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Caudata.org Move? Your feedback requested

J

john

Guest
My dissatisfaction with our current ISP has been building slowly since the troubles about a year ago. I initially switched to this hosting company in 2003 after the previous hosting company was unhappy with the bandwidth, space and CPU time Caudata.org was using. The current hosting company has deteriorated from a friendly bunch of guys who facilitated every request to a company that squeezes every last drop out of its servers and holds a grudge when the CPU load goes over a certain percentage on the semi dedicated server.

I've also received complaints recently about the forum timing out or not fulfilling requests for pages.

I'm currently looking for some where else to take Caudata.org. I haven't made any decisions yet but I feel like the money could be better spent.
 

ryan

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I wouldn't mind at all if the site was moved, I have had some difficulties before as well.
 

tony

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I'll chime in here. I'm a computer tech and belong many other forums of different topics, and familar with the setup of a few forums(phpbb,punbb,snitz,vbulletin,invison).
I understand you don't want to get in trouble with any copyright violations, but would allowing pictures in posts be linked to outside picture hosts like imageshack,imgplace,photobucket, personal isp space, etc instead of uploading to your webhost help cut bandwith and cpu usage?

i'm not hands-on with discusware but from what i understand this feature could be easily enabled. most of the other forums i belong to allow linking pics to other host. i think most members here have followed the rules anyway and only attach pictures they've taken themselves. just a thought i think it would be a small step to help improve performance that wouldn't drastically impact this community like a host move or a move to a different forum software platform would
 
K

kaysie

Guest
John, I think everyone here just wants what's best for the site. So the ultimate decision is yours if you want to move. I haven't personally had any problems, but if you aren't happy with the hosting, I'm all for moving.
 
C

cameron

Guest
Yeah, I'll go along with what Kaysie said. Do what's best for the site if you want to make that decision.
 

michael

2010 Research Grant Donor
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
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I think whatever you think is best is fine with me. If you need funds for the move I think Caudata.org users should have no trouble coming up with the money. I've had few problems the way the forum is. I do get frustrated when it is down but it's no big deal.
 
J

john

Guest
Regarding bandwidth, that's not a problem and hasn't been for a long time since we upgraded. They found another stick with which to beat me (CPU time). So having the photos here isn't really an important factor.

Regarding the archives, that's an interesting question. I am seriously considering terminating my relationship with Discusware. There's a lot of stuff I've had to do manually that would have been included with other packages, including _free_ forum software. The updates for Discus are sporadic and I requested features years ago that have never shown up (granted some did but pretty minor things). I like Discus a lot though and I haven't made up my mind to ditch it or not. Like it or not it does do some things that others either don't do at all or don't do as well. But they all have their ups and downs.

The archives, yes they will be kept, even if we move. I've always kept the archives when we moved, though some photos got trimmed at one point when space was running out (prior to a major upgrade) - I've regretted that ever since.

I might use this opportunity to set up a new "copy" of caudata.org on another service provider but with a new forum software tailored to behave as much like the current forum as possible. As soon as I've tested it and gotten it to behave and look as I wish, I would then disable posting on the discus forum and move it wholesale to the new server to act as an archive.
 
J

john

Guest
Michael - that's the other thing, the server has gone down on me several times lately while I've been doing stuff to it or about to do things. That's actually what prompted me to think about all of this.

Money-wise we're fine. I got a check for just over $100 from cafepress recently (mostly due to calendars - the shop activity in the last 5 months or so has netted about $130 total in "profit") and there's been a lot of donation activity lately (thank you! You will be acknowledged!). I could rent several servers and still have money left over with how much has come in over the past year. I want to buy some chat software but I need to find one I like (I haven't tried). I'm tempted to tell people to lay off donating for a while but then they might stop altogether!
 
C

cameron

Guest
Awesome! Chat might come up again.
happy.gif


(Message edited by slimy on April 06, 2007)
 
J

jim

Guest
John,
Do what you need to do, I have seen problems with load time before for no good reason. I have a fast machine (3 gigs of ram and a cable modem) and still see painfully slow lagging once in awhile. Also I miss the chat alot. Good to hear donations are high anyway.
 
J

john

Guest
Jim, thanks.

Everyone else: is the site slow to load lately? Please say so. If this is common for everyone I need to know.
 
C

chris

Guest
John
I think a move would be the best thing if it sorts out any problems. I've noticed some lagging when you initially navigate to the site, but none once you're in.

Good luck!
Chris
 
N

nicole

Guest
I've had no lagging whatsoever logging in, navigating, or posting.
 
A

abrahm

Guest
I have had problems with the forum loading only twice. It was some kind of server response issue and after a few minutes everything was running fine again. Other than that I have had very few problems and I visit the forum around twice a day. I may just be the odd man out.
 
J

john

Guest
Well if it's working for some people and not for others that may not indicate a server-related problem, rather something causing a slow down in the route between the server and the people with lag.
 
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