A solution to keeping database size down?

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matthew
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Post by matthew »

jtaylor wrote:We have a 100Meg limit on the database size, and are currently at 30Meg, so we will have to consider this longer-term.
Storage gets cheaper over time, too. :)

Of course, some hosting providers take advantage and don't bother to adjust their limits. But I'm sure one of the many OBs here would be able to help out with that problem.
matthew
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Post by matthew »

palgsm93 wrote:
matthew wrote:But I'm sure one of the many OBs here would be able to help out with that problem.
Well volunteered Mr. Atom Net (aka Matthew) :wink:
Well...

As it happens, I do have some spare hosting capacity, though I've no idea how the traffic on this site compares with the other things I'm running.

So yes, the option is there.

At the same time, I don't want to push Julian into moving his hosting unnecessarily, and I won't assume I'm the only OB with access to a server.

Let's leave it at that. :)
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Post by Ruthie-Baby(old a/c) »

DavebytheSea wrote:3. I think I am now on dangerous ground, but one of the most dispiriting things is to see that every most recent posting is by the same author. I cannot believe that there is any one of us who are so polymathematical as to have an interest in all and every topic under the sun. We should maybe think to contribute only to those threads and topics in which we have a genuine interest. I can well imagine that for all those who regard DBTS as a pompous old prat, it would be a real turn-off to see his name appearing as the most recent poster on every thread and topic in the forum. Please, please let us try to be selective in our postings.

Finally, I have great sympathy with those who come to read our postings and maybe consider posting themselves, but then turn away disapponted, seeing that the forum is dominated by just a small clique who are in the know, and among which they feel they have no place. Some have asked the question as to why so many register and do not post; here I think lies the answer.
I read this topic and wasn't going to comment, but somewhere while reading about sexing cats, a thought popped into my head.

Possibly, the reason that people post on every single topic is as an easy reminder of which they have read. Because the orange buttons don't stay orange once you logout (and sometimes you have to, to go do some work or something) it's easy to see you have read a topic if you were the last one to post.

If we could fix the orange buttons reverting back to blue even though you ahven't read it, this may help.

I would point out I'm not cunning enough to do this, I only just thought of it and it might be what others do.

Also, as most topics are way off subject by about page 4, it's not surprising that the same people are replying to them - those people are not talking about the original topic. Note this statement I'm writing does not indicate whether I support this practice or not.
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Post by Jude »

I started this last night and had a goodly amount of what I thought was sense when the pc froze and all was lost! So here we go again - I will try to remember what I wrote!

Ruth I agree with you, in that it is difficult sometimes not to answer back on a topic, and that once you are involved in a topic, you often feel the need to continue!

However, I do dispute DBTS in that bit about topics being all written by the same person...Quite often I find I am the only one on line and I try to go to all the topics I have entered before and see if I want to add something to it, so it looks like I have just about taken over all the topics as the last update was me! I know DBTS may consider a great deal of what I write as totally inconsequential, but this forum has been my sanity for nearly a year. I may well write a ton of rubbish, and I'm sorry if people find it so. I also try to get us back on topic, but with the number of us posting, and each of us having totally different experiences of CH and in different era's I expect that any topic will go off in other tangents as everyone has a different view, plus it may well remind them of something else.

This site as far as I am aware was created to get CHOGA/OB's et al talking together and sharing their experiences - to do that it has very few guidlines - all of which I think is admirable. It has been totally wonderful to find out I was not the only girl at Hertford who had problems.. Without this site I may well have continued thinking I WAS WRONG ALL THE TIME, but infact, it seems many of us have shared similar experiences and we need to know we were not alone and not wrong.

So I have now warbled on long enough to prove that it is not only 1 liners but whole paragraphs that I can write. Julian and Simon, if you feel that there is a need to increase our server size or speed or whatever, Please let us all know - put and IMPORTANT note at the top of all topics, with over 800 of us now, a £2 donation from each of us should make some headway into getting a larger portion of a server - I guess you never really knew just how popular your site was going to be!!!

Thank you both again
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DavebytheSea
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Post by DavebytheSea »

Jude wrote:Ruth I agree with you, in that it is difficult sometimes not to answer back on a topic, and that once you are involved in a topic, you often feel the need to continue!
I totally agree - I do this as much as anyone - it is almost impossible not to! :oops:
Jude wrote:I know DBTS may consider a great deal of what I write as totally inconsequential, but this forum has been my sanity for nearly a year. I may well write a ton of rubbish, and I'm sorry if people find it so.
We are all inconsequential to a greater or lesser degree - some of us rather more than others! This is natural - whoever would want the forum to be "deep" all the time? As for you Jude, I regard you as one of the most thought-provoking contributers on the forum - long may you continue to be so. If, in turn, the forum has been a help to you, I am sure you are not alone. It is one of the truly wonderful things about it, and I know we are all grateful that this is so.
Jude wrote:I also try to get us back on topic, but with the number of us posting, and each of us having totally different experiences of CH and in different era's I expect that any topic will go off in other tangents as everyone has a different view, plus it may well remind them of something else.
Yes, I share your views on this too. Especially when I have been culpable in leading us astray, I sometimes try and get back on topic by relating the irrelevant material to the core - not always an easy task! :)
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Post by sejintenej »

FWIW, I can agree to archiving old stuff from General Chat - non CH but is there nothing else like out of date school events, job requests a year out of date ....?
I would suggest 6 months on whatever areas are eventually decided PLUS everything prior to the last 2 pages on any thread in any group which has not been posted to for 6 months. JW might decide not to archive selected old threads if he considers them of permanent importance.

I am minded of specialist magazines such as the gardening ones - since there is little new they seem to simply rehash the articles of 3 years ago.
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Post by jtaylor »

I don't know about the rest of you buy I'm finding the speed very good today - which would indicate it's nothing to do with database size, and more to do with general access speed somewhere down the line between each of us and 1and1?

Hence, I think the "let's wait and see" approach is good for the moment.
I'm very reluctant to have to lose content at all, so view it as a last resort.
BUT, I do still think there's merit in aiming to keep some topics on-topic, to help newbies find useful Old Blue info (e.g. about Old Blues' Day etc.)
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Post by J.R. »

jtaylor wrote:I don't know about the rest of you buy I'm finding the speed very good today - which would indicate it's nothing to do with database size, and more to do with general access speed somewhere down the line between each of us and 1and1?

Hence, I think the "let's wait and see" approach is good for the moment.
I'm very reluctant to have to lose content at all, so view it as a last resort.
BUT, I do still think there's merit in aiming to keep some topics on-topic, to help newbies find useful Old Blue info (e.g. about Old Blues' Day etc.)
Ah !!! memories of the 60's, me-thinks !
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Post by jtaylor »

You may have memories of the 60's, but I wasn't even born........
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Post by Vonny »

jtaylor wrote:You may have memories of the 60's, but I wasn't even born........
:lol: :lol: :lol:

I only just made the 60's :lol: Makes me feel VERY old to think I was actually around in the 60's :shock:
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Post by DavebytheSea »

I've made it from the 30s
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Post by JamesF35 »

Speed is governed more by the traffic accessing the server than anything else. With shared server hosting you never know what else is going on. The only way to successfully maintain performance would be to move over to "dedicated server" hosting which, I'm afraid, comes at a price.

At just under £1000 per year for that's a lot of money that needs to be raised (that's about £850 more than it costs at the moment). It doesn't seem likely that this sort of money could be raised directly through the forum members.

The only other option would be to ask the CHA to finance it. Perhaps the time has come to stop being "unofficial" ?


For more information about 1and1 dedicated server hosting see:
http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Serv ... _lf=Static
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Post by J.R. »

And there was me thing 'Speed' was another way of describing 'Bennies'.

I await your questions.
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Post by jhopgood »

JamesF35 wrote:The only other option would be to ask the CHA to finance it. Perhaps the time has come to stop being "unofficial" ?
I think this would be better answered on another thread, probably that of questions to the CHA Board, but just to dispel the idea that the CHA has a large budget able to incorporate this type of amount, it doesn't.

The CHA runs a very tight ship and funds are well spoken for before they are spent.
The production and distribution of the Old Blue takes up the lions share of the budget, and despite efforts to make all events self funding, this is not always possible.

It's amazing how incidental expenses add up, mailings to section secretaries etc, but we keep a tight eye on funds to ensure that we remain within budget and are not a burden on the Foundation.

By all means suggest it, but bear in mind that independence has it's advantages.
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Post by Great Plum »

I would be wary of this becoming 'official' as I think that some of the more 'cathartic' threads would be censored...


And, yes, it does appear to be quicker here!
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