Pprune is becoming soooo slowwwwww??

[Flypro]

Is it just my two year old (iron age) computer or is Pprune really becoming very very slow to use. Often recently I have decided that life is just too short to wait for my favourite forums and their contents to download and been forced to give up on the whole site. Is it my computer or Pprune thats to blame???

[fobotcso]

You are not alone. PPRuNe's speed has been up and down a lot recently. It got very bad just after the WTC attacks and then it was a little better.

Now, however, it is unbearably slow and like you there are times when I have given up.
For instance, the elapsed time between my clicking on the button "Reply to Message" and the "Post a Reply" screen appearing was over 50 seconds.

In fairness, my Barclays Bank Access has been even slower during the day; at times it is 3-4 minutes between changing screens. I've given up on them to wait to a later time in the evening and it is ususally better. PPRuNe does not improve in the evenings because there are so many more people browsing the site.

Other Sites are fine with times of 3-4 seconds to change screens.

I'm on ISDN at 64 kBits/sec, 500 mHz Pentium 3 and 256 mB of RAM.

Very frustrating at times.

[PPRuNe Pop]

It could be your computer Flypro, but then I have replaced my motherboard and upgraded my CPU to 950mhz, and still I have the same problems getting in. But, as has been touched upon, after the tragedy in NY, PPRuNe has been 'used' a great deal more than we could have ever imagined.

Let me give you a current example.

For the month of September the bandwidth was 190 GigaBytes! Would you care to get your mind around that?

At the present growth rate, PPRuNe is getting to be VERY VERY expensive to run. Indeed a LOT of money is required NOW to pay for a new server. Also, at the level of continuous growth PPRuNe is going to need ever larger capacity, both in terms of bandwidth and finance. What Danny started 6 years ago has surpassed ANYTHING he THOUGHT might happen. But he keeps it going.

We are constantly trying to think of ways to raise finance to keep PPRuNe as you like it, but that too is difficult. However, plans are afoot and we hope that it will be sorted soon. In the meantime PPRuNe goes on. It is then not unreasonable to ask that everyone be thankful for PPRuNe, and since very few people make a contribution to it, except for purchasing badges, I would also ask that they don't take it too much for for granted either. It is there for you, but you have it as it is or not at all - for the immediate future.

Just enjoy is my advice.

[deepee]

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee........ :D

[deepee]

.....eeeeeessssssssss Pop :cool:

[G.Khan]

Pop, I know it has been said here by the operators at PPRuNe Towers that a subscription charge was a 'no-go' item as it would penalise Wannabees etc. but if a person can afford to pay, say, US$2. per week for PPRuNe, (better than any mag. or newspaper!) then why not let us?
Genuine Wannabees and the unemployed should be trusted to be truthful about their status and start to pay when they can afford it.
At US$2p.w., allowing for 50% unable to pay that should yield approx. US40,000p.w.
In order to avoid too much red-tape could you not become a charity?
There are many of who will volunteer to pay a reasonable sub. so why not let us?

[ 03 October 2001: Message edited by: G.Khan ]

[What_does_this_button_do?]

For those kind enough to do so you can help via this route:
http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=004872

Work is going on in the background at the moment to address speed issues, please bear with us.

Buttons

[dusk2dawn]

How about a subscription system that gives the subscribers priority in server response time and access to search function ?
That will not restrict the public, the wannabees etc. only take a little more of their time.

[GoneWest]

But then how long would it be before the complaints start about people having their thread locked - for which they consider not a good reason - and the "rights and wrongs" of subliminal advertising...or downright bare faced advertising from some schools..if they are paying for the service??

Personally - if it would weed out some of the muppets I'd subscribe. It would even count as a business expense. :D

[Brit Abroad]

Just out of interest, what exactly is the legal form of PPRuNe ?

I mean, is it a registered charity, a limited company, a partnership, a sole trader ?

I love this site and really appreciate the work that goes into it but as long as the legal form / status isn't clear, then I'm very hesitant about sending any money.

I would have absolutely no qualms about PPRuNe being a company and selling merchandising for which I would gladly pay in exchange of a receipt and the chance to see the where the money was going. Or, it being a registered charity for the benefit of a good cause, and asking for donations and publishing accounts.

The problem seems to be that PPRuNe cannot decide to make the leap and has now found itself a bit short of cashflow. In the meantime, it's all a bit "no mans land"

I would also say, we are all indirectly financing the site. - Without the readership, there would be no advertising revenue.

It's just that there seems to be a lot of posts recently asking / pressuring people into sending money which I find unreasonable for the reasons above.

I repeat, I love the site, love the people would love to help out financially, but not under the present circumstances. Sorry.

Comments ?

[PaperTiger]

Some thoughts.......
Free to read, nominal subscription to post.
Do we really need history forever ?
Just how useful is the search ? ISTM the main purpose is to look up a poster's history just to slag them off.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Brit Abroad, thanks for your comments.

I think my previous post paints a fair picture in regard to PPRuNe's need to cover the cost of a new server and new hardware.

We at PPRuNe HQ are addressing all of the problems we currently encounter. PPRuNe is privately owned by Danny, and he pays all the operating expenses. The advertising and PPRuNe badge revenue is it's only revenue, and it obviously needs more - as more and more join in PPRuNe - something like 50-150 every single day. All will become clear.

The best suggestion I can make is watch this space.


PPRuNe Pop
Administrator
[email protected]

[stickyb]

Pprune Pop (and Danny, etc)
I have also spent time battling with the internet, and agree that the traffic surge after Sept 11th slowed us down, but I wonder just how much some of the server load is self inflicted.
If you are looking at having to upgrade the server because of either cpu loading or disc/io loading, then I think the culprit may be the actual software you are running.
If you analyse the functions performed by the software that suports this board, it has moved on a long way from being just a simple message exchange. If all it was doing was displaying messages, the a couple of i/os per mesage would do.
But, look at all the extra functions that are no provided, whether you want them or not.
Things like the fancy icons that tell you if there have been posts on the topic since you last visited. Counting the number of posts on a topic. Pulling out all the details of a poster, and counting his (or her) posts.
All this "extra" information costs an arm and a leg to calculate/refresh etc. WOuld be interesting to see some stats if you have them on the number of i/os taken to display a page of posts.
In my opinion the software has got far too fancy, and this will hog the power of the machine, forcing regular upgrades (just like a well known company does with operating systems!)

[dusk2dawn]

PaperTiger, the search function is very useful when it comes to limiting repetitive questions, wich is a vaste of bandwith.

StickyB, you beat me by a couple of hours. UltimateBB may be (is !) a good product but not necessarily the most efficient. However, hardly any other BBS has this level of trafic so it will probably be difficult to make a serious evaluation. Maybe Danny et al should consider to have a BBS of their own design ?

[G.Khan]

In the meantime where do I send my entirely voluntary cheque?

[PPRuNe Pop]

G Kahn. If you would e-mail me I will be happy to provide an address.

Thank you.


PPRuNe Pop
Administrator
[email protected]

[PPRuNe Dispatcher]

Due to a few nasty bugs we had to upgrade from version 5.47 to 6.05 of the bulletin board software. At the time we knew it would put more of a load on the server.

Modern software suffers from "bloat", it's a fact of life in the software industry, and the only solution is to get more powerful hardware, which is what we are planning to do.

---Mik

[G.Khan]

OK Pop - the deed is done.

[rebeccadblake]

Who cares if PPRuNe is slow?

I dont I love PPRuNe slow or not, besides its a great web site.....I am not complaining.

So I ask again..

Who cares if its slow, isn't it worth it!

[G.Khan]

BECKXY - It all depends how much you have to pay to be on-line, places like Australia are definitely not cheap. I agree however, a realy great website!!!

[TR4A]

When you Brits go to bed, us Yanks have no problems with speed.

[Super Stall]

Its easy really, remove the Guvbore and his annoying 3000 posts!!! Most I'd read in the mourning papers or from other websites anyway.

That'll get us zipping along again. :D :D :D

[Saab 2000 Driver]

True ! I also experience an extremely slow PPRUNE !

It´s not my computer´s fault (AMD 1400, 512MB RAM !) nor my ISP as other sites load without a problem. Sometimes it takes more then one minute for a page to load !

I like PPRUNE, but this defenitely takes the fun out of ppruning for me. :(

[spekesoftly]

There are over 200 people viewing PPRuNe at present, and yet it seems a lot quicker than some hours ago with only about 30. Have noticed something similar quite a few times recently. Just curious.