=][= Forum Pruning Time =][=

[Kurgan the Lurker]

Ok so as you know Argos has been working away on optimizing the server as we prepare for the change to 3.x of the software.

 

Unfortunately one thing we have found is that our desire to keep content on the site has made the data base a bit unwieldy and may actually cause issues when we change over to 3.x. We love the idea of providing as much content as possible to you guys but unfortunately that decision has resulted (in part) in some of the slowness issues we have had recently.

 

The easiest way for us to solve this is to go back to something we used to do every quarter, pruning the forums.

 

We just want to give you guys a heads up as to what is going on and then next week we will start. We are doing this so that if there is a particular thread you wish to print/save before the pruning you can do so. We won't start the pruning until next week (Monday or later).

 

Ok we need to trim the database down. We stopped doing that when we moved to our own server and we have around 6-8 years worth of posts on the site. It is too much right now. So we thought a good cut off date is Jan. 1, 2008. This is roughly the start of 5th Edition. We felt that is a good date to use as line in the sand. Though there is a chance that as we start to prune we will move that date back depending on getting the DB down to a certain size that we want.

 

 

 

Obviously there will be exceptions. Sticky posts for example. A few forums won't get a full pruning.

 

Forums that we will not be pruning at this time:

Liber Astartes

PCA

Librarium

 

 

These forums may still have some pruning done -- but not to the level of the other forums.

 

 

So you have from today (Weds. August 25th) until at least Monday (August 30th) to save threads, notes, etc. that you may want to save.

[FerociousBeast]

That's horrible news. Are you sure this is necessary? I've participated in a forum that has run successfully on private servers for over 12 years (I'm thinking of the relicnews.com board), and they still have all of their posts accessible, if you know how to find them.

 

I'm sure if you were to contact their administrators they could give you some pointers.

[Tomevans]

Will the tutorial section be left unpruned? There are far too many great tutorials to copy and print off, so I sincerely hope that they are left untouched.

[Brother Argos]

@ Ferocious Beast

 

That's horrible news. Are you sure this is necessary? I've participated in a forum that has run successfully on private servers for over 12 years (I'm thinking of the relicnews.com board), and they still have all of their posts accessible, if you know how to find them.

 

I'm sure if you were to contact their administrators they could give you some pointers.

 

There are lots of answers to that ... Here are a couple

 

1. Its not a technical problem that they can give me an answer too, I fund the Bolter & Chainsword almost entirely myself at a cost of around $2000 a year. We have very few people donate regularly (less than a handful) to help. Therefore if I don't opt to pay for new hardware to cope with the growing data then something has to change, reducing the size of the data is it.

 

2. They advertise and make money that way, we do not. This allows them to afford upgrades etc. that we do not have the money for. Most people on the B&C just accept my largesse and happily post away without donating to support this community.

[brennus]

I can see valid points on both sides, here - there is potentially useful info that we might lose through this maintenance, yet the maintenance is necessary. Perhaps we could have two weeks to go through the forums? That way, anyone who wanted to archive something in particular could get the data they want before it is gone.

[FerociousBeast]

Your efforts are certainly appreciated, Brother Argos. This is a great place to hang out, and its success is a testament to your efforts and sacrifice. So thank you very much for that.

 

In order to save the data, do you think you could try another fund raising effort? I remember your last one went well. I imagine it would require only a couple hundred dollars to purchase a couple more terabytes.

[Kurgan the Lurker]

I can see valid points on both sides, here - there is potentially useful info that we might lose through this maintenance, yet the maintenance is necessary. Perhaps we could have two weeks to go through the forums? That way, anyone who wanted to archive something in particular could get the data they want before it is gone.

 

 

A week should still be more than enough time for this.

 

Your efforts are certainly appreciated, Brother Argos. This is a great place to hang out, and its success is a testament to your efforts and sacrifice. So thank you very much for that.

 

In order to save the data, do you think you could try another fund raising effort? I remember your last one went well. I imagine it would require only a couple hundred dollars to purchase a couple more terabytes.

 

 

Ahh it would if it were only as simple as getting more hard drive space. But it isn't. It would require a new server with more memory and processing power. Otherwise we just eventually get right back to the slowness issues. This in turn creates higher monthly costs for having the box as well. So we would need to raise not only enough for a new box but also at least 1 years hosting. Even then, some of the optimization issues of having a database so large are not entirely solved by moving and in fact some issues are created by trying to move it.

 

Right now pruning BEFORE we go for a bigger box is the best way to go.

[Lord_Hail]

I'm just happy you guys are hearing out opinions and giving reasons. A few places i delt with just do it and say "o deal with it".

[fredox]

Firstly I didn't realise Brother Argos funded the most of the site cost himself so a big thank you to him. Hope the pruning goes well and you can get away with pruning less than you are expecting.

[Tomevans]

Perhaps some very small adverts may help to ease the financial burden placed upon yourself Argos. I had no idea it was costing you personally quite so much money and I thank you sincerely for the hard work and effort you put in to make this forum work. I would not mind a few adverts here and there, perhaps one on the left hand side of the screen that resets to something different every time you go to a new page. That way it would not interfere with posting whilst still raising money to help you fund the B and C. Thank you once again for all your hard work.