Has your Mudcat Access time changed?

Subject: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: LaMarca
Date: 17 Jul 97 - 06:06 PM

In the past month, I have been finding it harder and harder to connect to Mudcat and this discussion forum. I use Netscape 3.0, and frequently now it will time out trying to connect to onstagemedia.com. Max, do you monitor how many hits your site gets daily? If so, has it gone up A LOT in the past month? Are other people experiencing the same difficulties, or is it just heavy traffic on my server here at work inhibiting my access?

This question has relevance to the discussions/arguments going on about what kinds of songs/music to include or exclude from the discussion forum. If people's access is being limited because of an increase in traffic, then every bit of "non-relevant" traffic decreases accessibility to relevant stuff...

Subject: RE: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: rich r
Date: 17 Jul 97 - 09:32 PM

An interesting point LaMarca (I'm a federal employee but only get to do this at home). Off the wall queries do take up space, but how do you know how many of those crazy non-folk folk out there are visiting the site but not posting anything? We can only recognize the ones that leave something and it is my impression that those threads end up being quite short. However, I have to agree with you about difficulty getting on recently. But I forgot all about that and was so excited yesterday when AOL finally let me use the new discussion format. For the past 2 month when I tried to acces the new version, got a garbled version. The list of threads was there, but the Number of posts was off screen about 99 spaces to the right and the date was further out. NOt only that the new Search link box was plopped on top of the start a thread and partially off screen to the left where I couldn't go. The result I could use neither. I'm so happy it works now that I can forget about the connect delays for a little while.

rich r

Subject: RE: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: sharon
Date: 17 Jul 97 - 11:18 PM

Glad to hear I'm not the only one having trouble connecting. I'd beenfearing there was something wrong with either my computer or the service I'm connected with. So what is causing our difficult??

Subject: RE: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: RS
Date: 17 Jul 97 - 11:48 PM

Perhaps I will save Max Spiegel a few minutes, by posting the reply he sent me, on 29 June 97, to my e-mail enquiry about this issue:

[My enquiry:]

Hi, Don't know if it's only me, but lately, about 50% of the time I try to check out the Mudcat Discussion Forum or the DT Database, I get "timed out" - with the eventual reply "There was no response - the server could be down or not responding". Haven't had this problem with "deltablues" sites, only with the "onstagemedia" parts. (No problems with various other places I have been visiting either).

I was going to post a thread on the Discussion group asking if others have been having this problem, but I haven't been able to get there to do so!

Any comments or suggestions?

[Max's reply]:

We have been trying very hard to increase the reliability and access to the intelligent parts to the mudcat cafe. Funding is soon to be which will give us the opportunity to upgrade our connection. The popularity of this site sends our machines into a tizzy and frequently overwhelms them. The problem is on our side, and we are trying very hard to compensate. Sorry for any problems.

Max Spiegel

Subject: RE: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 17 Jul 97 - 11:59 PM

Dear RS,

Thanks for sharing your exchange with Max. Certainly helps clear up the mystery for me.

And for the record, I think having a popular, informative and friendly website is a "good problem" to have. I'll be happy to contribute to the funding via a T-shirt or two when they're ready.

Thanks again to all the folks (define them as you wish, but that's another thread...) who make Mudcat/DT a delight!

Subject: RE: Has your Mudcat Access time changed?
From: Max D. Spiegel
Date: 23 Jul 97 - 01:16 AM

RS beat me to it, and that remains the story. Unfortunately, the technology that the Mudcat uses to run the discussion forum and the search page is not readily available on the net, so we must host it ourselves. The Mudcat and my other company Onstage Media would love to have a higher bandwidth, and a more reliable connection. The blame lies with Bell Atlantic and my ISP Voicenet. I don't recommend doing business with either of these companies. The cost of switching (one obviously more than the other) is staggering so we're in a bind. Competitive companies and money are coming soon, so hang in there, as will we.