Forum Going Slow

Ash · May 26, 2008, 05:17:25 AM

Over the last several days, I've been experiencing extremely slow speeds here on the forum.
When I click on a link here on the board, it'll sometimes hang.
Other times, it'll act as if it's going to go to the next screen but it'll hang on a black page. I'll back up, click the link again and it still hangs.

This happens even when trying to log in or out. I'll type my name and password in and click LOG IN and it just hangs.
When I want to log out, I click LOG OUT and it hangs.
It'll eventually log me in and out but it takes an eternity. (several minutes...and I have a fast broadband cable connection)

It's intermittent. Sometimes all of the pages load quickly and other times they don't.

The rest of Badmovies.org, like the main page, reviews and reader reviews etc... all seem to load quickly with no problems at all. And some pages here on this forum seem to load fast while others do not.
All other websites load fast as well.

Have any of you had problems with hanging and slow speeds here on this board lately?

Sister Grace · May 26, 2008, 07:59:22 AM

I had this problem a few days ago, but it might have just been my computer...

Menard · May 26, 2008, 11:10:00 AM

I've had the forum to hang when I clicked on a link on several occasions; and no, it was not my browser as other sites where loading fine.

A few days ago, I even get a white page with a message that said something along the lines that the database was not available.

Patient7 · May 26, 2008, 02:01:10 PM

That happens to me every now and then, it's only one or two links though when it happens.

Andrew · May 27, 2008, 07:52:00 AM

I've seen us take some performance hits lately, and quite honestly they are being caused by the forum growing. The database continues to grow, meaning anything it does (especially searches) starts taking up more power to execute.

Some sites (not many these days) solve this by either pruning or archiving threads. I'd rather not go that way, because you are either deleting information, or else making it harder to access. The real solution is going to be setting up a server (well, VPS) for just the forum. Until I can make that happen, I've been trying a few things to see if they help. Each tweak takes a few days to evaluate.

Allhallowsday · May 27, 2008, 10:40:21 PM

Thanks to Andrew for Badmovies.org; my most frequently visited site. There's been a few slow moments; but who of us doesn't appreciate this site enough to be patient?

Patient7 · May 28, 2008, 12:20:41 PM

Quote from: Allhallowsday on May 27, 2008, 10:40:21 PM
Thanks to Andrew for Badmovies.org; my most frequently visited site. There's been a few slow moments; but who of us doesn't appreciate this site enough to be patient?

Good point.

odinn7 · July 21, 2008, 12:25:08 PM

I'm having trouble with the board taking a long time to load...when I first come here as well as when I click on something to read. I thought it was just something at home but now at work I have the same issue. It seems to be after installing the newest update to FireFox but that could just be coincidence.

Anyone else having issues?

Jack · July 21, 2008, 01:14:20 PM

I've been noticing the forum is slow too. Sometimes it'll be fine, other times it can take 20 seconds or so for a page to load. Been going on for a week or so now. No biggie I guess, I'll just flip over to another site and read some stuff while I wait.

CheezeFlixz · July 21, 2008, 03:24:02 PM

Yes it has been lagging a little lately, I figure it's something Andrew is working on. But I've noticed it too, it can take as much as a 30 or more seconds for a page to change.

The main site is moving fine, reviews etc. Seem to be unique to the forum only.

Patient7 · July 21, 2008, 05:22:20 PM

I thought the problem was just on my computer, but yeah, it's a wee bit slow.

Andrew · July 21, 2008, 05:50:41 PM

I've been moving these last two days; still in the process. All the normal moving nightmares - U-Haul truck breaking down, etc.

The forum is just plain overloaded. At this point, I might have to remove guest posting to fix the issue. I cannot devote any more server resources to it, and I've tried every performance tweak I could. The real problem is literally thousands of spambots trying to post. Each one takes up some resources. Even though the server firewalls the IP after too many spambot tries, they come back from a new IP.

ulthar · July 21, 2008, 05:58:11 PM

Quote from: Andrew on July 21, 2008, 05:50:41 PM

Even though the server firewalls the IP after too many spambot tries, they come back from a new IP.

Can you firewall by geo location? All of Russia, all of China, etc...that sort of thing?

Andrew · July 21, 2008, 06:04:51 PM

Quote from: ulthar on July 21, 2008, 05:58:11 PM
Quote from: Andrew on July 21, 2008, 05:50:41 PM

Even though the server firewalls the IP after too many spambot tries, they come back from a new IP.

Can you firewall by geo location? All of Russia, all of China, etc...that sort of thing?

Unfortunately, doing DNS lookups on every host requesting from the server is also a bunch of overhead. I have a plan that might help, but I've no time to actually do it for weeks due to work and what it requires. I'm going to turn off guest posting.

Sister Grace · July 21, 2008, 07:09:21 PM

First of all, sorry about the moving experience...I moved a lot back before I became a parent. I once moved five times in a year, each time out of state. Moving is never fun. It may be better where you are going; but the process is always hell.

As far as turning off the guest posting; I can understand why. I just really hate that for Menard; hopefully he will register so we won't miss him.