Bird, Jim & Others,
I have been working with Muhammad to help identify and resolve speed problems on the new board. My day job is in computer systems design, and I volunteered my input to Muhammad.
I access on cable modem at work, and on a 56K modem at home---located out in the country with fairly "dirty" phone lines. So, I get to see things at their best and worst, so to speak.
The first thing to realize is that the discussion board was not changed simply for the sake of change. As you know, there are nearly 3.5 million message posts and reads annually, and growing. There are more than 50,000 unique users accessing the board monthly. The old software engine simply was not designed for and could not handle the loads it was getting. In fact, you all may recall complaints on the old board about failed searches, pages not loading, etc. So, it was not a matter of just abandoning the old board. It was literally collapsing.
The new board is built on an SQL database engine, which, for those who know, is the best and most robust engine available for this kind of use. This is scalable into the next several years of any projected growth.
As the new board was being built, many, many new features were added. But no matter how much testing was done (and I know Bird that you and others helped out in the testing), one can never know what will happen under real-life "loaded" conditions.
Here are the factors we have identified which have an impact on speed:
1) The initial speed problem that was encountered by Bird and others, but experienced by almost everyone (myself included), was due to extreme bandwidth drain caused by the spellchecker feature. Since this was a weak spell checker anyway, it was turned off. This resolved the "speed" complaints for all but a few users.
2) As a general matter, computers with processor speeds of less than 400Mhz, are probably going to perform more slowly than the "latest" machines. My sister just upgraded from an older P90 machine to a screaming Dell 800 Mhz, and her speed on the Web, she tells me, has almost tripled. Not that everyone should go out and buy new computers, but it is simply a fact that older machines are going to run considerably slower than the new ones. The latest Dells and comparable machines, fully loaded, are only around $1,500.
3) Anyone who has gone from a dialup account to cable or DSL access, finds the improvement in speed to be practically miraculous. There is simply no comparison. If you go on the Web more than an hour a day, and can get cable or DSL in your area, I believe you would find the $35-60 a month expense a very satisfying expenditure (specially to keep up on the doin's of your $20,000 tractor-owning friends <g>).
4) If you do not have cable or DSL in your area, you can obtain somewhat better access by upgrading from a 28.8 modem to a 56K modem. The speed increase will not be as dramatic as that offered by cable, but a 10-15% speed increase is better than none. A 56K modem is quite inexpensive, under $50.
5) Quality of phone line data transmission for dialup modems is extremely unven, even within the same household or office building. In our offices a few years ago, we were all on 56K modems, but in my own office, I got about one-half the download speeds as everyone else. We did all kinds of diagnostics, but I never was able to get logged on over 16K.
One thing you might consider is to run "Cat 5" cable from your phone demark box to the jack into which you plug your computer. Cat 5 is very high quality shielded cable, rarely if ever used in residential phone wiring. But with all of the electrical devices in a home these days, Cat 5 cabling for your phones will ensure that extraneous signals do not interfere. Cat 5 can be purchased in 1,000 foot rolls for about $100.
6) Time of day and general user loads on the Internet itself can cause a great many of the "speed" problems. When kids get out of school around 3 pm, we always notice slowdowns in access, both on dialup and cable. Some cable operators also over-sell the service, and put many more than the maximum number of users on a single cable head. Most are designed for 1,500 or so users, but I know places where they have 5,000 and more on a single cable head. People on cable in some California cities are getting speeds worse than 28.8 modems.
Also, around 5 pm, most businesses have a huge surge in end-of-day e-mailing and document transfer going on. Since this works across several time zones, from 2-7 pm can often see degraded speed generally.
So, the forgoing are some of the factors which are responsible for slow speed, for particular users at particular times.
Some of the frustration I read in the messages about the various difficulties of reading in flat or threaded mode, are simply caused by users not being familiar yet with how best to use the features of the board for thier own style of reading. I myself, at first, felt really frustrated while using the flat mode. Then, Muhammad epxlained to me how to change my profile defaults, and how easy it was to switch from flat to threaded, and I am getting along much better <g>.
The traffic to the TractorbyNet.com discussion board is now up to 50,000 unique users per month, and growing quickly. The server on which the board is located, frankly, was not designed for this level of load either. So, I am trying to convince Muhammad to upgrade to a new server, with greatly expanded server ram, which would have some effect on speed for all users.
All in all, I simply marvel at the pleasure I get from this website. The people, every last one of them, are helpful, with a great sense of humor, and possess tremendous knowledge about compact tractors. I have 9,000 bookmarks in my Explorer menu. TractorByNet is at the top of the list. It is my real "home" on the Web. I believe everything Muhammad has done to improve and expand this site has been excellent.
This is a "transition" phrase, which we will all have to be patient with as Muhammad irons out wrinkles. He is as repsonsive as can be, in my experience, and I am sure as the board continues to expand in features and scope, we will continue to appreciate this extraordinary place for us.
BobT.
P.S. I just got a look at a "secret" page---the brand new, total redesign of TractorbyNet. I don't know exactly when Muhammad plans to launch it, and expect it is still a few weeks away. But it absolutely knocked my eyeballs out. Takes things to a whole new level. Amazon.com, here we come, crusin' on up on our tractors <g>!
A Indiana Boy
I have been working with Muhammad to help identify and resolve speed problems on the new board. My day job is in computer systems design, and I volunteered my input to Muhammad.
I access on cable modem at work, and on a 56K modem at home---located out in the country with fairly "dirty" phone lines. So, I get to see things at their best and worst, so to speak.
The first thing to realize is that the discussion board was not changed simply for the sake of change. As you know, there are nearly 3.5 million message posts and reads annually, and growing. There are more than 50,000 unique users accessing the board monthly. The old software engine simply was not designed for and could not handle the loads it was getting. In fact, you all may recall complaints on the old board about failed searches, pages not loading, etc. So, it was not a matter of just abandoning the old board. It was literally collapsing.
The new board is built on an SQL database engine, which, for those who know, is the best and most robust engine available for this kind of use. This is scalable into the next several years of any projected growth.
As the new board was being built, many, many new features were added. But no matter how much testing was done (and I know Bird that you and others helped out in the testing), one can never know what will happen under real-life "loaded" conditions.
Here are the factors we have identified which have an impact on speed:
1) The initial speed problem that was encountered by Bird and others, but experienced by almost everyone (myself included), was due to extreme bandwidth drain caused by the spellchecker feature. Since this was a weak spell checker anyway, it was turned off. This resolved the "speed" complaints for all but a few users.
2) As a general matter, computers with processor speeds of less than 400Mhz, are probably going to perform more slowly than the "latest" machines. My sister just upgraded from an older P90 machine to a screaming Dell 800 Mhz, and her speed on the Web, she tells me, has almost tripled. Not that everyone should go out and buy new computers, but it is simply a fact that older machines are going to run considerably slower than the new ones. The latest Dells and comparable machines, fully loaded, are only around $1,500.
3) Anyone who has gone from a dialup account to cable or DSL access, finds the improvement in speed to be practically miraculous. There is simply no comparison. If you go on the Web more than an hour a day, and can get cable or DSL in your area, I believe you would find the $35-60 a month expense a very satisfying expenditure (specially to keep up on the doin's of your $20,000 tractor-owning friends <g>).
4) If you do not have cable or DSL in your area, you can obtain somewhat better access by upgrading from a 28.8 modem to a 56K modem. The speed increase will not be as dramatic as that offered by cable, but a 10-15% speed increase is better than none. A 56K modem is quite inexpensive, under $50.
5) Quality of phone line data transmission for dialup modems is extremely unven, even within the same household or office building. In our offices a few years ago, we were all on 56K modems, but in my own office, I got about one-half the download speeds as everyone else. We did all kinds of diagnostics, but I never was able to get logged on over 16K.
One thing you might consider is to run "Cat 5" cable from your phone demark box to the jack into which you plug your computer. Cat 5 is very high quality shielded cable, rarely if ever used in residential phone wiring. But with all of the electrical devices in a home these days, Cat 5 cabling for your phones will ensure that extraneous signals do not interfere. Cat 5 can be purchased in 1,000 foot rolls for about $100.
6) Time of day and general user loads on the Internet itself can cause a great many of the "speed" problems. When kids get out of school around 3 pm, we always notice slowdowns in access, both on dialup and cable. Some cable operators also over-sell the service, and put many more than the maximum number of users on a single cable head. Most are designed for 1,500 or so users, but I know places where they have 5,000 and more on a single cable head. People on cable in some California cities are getting speeds worse than 28.8 modems.
Also, around 5 pm, most businesses have a huge surge in end-of-day e-mailing and document transfer going on. Since this works across several time zones, from 2-7 pm can often see degraded speed generally.
So, the forgoing are some of the factors which are responsible for slow speed, for particular users at particular times.
Some of the frustration I read in the messages about the various difficulties of reading in flat or threaded mode, are simply caused by users not being familiar yet with how best to use the features of the board for thier own style of reading. I myself, at first, felt really frustrated while using the flat mode. Then, Muhammad epxlained to me how to change my profile defaults, and how easy it was to switch from flat to threaded, and I am getting along much better <g>.
The traffic to the TractorbyNet.com discussion board is now up to 50,000 unique users per month, and growing quickly. The server on which the board is located, frankly, was not designed for this level of load either. So, I am trying to convince Muhammad to upgrade to a new server, with greatly expanded server ram, which would have some effect on speed for all users.
All in all, I simply marvel at the pleasure I get from this website. The people, every last one of them, are helpful, with a great sense of humor, and possess tremendous knowledge about compact tractors. I have 9,000 bookmarks in my Explorer menu. TractorByNet is at the top of the list. It is my real "home" on the Web. I believe everything Muhammad has done to improve and expand this site has been excellent.
This is a "transition" phrase, which we will all have to be patient with as Muhammad irons out wrinkles. He is as repsonsive as can be, in my experience, and I am sure as the board continues to expand in features and scope, we will continue to appreciate this extraordinary place for us.
BobT.
P.S. I just got a look at a "secret" page---the brand new, total redesign of TractorbyNet. I don't know exactly when Muhammad plans to launch it, and expect it is still a few weeks away. But it absolutely knocked my eyeballs out. Takes things to a whole new level. Amazon.com, here we come, crusin' on up on our tractors <g>!
A Indiana Boy
