I've been informed that due to high server stress I'm unable to keep this message board as a separate board on the server. This leaves me with two options:
1) Merge with rpgboards.com, meaning we'll have our own cathegory with a couple of forums.
2) Find a PHP host for the msgboard and switch to phpBB (or something like it).
If no solution is found, this board will be closed as of Monday, September 24th.
Comments/suggestions?
There is always ezboard...but ezboard sucks ass.
Good luck Qhimm!
Guess you can look into it.
Qhimm, nice to see you again...it has been always nice to see you, but...not on this horrific day...
...I'll respect and follow whatever your decisions are...
IMO, it'd be better to find another host...b'cause this boartd has got something 'personal' - it's a bit nbot like the others...
(Damnit, are there only f**kin' news these days? - it just to start 'bout comitting suicide...)
- Alhexx
- edit -
Is it possible just to move this board onto another server? Or will we lose all our 'data'? (<- that'd be trash!)
- edit 2 -
Qhimm: You could take a look at
http://www.freewebspace.net
and search for a free host that supports cgi...
(I found my site via this page)
[This message has been edited by Alhexx (edited September 12, 2001).]
You cant close the board down Qhimm. It's so much better than any others, its not over-crowded, has lots of info and is really useful. How will the Remake Project work without it? Well, I guess its all up to you so I'll be fine with whatever. Could we like move to a temperary shitty board if you need time to get another board up.
How does that sound? The max users at once that I've seen before is only 6. Isn't it a little ironic that this nice and warm board has to be closed down just because of a small problem? New server? No problem. Many of us have our own servers, so we can offer a little bandwidth. The Saint has his own website, hosted by a local telephone company called Maxis. Try requesting him for some space.
Qhimm, tell us truthfully~does the closing of this msgbrd has something to do with it?
If Qhimm doesn't find a solution, what IS the remake team going to do?
I suppose I could open a few forms on my msgbrds as a backup for the Remake team if Qhimm's boards fall like the WTC towers. Only prob is my board is on ezboard. Not the best site in the world, but at least it's free.
Sephiroth 3D
"One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." - Vincent Valentine, The Sephiroth Chronicals, Book 1: Resurrection
[email protected]
Sephiroth 3D's Final Fantasy (Currently Offline)
Sephiroth 3D's Promised Land
It supports CGI-BIN, FTP, and all the other stuff needed to build a UBB Board.
Well, this board is a great one. The greatest I have ever been to. It would be a loss to shut it down~
If they do host us, however, it will most likely be a php based board, and even more likely it will be phpBB cause phpBB is free!
Vbulletin is nice too but it costs money :(
However, I would recommend that someone were to start backing up threads that all of you need, especially the remake staff :)
Although Qhimm & I are looking for possible hosts, it would be preferable if you guys help too :)
NOoOOOOOOO!!!! High server stress?!?! Golly, we don't visit this board toghether all at once! There should be no problem!
The problem is more than just this board, but the combination of three message boards operating on the same server. RPGboards.com was turned off for part of the day on Monday and the third board was closed (basically without notice, i feel bad about that). Thats what brought us to where we are now.
Is it the world war 3? Good sites from downloads to porn are delcining after the fall of the World Trade center.
Qhimm, tell us truthfully~does the closing of this msgbrd has something to do with it?
I'm not Qhimm, but I can answer that, the answer is absolutely not. I contacted Qhimm about this Monday afternoon before the terrorist attacks ever took place.
Maybe if we could pay 3Dstream .......
I'm not finishing that quote because I can tell you that 3dStream is not in a position to except money for hosting. We were a year ago, but not now.
Thats all the questions I saw through the posts that I know I can answer. I'll go into a little more detail about the rpgboards option. You guys have 6 forums on this board right now, I can have those 6 forums on rpgboards.com right below the 3 discussion forums in a category (like the Discussion, Popular RPGs categories that are already there. I can give two categories like you have if needed). Qhimm would have the administrative power to make them look and feel just like this board does using the vBulletin Control Panel and the admins/mods would be let on there at Qhimm's discretion.
thats it for this post... UNTIL NEXT TIME
cya!
EDIT: Backups of this board can be done fairly easily and the transfer of the files doesn't hurt the server.
[This message has been edited by Russ [3dStream] (edited September 14, 2001).]
The problem is more than just this board, but the combination of three message boards operating on the same server. RPGboards.com was turned off for part of the day on Monday and the third board was closed (basically without notice, i feel bad about that). Thats what brought us to where we are now.I see. How many servers does 3DStream have in total? Just 1?
I'm not finishing that quote because I can tell you that 3dStream is not in a position to except money for hosting. We were a year ago, but not now.How about donations? :wink: I'm just kidding; I'm sure you don't accept those either.
Thats all the questions I saw through the posts that I know I can answer. I'll go into a little more detail about the rpgboards option. You guys have 6 forums on this board right now, I can have those 6 forums on rpgboards.com right below the 3 discussion forums in a category (like the Discussion, Popular RPGs categories that are already there. I can give two categories like you have if needed). Qhimm would have the administrative power to make them look and feel just like this board does using the vBulletin Control Panel and the admins/mods would be let on there at Qhimm's discretion.Most of that sounds good. However, there's still 2 problems I see:
Sure some of VBulletin's other features are nice, and maybe Qhimm can just turn all of the ones he doesn't want off. I don't know. But otherwise, the price may be too high.
[/end rant]
If RPG Boards proves to be our only option, I'm sure we'll take it. It's definately a nice offer, as opposed to just shutting us down.
I agree with everything that Srethron said - we're very grateful that this is an option and we may very well like to take it up :wink:
If we could take it up *and* keep a setup like our current one (everything Srethron mentioned...especially a lack of avatars and iamges-in-signatures) that'd be superb.
Look at an example at www.3dgpu.com
ok i like the baord, so what im gonna do is either ill make a separate forum on our board, or ill host this one, BUT there are some things you gotta do, all active members must register at nexff's forums, if that happens, then thats all you gotta do, but if you dont wanna do that, then youll have to put a banner of ours on the BOTTOM of your forum pages.
-thats really all i can do for yas... sorry :(
[This message has been edited by Threesixty (edited September 15, 2001).]
Originally posted by ficedulaIt's my fault really. I haven't imposed any form of rules yet. I can actually force sig & avatar sizes to be within a certain size :)
(BTW, SaiNt, that's not a criticism as such ... it's not YOUR fault people use large pictures for their sigs and avatars. Lots of good boards have just the same problem).
eerrrr : I think you got TheDragonmaster(Alex) wrong, he meant that he is willing to provide us 2 options. The first option being a merger with nextff.net's forums, therefore requiring everyone to register there. The second option is to set up a whole new board there but with a basic requirement of including a banner at the bottom of the forum pages. As for that problem, I'll try to get TheDragonmaster(Alex) to not make a banner too large :)
Just so all of you know, it is possible to merge the nextff forums database with the forums here. That way, one registration applies to both areas. And since each forum can have it's own themes, we have the option again like Russ [3dStream]'s idea. I wouldn't recommend it though cause if either Qhimm or I mess up while updating the database, everything will be lost.
Anyway, I've sent Qhimm the details for nextff.net & I'll discuss it with him for a while. He's not around at the moment, he'll be back this coming Monday. (Qhimm's really gonna kill me for saying so much) So, if the board here does get switched of for a while, you guys can come to forums.nextff.net and seek refuge for a while, until Qhimm gets things fixed. Don't worry, I'll open up a private forum for the Remake people :)
[This message has been edited by The SaiNt (edited September 15, 2001).]
As for that problem, I'll try to get TheDragonmaster(Alex) to not make a banner too large
That's not a problem. If its the same banner on each page then you've already got it in your browser cache (hopefully) ... it's when you have 200+ plus members, most of whom have sigs with images in them plus avatars ... *that* is slow.
Incidentally, I haven't noticed php based boards being any faster for me because of the overhead in getting the page from a server that's not particularly local anyway...I'm sure you're right and they are quicker, but I at least haven't noticed it.
The backup size thingummy is a big advantage tho.
But Fice's right with the banner thingy. I don't like these pictures used in signatures. I think using an avatar is a quite fine thing, but I don't think that everybody has got to post a HUGE pic in every of his post.
On some boards over 50% of a topic are pix. That looks kinda 'strange' when someone posts three words and a huge signature pic.
As for the avatars: I think I like this board w/o avatars - it's one of those things that make this board 'personal'
- Alhexx
- edit -
(Why the heck have I posted 2 ' - Alhexx's :-? )
[This message has been edited by Alhexx (edited September 15, 2001).]
Threesixty: Was there ever only one? I remember learning that there was a board or two before UBB, but when I first showed up, I *think* there were 2 or 3 forums here. General and Triple Triad Gold, or something like that.
dagsverre: I agree. If we're going to take up his offer, let's go with the second option.
The SaiNt: Incidentally, just how reliable is NextFF's host, anyway? A whois shows the host is DirectNIC
Their hosting plan (even the pay hosting) doesn't look particularly great for hosting something as *potentially* high traffic as this. Only 2 GB of bandwidth a month. If you've got the pay hosting plan, additional GBs transfer can be purchased for $6 each. Doesn't sound like much of a steal to me. I guess my real concern is whether we'll get all setup at NextFF and then suddenly disappear when bandwidth is exceeded.
ficedula: Yeah, that's the major problem. I suppose we *could* do as the The Safehouse .
Here's their rules
Not all of their rules apply, but the sigs/personal pic (avatars) rules are worth copying. They're quite possibly one of the biggest game forums (EverQuest) in existence. 20,000+ members, and the mods are awesome at what they do.
Signature rules:-One of the great things about the Safehouse is all the GREAT sigs. But with all the sigs, threads can get bogged down, take forever to load and look really cluttered. We ask that you adhere to these guidelines:
--Sig MUST be under 15kb in size - this includes Flash, animated gifs, etc.
--Image dimensions should not exceed the standard ad bannersize.
--Images that distort the format of the forums (mainly personalicons) are not allowed.
--Only post your custom signature ONCE per thread. Simply uncheck the "Include custom signature" box when posting more than once in a thread.
--Personal photos MUST be under 15kb if no sig pic is used. If sig pic is used, the combined size of both pics must be no greater than 15kb in size.
--Don't post "test sigs", use the "Preview" checkbox to see how it looks.
It works pretty well. A lot of idiots come in with huge sigs with links to their boards and post something along the lines of "CUM 2 MY BOrD!11!", and the mods always just edit out whatever, say, "Your sig is too large. Combined sig+personal sig size must be smaller than 15KB. Please read the forum rules. Advertising is not allowed. Welcome to the Safehouse."
Then they post back with the same sig and whatever other rule breaking stuff they have, "GEZ WEL HOW WA SI GONa KNOw tHAt?", and again and the mods always just edit out whatever, say, "Your sig is still too large. Please only post sigs once per thread. Combined sig+personal sig size must be smaller than 15KB. Please read the forum rules. Thanks!"
The problem is that it usually goes on for another few posts before the hapless AOLer gets himself banned. They're very lenient about punishing minor offenses (even regulars forget about the sig once per post rule once in a while), but a lot of the lamers still manage to get themselves banned pretty quick. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if Joey went there. :wink: How about it Joey? Maybe they'd treat you better than us. :)
Anyway, the only problem is that it's a lot of work for the mods, checking sig+avatar sizes, editing posts but always sounding cheerful, and so forth.
Alhexx: I agree. Not having Avatars is part of the personality of this place.
Anyway, I rest my case. How would I ever be able to write anything this long if everyone had a sig+personal pic? :D
Originally posted by dagsverreMust have missed your post earlier. I think you posted only minutes before me.
Actually I'd go with the other option. Putting a "Hosted by NextFF" banner at the bottom is simply common decency anyway. Though of course I'm not against registering at NextFF if more people go with that...
Originally posted by ficedulaTrue, it's most probably in your cache anyway. Anyway, we're forgetting something. The only reason this site isn't slow is cause Qhimm disabled next to everything on this board. He even disabled the usage of html, and we're stuck with with plain bbcode. Not that we need all the extra formatting stuff, but it really does hinder us occasionally. Avatars are rarely a problem since they are usually 64x64 or 60x60 unless some idiot linked his avatar to a 1MB image that got resized to 60x60. As for sigs, well yeah, it tends to be a problem when you have people posting one-liners and having the biggest sigs in the world.
That's not a problem. If its the same banner on each page then you've already got it in your browser cache (hopefully) ... it's when you have 200+ plus members, most of whom have sigs with images in them plus avatars ... *that* is slow.
Originally posted by ficedula:)
Incidentally, I haven't noticed php based boards being any faster for me because of the overhead in getting the page from a server that's not particularly local anyway...I'm sure you're right and they are quicker, but I at least haven't noticed it.
Originally posted by Srethron AskvelhtnodWhich did you check? nextff.net or nextff.com?
Incidentally, just how reliable is NextFF's host, anyway? A whois shows the host is DirectNIC
Originally posted by Srethron AskvelhtnodMost of these problems can be avoided by just disabling sigs. Even better, you can even make an option for the user that says "display sigs" on/off?
Signature rules:
-One of the great things about the Safehouse is all the GREAT sigs. But with all the sigs, threads can get bogged down, take forever to load and look really cluttered. We ask that you adhere to these guidelines:--Sig MUST be under 15kb in size - this includes Flash, animated gifs, etc.
--Image dimensions should not exceed the standard ad bannersize.
--Images that distort the format of the forums (mainly personalicons) are not allowed.
--Only post your custom signature ONCE per thread. Simply uncheck the "Include custom signature" box when posting more than once in a thread.
--Personal photos MUST be under 15kb if no sig pic is used. If sig pic is used, the combined size of both pics must be no greater than 15kb in size.
--Don't post "test sigs", use the "Preview" checkbox to see how it looks.
One thing I found out about php based boards however is that since changes sort of take affect immediately everywhere, making a small mistake in the coding could get you errors all over the place. It works like shared functions / classes. Since everything is so fast, you can actually wipe out the whole SQL database pretty fast without even knowing it. :) That's why I keep backups often, just in case I make some super huge mistake.
I'm not *so* bothered about avatars because they are usually tiny and they don't affect formatting at all, but I'm happy enough with Qhimm's current settings of no image sigs or avatars.
So, erm, what are we going to do then? If I'm reading this correctly, both nextff and RPGRealms? are offering to give us a semi-separate message board ... it'd be part of their boards but maintained and run by Qhimm & his loyal cohorts of mods and admins :wink: If either will let us set up the display (and did I mention no sigs?) then I can't say I've got much preference...
How would I ever be able to write anything this long if everyone had a sig+personal pic?
How can you write posts that long in the first place? :-?
Nextff however is offering Qhimm to be able to build the board himself. Nextff is basically providing him the space and Qhimm does the rest.
Although rpgboards.com's offer is more or less the same, there is one significant difference. Hosting with rpgboards.com, Qhimm does not get access to modify the main forum files, since "his" board will be a subsidary of the main board, making rpgboards.com's offer a level lower down a heirachial chart.
Correct me if I'm wrong though. :wink:
The catch is that you need to put my pop-up sponsor at least once per browser session (we do pay money for the server ya know). The other thing is we have 15G bandwidth a month for the whole site, but I doubt a board is gonna take up much.
[This message has been edited by leej32 (edited September 16, 2001).]
Originally Posted by Srethron Askvelhtnod
2) I don't think we have a signature feature (if there is, it's very obscure, as only Sephiroth 3D seems to use one, and even his *doesn't* have pictures)
Actually, we DO have the option for a sig, but Qhimm currently has it disabled. I keep mine in a txt file and paste it onto the end of all my messages. As for having no image: You're right. It's a load-time thing.
Sephiroth 3D
"One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." - Vincent Valentine, The Sephiroth Chronicals, Book 1: Resurrection
[email protected]
Sephiroth 3D's Final Fantasy (Currently Offline)
Sephiroth 3D's Promised Land
Anyway, things will work out nicely. This board will *not* go down until the new one is set up properly.
Is NextFF ready for the additional 240-odd members? They currently have only 44 members. That's a lot of signups, and a lot of people going to their sites to read these forums.
Sephiroth 3D
"One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." - Vincent Valentine, The Sephiroth Chronicals, Book 1: Resurrection
[email protected]
Sephiroth 3D's Final Fantasy (Currently Offline)
Sephiroth 3D's Promised Land
Yeah, sounds good to me! How many active posters are there roughly? 75 or so (if that many?)
looks like good idea
Sephiroth 3D
"One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." - Vincent Valentine, The Sephiroth Chronicals, Book 1: Resurrection
[email protected]
Sephiroth 3D's Final Fantasy (Currently Offline)
Sephiroth 3D's Promised Land
As or the 10+ posts: I think it's alright...
(Hm, now I've got to search for a host tha supports cgi, too - for my board)
(damn, my keyboard seems to be defect...)
- Alhexx
It's for my MB...
Qhimm: Do you mind if I use your 'disclaimer'-text from the registration procedure on my board, too?
(I think not, but I better ask)
BTW: I'm currently rewriting the cgi scripts, perhaps it'll be online next week...
BTW: I won't go so often online any more - I've got to cut my online costs :wink: - but I'll still be postin'
Okay, now we can return to the original topic :D
- Alhexx
darkness 2: Where? At my board? Or when Qhimm 'kills' (almost) all 0-post users?
- Alhexx
alhexx> qhimm's new board.
- Alhexx
...in the UK it'd just sound like esboard which doesn't really have the same impact.