Topic: Why is the site sometimes so slow to accept new posts?

Astuur Topic Opener Joined: 2009-02-28, 10:08 Posts: 733 One Elder of Players Location: Frankfurt / Germany	Posted at: 2011-06-06, 09:38 I sometimes have to wait 30+ seconds after having pressed the "send" button, for the site to react. It seems to be worse, when links are present or pictures. Does it mean that the site is actually downloading material from the linked sites and keeps it? Can I then delete the stuff, from the site I uploaded it? .. and if it is not so, how long should I leave the material at my upload place to keep the link intact? Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills. I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino). Top Quote

martin Joined: 2011-01-13, 14:21 Posts: 65 Likes to be here	Posted at: 2011-06-09, 09:29 I didn't really encounter the problem you described, Astuur, but it maybe takes some time to correctly parse the post - especially when it's such big like some of your former posts And of course, when many users are visiting the site at the moment (even though they do not post anything)... The WL-site will not keep anything that is just linked. So please take care to never delete the linked stuff in order to keep your referencing posts in a valid state. Also, some uploading sites are not likely to keep the uploaded material forever For the widelands wiki, at least uploading images is possible. Would be really helpful if someone could add a picture and/or attachment option for the forum as well although I understand that this is a question of traffic and storage capacity - but then, avatar images should also be forbidden Top Quote

Astuur Topic Opener Joined: 2009-02-28, 10:08 Posts: 733 One Elder of Players Location: Frankfurt / Germany	Posted at: 2011-06-09, 10:19 Thanks for the info, Martin! As I said, it is just sometimes that the site is so slow. Probably traffic dependant. Yes, I know, some (ähm.. make that "most") of my posts are quite long, but often I can't manage it more terse. On the pro side is, that not many people are asking me to "explain more clearly".. My upload site is a privat one where I most astonishingly still have ftp access to from a project I participated in, several years ago. I have no idea how much space there is - and whether it will last... So that is why I asked. I think I remember a discussion about allowing upload here, where they decided against it for fear of spam. So chances are not so bright, although some (me included) have wished for it. The Astuur Avatar is just 10 KB... hope that is tolerable Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills. I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino). Top Quote

SirVer Joined: 2009-02-19, 15:18 Posts: 1440 One Elder of Players Location: Germany - Munich	Posted at: 2011-06-16, 09:55 Some historic data: one of our old incarnations for this site was using tikwiki which allowed uploads. This resulted in some spammers uploading porn and complete movies to the site and using it as a trading hup. Obviously this could be detected, but working against it was quite pesky. I understand that uploading stuff to the forums would be quite useful. Someone just has to implement it. Top Quote

Astuur Topic Opener Joined: 2009-02-28, 10:08 Posts: 733 One Elder of Players Location: Frankfurt / Germany	Posted at: 2011-07-23, 08:22 SirVer wrote: I understand that uploading stuff to the forums would be quite useful. Someone just has to implement it. So this is not blocked, but simply not available? I am bit surprised. I mean, there are so many highly configurable forum software packages out there for running forums - lately each bunny breeding club seems to have its own forum .. and none of them is suitable? Would it not be easier to use one of those, instead of programing it all by ourselves? Countermeasures against spambots are in place almost everywhere, and I am sure someone can come up with a solution that works. Please do, anyone. One one hand we are trying to give help and support with playing WL even for very unexperienced computer users almost down to children's level, on the other hand we expect the users to learn markdown syntax for even the most basic formatting and linking tasks, and cope with all the limitations typical hosting sites imply. Even though I personally have learned meanwhile how to make screenshots and other material publicly available, I'd still welcome an easier solution for the sake of others. Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills. I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino). Top Quote

SirVer Joined: 2009-02-19, 15:18 Posts: 1440 One Elder of Players Location: Germany - Munich	Posted at: 2011-07-23, 11:20 The reason we have the software we have is historical: we used such common forum software in the past and they got hacked. A self made system is more secure for the simple reason that there are less incentives to hack it. The software stack we use for this page is called Django (http://djangoproject.com) and there are a lot better forums available for it. Someone could intgegrate them into this site which is open source for this very reason. This is a non trivial task and noone did it so far. One one hand we are trying to give help and support with playing WL even for very unexperienced computer users almost down to children's level, on the other hand we expect the users to learn markdown syntax for even the most basic formatting and linking tasks, and cope with all the limitations typical hosting sites imply. Have you used other forum softwares? they are not trivial at all; very few provide what you see is what you get. I decided for markdown in the design because skills from editing the wiki transfer to the forum and vise versa. Also, markdown is the only markup I know that translates 'intuitive' ascii formatting into what people expect. Links for example are autodetected and made hyperlinks automatically, nothing to learn. tl,dr: I am open for a better solution, all tools are available, someone has to do it. I feel the current way is a 80% solution, but good 80%. Top Quote

hjd Joined: 2011-06-12, 20:24 Posts: 158 At home in WL-forums Location: bugs.launchpad.net/widelands	Posted at: 2011-07-23, 13:31 SirVer wrote: A self made system is more secure for the simple reason that there are less incentives to hack it. The counter argument is of course that when it is used by more people it is more likely that security issues are discovered and fixed. ("Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" and so on...) Though from what I understand from reading further, the plan is to integrate some existing forum for Django, instead of rolling our own, which I agree with. Oh, and I realize this will likely require a lot of work. The software stack we use for this page is called Django (http://djangoproject.com) and there are a lot better forums available for it. Someone could intgegrate them into this site which is open source for this very reason. This is a non trivial task and noone did it so far. Ships! Top Quote

Astuur Topic Opener Joined: 2009-02-28, 10:08 Posts: 733 One Elder of Players Location: Frankfurt / Germany	Posted at: 2011-07-23, 14:17 I don't really know about "better" - there is a lot that you can do with Markdown, but there certainly are many packages out there that are easier for newbies - and yes, I am doing a lot with forums, but on most, I don't even have to know, that a syntax needs to be respected. A major reason is, that they supply buttons for most everything when you compose a message. Example, while here is nothing, not even a handy link to the syntax. Not that I'd need all of these gimmicks from the example I do understand that all of this comfort needs somebody who can setup an maintain these things -- this was the reason, why I was asking about ready-to-use forum software packages. I also realize that many are not freeware, some commercial, though not very expensive (50 for Woltlab Burning Board just to name the one form the example). Agreed, the capacities that we have are probably better used for WL, but I admit that there are times when I wished for more public participation, and have asked myself why there is not more. But to come back to the original topic: I think, it is because I sometimes post early in the morning. Can it be that the machine is in some sleeping mode and needs to wake up? Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills. I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino). Top Quote

SirVer Joined: 2009-02-19, 15:18 Posts: 1440 One Elder of Players Location: Germany - Munich	Posted at: 2011-07-25, 10:59 mit that there are times when I wished for more public participation, and have asked myself why there is not more. But to come back to the original topic: I think, it is because I sometimes post early in the morning. Can it be that the machine is in some sleeping mode and needs to wake up? that should not be the case. There is no power management deployed on the server. The disk might spin down, but you should not notice this delay. Top Quote