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Major size exceeded issue

Printed From: Thoroughbred Village
Category: Community - Public Forums
Forum Name: Village Administration - Support and Feedback
Forum Description: Ask for help on any matters relating to the Thoroughbred Village web site
URL: https://forum.thoroughbredvillage.com.au/forum_posts.asp?TID=64297
Printed Date: 29 Mar 2024 at 9:52am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Major size exceeded issue
Posted By: Mayor
Subject: Major size exceeded issue
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 12:18pm
It seems we have almost run out of allotted space on the web server. The recommendation is that we move to a dedicated server rather than shared. The cost is prohibitive (USD$45.89 per month). Not sure what to do. One option is to completely start again, with obvious impact on members, 19 years of messages, and SEO factors. This is a nightmare as thousands of Google errors will be thrown and we will most likely be severely penalised for it. What do you guys think? It would be a good opportunity to restart in mid winter, but our organic hits will plummet, affecting advertising. I guess I have to weigh up the impact of the hit in SEO against the savings of starting again. I can't afford an extra AUD$800 per year for a dedicated server. Any thoughts? Mayor

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Mayor



Replies:
Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 6:13pm
Pretty easy solution Mayor as i see it. Couple of the punters in the racing section reckon they always finish in the black across a year.. Get them to increase their investment & let them pay the $800. Everyones a winner that way Big smile

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Refer ALP Election Promises


Posted By: crooked_gambler
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 6:28pm
Could always start a go fund me and get everyone to chip in $5

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Posted By: Second Chance
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 6:30pm
Very few looks so far Mr Mayor.  I'd suggest posting in some of the other forums.


Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 6:51pm
Something like Imminent Forum Closure should get attention especially if placed in Racing & pinned.


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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!


Posted By: furious
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 7:53pm
Well I'm only in and out as it's a bit boring at the moment.  Everyone is talking everything but racing!  Do you want this site to be everything or racing.  If you cut out all the backup extras and just kept racing or breeding back to the old days (mind you I can never find anything anyway) maybe you'd help the amount of space needed.  Just a thought.


Posted By: Mayor
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 8:10pm
I'd prefer to talk about racing and breeding only, but this is a community and people like to discuss many other things, that's fine. I've been talking to the hosting manager, the forum posts are using 95% of the entire website's footprint. If the price is prohibitive, he suggests removing old posts. I wonder what the impact of that is, in terms of people wanting to maintain access to old posts and also, what is the SEO impact of removing content. I'm working through these issues. I didn't want this to be a fund raising exercise though, I'd prefer to have a practical solution.. the database is very very large.... millions and millions of posts.

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Mayor


Posted By: SkyDancer
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 8:13pm
Anything that hasn’t been used in 3-4 years is fair game for removal IMO


Posted By: furious
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 8:27pm
Just delete it Mayor.  We'll live on and have our own data bases to rely on for old information.


Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 8:30pm
In Racing and Joffs only about 10% of posts have been viewed in the last 2 years by anyone but bots.

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Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 8:40pm
Just a thought which I know annoys others too, many insist on using the Quote tab for every reply despite it being immediately above, surely this would add to space usage?
I'm thinking of the future.



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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!


Posted By: VOYAGER
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 9:41pm
I think the start again option would be easier.

However I also think there are a few forums which can be eliminated, as they have low volume.

Threads which have not had any posts for a certain amount of time (again this is a moving option but for me, 5 years would be okay) should go.

Any threads which have had less than one page of posts should go. I have noticed in the last 12 months that if a horse wins a maiden at the mid weeks it gets a thread. I think this is taking up valuable space.

I think if a member wants to pay for a forum that could be an option. So for instance I would be willing to pay $50 a month, for the Tipping Forum to continue.

It would be a shame to lose all the contributions from the past posters like Kangamick, Joffs and andy, but if that needs to be done to save the Village, then that is what, has to happen.

Not sure if that post helps.


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Remember, it might take intelligence to be smart , but it takes experience to be wise


Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 10:40pm
I believe the falafel van business is very good, Doc could pay the $800 from petty cash


Posted By: Mayor
Date Posted: 19 Jul 2019 at 11:38pm
First thing, I'm going to backup the forum SQL database, so all the 1.5 million posts will be saved. Not sure exactly the best way to access individual posts in the backup file but at least I know it's possible in case something is needed. Then I'll look at the best way to remove old redundant threads.

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Mayor


Posted By: Red Hare
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 1:17am
Originally posted by Gay3 Gay3 wrote:

Just a thought which I know annoys others too, many insist on using the Quote tab for every reply despite it being immediately above, surely this would add to space usage?
I'm thinking of the future.

Edit button would surely result in a significant reduction here.


Posted By: Red Hare
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 1:24am
Originally posted by Mayor Mayor wrote:

I'd prefer to talk about racing and breeding only, but this is a community and people like to discuss many other things.
That might’ve been the case back in the day, but Joffs is now just the same handful of posters having the same argument in every thread.

I guess you’ll have to weigh up the income from clicks v benefits of sterner moderation.


Posted By: VSP.
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 1:43am
Originally posted by Mayor Mayor wrote:

..... The cost is prohibitive (USD$45.89 per month). .....
Is this total cost to host the forum? Approx Aus$850 per year? Surely the advertising and betting commissions pay that easily? I seem to remember contributing that kind of money in the past for a year's running costs, so what has changed?


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www.snowshoecats.webs.com


Posted By: Brudder_A
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 5:10am
If possible couldn't you do archival of post older than 5-7 years? Space would be freed up. An archival area that is cost efficient and accessible would be nice.



Thanks, I can do that quite easily, however to reduce the size of the file, the old posts would need to be removed from the database and not be accessible to the public anymore (although I have them on file). An archive wouldn't achieve that. Mayor


Posted By: Mayor
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 8:31am
Originally posted by VSP. VSP. wrote:

Originally posted by Mayor Mayor wrote:

..... The cost is prohibitive (USD$45.89 per month). .....
Is this total cost to host the forum? Approx Aus$850 per year? Surely the advertising and betting commissions pay that easily? I seem to remember contributing that kind of money in the past for a year's running costs, so what has changed?


Nothing's changed other than the fact that the forum database has overgrown its current storage capacity. It can't continue to be housed on a shared server (it's at 96% capacity) and must transfer to a dedicated cloud-based server. The cost mentioned is for storage and efficient running of the full database on a dedicated server. The alternative is to reduce its size by deleting old posts. This is not my preference as personally, I access old posts from time to time, mainly to source information for articles.

The TBV forums have always been free for members and there are absolutely no plans to introduce membership fees.


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Mayor


Posted By: Shrunk in the Wash
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 9:37am
Originally posted by Red Hare Red Hare wrote:

Originally posted by Gay3 Gay3 wrote:

Just a thought which I know annoys others too, many insist on using the Quote tab for every reply despite it being immediately above, surely this would add to space usage?
I'm thinking of the future.

Edit button would surely result in a significant reduction here.



Spot on


Posted By: Brudder_A
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 9:48am
Originally posted by Mayor Mayor wrote:

Thanks, I can do that quite easily, however to reduce the size of the file, the old posts would need to be removed from the database and not be accessible to the public anymore (although I have them on file). An archive wouldn't achieve that. Mayor


Removing non-thoroughbred old posts would sanitize the forum and would regain some space - as well as focus...

You will need to make a decision!




Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 4:24pm
I'd suggest "Old Posts " would be better , gone & forgotten anyway.



Posted By: Second Chance
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 4:42pm
Racing has the historical volume.  Then Joffs followed by Tipping.

Suggest just rid all posts in Racing and Joffs older than say 3 years plus all Tipping more than a year oldand see how much space that frees up.


Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 6:48pm
How about this approach. For starters - randomly select 4 letters of the alphabet & just delete all posts in Joffs from posters whose name starts with one of those letters. To make it easy i have just done same - & pulled out the following letters from a bag full of letters - W, P, R & T . See how that goes.

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Refer ALP Election Promises


Posted By: Second Chance
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2019 at 7:10pm
Well we all appreciate a bit of humor on here O.  My randoms however came up with O, D, M and S.  Wink




Posted By: Mayor
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 12:13am
The deleting function will remove topics that haven't been posted in for say, a couple of years.

So, if you have an interest in a particular topic, but it hasn't been added to for over a year or so, please post something in the thread and it will remain in the database.

Regards, Mayor


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Mayor


Posted By: saintly96
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 1:52am
We could all donate 5 or 10 bucks. I am sure that would cover the cost mentioned.


Posted By: Second Chance
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 7:28pm
Am way against donations, if only because it allows free riders to continue without contributing.

Archiving Racing and Joffs threads more than three years old and Tipping one year old would surely free up tons of space.


Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 8:06pm
Can't see a problem with donations, people get it free now anyway.
and it is a bit like taxpayers paying for Centrelink, hospitals, roads etc that non taxpayers use.
Maybe those contributing can get a small reward, something like edit function


Posted By: VSP.
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 8:33pm
There have been offers from Big Al & Voyager to each cover a year of the full costs to keep the place going. Thats two full years before anyone has to worry. Not quite sure why the Mayor is dismissing the offers?

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www.snowshoecats.webs.com


Posted By: crooked_gambler
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 8:59pm
It’s his forum he can do what he likes

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Posted By: Second Chance
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 9:11pm
Yes of course he can.

However if so why the hell is he asking for advice and then ignoring it, particularly when offers far exceed his outlay in maintaining the forums.

ps in case someone came in late: "There have been offers from Big Al & Voyager to each cover a year of the full costs to keep the place going. That's two full years before anyone has to worry. Not quite sure why the Mayor is dismissing the offers?"

pss and failing that, will he also ignore the suggestions that he simply archive Racing and Joffs posts three years or more old, and archive Tipping posts more than five minutes ago?

 


Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 12:17pm
I don't understand the anger here, the Mayor asked for suggestions, much like a Hawke cabinet meeting, and will decide which way to go


Posted By: ExceedAndExcel
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 12:50pm
Put up a PayPal account that we can donate to Mayor. I’m sure plenty of people will contribute such that nothing needs to deleted.


Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 6:11pm
I will contribute $10, if you have Afterpay Smile


Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 6:15pm
& I will contribute $11  LOL

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Refer ALP Election Promises


Posted By: Carioca
Date Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 9:11pm
Me too .


Posted By: Progold
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 3:38pm
How are you going with a decision Mayor?  Remember the last time you upgraded?  You were also concerned about losing the history but there wasn't much alternative.  I am sure that you have never had use for revisiting many of those old posts, even though there was a lot of very good content among them.  Arguably, much of it was of a lot higher quality than many of the current offerings.  I am equally confident that if you want to keep everything, a small crowd funding exercise would allow the project to proceed.


Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 3:49pm
"arguably" indeed !

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Refer ALP Election Promises


Posted By: SkyDancer
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2019 at 11:43am
Can we get rid of the quote button... some people (particularly those from WA) do not understand how annoying they are


Posted By: Sister Dot
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2019 at 6:39pm
Can we have an edit/delete button too please?

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“Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity? Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined”


Posted By: Mayor
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2019 at 1:02am
I can't take up the generous offers from our members because some people object to me earning a little income from advertising (as paltry as it is) while at the same time taking donations for hosting fees. In this case, I am pretty much forced to decline offers of assistance. Thank you very much to those who have offered. It's much appreciated.

We are at 97% capacity now. I'll start removing some of the insignificant threads and see how we go.

Mayor


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Mayor


Posted By: VSP.
Date Posted: 01 Sep 2019 at 2:33am
It's no ones business but yours and the donors Craig.

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www.snowshoecats.webs.com



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