Mudcat Slow!!

Subject: Mudcat Slow!!
From: RTim
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:36 PM

So why is Mudcat currently (Jan 2012) so so slow!!
It is taking ages just to look at threads.....
It is not taking so long to get responses on other sites I use?


Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: frogprince
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:40 PM

I

noticed



that.



I


wondered,



too.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Gypsy
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 05:44 PM

Unless things have changed since my back was turned, it is just Max, and 3 'puters.........might be that he is busy, or working on one of them. Try one of the other servers.......sometimes you can switch around, and it will speed things up. I think i used to switch to Loki.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 06:27 PM

Don't forget that Max survived a massive computer failure not so long ago. I'm sure donations are welcome to help him recover from that damage and to support this wonderful, free, Mudcat.

Donate here: http://www.mudcat.org/support.cfm

You can also buy the newest Mudcat cds, The price is $60 for 6 CDs (5 x This Is Us, + Until The Dark Time Ends--seasonal CD). They can be ordered invidually. Either way, send a PM to Dick Greenhaus (also at previous link).

Thanks, Max & company

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: michaelr
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 06:28 PM

"Try one of the other servers"

How would one do that?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 07:04 PM

Dump you cache
Ping your traceroute
Scan for virus
Turn off, Drop out, Turn on, Tune in again.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Screaming fast for me ... maybe the solar storm knocked out your local infrastructure.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: michaelr
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 07:54 PM

Cryptic as ever, gargoyle. Do you get a kick out of being incomprehensible?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 08:26 PM

About a week ago it was a level above Mudcat...some key DNS server and router was out in central PA. Don't know if that's the case today.

kat

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 09:57 PM

OK, it's not my system,sorta like the old joke:
Are you sure that the boots ain't rolled down?
Oh, it might not be.
Thank Gawd, It ain't me!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Andrez
Date: 23 Jan 12 - 11:21 PM

So is there an answer to "try one of the other servers"? I would if I had an address to plugin.

Cheers,

Andrez

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 11:04 AM

Well this morning (UK time) it was slo o o o o o o o o wwwwwww. This afternoon, it's zipping along great.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Jan 12 - 03:09 AM

do the other servers still operate, I remember them mentioned as backdoors many years ago (loki?? snuffy???

sandra (doing her best to get the little grey cells moving)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Tootler
Date: 25 Jan 12 - 04:33 AM

OK this morning in UK

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 25 Jan 12 - 07:38 AM

I've noticed lots of "waiting for response from mudcat.org" and some of them have been rather long waits, intermittently over a few weeks.

Once the 'cat answers the phone it zips right up.

That might indicate some deterioration in a feeder/relay that's hanging up, something about the mudcat's service connection, or a choked up queue at the mudcat server I would think.

We might be able to test the last possibility if all the rest of you would go home ... but then I wouldn't have anybody to talk to.

It does seem to be about normal this morning, although I've only opened a couple of threads and this is my first post for a few hours.

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 25 Jan 12 - 09:33 PM

John - please show the newbies:
Ping Trace Route
Selecting a new origin.

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

I agree it is time for a new donation...in any currency, from any country.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 10:35 PM

Mudcat has been slow most of the day. Max is aware of the problem and he's working on it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 10:55 PM

That's a heckuva lot better than our friends across the pond are getting from BT.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Beer
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 11:04 PM

You can go for a pee a crap and come back and still it is no where to be found.
ad.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 19 Feb 12 - 11:11 PM

Seems much better here now than it was earlier in the evening.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 12:53 AM

always happy to know I'm not lone with slooooow computer or connection

as always, thanks to Max

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 03:45 AM

Seems to have improved. I think it's about normal now.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,I Don't Know
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 03:47 AM

Took forever to load just now.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 03:50 AM

I made a cup of coffee, a bacon sandwich, and played two rounds of golf. Before it loaded a thread ;-)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 04:01 AM

Seems brighter now

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 04:31 AM

It is rumoured that the recent slowness is to get back to the simpler, more human, liesurely, pastoral, horse-drawn pre-broadband dial-up pace of days gone by when 'Catters were younger, fitter, slimmer and knew their place in the fuedal order as a truly authentic community of traditional folk enthusiasts.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 07:48 AM

There's still a lot of forelock tugging goes on around here.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: RTim
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:42 AM

Still EXTREMELY slow here on Cape Cod!!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 09:39 AM

Still slow here, but I get round it by having two tabs open with Mudcat and read one while the other is loading. Seems to work OK.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 10:42 AM

Taking a good 40 seconds to load here in Canada.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 10:53 AM

I have plants that move faster...

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:27 AM

Its the ads ... the animated gif files are time killers. I noticed the amazon one in particular with heavy animation

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:35 AM

No, it's not the ads. I have (as of this morning) every one of them blocked and it's just as slow for me as it is for you.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: terrier
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:37 AM

Open Mudcat.. open new tab.. play around with another website whilst Mudcat is loading.. then go back to Mudcat which is now working. Everyone can be happy. Slow is good :)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:42 AM

Yeah, it was almost normal for a while there last night, and now it's slow again.
Time for a nap...

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:49 AM

Jeri
it doesn't matter if you block them, the server still has to load the things. Take the load time for an animated gif and multiply it by 1000 concurrent users requesting resources and see the performance stats.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 11:54 AM

With adsense the ads change, when they are not animated you will run fine, when they switch to animated you will run crappy. I been there. You can block all you want but the server still has to honor the ads and will consume resources

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 12:31 PM

17.30 GMT, very, very, slooooooowwwwwww.

Rog

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 01:09 PM

45 secs to refresh and/or open a thread.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 02:16 PM

I agree with olddude.... I see the little window at the bottom saying "sending request to googlesyndication.com"

I think that even when an ad is blocked, it takes a certain amount of time before it surrenders and allows the page to load...and as I mentioned in my thread on google & javascript, some as are getting thru anyway.

Of course, Max may have other problems locally, but I'm guessing that the Amazon/Google bit is involved.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 03:11 PM

I get a lot of "taken offline by Max" and click again and it opens. Could it be that some troll is slowing the site down? by clicking threads like the MOAB in full or whatever? In any case, I am sure Max is on top of it.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 03:14 PM

Check your memory utilization on the Ads ... increase the amount of memory resources to the server and increase the swap file for paging. I bet both are too small to handle the gifs

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 04:11 PM

Slow as a snail here on the western shores of the Caribbean as well!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 06:53 PM

Dan... easy for you to say. At least, I think it would be if I had a clue what you were talking about.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 06:55 PM

Trying everything. We've just reached the limits of what the servers can do, I think.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 07:50 PM

Was offline and has just come back at normal speed for me in UK.

Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 07:55 PM

Max
my client just retired another big ass Dell server with raid system. I will get you the specs and email you tomorrow. They said I can have it. I suspect it will have enough horsepower to run mudcat and then some

let you know in the AM
Dan

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:14 PM

Time to wipe out the stuff below the line.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:15 PM

that do it?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:17 PM

"Time to wipe out the stuff below the line."

naawww... it would just be posted above the line and be harder to avoid.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:17 PM

well, made some progress at least. enjoy.

Lemme know Dan, we're hanging by a thread. Ha... thread.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:40 PM

I will scarf it up for ya Max, I promise. They used it to backup all the PC's in the office so I suspect it has a lot of horses under the hood.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 08:52 PM

Fingers crossed, olddude (maybe that'll help ease your boredom problem?) Max, thanks for all your efforts.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 09:22 PM

Oh, gee, we're in trouble....Max has resorted to puns.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 09:45 PM

so, why is it OK going back to the menu and slow going to the threads?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 09:57 PM

the font and page (and no cookie) have the appearance of the test site or whatever it is called where Max tries out new tricks, etc.

Thanks for doing what you can, Max. And thanks,Dan, if you have access to equipment that may help the problem.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Feb 12 - 10:02 PM

EBarnacle

When you go back to the menu the menu has already been loaded once, and is in your browser's temp file. If the menu page doesn't load immediately, your browser will show the version that's in memory.

Depending on your settings, your browser may try to refresh and reload the page everytime you call for the page again, but usually will flip to the stored page fairly quickly if the site reponse is slow.

When you open a page, it's not in memory, so the browser has to wait until the site responds - so it's often slower, although when things are working right you might not notice the difference.

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 01:02 AM

OK, that works for me. Thanks, John.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 03:25 AM

Seems a bit better this morning, lets hope it continues to improve.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Mike Mandaville
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 06:26 AM

I was unable to post a couple of times, but now things are back to normal. This site is unique, and I appreciate the work that goes into keeping it functioning.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:05 AM

Still very slow for me here in London - and refusing to let me post links.

Thanks to everyone who's trying to sort this out.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:32 AM

Ditto in Canada. Over a minute to get onto Mudcat, over forty seconds to get this thread to open.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:37 AM

And over 1 1/2 minutes to get that last post to take. Good luck sorting it out.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:49 AM

About 2 seconds to open and 3/4 to completely load. I don't know if you just did something, but thanks.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:51 AM

Slick as corn thru a goose just now. Whatever ya did, it worked.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:58 AM

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Back to crawling.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 11:39 AM

Max
It is a Dell Poweredge 6600. Has 12 hot swap raid drives. I think they are 800's ... haven't fired it up but I will to make sure it is all good. Big bugger lots of power. Its yours if you want it. I don't know the memory yet but knowing my client they only go first class on everything so I suspect lots of horsepower under the hood. They used it to daily backup over 100 pc's so its a big filing cabinet

Dan

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 11:56 AM

Max here is the specs I think this will do it myself

http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/pedge/66XS.pdf

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 12:13 PM

Quad processors

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 01:08 PM

Dan is the MAN!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 01:25 PM

older technology GNU but maybe better than what we have now, see if Max wants it .. maybe it won't work for the cat but its the best I can do right now. They are retiring two more servers in a month that are a little more newer

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 08:25 PM

Real, real slow in Dixie. Sometimes won't connect at all.

And now this message keeps bouncing back. (8:25 EST)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 09:12 PM

Took 45 s for the site to come up. Took another 40 s for this page to come up. Verizon & Conkeror.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 10:11 PM

So the Mudcat is well and truly *swamped* and here I thought they were fresh water fish.:-)

Max, hang in there. Dan, you are wonderful. I hope the server works!

Do we all need to chip in for shipping costs?

luvya'llkat

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 10:24 PM

A ping from out here in Idaho shows an average out-and-back of about 190 ms.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 21 Feb 12 - 10:38 PM

still fiddling. we aren't giving up.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 05:37 AM

Slow at 06:00 AST... if that info helps in diagnostics.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChillToad
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 06:02 AM

Intermittently slow here in the West Country as at 10:55 GMT.

One thing though - everyone on this thread is very patient and understanding. I've been on sites where people are screaming at the mods within minutes if the slightest thing goes wrong.

Big shout out to Max, Dan and to the rest of us nice folk folk!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Monique
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 06:59 AM

It's been low for more than 3 days here (Southern France)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jon Corelis
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 09:38 AM

Here in the great American midwest for the past several days the site has been slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through a peanut butter swamp.

Jon Corelis
Eldorado by Edgar Alllan Poe: a musical setting

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 11:21 AM

Just got faster, lots.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 11:22 AM

Agreed.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 11:44 AM

SCREAMING - Fast connections.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

The move to GoDaddy was an interesting necessity

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 12:00 PM

It takes up to ten seconds to get a response to a page load request. It's never been worse.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 12:05 PM

And at least twice that time to get that last post through.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Larry Saidman
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 12:13 PM

Really slow in British Columbia.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 12:40 PM

Max let me know if you want that thing ... Dan

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: pdq
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 12:52 PM

Dan is offering to upgrade the Mudcat server to a Radio Shack TRS 80.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 01:14 PM

Avg of 90 seconds up and download today until a few minutes ago. Now back to normal. Shhhhhhh.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 01:38 PM

Shoulda said shhhh FIRST. Shhhhit!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 01:54 PM

Dah PDQ, it is an Apple II LOL, although the TRS80 would probably perform better right now

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 02:01 PM

Looks like better servers are needed.

Elimination of all messages below the line might help.

Impossible to tell if posts will be recognized without waits, no point in posting anything other than brief comments.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 04:45 PM

Q... the messages 'below the line' have almost NO effect on the total. They used to be mixed with all the others...and still can be if you choose.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 06:21 PM

More time for important stuff... Like drenkin'...

B;~)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 06:51 PM

Threads below the line are an important genesis of thoughts, ideas, dicussions... which lead to banter between many different people from many different countries and cultures. They lead to education, mutual support, healing, stories... and, yes, songs.

To lose the BS section would be a terrible thing IMO. And, as pointed out, it probably wouldn't make a difference in access.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 07:17 PM

No BS???

No Mudcat...

Just MO, of course...

B~

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 07:18 PM

I don't know if it's the amount of data being stored. Seems to me that keeps growing, but doesn't fluctuate. What DOES is how many hits Mudcat gets and what happens because of them. It could be people here on purpose, people that come through searches, spammers, and who knows what all that come to Mudcat and queries so that Mudcat works to answer. I don't know, but I DO know Max needs some new equipment.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 07:30 PM

Love to see some budget numbers for new equipment. Let's go shopping!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,oldddude
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 09:12 PM

My server will be at Max's house this Sunday. My brother goes to the town to see his grandkids and will be delivering it, hang in there

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 22 Feb 12 - 11:49 PM

Upgrade financials coming very very soon... but you ain't gonna like it. Lots of zeros in this here number.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:16 AM

It's running pretty good this morning, 8.15am UK time.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:38 AM

0930 UK time - presumably UK catters not having the first hit of the day just yet, and US ones asleep, so server demand way down. This thread came up snappily. I'll try some more.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:40 AM

Drat - fat fingers - 0830 UK time. Post took 40 seconds to take and then another 20 seconds to get back to this box.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: scouse
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:54 AM

9:51AM. very slow this morning over here in dear "Cloggieland."
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Alan Day
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:58 AM

Sometimes it's here and sometimes it isn't .It is just what you get used to I suppose.It has been the same since I first became a member.
Any other site I would have given up on it after a few weeks.
Al

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 04:33 AM

I've had it. Going to buy some hardware today. We'll be down for an hour or two midday US time, but should be peppy before y'all in the UK go to bed tonight. Database server is taxed to the max. Something's gotta give.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,IslandOwl
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 04:37 AM

Good to know it is not just me! I have not been able to get on for a couple of days because the browser was timing out. I am still a newbie to the site so was wondering.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 04:45 AM

Thu 09:44 UK, seems to have picked up a treat now.

Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:35 AM

It's better here in Maine than it has been for a week or more.

Thank you, Max.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:51 AM

Yup, 5 seconds to open the thread. That tells us who the capacity hogs are! 11.51 UK time.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:52 AM

And 5 seconds to post the above.

Perhaps Max has found the "FASTER< FASTER< FASTER" button.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 07:21 AM

Pageloads averaging 852 milliseconds for the last hour. Hot damn! Eaked another few days till olddude's server gets here.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 07:22 AM

Breath-taking!!!!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 07:36 AM

WTG, Max.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Beer
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 07:36 AM

WOW!!
Break neck speed.

ad.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: fat B****rd
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 07:54 AM

The last time I did anything this fast I was loooed at disdainfully.
Thanks Max and everybody(and Dan).

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 08:22 AM

WTG! Thanks.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 09:05 AM

Duh!

It's too fast now! 8-)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 09:17 AM

way too fast Max, now I can't do other stuff while I wait :-)
awesome Job

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Elmore
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 09:30 AM

What a relief. thanks, Max.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Monique
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 10:09 AM

Thanks Max, it's perfect!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 10:21 AM

Wow! What a difference!
What didja do? Was it very expensive?
Many thanks!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Alan Day
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 10:58 AM

Well done
Al

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 11:27 AM

" (He) threatened its life with a railway-share;
       (He) charmed it with smiles and soap."

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 01:16 PM

Seems normal now. Woohoo!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Rog Peek
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 01:23 PM

Pretty well gack to normal. Many thanks.

Rog

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 01:36 PM

Holy Holstein!!

I just clicked on the Mudcat icon on my favorites bar and before I could even lift my finger off the mouse button, there it was!!

Way to go, Max! Thanks!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Tootler
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 01:57 PM

Browsing on my phone no probe just now. Well done Max

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 02:07 PM

Max is AWESOME!!

You were up early! How much do ya need to cover whatever you had to spend, today?

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 03:11 PM

Wadidit cost ya, Max? Ya need funds, including any to make the Olddude server git up an' go?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 04:02 PM

Nicely done, Max. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 04:24 PM

Well done! Back up to speed.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: The Barden of England
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 05:01 PM

Max - You're the MAN. Working great now.
John Barden

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 05:20 PM

He can't answer.... he's pedaling the bicycle hooked to the power supply....

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 05:43 PM

Mravelous improvement. Thanks.

I was so impressed with the return to normal that I decided to post something I'd been saving for a while. Unfortunately, when I switched tabs to copy a URL to add to the last line of my masterpiece, the thread creation window disappeared.

Maybe it's a new feature that was necessary????

Back to my drawing board.

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:05 PM

Wey-hey! It's whizzing now.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: bobad
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:11 PM

Just blazing along at road runner speed.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:19 PM

Hoo bloody ray!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 06:26 PM

BillD, here I thought you'd sent him your hamsters!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 08:11 PM

They were invited, but they were lolling on Hamster Beach

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 02:17 AM

yah Max & yah olddude

sandra

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: scouse
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 04:05 AM

10:05 European time....Very reasonable this morning.
As Aye,
Phil.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 06:44 AM

Working quite briskly now, even though Facebook is on the fritz.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 08:58 AM

Max-

Much more better!

Send us the bill.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 01:59 PM

"Send us the bill."

Check out the Mudcat Auction. I used to use this to donate quite often when I was flush. Now I am flushed.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 11:56 PM

Much better. Thank you!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Girl Friday
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 02:25 PM

Very slow on editing today... otherwise -not bad

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 05:07 PM

Speed is good in most cases, but some posts are slow to take, causing me worry about posting lyrics that take time to set up on a post.

On very long threads, e. g., the Bigots attack BP, I have had the thread freeze, and have to leave the mudcat site temporarily.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 05:37 PM

Q, over time I have learned that when the 'cat is tetchy it's worth it to copy the post in the event it doesn't take. That way you can put it onto a word document until such time as the 'cat's easier to get along with.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 06:38 PM

I'll second k-1's recommendation that you copy a post before you hit submit, and will add the recommendation that you always preview before the final submit.

For really complex posts, I usually try to set the text up in Word before opening the Reply box. Then it's just a Copy/Paste to put it in the reply box. (Of course if you do this you do need to turn off the "curly quotes" in Word.)

There are TWO good reasons for the last suggestion.

1. On a really complex post it is possible for your connection to "time out" before you get done.

2. You can't look back at what others have posted, to make sure you're responding accurately, once you've hit the first preview.

(Of course you can always make your reply in a separate window/tab, but that means loading the thread twice.)

With respect to current mudcat performance, I'm getting quite a few clicks where the selected thread appears to have loaded completely, but is "DOA" and I can't scroll down or do anything else. Usually a "refresh" will reload and after the refresh everything works normally, but the "hung loads" seem to be annoyingly frequent. I suspect it's still due to overload of the server queue, but I've sent Joe an email and my speculations won't help until Max can take a look at it.

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: michaelr
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 10:39 PM

What's the status of olddude's server getting to Max?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 05 Mar 12 - 09:48 PM

Has mudcat been freezing up for anyone else? I had to close my browser and reload it at least 30 times today.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 12 - 11:30 PM

It's been ultra-slow, today. Anyone else notice?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Beer
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 12:07 AM

Pain in the arse.
ad.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 01:30 AM

I've only had to refresh about 3 times when a thread "hung" on me, but quite a few things have taken more than a minute to load.

I've put it down the the feud Anonymous is having with Jester, since two of our local TV stations have been reporting that their computers have crashed, died, totaled. (all the smoke escaped, and they don't work anymore.)

I may have spent (euphemism for wasted?) a little less time here than usual because it was really good entertainment watching a couple of our local fluff-heads trying to report the news without prompters, and one of the weather guys was absolutely hilarious without his fancy gimmicks. (I think the guy has an iPad app to read a thermometer, and even that was down - must be a "cloud app.")

Has anyone checked whether it's local or net-wide?

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 04:54 AM

Well all the rest of the web is up to speed here in Kent UK.

Ping of 39ms and download speed of 17.49Mbps.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 04:32 PM

I had had trouble with the Mudcat freezing, but today it seems fine. How nice.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: topical tom
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 04:47 PM

Snails are faster.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 10:28 PM

It was slow for me on the 13th and into the early evening today (14th). Then I shut down my laptop because I got the low battery warning. After it finished recharging, I had trouble getting onto the Internet, but I think that's another issue. Once i got onto the Internet, Mudcat seemed to be working fine. I hope that continues to be true.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 14 Mar 12 - 11:29 PM

I wrote to soon. It has slowed down again.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Max
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 02:07 AM

Fancy shmancy new store-bought server arrives in the morning. Will take a couple days, maybe just one if I don't play with my kids, to get up and running, but we're close gang. I appreciate your patience, I'll make it up to all of you I promise, and we'll be tip top before you know it, it's assured.

In the meantime, that is to say: to pass the time, may I suggest switching underpants with your spouse for the evening and/or doing something you've never done before... or doing something you do in a venue you've never done it in before... that is to say: do something stupid.

Empower your whimsy, disarm regret, bend over willfully, cheerfully, for consequence and go out and make a memory that you and your spouse will awkwardly chuckle about till your end of days. Then we all win.

If your spouse is unwilling, call them a fuddy duddy, then bath, groom and dress in your finest means and manner, telephone the silliest person you know and take them out and do the smooshy ice cream dance.

If you do not have a spouse, practice saying yes in the mirror a few times and just generally having an affirmative attitude for several minutes, perhaps a snort or two from the vanilla extract bottle in the cupboard, then make that call you've been thinking about a lot lately. What the hell? It's mudcat tradition, you're just being a supportive member of the community and it's quirky traditions. Forgiveness is built in, whadaya got to lose?

If it all goes haywire, just abort the mission and start talking about what a wanker I am, and maybe drink the almond extract. And if it goes well, I just got you laid. You are welcome.

I do this sort of stuff every chance I get and look how well adjusted, patient, prudent and content I am.

You may now return to your version of reality.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: My guru always said
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 04:06 AM

Play with the kids, Max, much more important!

What are you smoking these days?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 12:07 PM

Do play with the kids and take your time but right now a page load never takes less than 15 second and a post to another thread just sat there 25 seconds before the system digested it.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Paul Burke
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 07:34 PM

By Imhotep! What's this queer blue face besmirching my screen? If I move the mouse over it, it expands to "feedback" but I wasn't Bjorn yesterday.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Mar 12 - 08:57 PM

Yuck! I see it also. Max, is this a new app you're trying out? It looks cloyingly cheerful. That's a vote against it right there.

SRS

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 12:34 AM

I agree with My guru always says. Playing with your kids is more important. I can wait.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 09:28 AM

I've been sitting here biting my tongue, already sore from such self-control efforts. I see the combined threads addressing the fuss about the Feedback flag has gone, so will offer these few thoughts here. The little blue Feedback flag was an experiment. What's so scary about Max trying things here, on HIS site? He's told us he'd be doing just that.

I clicked and sent him a short message. I thought it would be an easy way for us to offer helpful feedback and it seems generous of Max to even offer it. Suggestions about placement, blocking it, etc. could go right on the suggestion form. I blocked the little face just to see how it would respond, and was left with a plain blue flag; less of a distraction, yet still visible.

Sure enough, there were so many immediate complaints the Host of the Feast was exasperated enough to yank it before he could evaluate its effectiveness. I'm wicked cautious about such things...even removed my google+ membership...but this was clearly something of Max's. I don't believe I am entitled to a vote. We are "living" in Max's living room, for Pete's sake.

There are things here I am not thrilled about. I can offer opinions when invited to do so, but I am not interested in controlling what Max chooses to do with his site.

Hey Max, did you get my comment on the blue flag Feedback form? I wasn't sure the last part of my note was entered correctly...it said, "Thank you."

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 09:41 AM

Well it gets slower here, as the US east coast wakes up, but is it my imagination, or has the font and the spacing changed?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 09:44 AM

Interesting, John. Font and spacing appear to me to be the same.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 10:31 AM

Play with the kids, Max.

Wish I'd seen the blue thingie, which reminds me, why are things always blue ala blue clicky thing?**BG**

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 02:03 PM

The Blue pop ups were an unexpected and suspicious [late night UK] imposition on OUR browsers and computers
- simple as that.

A thread title from Max prepaing us such an experiment would have been sufficient to allay all potential mudcat user questions
and concerns regarding issues of site security:
and having been properly informed that this was a legitimate 'survey request' and not a potential site 'hack' to be wary of,
many mudcatters would be more at ease to submit well considered positive replies.

That would have been easy fair and reasonable,

Every moment on the internet we are bombarded by all kinds of ugly distracting corporate advertising animations
and pop up/unders.

All of it a burden on our computer processing resources; and a larger percentage of it less than benign in intent.

That's why we as 'informed consumers' are forced into having to resort to deploying tiresome software counter measures
such as 'Ad Blockers'
which themselves can cause additional problems and conflicts with browser components.

It's a running perpetual battle between us and all those despicable corporate power greedy profiteering usurpers
of our personal internet liberties,
... and other international criminal gangs.

This is the wider context that popular forum site admins need to always be responsibly aware of when implementing
and surprising users with any well intentioned unexpected 'improvements' and developments.

Even more so with a bunch of notoriously die hard anti authoritarian paranoid conspiracy theorist misfits like mudcat members.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 02:09 PM

Birds of a feather

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: gnu
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 02:22 PM

Max... play with the kids all weekend.

In my opinion, this thread SHOULD be about trying to help Max with feedback and info regarding users' experiences.

If there is to be a complaint department, I would like to offer my services to Max as the first line response to simple complaints.

Allow me to interview for the position herein...

Complaint : It's too slow and I am getting impatient.
gnu : It's free. Bite me.

Do I get the job?

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 03:13 PM

I vote go hang out with the kids, we should all be doing more than playing on the computer this weekend.

I'm pulling weeds, but maybe tonight I'll round up my kids and take them out to dinner.

Good start to the weekend!

SRS

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 03:15 PM

Some are pulling them, and some are smoking them ;-)

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 03:30 PM

"..why are things always blue ala blue clicky thing?"

they are blue by default.... you can change 'em to off-pink if you care to/....somewhere in settings. (I actually did change my
'visited links' color to a lighter red). You can have links underlined...or not...and in any font installed on your computer.

If you don't want to experiment with Max's 'interesting' suggestions, why...just go explore all the menu items for your browser. ☺

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 05:17 PM

Useless

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 08:28 PM

As others have already said, play with your kids.
We'll be fine.
Thanks for all you are doing, not to mention all you have already done -- and all you will no doubt do in the future...

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Ole Juul
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 02:05 AM

I take it that blackout was due to server changeover. It's certainly much better now. In fact it's a treat!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 02:06 PM

Zoom-soom now!
WTG Mr Grumpypants!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 02:27 PM

Merrily we roll along!

Thank you.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: bobad
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 07:10 PM

WSowza.....I've never seen it this fast - refreshes instantly.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: bobad
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 07:18 PM

The first word in my previous post is supposed to be Wowza, in case anyone is wondering.

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 18 Mar 12 - 11:30 PM

Fantastic!

Subject: RE: Mudcat Slow!!
From: maeve
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:22 AM

Hi, Max. The Mudcat logo appears to be missing, and with it the Support Mudcat links. The "Order Mudcat cds" link is still visible, but leads to the following message: "Firefox can't find the server at tweedsblues.net." I'm still hoping for that one to include information about both Mudcat cd sets.

Perhaps you are working on these already. In any case, thanks.