Planetsuzy Problems - Please Panic Here!

[tcpeep]

Originally Posted by BooBootheBear

Constant 502 errors. Site stops working entirely for a time then comes back. Search hangs for ages then I get a dead page and "connection was reset" Have to wait 30 mins to try again even then most of the time nothing is working.

Is someone working on the site and it's brownouts caused by someone fiddling with the code or is there something properly wrong that hasn''t been looked at yet?

The last time we were getting regular 502 Bad Gateway errors, the forum was crippled for several days. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen again and appropriate preventive measures are being implemented.

[BooBootheBear]

Originally Posted by The_CyMeriaN

Hello all,
One day we're going to have to ask ourselves the right questions (technical ones first and foremost, I think) about the long-term future of this site, because at some point the makeshift repairs that have been carried out will no longer suffice and the site will crash for good.

Is there a solution planned to start all over again elsewhere?

How do you intend to communicate with the "few" members to keep them informed (X / Telegram / other distribution channels)?

I understand that it's not possible to import the site's content database into another form of forum, since ours dates back to a time that people under 20 haven't experienced...

In short, we can ask ourselves (legitimate?) questions about the future of our favorite site.

Thank you and good luck to the men behind the scenes.

Might be possible to migrate a good portion of the forum to a different host but some hard choices might have to be made which might not be a bad option. There's an awful lot of dead wood on this site that could be cut away. This place is huge, but look at the size of the dead posts section. Useful for reference but useless otherwise. That could be placed on a forum archive connected but separate. Individual sections like Music/TV/Books could be placed on their own forums, still connected but a different main host.

Even partial migration would allow a mass cleanup which would be a lot of work but well worth it, and a 5-10 day moratorium on new posts would give mods a welcome breather to do that cleanup duty. It's beyond necessary because let's face it. Mods have been overwhelmed on this site for a long time and cleaning up dead posts has been all but abandoned.

Help could be recruited through the use of a few dozen temp mods with limited powers specifically there for a couple of weeks to check and remove dead posts in specific sections. That would make the migration of the active site cleaner and simpler.

You might also consider making members with their own threads responsible for either keeping their posts active or cleaning them out when the links expire. I can think of several who have threads hundreds of pages long with all but the last couple of pages dead. They have no interest in refreshing their links. It's all about posting for cash and what is dead is not worth their time. The internet equivalent of fly-tipping.

It's also possible that removing the bloat and transferring all the dead weight to a separate archive forum that is view only would allow the main site to reset itself and become stable again. I really don't think the original architecture of this forum was ever designed to bear the sheer load that its evolution is putting on it.

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

[reclaimer]

Originally Posted by The_CyMeriaN

I understand that it's not possible to import the site's content database into another form of forum, since ours dates back to a time that people under 20 haven't experienced...

If the site Database Administrator cannot manage to port the database for technical reasons (as opposed to ownership constraints on time and cost), they're more of an idiot than I already think they are.

They're not going to be porting from ISAM or VSAM to SQL. It will be one flavor of SQL to another.

[BooBootheBear]

Originally Posted by reclaimer

If the site Database Administrator cannot manage to port the database for technical reasons (as opposed to ownership constraints on time and cost), they're more of an idiot than I already think they are.

They're not going to be porting from ISAM or VSAM to SQL. It will be one flavor of SQL to another.

It should be simple in theory until that theory collides with the fact that when this forum architecture was created, the code was designed for machines running windows 98 and internet explorer. This forum still works perfectly on browsers so outdated that they won't even install on machines running Win 11 (don't forget support for Win10 will be withdrawn next year). Most file hosts won't even load on machines running that age of software and they stopped making their sites backwards compatible because it's too much work.

I'm pretty sure PS has also expanded way beyond the size anyone ever thought it would and probably far beyond what the original designers intended for forums running on their system.

We're not in that Kansas anymore.

My grasp of this level of programming is very basic but even I can see this is less than a straightforward proposition. If someone knows better than those trying to handle it then perhaps volunteering services might not be a bad idea?

[ViceLikeEye]

Originally Posted by BooBootheBear

My grasp of this level of programming is very basic but even I can see this is less than a straightforward proposition. If someone knows better than those trying to handle it then perhaps volunteering services might not be a bad idea?

We had plans to migrate to Xenforo (like the other PS sister sites did), this summer. However, as always, life/shit happens. Again, I'm not a tech guy, but I imagine we need a somewhat stable forum, in order to migrate it properly. And as you essentially said, the scale of PS (especially when compared to its sisters) is massive. I too, can't imagine this is straightforward.

We'll probably also have to wait for the stars to align...and maybe sacrifice a chicken or two and a goat... (I'm joking).

[BooBootheBear]

Originally Posted by ViceLikeEye

We had plans to migrate to Xenforo (like the other PS sister sites did), this summer. However, as always, life/shit happens. Again, I'm not a tech guy, but I imagine we need a somewhat stable forum, in order to migrate it properly. And as you essentially said, the scale of PS (especially when compared to its sisters) is massive. I too, can't imagine this is straightforward.

We'll probably also have to wait for the stars to align...and maybe sacrifice a chicken or two and a goat... (I'm joking).

I'd never underestimate the scale of migrating this forum. It's a daunting task.

If I was in charge I'd start tackling the cleanup now because it's something relatively simple if a bit laborious that would have immediate positive results in use, search and file system loads. That might actually help stabilize the file system and assist in any repairs by removing much useless code.

It would also make migration a much smaller task if/when the time comes.

Start with this simple rule change:
If you post to your own thread it's your responsibility to maintain it by :
a] refreshing all dead links or removing and reposting dead posts twice a month
or
b] clearing all dead posts twice a month
Imagine how much smaller the Explicit Material section would suddenly become. You could then use this as the basis for tailoring rules to other specific sections And after all. There are many posters here slinging up endless material chasing the coins file hosts throw at them for downloads. Only fair they share the janitorial burden for their business.

[ViceLikeEye]

Originally Posted by BooBootheBear

I'd never underestimate the scale of migrating this forum. It's a daunting task.

If I was in charge I'd start tackling the cleanup now because it's something relatively simple if a bit laborious that would have immediate positive results in use, search and file system loads. That might actually help stabilize the file system and assist in any repairs by removing much useless code.

It would also make migration a much smaller task if/when the time comes.

Start with this simple rule change:
If you post to your own thread it's your responsibility to maintain it by :
a] refreshing all dead links or removing and reposting dead posts twice a month
or
b] clearing all dead posts twice a month
Imagine how much smaller the Explicit Material section would suddenly become. You could then use this as the basis for tailoring rules to other specific sections And after all. There are many posters here slinging up endless material chasing the coins file hosts throw at them for downloads. Only fair they share the janitorial burden for their business.

Dead posts do not get 'deleted'. They go to a 'dead section'. Before you say it, yes, we need to cut that dead weight off, before the migration. For all that is holy, I hope that's the plan.

Mods would need a several month moratorium, to clean a single section of the forum, for instance, General Porn. We only have about 60 mods and not all of them are super active (we volunteer) and also, not all mods have clearance, for all sections. For instance, I CAN moderate/clean Group Models, but I don't, because that's not 'my section'. I'm sure for a major cleanup, things could be adjusted, but it's such a monumentally huge ask, from everyone and nigh impossible.

Many posters are not interested in cleaning their own shit. When links/posts die, oh well. NEXT! It's an assembly line for them, with little to no quality control. I'd say the majority of them are strictly cash posters and many of those guys are in Explicit. I know this shit, because I used to moderate General Porn. For instance, some of these General Porn threads are 1,000+ pages. No one cleans GP threads, not even mods, unless it's a report for a dead link, then, only that link/post is removed. I'd love to clean all of GP/Explicit, but it would be never-ending task, even if you threw 10 mods at it, for many months (maybe a year), you probably still wouldn't finish.

Bottom line, you and I care, they (cash posters) don't, but that's the nature of the beast.

[BooBootheBear]

Originally Posted by ViceLikeEye

Dead posts do not get 'deleted'. They go to a 'dead section'. Before you say it, yes, we need to cut that dead weight off, before the migration. For all that is holy, I hope that's the plan.

Well aware of that, and from your keyboard to God's eyes. That's also why I suggested that if keeping all those dead posts (and really they are only of use to people like me who like to trace the origins of scenes, so how many of us would actually miss having day to day access?) moving the dead posts to a separate read only forum might solve many load problems the active forum is suffering through. All those 502 and 504 errors are basically a failure of connection in the coding. Lighten the load and they might resolve themselves.
Also, migrating the dead posts sections gives you the opportunity for a dry run that, if it doesn't work, worse case scenario, you lose all the dead threads and the forum is that much lighter anyway.

Mods would need a several month moratorium, to clean a single section of the forum, for instance, General Porn. We only have about 60 mods and not all of them are super active (we volunteer) and also, not all mods have clearance, for all sections. For instance, I CAN moderate/clean Group Models, but I don't, because that's not 'my section'. I'm sure for a major cleanup, things could be adjusted, but it's such a monumentally huge ask, from everyone and nigh impossible.

I think - and I mean no offense here - there are altogether too many mods who are more interested in the shiny badge and the peaked cap and being "in charge" of "their territory". they rabidly piss around it to mark it and guard it with equal fervor. It's juvenile and flipping pointless.
They need to get over themselves and help each other or they'll find themselves moderating a burning ruin abandoned by all those they like to Lord it over. That's also why I suggested taking on a bunch of "temps" for a few weeks with very limited powers and the sole purpose of clearing the trash.
Let's be honest. If no one is currently doing the work but the work needs to be done then who cares who is doing it as long as it does get done? The current system of you do you I do me ain't working cause no one is doing anything and it's all collapsing under its own weight.

Many posters are not interested in cleaning their own shit. When links/posts die, oh well. NEXT! It's an assembly line for them, with little to no quality control. I'd say the majority of them are strictly cash posters and many of those guys are in Explicit. I know this shit, because I used to moderate General Porn. For instance, some of these General Porn threads are 1,000+ pages. No one cleans GP threads, not even mods, unless it's a report for a dead link, then, only that link/post is removed. I'd love to clean all of GP/Explicit, but it would be never-ending task, even if you threw 10 mods at it, for many months (maybe a year), you probably still wouldn't finish.

Bottom line, you and I care, they (cash posters) don't, but that's the nature of the beast.

And therein lies the beauty of my cunning plan.

Dubious Grunts is a member with his own General porn thread posting "EXCLUSIVE!!!" and "NEW!!!" DonkeyBuggeryBondage scenes. His thread is 15000 pages long but only the top 15 pages are alive and the rest is stone dead. He never answers DMs or PMs and he is completely uninterested in replacing dead posts or refreshing broken links.
You give Mr Grunts 7 days to begin deleting dead content and three months to clear all of it. That one thread is his sole responsibility.
If he doesn't start the work in 7 days he's suspended for 2 weeks and his entire thread is removed.. Not put into "storage". Removed. Same if he doesn't clear all his dead posts in the allotted time. Put in safety guards to stop them just creating new thread on top of new thread and abandoning them if their current content becomes dead.
Just tweak existing rules and stop fannying about with these guys.
They'll all change almost immediately because otherwise they'll lose all their precious nickles and dimes. They may not care about the forum but they do care about their wallets.
I guarantee you that in that explicit section more than half your problem will be solved without any moderators having to do more than suspend a few members and delete a couple of threads.

Your forum is dying. Given the sheer volume of errors problems and drop outs being experienced by so many, I would very strongly suggest that not taking any action to fix the current problems and to prevent them recurring and worsening is no longer an option, and the time for doing nothing because the problem is too big and too hard to tackle is long long past.

The only other option would be to close it all scrap it all and start again clean.

[reclaimer]

Originally Posted by ViceLikeEye

Mods would need a several month moratorium, to clean a single section of the forum, for instance, General Porn.

Assign a last post date cutoff for threads outside of PATM/Group Models and delete everything beyond that.

The only difficulty is that the forum would crash about 600 times manually deleting the threads because they wouldn't give direct database access to write and execute a simple SQL statement to do it.

[DJboutit]

I would switch to Mybb a new version drops every 3 to 4 months and it is very stable. I have heard 15 forums switched Xenforo then 6 to 8 months later they switched to something else it sucks.