Author Topic: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?  (Read 11571 times)

G-dog

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Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« on: March 10, 2019, 02:22:04 PM »
The forum is having frequent issues (SMF connection, timeouts, duplicate threads created, etc.).

Would a big spring cleaning of old posts etc. help any of these issues?

Daley

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2019, 03:11:28 PM »
I don't think we need to go that far on the spring cleaning, like Jon Snow's journal didn't need to be deleted, it just needed to be broken apart, locked and archived. We just need to start locking old threads that haven't gotten any action for a year or so to keep down the necroposting, set some thread post count limits, and just lock and encourage starting fresh on the really long ones. Again. No need to delete old giant threads, just stop using them all the time.

Maybe also consolidate down a few boards.

It's the same low hanging fruit that was suggested more than a year ago.

If any spring cleaning needs done, it's all the zero post count accounts older than six months that haven't been signed into since their account was initially created, or haven't signed in for over two years. That'd go a long way, too.

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2019, 03:15:49 PM »
Quote
If any spring cleaning needs done, it's all the zero post count accounts older than six months that haven't been signed into since their account was initially created, or haven't signed in for over two years. That'd go a long way, too.

Easy? Hard?

I have time and am willing to help.  I don't have expertise (like I couldn't build a program to automatically scrape these barnacles off the hull).

Daley

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2019, 04:04:53 PM »
Easy? Hard?

I have time and am willing to help.  I don't have expertise (like I couldn't build a program to automatically scrape these barnacles off the hull).

Not too hard, some is just a configuration, some is just a plugin, some is just time consuming.

Plugin for auto-locking old threads (edited, stuck in wrong link, sorry!):
https://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2040

For the life of me, I can't find the info on how to set a thread post cap in SMF anymore (I want to say it's fairly easy with an admin account), but there's not enough long active threads that it can't be done as they crop up. Maybe that way, you split the topic after X posts, lock the now older part of the thread, and let the current keep going. Edit: This said, we really don't have a massive number of insanely long threads overall, just a lot of long threads currently active. Maybe we don't actually need to cap thread lengths so much as just actively police and shut down/split the current giant ones. Just preventing necroposting would probably be just as effective on reducing loads as a thread cap, and then just have soft-capping policies on longer threads as the need arises.

Pruning the zero post members is just going to be a manual affair, but can be simplified with a custom group:
https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Performance_enhancements#Prune_zero-post_members

I'd offered to help myself last year, but... *shrug*

Edit - Here's a short list of threads that really probably needs to get split with the older posts locked to improve performance in no particular order:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/mustachian-people-problems-(just-for-fun)/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/what-comes-after-the-aca/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/what-small-things-did-you-do-today-to-save-money/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/australian-investing-thread/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/selling-tradelines-piggybacking-part-ii-$1000hr-20-40kyr-side-gig/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/so-let's-speculate-about-the-future-of-a-full-trump-presidency/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/relatives-who-just-don't-get-it/
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/overheard-on-facebook/

I won't even touch, name names, or point fingers at the journals section... but anyone with a journal there either hitting triple digit page numbers or are older journals exceeding 2500 posts might want to consider a thread split or a fresh start with a lock on the old stuff. Great voluntary way to help contribute to lessening the server load.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2019, 04:45:54 PM by Daley »

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2019, 04:29:12 PM »
@FrugalToque and @arebelspy - if you think this is worth doing to improve forum performance, how should this get bounced to the right people for a decision. I can help on the time-consuming or manual stuff - or with ideas to set criteria...

Thanks.

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2019, 04:48:03 PM »
Edited my last post heavily. I fixed a link and pointed out the top eight non-journal threads that are gumming up the works. Sorry.

Daley

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2019, 06:57:17 PM »
@FrugalToque and @arebelspy - if you think this is worth doing to improve forum performance

I do not. I have not been convinced that what is suggested here is necessary, nor am I sure it would be effective or helpful.

I do think we need a server upgrade.

Why? The three things cited are literally three of the official 17 performance enhancements as documented on SMF's own website, with a fourth indirect related to the actions proposed:

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Performance_enhancements

There's always room for optimization. If we really need a new server, wouldn't it serve us well to optimize first to actually make sure we do before going through the pain and effort? Isn't that kind of a mustachian response to the situation?

You don't want to take the heat if it doesn't actually work? I'll throw myself under the bus. Blame me. BAN ME and figuratively pillory me for suggesting the changes you implement if it actually does nothing. You don't even have to try the thread lock! Just lop off everything but the last six months on a couple dozen threads and lock the left over, and let G-dog purge out the zero post count users older than six months that never logged in and any newer ones that clearly only signed up to stuff a spam URL in the profile. That's not even high stakes changes on your end, and the most visible change is something you can even undo. That's how confident I am that this will help improve server performance without an upgrade.

If there's no stability and noticeable server performance improvement from those two changes... ban me.

If it works? I don't want anything in return except a willingness from you and Toque to perhaps do some more optimizations, because I will have already gotten what I wanted - a more stable forum for the community.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2019, 07:00:43 PM by Daley »

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2019, 08:08:46 PM »
I have done as requested on dead accounts. I removed all users that created an account more than 60 days ago, but never verified it via email link. That removed ~3400 accounts. I will look at removing other accounts that were activated, but haven't logged in in a long time another time.

Regarding thread cap/splitting/etc... Please take note that the cap on threads they use in your link is 30k and 25k posts. That would be (at our 50 posts/page) 500-600 page threads. That's where they set their cap. I would be okay with that. We aren't anywhere near that. We have a couple dozen threads that hit triple digits (aka 5k posts, a fraction of their cap). Clearly the forum software can handle long threads, if their recommended cap to help performance is like 5x the length that our longer threads hit.

Lack of processing power is our issue more than the way our forum is being used.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2019, 08:41:15 AM by arebelspy »
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Daley

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2019, 08:57:46 PM »
Please stop with the hyperbolic banning thing. It's not helping anything.

Not hyperbole, man. That was a legit offer to demonstrate to you how serious I was about my claim and to give you an out if it didn't actually help. You should know me well enough by now. I'm willing to put my own reputation on the line in hopes of helping to encourage others to keep the server operational. I can't do it myself, so the only thing I have left to offer is my word and the confidence in the advice I'm willing to dig up to help others. I was, and still am, willing to take a permaban if these changes don't actually improve anything in exchange for wasting your time.

I don't see how removing dead accounts will do much of anything.

Each dead account has its own database entry containing every single unread post since they last logged in. This is why #8 on that list is an effective way of improving system performance by marking messages read on idle accounts that haven't logged in over X months, and why removing dead accounts can help database performance.

Further, I think this is a never ending chase where I make some of the changes, it's not enough, we make other changes, repeat, and it's not enough.

Well, yeah, that's why ongoing maintenance is necessary, and you do as much tuning as possible. It will add up and help, however, just like every ten bucks not spent every month.

The forum is too large, and it has too many posts and users for the server to handle. Short of purging/deleting threads, which I'm not willing to do, I think the changes will be quite ineffectual for what we have.

And that's what I'm trying to tell you. The problem isn't that the threads are here. It's that the active giant threads are hammering the tables too large to keep in RAM. Every time someone opens "Overheard on Facebook" for example, the database has to go to the hard drive and pull up the entire database entry for the thread to serve the latest posts. You don't need to delete anything! You just need to lock it after it gets too large or too old to be cached in the database index. That's why I suggested hacking off anything older than six months from those years long and countless threads and locking them. If someone still wants to read the old stuff, it's there... but there's a lot fewer people wanting to read the entire thread than just wanting to post to the last few days worth of comments.

Nevertheless, I have done as requested on dead accounts. I removed all users that created an account more than 60 days ago, but never verified it via email link. That removed ~3400 accounts. I will look at removing other accounts that were activated, but haven't logged in in a long time another time.

Thank you. I know you don't think it'll help, but it'll help. Have a little faith. Please.

Regarding thread cap/splitting/etc... Please take note that the cap on threads they use in your link is 30k and 25k posts. That would be (at our 50 posts/page) 500-600 page threads. That's where they set their cap. I would be okay with that. We aren't anywhere near that. We have a couple dozen threads that hit triple digits (aka 5k posts, a fraction of their cap). Clearly the forum software can handle long threads, if their recommended cap to help performance is like 5x the length that our longer threads hit.

Lack of processing power is our issue more than the way our forum is being used.

Quote
30k is what I use for Elliquiy, and Ben uses 25k for Red and White Kop. Keep in mind, though, that we are both running finely tuned dedicated servers with two hard disks, two cores, and 4gb of RAM. You may want to cap thread length closer to 1k posts.

Bolded for emphasis. That 25-30k post cap is for a well tuned, dedicated SMF forum server with a RAID array, dual-core processor, and 4GB of RAM run by people who actually worked on the code.

When I tried pulling up the 13k post thread in question earlier, it took over 30 seconds to load and I got a database error a few seconds later, and it wasn't the only one on that list that pulls slower when the server is loaded down. They recommended 1000 for shared hosting instances. If we know that the server is buckling under the load of the database, and we know the largest database load is when large threads have to go into table scan every time they're read and directly impacts the amount of processing... maybe the server we have as it stands, no matter its configuration, isn't actually able to support a couple dozen high profile 5k+ post threads that get pulled thousands of times a day by readers. There's no shame in this.

Locking an old giant thread is just as effective as deleting it from a performance standpoint, only you don't lose the info. If you think deleting threads will help, but you're not willing to do that, why wouldn't locking them to reduce how often they get accessed help? Why not try just to see what happens?

I know you don't have much faith in this, but at least you're doing something known to help reduce server load. Every bit helps.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2019, 09:09:35 PM by Daley »

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2019, 10:13:49 PM »
I deleted about another 12k users, people who had 0 posts and hadn't logged in since before Jan 1, 2018. That leaves us with about 31k, with 15k culled today (~1/3).
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Daley

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2019, 08:26:51 AM »
Great! That'll help more than you realize.

Now all I need to do is convince you to take serious the idea of a 2500-or-so thread cap and split and lock the older parts of the 20-30 or so largest threads. The best part is? If it doesn't actually dramatically make an impact on server performance, you can merge the threads back together. But if it does help? It makes a great case for locking posts over a year or two old for helping make the best out of server performance and minimize the addition of any new threads that keep having to be pulled from the hard drive. I suspect, however, it's going to make a far greater positive performance impact than you think.

Archiving old threads and keeping people from dredging them back up isn't a bad thing, though... especially given how most necroposters will reply to years old dead and resolved threads, ignoring the post date, thinking the thread is still relevant and active and completely ignoring the "this post is old" warning. Then suddenly, BAM! Several newer forum people are posting answers to four year old discussions, and the database is having to pull from the hard drive for yet another active thread. Don't want to archive older journals? Fine! The plugin I linked can set age locking on a board-by-board basis.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2019, 08:29:50 AM by Daley »

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2019, 08:48:49 AM »
Now all I need to do is convince you to take serious the idea of a 2500-or-so thread cap and split and lock the older parts of the 20-30 or so largest threads. The best part is? If it doesn't actually dramatically make an impact on server performance, you can merge the threads back together. But if it does help? It makes a great case for locking posts over a year or two old for helping make the best out of server performance and minimize the addition of any new threads that keep having to be pulled from the hard drive. I suspect, however, it's going to make a far greater positive performance impact than you think.

Answered here:
Regarding thread cap/splitting/etc... Please take note that the cap on threads they use in your link is 30k and 25k posts. That would be (at our 50 posts/page) 500-600 page threads. That's where they set their cap. I would be okay with that. We aren't anywhere near that. We have a couple dozen threads that hit triple digits (aka 5k posts, a fraction of their cap). Clearly the forum software can handle long threads, if their recommended cap to help performance is like 5x the length that our longer threads hit.

Why would we set a 50 page cap when their cap size is 500-600 pages? Clearly the forum software can handle that, if the hardware is sufficient.

Your only response was pointing out what hardware they used to achieve this.

Yes. I know. That's why I think we need a server upgrade. From 10 seconds of Googling, it looks like more powerful than that is available on a dedicated server for <$100/mo.

Quote
Archiving old threads and keeping people from dredging them back up isn't a bad thing, though... especially given how most necroposters will reply to years old dead and resolved threads, ignoring the post date, thinking the thread is still relevant and active and completely ignoring the "this post is old" warning. Then suddenly, BAM! Several newer forum people are posting answers to four year old discussions, and the database is having to pull from the hard drive for yet another active thread.

This is a feature, not a bug.

People restarting old conversations is a good thing.

People having new thoughts, followups, etc.

It's great when people reply to years old threads with an update, or new data, a new study, whatever. If they had to start a new thread, it would lose all the context of the old conversation, and all the people who participated in the conversation would likely never see it, versus if it shows up in their replies and they can engage again.

You've described the major DOWNSIDE of locking years old threads--people can no longer reply to them.

These threads are in the database already, they're being accessed... why would locking them help? Well, only because it means they'll be accessed less (because people can't reply). That's not a benefit. We want people accessing threads. We want people replying to threads.

We could drastically limit the database size if we only allowed a cap of 1 reply, and then autolock. Very little access, very little interaction. Very unhelpful to actual conversations.

The idea to lock threads is antithetical to forum conversation and usefulness, and the fact that them being unlocked means they might get a reply, which gives them more traffic, and more replies, is, well, the point of having a forum.

Saying "well hardware can easily support 500+ page threads, but we'll cap ours at 50 pages because we're going to cheap out on it" isn't the solution. Remove dead accounts? Fine.

Restrict active users ability to participate and enjoy the forums? No. Please, no.
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G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2019, 09:08:00 AM »
I know that I don’t have any idea how to improve performance in the existing set-up, only having read what Daley and others have posted over the last year or so.

But I do see lots of complaints from long-time members about the troubles they encounter while trying to use the forum, and what I experience (usually the SMF connection error), and what I see (duplicate copies of new threads in the same subforum - I am assuming the user hit “post” once).

I think users will be very happy to see improved performance however we get there.  I’m retired so have all day to post or wait out an error. Most others have real lives and limited windows of time to get their MMM fix.

katsiki

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2019, 03:50:29 PM »
I deleted about another 12k users, people who had 0 posts and hadn't logged in since before Jan 1, 2018. That leaves us with about 31k, with 15k culled today (~1/3).

THANK YOU!!  :)

I would be happy to help as well if any IT support is needed or desired.  I would need to study the forum software but happy to help.

Lews Therin

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2019, 03:57:20 PM »
You're awesome ARS!

Thanks for all you do to keep this up and running.

Mr. Green

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2019, 01:16:01 PM »
I have noticed a considerable performance difference over the last week. It's really nice not getting connection errors and having to refresh the page 5-10 times for it to come up. Thank you!

ender

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2019, 01:41:37 PM »
I have noticed a considerable performance difference over the last week. It's really nice not getting connection errors and having to refresh the page 5-10 times for it to come up. Thank you!

Agreed.

While it's still inconsistently slow performance I have been surprised more often than not recently.

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #17 on: March 20, 2019, 02:00:31 PM »
My subconscious has noticed an improvement too. I got a connection timeout today, and I was annoyed and surprised, instead of annoyed and expecting it. I guess that means there's been fewer of them lately!

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2019, 02:01:10 PM »
The forum search function definitely seems to struggle.

ender

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #19 on: March 20, 2019, 02:12:02 PM »
My subconscious has noticed an improvement too. I got a connection timeout today, and I was annoyed and surprised, instead of annoyed and expecting it. I guess that means there's been fewer of them lately!

I often use the "Show new replies to your posts" - that almost always was super slow before.

Now it's only slow maybe 1/3 of the time!

marty998

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #20 on: March 23, 2019, 03:26:07 PM »
My subconscious has noticed an improvement too. I got a connection timeout today, and I was annoyed and surprised, instead of annoyed and expecting it. I guess that means there's been fewer of them lately!

I often use the "Show new replies to your posts" - that almost always was super slow before.

Now it's only slow maybe 1/3 of the time!

Maybe it's just a timezone thing and everyone in the US being asleep so the users online count is lower, but I rarely have connection problems, and if then, it never takes 30 seconds for threads or pages to load. Everything is loaded within a second.

Perhaps consider that it is not the size of threads that is a problem but the number of people trying to access them at the same time...

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #21 on: March 23, 2019, 07:57:31 PM »
Maybe it's just a timezone thing and everyone in the US being asleep so the users online count is lower, but I rarely have connection problems, and if then, it never takes 30 seconds for threads or pages to load. Everything is loaded within a second.

Perhaps consider that it is not the size of threads that is a problem but the number of people trying to access them at the same time...
It's very likely a little bit of both.

ender

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2019, 08:07:56 AM »
I've had weird issues recently though where reading a post doesn't cause it to show as unread.

Hm.

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #23 on: March 24, 2019, 08:12:03 AM »
I've had weird issues recently though where reading a post doesn't cause it to show as unread.

Hm.

Happens to me too, for quite a while (aka before this purge).

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #24 on: March 24, 2019, 02:19:52 PM »
My subconscious has noticed an improvement too. I got a connection timeout today, and I was annoyed and surprised, instead of annoyed and expecting it. I guess that means there's been fewer of them lately!

I often use the "Show new replies to your posts" - that almost always was super slow before.

Now it's only slow maybe 1/3 of the time!

Maybe it's just a timezone thing and everyone in the US being asleep so the users online count is lower, but I rarely have connection problems, and if then, it never takes 30 seconds for threads or pages to load. Everything is loaded within a second.

Perhaps consider that it is not the size of threads that is a problem but the number of people trying to access them at the same time...

So the solution is to move to Australia?


;)
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marty998

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #25 on: March 25, 2019, 02:37:48 AM »
My subconscious has noticed an improvement too. I got a connection timeout today, and I was annoyed and surprised, instead of annoyed and expecting it. I guess that means there's been fewer of them lately!

I often use the "Show new replies to your posts" - that almost always was super slow before.

Now it's only slow maybe 1/3 of the time!

Maybe it's just a timezone thing and everyone in the US being asleep so the users online count is lower, but I rarely have connection problems, and if then, it never takes 30 seconds for threads or pages to load. Everything is loaded within a second.

Perhaps consider that it is not the size of threads that is a problem but the number of people trying to access them at the same time...

So the solution is to move to Australia?


;)

Oh god no, then I'll have the same problems as you!

Dicey

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2019, 09:19:53 AM »
What I love about this thread is the passion of those of you who fully understand what is being discussed. Anything that optimizes this site is a good thing. Thanks for caring,

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #27 on: March 25, 2019, 11:33:30 AM »
I've had weird issues recently though where reading a post doesn't cause it to show as unread.

Hm.

Happens to me too, for quite a while (aka before this purge).

In my experience, messages have failed to be marked as read when they were very new (i.e. I click the "new" button within minutes of their posting). Waiting a minute or two and re-clicking the link usually fixes it for me. I've never noticed it happen for older replies. YMMV.

Dicey

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #28 on: March 25, 2019, 11:38:27 AM »
I've had weird issues recently though where reading a post doesn't cause it to show as unread.

Hm.

Happens to me too, for quite a while (aka before this purge).

In my experience, messages have failed to be marked as read when they were very new (i.e. I click the "new" button within minutes of their posting). Waiting a minute or two and re-clicking the link usually fixes it for me. I've never noticed it happen for older replies. YMMV.
Finally something I understand. This happens to me all the time. Waiting and reclicking does nothing. I hope on and off the forum all day long. Just now, all the things I read earlier today are still showing unread. No big deal, just affirming other's experience.

katsiki

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #29 on: March 27, 2019, 12:18:45 PM »
Way to go, @arebelspy !!  Just tried the search box and it actually worked  :)  (Still probably a bad idea for performance).

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #30 on: March 27, 2019, 01:06:42 PM »
Way to go, @arebelspy !!  Just tried the search box and it actually worked  :)  (Still probably a bad idea for performance).

Thanks. Some tweaks I've done, some stuff going on behind the scenes.

More credit goes to others, there's a whole team working, I think there's a half dozen of us on the email chain (the MMM App developers, system admin, myself, Toque, and Pete) trying to get everything optimized and/or server switch if needed. Some forum downtime coming soon for some database optimization, which I'll announce a few days in advance once it's finalized.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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katsiki

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #31 on: March 27, 2019, 02:52:36 PM »
Way to go, @arebelspy !!  Just tried the search box and it actually worked  :)  (Still probably a bad idea for performance).

Thanks. Some tweaks I've done, some stuff going on behind the scenes.

More credit goes to others, there's a whole team working, I think there's a half dozen of us on the email chain (the MMM App developers, system admin, myself, Toque, and Pete) trying to get everything optimized and/or server switch if needed. Some forum downtime coming soon for some database optimization, which I'll announce a few days in advance once it's finalized.

Awesome!  Please share my thanks on behalf of all forumites :)  Seriously, this is awesome and much appreciated by many.

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #32 on: March 27, 2019, 03:01:23 PM »
Way to go, @arebelspy !!  Just tried the search box and it actually worked  :)  (Still probably a bad idea for performance).

Thanks. Some tweaks I've done, some stuff going on behind the scenes.

More credit goes to others, there's a whole team working, I think there's a half dozen of us on the email chain (the MMM App developers, system admin, myself, Toque, and Pete) trying to get everything optimized and/or server switch if needed. Some forum downtime coming soon for some database optimization, which I'll announce a few days in advance once it's finalized.

Does this mean I get to stay?

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #33 on: March 27, 2019, 07:03:45 PM »
Way to go, @arebelspy !!  Just tried the search box and it actually worked  :)  (Still probably a bad idea for performance).

Thanks. Some tweaks I've done, some stuff going on behind the scenes.

More credit goes to others, there's a whole team working, I think there's a half dozen of us on the email chain (the MMM App developers, system admin, myself, Toque, and Pete) trying to get everything optimized and/or server switch if needed. Some forum downtime coming soon for some database optimization, which I'll announce a few days in advance once it's finalized.

Does this mean I get to stay?

If you're referring to the silly "do this and if it doesn't work I'll quit the forums" thing I refused to take you up on, no, we're not capping threads, we're not locking old threads. If you feel you need to quit, you may, but I think the fixes we're doing are much better than restricting forum use. Don't quit though.

We are likely getting a server upgrade, though I'm not sure yet if it'll be with a new host or a different one. :)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #34 on: March 27, 2019, 07:20:36 PM »
Is there a testing protocol to assess whether each change has an impact on performance?  Or is that overkill / not worth the time it would take, or it would require disrupting the forum?

Not my area of expertise, so just curious.

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #35 on: March 27, 2019, 07:22:37 PM »
Can I say the classic, have you tried turning it off and on again, blowing on the cartridge, or putting it on channel 3?

*Runs for cover before the rotten veggies are thrown*

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #36 on: March 27, 2019, 07:30:17 PM »
Can I say the classic, have you tried turning it off and on again, blowing on the cartridge, or putting it on channel 3?

*Runs for cover before the rotten veggies are thrown*

Take out the battery....
Unplug it, then plug it back in...

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #37 on: March 27, 2019, 07:44:01 PM »
Is there a testing protocol to assess whether each change has an impact on performance?  Or is that overkill / not worth the time it would take, or it would require disrupting the forum?

Not my area of expertise, so just curious.

We monitor the amount of whining noise coming from the forum users, and adjust accordingly.



(I'm very much kidding, of course. I appreciate the input. But couldn't resist.)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

G-dog

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #38 on: March 27, 2019, 08:59:02 PM »
Is there a testing protocol to assess whether each change has an impact on performance?  Or is that overkill / not worth the time it would take, or it would require disrupting the forum?

Not my area of expertise, so just curious.

We monitor the amount of whining noise coming from the forum users, and adjust accordingly.



(I'm very much kidding, of course. I appreciate the input. But couldn't resist.)

I enjoy this answer. What are the units of measure? Decibels?

arebelspy

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #39 on: March 27, 2019, 10:19:11 PM »
Parsecs.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

deborah

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #40 on: March 29, 2019, 05:38:36 AM »
It often amazes me just how many Australians read the entire Australian investing thread and then ask a question on it. It is a very useful thread as it stands. However, if it is causing problems, maybe we could go through it and split it into different topics.

Lews Therin

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #41 on: March 29, 2019, 05:41:38 AM »
You could create the correct number of topics yourself, and then copy and paste, thus creating three smaller more targeted ones!

deborah

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #42 on: March 29, 2019, 05:51:23 AM »
“We” was referring to some of the Australians. We would normally have a discussion about how we would want to divide it, and then someone would do it (possibly me). I understand the mechanics, and the reasons, but it would need some discussion to get a nice set of topics.

Lews Therin

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Re: Prune old posts / threads / journals / users?
« Reply #43 on: March 29, 2019, 05:56:21 AM »
So start that one up? :)

Create a : How to best separate into smaller pieces the AUS investing thread? Throw up an example of how you think it could be, then watch other people add their points of view!