SRL Archive - Discussions and Debates

Basically I thought it was a good idea to bring over the stuff that was talked about over in the shadow forums over to here because they're a lot of good points made, and we still need to either put some into effect or make some new ones. And some people may have not made it to the shadow forums.

Sorry for quoting the almost entire topic, I hate summarizing, I almost always miss something.

Also, I didn't know where I should of put it so I put it in SRL members forums, feel free to move it to the junior mems if admins like.

by mr.klean » Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:03 am

Double post I know, Shoot me.

Does anyone happen to know the current specs on our server/bandwidth package?

I was looking at this version of forums and I am realizing that SRL forum setup seemed like it was quite a bandwidth hog. I remember it is also a CPU hog because we were talking about how the current server is not adequete enough for the hosting of the forums because it sits at 100% CPU constantly.

I know this is a lot of work, but maybe we could upgrade SRL forums to a more streamlined version and take some of the older stuff and remove it. This would be a lot of work, but I think it is time that it occured. We have been arguing for ages over whether or not we should start weeding out the accounts, old threads, and things of that nature. Yes, it is nice for the users to be able to come back and still have there accounts, and it is nice to have the archives to look through. I think it is a waste to have it though, and many members are with me.

For the archives, we could just have a backup database that is off the SRL server. As for the accounts, they would just be pruned to keep everything small and streamlined. Maybe have a 0 post, 6 month cut off and they will be auto pruned? Keep the banned accounts as we don't want people returning under the names.

It would take a lot of work and may not be the most, how do you say, easiest thing to do, but I am almost 100% positive that it will cut down on the downtime that SRL faces every month or so now.

I am sure a lot of people would be willing to help with it, if it is needed.

I don't know if the above will make any sense at all as I am running on 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 or so hours. I just hope that we can have a forums that won't have to suffer so much from the downtimes we face.

by The Claw » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:17 am

Bad idea to prune users but I agree with mainly everything else you said (what I can remember of it anyway). I was also thinking we should take this opportunity to simplify the usergroups a bit, instead of having so many different levels I was thinking we should merge SSRL and Mod, keep Dev, Admin, and SRL Member seperate, have everyone re-apply for SRL members so that everyone's trusted and then just have normal members, not srl-junior etc. Would make everything easier to manage, not as confusing for new members, and would greatly improve the sense of community for SRL Members (as they know everyone in there deserves to be in).

That obviously means getting rid of the "free for all" and 10 post 1 week requirement to get any banking scripts, but thats a good thing as that plan never worked out anyway as demonstrated by the mass amount of new users spamming and clogging the boards and wasting everyone's time. I'm guessing that with the new and improved SRL member section most good scripts will be posted in the SRL member section like they used to be, so the problem of new users leeching the best scripts (which is basically the reason SRL Junior memebrs was implemented) most likely won't exist.

We should keep all the old posts and users purely for historical purposes, its easy enough to convert the VB database tables to work with phpbb3 anyway so no dramas there.

Would require a semi-makeover of the structure of the forums, but no posts would be lost as phpbb3 lets you merge posts from old forums into other forums when deleting them.

Basically looking to get a faster, sleeker forum with a more tighly knit community than what we currently have.

by Wizzup? » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:33 am

The server load was (is) indeed, quite heavy. And I also think the site needs a clean up.
I would try to do it, if I had access to the files and databases. I don't have access to them.

by Torrent of Flame » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:50 am

Claw, although I agree with what you said, I think that the member pruning thing shouldn't happen. Maybe with the inactive members, but with the members who currently contribute new scripts, etc then they shoudln't be should they?

What happens to the SRL Members who have cups, etc, too?

by Hy71194 » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:45 am

I agree with Mr Klean, it would be nice to have an auto-prune. Just have the Forums send out an email saying "Your account will be pruned in 2 weeks if you do not login at SRL-Forums". I also like VBulletin a lot, and do not think you should change that.

by A G E N T » Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:00 am

I agree. There are way too many levels. Most forums are just Admin->Mod->VIP->User. SRL should be the same. (Mod/Admin->Dev->Member->User). Also, the forum itself could be tidied up a bit (combine some of the less-used entertainment sections into one section, etc).

The main problem, of course is donations. However, the only donation thing is a little link at the top right of the page. If you want donations, you have to make it obvious. Not to pressure people, but it's a free site and free sites run on ads and donations. Setting goals helps, too. For example, we could have a little meter at the top which reads: "Pay SRL's hosting for the month! $5/$100 raised". It needs to be more visible, and it needs to seem like it's going to something specific.

by Torrent of Flame » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:21 pm

You could also say what the donator benefits are, as an incentive. People just think.. well are the benefits worth my money? I dont even know what they are.

AGENT's ideas are great, too.

by mr.klean » Thu Jan 01, 2009 4:24 pm

Speaking of Donator status. It needs to be changed BADLY. The permissions it gives are way too high for the small amt of money it requires.

by Widget » Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:39 pm

Registering properly requires e-mail verification, right? You could send an email to all unverified users that joined over a month ago saying to verify their accounts or they will be deleted, then delete them a couple weeks later
Also, we could merge regular members and junior members and just move some of the better scripts into members

by mr.klean » Thu Jan 01, 2009 6:41 pm

Reduce avys size
Reduce Images.
Combine Forums
Make the sigs actually limit size instead of just size shown.
Fix the Homepage
Setup auto pruning for non email verifieds
Steam line pages
Reduce layout images? I am not sure on this as I don't know what is images and what is not since I have no forum access.
Increase stats report times. Once every 5 mins to every 10mins? It would reduce a lot.
Reduce user groups
Make one small avatar size for everyone except like admins.

Just some suggestions

by sandos » Fri Jan 02, 2009 10:12 am

reducing avvy size is a bad idea, they're tiny compared to other sites anyway and are only given to a few. although yeah if you're not going to put scrolling sigs back, put a cap on the size

by mr.klean » Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:30 pm

Concerning the avys, I think they should have a uniform size. Avys may be far and few between, but they really make a page awful looking when they're is one massive one and throw the styles off.

EDIT: I am actually liking this forum quite a bit. I like the basic layout of it, although the colors could be changed, and some minor things need to be changed. I am liking the no avatars, no sig, setup. Even though as gay as it may seem, it keeps the forums a simple place. Sigs could be added with size limits, but I like the simplicity of the forums here. Not suggesting changing anything on this forum, just as a reference point for SRL. (referring to the shadow forums)

by A G E N T » Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:37 pm

I think there should be a "No Images in Signatures" rule. It hogs a lot of my bandwidth all the time, and frankly, nobody wants to see everybody's photoshop dabbling.

by mr.klean » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:00 pm

If it was up to me, I would have a no sig and no avy rule but some people complain.

I think having a small sig is fine, ruling out images in signatures rules our SRL stat sigs and such, which contradicts having stats.

I say like a small sig is fine if it's no bigger than 200 pixels tall.

by A G E N T » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:12 pm

I have seen it on another forum (not sure if it was custom written or is a plugin/mod) where there is an option to not view avvies and sigs. Would be pretty easy to write anyways.

by TViYH » Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:32 am

250px tall sig limit.

100x100 avvy limit.

i had no idea whatsoever about shadow forums o.O i guess i didn't pop i nchat enough

~RM

I agree to the email thingy :

To send an email to all users whom have not been active the past 2 months and have less than 100 posts.

If there isn't a reply to the email (or a visit on the verification link), his account would be disabled.

I support this 100%

Most pictures in signature's aren't even hosted @ SRL.. I don't see how that costs bandwidth?
iSpy requires a lot of CPU..

Yeh sigs are hosted at tinypic,etc. It doesnt cost SRL anything to have them on the page, it just slows the loading time of the page. Nothing would happen to SRL's bandwidth, etc if they removed sigs, just a faster page loading time.

From: mastaraymond
Most pictures in signature's aren't even hosted @ SRL.. I don't see how that costs bandwidth?
iSpy requires a lot of CPU..

Does anybody even use Ispy besides Hy?

Please…not phbb3. That forum software seems so ugly to me.

VBulletin is self sucks up cpu, if we used smf of phpbb we could down there.

From: Mr.Klean
Does anybody even use Ispy besides Hy?

No, or if others use it it's rarely.. I myself have only visited Ispy 5-10 times in over a year of being here.. Also the "Related Threads" bit at the bottom of each thread is pretty useless.

I have access to SRL now, and the bandwidth usage isn't as much as we thought. (It's still quite alot)
vBulletin is in my opinion better than phpBB3…
The Database is approximately 800MB. Pruning some users won't help much. There are just lots of posts and PM's here. Plus, we don't like deleting posts physically. Don't worry, it won't slow down much because of a large database.

Plus, we don't like deleting posts physically

Is that because of effort? Or just the fact that it may be useful to someone else in the future??

Because you could easily delete 100 posts saying "My includes are missing", or "How do i download my includes?" - There's sooo many of them

I think iSpy and people just browsing the forums takes the majority of the usage. Honestly the database shouldn't have anything to do with it. I believe the costs is based on bandwidth not database space which is usually constant. 800mb is nothing really.

From: benjaa
Is that because of effort? Or just the fact that it may be useful to someone else in the future??

Because you could easily delete 100 posts saying "My includes are missing", or "How do i download my includes?" - There's sooo many of them

Lol, effort? It's 1 extra click to remove a post for good

From: The Claw
Lol, effort? It's 1 extra click to remove a post for good

yes that's where i was leading… i'd be glad to do it to get the forums running that much faster lol

From: benjaa
yes that's where i was leading… i'd be glad to do it to get the forums running that much faster lol

…Wizzup just said that freeing up space in the database isn't the problem.

So basically we are stuck with the current hosting plan? Well, the we better get the donations rolling… Maybe tell the people what you get that's a secret, if people want that they shoot 20 bucks over. I'm going to donate 20 when my dad gets home anyway.

Maybe a peek at the benefits of donations, or maybe we prune the old old posts.

iSpy seems useless IMO, and the SRL Stats could maybe have a timer reduced, free space that way.

Other than that, I have no idea what can be done. I am inexperienced in the field.

From: Mr.Klean
Does anybody even use Ispy besides Hy?

I use it quite often, do something else while its up there,then you can switch tabs and see what people have posted in the last half an hour, its kinda useful, but I'd be willing to give that up so we could improve the forums.

From: mastaraymond
Most pictures in signature's aren't even hosted @ SRL.. I don't see how that costs bandwidth?
iSpy requires a lot of CPU..

They have recently (or some time ago) added those avatars from afterglow so anyone can access them, but I guess that doesn't take up much.

From: benjaa
Is that because of effort? Or just the fact that it may be useful to someone else in the future??

Because you could easily delete 100 posts saying "My includes are missing", or "How do i download my includes?" - There's sooo many of them

I'd actually be willing to do that, but then again I really don't have much to do at home right now.

iSpy is very useful.
If your busy doing something it allows you to see whats going on while people are posting without having to click "New Posts" button to refresh and read the actual thread. It's very handy for spotting trouble.

i dont think the SRL non-member's or member know much about I-spy lol…
i found out about that like not too long ago :)

its quite a facinating tool, though i dont use it much.

From: Mr.Klean
Does anybody even use Ispy besides Hy?

i use to.

until i found out it slows the site down or something of the sort…