lizzybug57

Good luck to you or your friend, Sarah. That's a huge accomplishment to decide to go after.

Lindsay, congrats on it already being Friday for you!

Milk-tea

The weekend couldn't come sooner!

crash landing

Guys I'M the one that is quitting smoking

ByGoneYrs

Hi Chris, thank you for your reply.

Now I have an observation and a questions to this sites Admins/Mods. Now I am quite aware the responsibilities of both a site Admin and Mods. Now I am a IT Professional myself, thus 21+ years as a Database Administrator, and System/Cloud Architect. I am new here, but I have started to dig into things on quite a few forms. I am starting to see some issues that plague this FF. It would seem storage space (number of threads and storage used is a issue).

Now I have tried to open new Threads on a couple of forums, and am being told that older threads cover those topics. In one case I looked back through 15 pages of threads (most being closed already), and found two threads on pg 6 and pg 8 that were still open but they were not exactly what I created. http://www.fanforum.com/f134/have-yo...what-63196133/

Now my focus was to create a "Open" thread I left the title very wide open so as to cover many different topics like : Paranormal, Bigfoot, UFOs, other strange sightings and happenings. I found two threads one on Wicca, and another on Halloween. The MOD there found another thread that I must of missed in the sea of closed threads (I salute that MOD). Now that thread is a focus on Paranormal, not the wide range of topics that I opened my thread on... other topics like Bigfoot sightings, other strange creatures, UFOs and all could be posted within my thread.

So speaking as a IT Professional I see some things that the Admins/Mods might consider. You have Storage Sprawl here, and I keep hearing Mods talk about storage issues on FF. You might consider taking a FULL Database Backup and then "Purge" your forms of old threads. I would say focus on your "Closed Threads" and purge any thread that is "Closed" and older than 13 months old. At the very least, since you can not post in closed threads what is the point of keeping them around? many times as a DBA we have to "purge" of historical data that is no longer used. You back up the data before the purge, and if you need it for some reason, you can selectively restore it. These are the procedures that all companies follow for business, you might consider this option. Getting rid of all these old closed threads would cut down on the size of your background database, and number of threads.

Next I have been told that Fan Forum does not have a "Line Text Search" feature that would allow one to search for a thread that might be similar to what someone might be considering creating. The only way to see if another thread exists is to page through the many pages on a forum and see if you can find one. Now speaking as a former MOD myself from other Forums, most people will not page back 10+ pages to find something. Your fooling yourself if you think they will. Now you might want to keep the size of the forums, for the stats (number of threads, number of posts, number of member for activity). I can only guess at what you have as agreement to help fund the Fan Forum, there is always a bottom line need.

I realize I do not know the agreement that you have with Fan Forum, and I am not asking for those details. I am just trying to present an opinion and a possible direction to take to make your overhead on storage smaller (Size, Number of threads, number of posts) smaller and more manageable for the Mods and posters/users.

As always, I respect all the MODs for the work and effort your put forward!!!

Penn

crash landing

Penn that was a great read and thank for the respect that you show to moderators and administrar

It was a great read but not within my concern or knowledge with no IT and little "over the head"

ByGoneYrs

Hi Sarah,

As always a great respect for a hard job well done.

IT = Information Technology I am only proposing a possible solution to what I perceive as a Storage Sprawl issue we have here on FF. The older Closed Threads seem to have no further need, and if removed would reduce the amount of storage and make it easier to find a thread (reducing duplicate threads).

Penn

crash landing

I think the slowest|crashes of is being looked into at a higher level than any of us related to those technic enough to understand servers etc

Chris

Penn - Several years ago we did try purging some threads, and I know several at Star Trek were deleted, but then the decision was made not to continue with that. Part of that is people are proud of their post counts, just ask Sarah. Deleting threads effects the post counts of individuals who posted there. Also, if I remember correctly, older posts do contribute to forum rankings.


Most boards maintain a index to help people find older threads. You mention thread sprawl, and that's precisely why moderators try to keep their boards organized by keeping similar discussions together. When older threads get bumped, previous discussions are often rejuvenated, which isn't a bad thing.

I'll copy your post to the Management board so the appropriate people can see your suggestions.

The tag cloud is searchable, but that doesn't help with obscure topics.

crash landing

Also want to chrime in over last few years I as a moderator have gone for less is more related as a moderator do group similar discussions together into a single thread - I do this as a less chance of threads being loss and less threads not being filled - so instead of every topic having a thread and not being discussed in - I'll group 2-3 or even more topics that are connected into a single thread

VERY proud of my count [as I try for 500K before Sept 29th ]

Chris

I know and that's a good thing. Once I got past 'senior fan' - I think we changed that group title - I was happy.

Also, some account privileges are linked to post counts at the lower levels, and once you're past that, posts =

Penn - thanks for the suggestions. I have copied your post to the Management board.

ByGoneYrs

Sarah, this is what I do for a living. I am a Systems and Cloud Architect as well as a Database Administrator. I am Tier 3 support and troubleshooter for such issues. Thus I look at issues and figure out what causes those issues. There can be many issues that can cause slowness and failures. So my advise would be to start with Storage Sprawl, make the vast size of the needed storage smaller. Cut down the size of the database by purging the old closed threads. That I can see as a major issue Fan Forums clearly has here. Make that smaller and it will help out. Now as to servers and storage Luns Fan Forums are sitting on that is something else that might need to be looked at. What database is this on, depending on what it is using that could have other things to consider. Some database types have a hardline size limit. To many things could be happening here for anyone to guess at without looking at the internals.

I am just trying to help and respectfully thank you for listening.

crash landing

Yea there's no more titles for me to get unless I decide to do style banners for GT but right now still plenty of practice and growth for me

ByGoneYrs

MODs if I mistakenly start up a new thread and a old one already exists, please feel free to merge my new thread into the old one. Fear not I will post happily in the existing thread just the same. I am happy to post in any ones thread, it does not matter to me. I am a equal opportunity poster!!!

crash landing

Well first time in a bit with "insomnia" related to slept 11pm-3am or sorts ok with it because for the most part almost 2 months since back to track thanks to additional music. PLUS was first day not smoking|patch

reason to believe

How was first day with the smoking patch! I'm hoping your skin is better than mine, I've been using bandages since beginning of August on my shoulder and my skin does not like the constant contact with the bandage adhesive/glue and turns pink and pained and I can't wait til I don't have to use any!

How long do you use those for now? Good luck with peeling on and off, that's my main concern from my experience

I've been sleeping like a log last night about 9 hours with deep dreams cause I guess the back to work schedule has caught up to me and I'm just so tired, getting used to it