Thread: AULRO bloody slow

Originally Posted by p38arover

Dave, I suspect that many users are like me.

When I log on, I use the New Posts feature to get an index of new stuff.

I select a thread then, after reading the topic, I don't always use the back key to go back to the index of new posts, I often hit New Posts once more - especially if the last topic I read went over several pages of stuff I hadn't previously read..

Will that slow the system much?>

Your suspicions are probably well founded, Ron. I do exactly the same thing.

Originally Posted by vnx205

Your suspicions are probably well founded, Ron. I do exactly the same thing.

I start the same way, but then right-click each thread I'm interested in reading and open it in a new tab. However, when I'm done with all of those, I'll often hit the new posts again to see what's changed or if there have been any replies.

I suspect most people do something along these lines as it's the easiest method, and because they're unaware (Because it works) of how much load this puts on the server compared to using the browser's "back" button.

Maybe increasing the timer between searches would help change people's behaviour? You could also link the length of the timer to subscriber level as well (if it's possible to do so).

Originally Posted by jik22

I start the same way, but then right-click each thread I'm interested in reading and open it in a new tab. However, when I'm done with all of those, I'll often hit the new posts again to see what's changed or if there have been any replies.

I suspect most people do something along these lines as it's the easiest method, and because they're unaware (Because it works) of how much load this puts on the server compared to using the browser's "back" button.

Maybe increasing the timer between searches would help change people's behaviour? You could also link the length of the timer to subscriber level as well (if it's possible to do so).

Don't quite understand how hitting back button will do the same as hitting New Posts button?

I would imagine, although not the least real knowledge, that the New Posts button would be a search that could be optimised on the server frequently and served up to one and all, rather than a search that is specific - keyword, username, sort by posts rather than thread, for example - that is done once.

Cheers
Simon

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

Don't quite understand how hitting back button will do the same as hitting New Posts button?

In my example I meant getting you back to the search results window (i.e. list of threads) after you've finished reading the first thread you clicked on after searching (If that makes sense now?)

I would imagine, although not the least real knowledge, that the New Posts button would be a search that could be optimised on the server frequently and served up to one and all, rather than a search that is specific - keyword, username, sort by posts rather than thread, for example - that is done once.

This is what I was getting at when I asked Inc in an earlier post what was causing the I/O - a common search using only things like time & date fields could easily be indexed so as to cause less of a hit. Indexing is always a trade off of how often it's results are used compared to the server hit of creating and updating the index.

the searches are cached now...

i tried extending the cache times but it had no affect on the load level...

Originally Posted by jik22

In my example I meant getting you back to the search results window (i.e. list of threads) after you've finished reading the first thread you clicked on after searching (If that makes sense now?)


<snip>

Thanks, didn't understand. I always open in new pages and close my way back to the New Posts page.

Cheers
Simon

Well I'm not a subscriber, but that's due to some extenuating circumstances (no aussie bank account, no paypal hence no simple mechanism to pay for a start).

However another board that I'm a moderator on has blocked searching for guests and has a scaleable increase in facilities depending on how many posts each user has (e.g. the first 5 posts by a user cannot contain pictures or links, or must be checked by a moderator first), until post 20, PM is disabled... this worked for a while, but ended up with the database lookup requests to determine if a user had XX posts increasing the server load and we went back to square one with guests not having use of the search function. All images could not be linked offsite either as this was found to be a massive drain on resources as people linked photos in their gallery to other webpages which sucked bandwidth and not much else.

IMHO, block the search function for guests, block all offsite linking of photos in the gallery and block emoticons, images and avatars from being veiwed by guests. Given that we seem to have more guests than members online most of the time, this should reduce the load and maybe convert some of the guests into members.

all that has been done a while ago now..

as for subscribing you can use your favourite card here