalltongue:

Maybe the message could be modified to include the 'try again in 5 minutes' element, as for searches. It *might* help.

(What do I know though? My default answer is to set the place afire and leap out of the window)

edit (unrelated): Is there any way of blocking threads as you can posts from selected users. You know, the inverse of a 'subscribe to thread' option?

[Nebo_]

I don't like it.

Instead of actually improving the server, we get a message that tells us that the server is slow. At least before the patch, I could leave the page loading and it would eventually work. Now, I'm forced to refresh if I want to get to the page I want. .

[Rawhide]

I don't like it.

Instead of actually improving the server, we get a message that tells us that the server is slow. At least before the patch, I could leave the page loading and it would eventually work. Now, I'm forced to refresh if I want to get to the page I want. .

Good. Because leaving it to load like that during a busy time makes just it worse for everyone.

[Paragon Badger]

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/bayar_m2003/Banners/rect2384.png


:biggrin:

...That's so being sigged.

[NerfTW]

I don't like it.

Instead of actually improving the server, we get a message that tells us that the server is slow. At least before the patch, I could leave the page loading and it would eventually work. Now, I'm forced to refresh if I want to get to the page I want. .

It did improve the server.

Message boards are not static pages, like the "error" page you're getting now. They have to be dynamically created with PHP. That's why they are slower and take up more server resources than the comic.

Now, instead of simply queuing all those requests until the server runs out of memory and crashes, they are cut off. This means the comic, which is the main draw of the site, doesn't go down with the forums.

[EvilElitest]

Can someone explain to me what the advantage is of this new feature?

basically, instead of teh server simply freezing on you (and you can't tell if it is your computer or the site) this simply lets you know that the server is too busy. It is more convent
from
EE
Edit
Oh the irony, i got that page while trying to post this

[xxragdollxx]

Ya they probably need more bandwidth or something, which sucks, because bandwidth is flippin' expensive.

[VForVaarsuvius]

basically, instead of teh server simply freezing on you (and you can't tell if it is your computer or the site) this simply lets you know that the server is too busy. It is more convent
from
EE
Edit
Oh the irony, i got that page while trying to post this

Yeah, that last part happened to me once or twice aswell.

Still though, complaining about it slows the server down that much more.

[Steven the Lich]

I just want to know, is this going to be stopping any time soon? Because I am really getting annoyed in attempting to reply, getting into a thread, or trying to post and getting "The Server is too busy". I've lost several posts to the Soth vs. WK thread and the Eragon: Good Book or Rip Off as a result. Wasn't a big deal at first, but now...:smallannoyed:

[Warpfire]

Shouldn't you be able to just press the back button and still have your post? That's how it works for me, at least.

Also, Ctrl-C is your friend.

[RTGoodman]

I just want to know, is this going to be stopping any time soon? Because I am really getting annoyed in attempting to reply, getting into a thread, or trying to post and getting "The Server is too busy". I've lost several posts to the Soth vs. WK thread and the Eragon: Good Book or Rip Off as a result. Wasn't a big deal at first, but now...:smallannoyed:

What browser are you using? I don't know about IE, but if you use Firefox you can hit the back button from the "The Server is too busy" page and it'll take you back to the previous page with your whole post still there. Just wait a few minutes and then click "Submit Reply" again.

EDIT: Yeah, what ^he said. Stupid ninjas...

[Dallas-Dakota]

Shouldn't you be able to just press the back button and still have your post? That's how it works for me, at least.

Also, Ctrl-C is your friend.
Same.

It is still very annoying. :smallannoyed: Especially since my lag was like 0, then suddenly it was epic lag and then a few hours after that started this message. And the lag is not epic but its still there. So I got lag + error messages. :smallmad::smallannoyed:

[Chronos]

What annoys me is when I get the error while submitting a post, since I don't know if the post actually went through or not. So I'll hit "back", and preview it. Then, sometimes, the preview will work, and I see that it's not in the thread yet, so I hit "submit" again, only to get the error message again, and I'm back where I started.

[Nychta]

I like the new error message. I know when to leave the site, now.

[Jibar]

People are losing posts?
If I get it show up while I'm posting, I just wait a bit, hit refreash, and it asks me if I want to resend the information. If it loads, badda bing, my post is all there, and no double posts or anything.
This is on Internet Explorer and all.

[Dallas-Dakota]

*gasp* Jibar uses internet exploder? *gasp*

[Shhalahr Windrider]

People are losing posts?
If I get it show up while I'm posting, I just wait a bit, hit refreash, and it asks me if I want to resend the information. If it loads, badda bing, my post is all there, and no double posts or anything.
I've actually gotten one double post doing that so far.

It seems that the script that handles this is set up to check if the forum before it even thinks of accepting your data from a post. This would protect from most of the double posts.

But I guess there's also a check in their somewhere to check if the forum is busy after accepting your post data but before taking you back to the thread. Either that or it was a glitch.

[Szilard]

People are losing posts?
If I get it show up while I'm posting, I just wait a bit, hit refreash, and it asks me if I want to resend the information. If it loads, badda bing, my post is all there, and no double posts or anything.
This is on Internet Explorer and all.

Exactly what I do.

[Mauve Shirt]

People are losing posts?
If I get it show up while I'm posting, I just wait a bit, hit refreash, and it asks me if I want to resend the information. If it loads, badda bing, my post is all there, and no double posts or anything.
This is on Internet Explorer and all.

Works in Firefox too.

[Dryken]

I got it about three times trying to reply.

I guess it's better than just waiting for a long time only to get a white screen, but I'm finding it pretty annoying. And as a result, my annoyance is preventing me from coming to the forum as much as I'd like (once or twice a day) because it always pops up.

[Stormthorn]

This is not funny. Don't even joke about that. You do realise that if you do that, whether it is successful or not, it would be considered a Denial of Service attack?

I dont thinkt he origional post was about slowing down the forum so much as it was about seeing how much that would slow down your computer.

Also, i doubt that a home computer could bring down the forum unless it was a real screaming beowulf cluster for a computer. Usuing multiple computers is the usual way to go.

[greenknight]

It doesn't help that AVG (a fairly popular free antivirus program) is significantly adding to server loads on popular websites. See:

The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/26/avg_disguises_fake_traffic_as_ie6/)
Slashdot (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/03/1411254#)

If you are running AVG 8 in particular, the best advice seems to be to uninstall it and replace it with either Avast (free) or Nod32 (not free, but very good).

[Deepblue706]

Sometimes, it's a little annoying. I honestly haven't had too many problems, although it's annoying having to wait to submit posts (not that it didn't happen prior to this...).

The one thing that really sucks, in my opinion, is that my PbP campaign is running hella slow now, and my players claim the reason is that when they try to get to the thread, they often get a message saying they can't. I doubt this is of much concern for the likes of Rich, but it's a shame that the campaign is just barely dragging on, and it just hit its first yearly anniversary. As far as I know, all the players involved love it - they just feel like they're being locked out by the server.

And now, I feel locked out, because I've had to take quite a few stabs at attempting to submit this very message, before actually getting through.

I am starting to lose interest in this site.

[Gralamin]

It doesn't help that AVG (a fairly popular free antivirus program) is significantly adding to server loads on popular websites. See:

The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/26/avg_disguises_fake_traffic_as_ie6/)
Slashdot (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/03/1411254#)

If you are running AVG 8 in particular, the best advice seems to be to uninstall it and replace it with either Avast (free) or Nod32 (not free, but very good).

Or Firefox users that have AVG could go into Add-ons and turn off AVG Safe Search feature.

Edit: Found another solution, you can read all about it here. (http://grandstreamdreams.blogspot.com/2008/04/taming-avg-free-version-8.html)