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Miscellaneous Forums => Archive => Topic started by: Qhimm on 2001-09-11 22:26:00

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Qhimm on 2001-09-11 22:26:00
...at least as we know it.

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?

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sir Canealot on 2001-09-11 23:21:00
What a day. First the trade towers now this. I cant think of what you could do but hell...good luck with it.

There is always ezboard...but ezboard sucks ass.

Good luck Qhimm!

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Threesixty on 2001-09-12 06:47:00
Well....I think Delpi's forum are free...
 http://www.delphi.com/clc_forum/messages/?msg=3.1

Guess you can look into it.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: cHiBiMaRuKo on 2001-09-12 13:50:00
Look at http://www.ezboard.com  or http://www.everyone.net  for alternatives.
The Everyone.Net Community is better as their ads aren't as intrusive as ezboard.com
Title: The end of this board
Post by: StrayWings on 2001-09-12 14:24:00
...yea, what a day...

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...

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-12 19:21:00
Closing down this forum? ... whaa    :(

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).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: eerrrr on 2001-09-12 20:41:00
Yeah, would you be able to download the message board (or just the forum folders and html/cgi) and upload it to another server?
 Host.sk  has 999MB/infinite space, no ads, all cgi and php etc. support. Only problem is that it's not so fast, well not for me anyway. People in other countries might find it fine,  click here  to test how fast it goes for you from my html page.

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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Threesixty on 2001-09-13 05:19:00
Seems like 3dfiles/tweek3d are going down, too.
 http://www.3dfiles.com/
Title: The end of this board
Post by: J*** H******* on 2001-09-13 07:09:00
Message.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-13 08:12:00
NOoOOOOOOO!!!! High server stress?!?! Golly, we don't visit this board toghether all at once! There should be no problem! If the board is full, I suggest that we compress all the very old messages into a high compression format like cab or even FF8's compression format. Then, like eight, we view the compressed files directly using web pages. If the article needs to be viewed, the file can be decompressed temporarily for viewing/downloading. If the file remains untouched for 1 or 2 days, it is deleted.

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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-13 08:21:00
Is it the world war 3? Good sites from downloads to porn are delcining after the fall of the World Trade center.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-13 08:23:00
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?

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sephiroth 3D on 2001-09-13 12:22:00
Damn, this sucks.

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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: StrayWings on 2001-09-13 15:49:00
How about  eSmartStart ? It provides free webspace.

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~

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Ant on 2001-09-13 17:01:00
Alhexx is right, you wanna keep this board personal, plus you dont want it hosted with a load of other boards coz then there will be less association with you and ure appz ergo decreasing your renown throughout the www.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Srethron Askvelhtnod on 2001-09-14 07:04:00
Qhimm: Not good...
I'm surprised no one has mentioned ::gulp:: the issue of money. Is bandwidth the problem here or just server stress in general?
Maybe if we could pay 3Dstream so that they could set up another server just for this board? Or switch to one of those pay services? I don't know how feasible that would be, but maybe one of those $5-10 US a month services? I guess that would make bandwidth a lot more important, and the board wouldn't be free anymore, but maybe if all/most/some of us chipped in some money, we could do it? This board's given a lot to me, and I'm willing to pay some of the load. I'd have to get my finances in order to make sure (and you'd have to tell me how to get the money to you), but I think I can provide at least $90+ US if we don't come up with another solution. That would be 9 months of service at 10 bones a month...
I know a few higher-ups in a few game networks. A lot of them are falling on hard times, but I guess I can ask around and see what they say about hosting something like this board.
IIRC, UBB does consume a lot more bandwidth than, say, the PHP based VBulletin, so maybe just switching over to a PHP based board would lower server stress enough to keep us here, like we are, on 3DStream?
I'd hate to see this board go. Good fortune to us all.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sukaeto on 2001-09-14 09:05:00
VBulletin . . . now there's an idea.  VB's are nice, with lots of customization options.  In fact, I'm beginning to think they're nicer than UBB.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-14 12:17:00
I'm in the progress of getting nextff.net to host us. I'm not sure that they will help out since hosting another board doesn't bring them any good at all in my opinion. It just increases their bandwidth usage. To make things worth, the webmaster of nextff just isn't around so I haven't been able to contact him.  :(

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  :)

Title: The end of this board
Post by: The Skillster on 2001-09-15 00:43:00
this is not good
this forum has progressed so much im seriously goona be down if this site goes!!
Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-15 01:09:00
I've already told the Remake staff this, but I already have a backup of this board up until the end of June this year. I'm currently updating it to cover up until today. So to avoid even MORE stress on 3dstream, could anyone who wants mass backups (ie. of LOTS of threads) please wait until I upload my own copy, and then use that? If you're only downloading a couple of your favourite topics then of course I don't think anyone would object to that ^_^
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Russ [3dStream] on 2001-09-15 01:19:00
 
Quote
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.

 

Quote
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.

 

Quote
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).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Srethron Askvelhtnod on 2001-09-15 02:52:00
Russ:  
Quote
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?

Quote
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.

Quote
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:
1. Usernames. This isn't too big a deal, a fair amount of us have...er...unique handles, but some probably will find that someone else at RPGBoards already has their name.
2. The simpleness of this board. Maybe this isn't a problem either; I don't know. But a lot (all?) of the people here like just how  simple this board is. For example:
1) We have no avatars (load times with the thread tables can be long enough as it is), but RPGB does.
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). I have a very low tolerance for images in sigs, because of how much they tend to detract from quality and, more importantly, they really drive up loading times. RPGB does.
3) This board has few images (again, load times), and while we briefly flirted with emoticons beside post titles, most of the users didn't like them, so they were removed. However, RPG Boards has those, and a heckuva lot of other similar graphical fluff, so we'd be back at square 1, if not square -1. Some of us will obviously care/not care about that more than others, but the point should be made.
4) The ranking system here is nice and simple, while at RPGBoards they have "Veracity". Users here come and go, and a fair amount of them like the anonymity they can have. That anonymity will be lost at RPGB, since there's a memberlist.

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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-15 03:26:00
Hear hear. The simple nature of this board is a lifesaver for me when I'm on a 56K modem. Take nextff as an example - the design looks beautiful, it's a great layout - but when I'm at home on a modem, each page takes absolutely agggggeeeessssss to load. (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). I just like the way I can check out 3-4 updated threads in here in less than a minute.

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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Reznor007 on 2001-09-15 05:44:00
Try YABB, it's free, and very customizable.
 http://yabb.xnull.com/

Look at an example at www.3dgpu.com

Title: The end of this board
Post by: TheDragonmaster on 2001-09-15 06:10:00
-Hey Im alex,owner of NEXTFF.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  :(

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Threesixty on 2001-09-15 07:30:00
Yeah...there are several boards here...but the same people post in all of them. (Actually I liked it better when there was only one) And what...there are maybe 15 new posts a day. But, Who knows how many people just read through.

[This message has been edited by Threesixty (edited September 15, 2001).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: eerrrr on 2001-09-15 13:28:00
Well TheDragonmaster's option sounds great to me. If we could host another UBB/phpBB/vBulletin on their server it would be cool. Plus all we'd have to do is register at their board (I'm already a regular member there anyway). You could put a section on the Terms and Conditions before someone presses 'Agree' when they register telling them they must register on the NextFF board too.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: dagsverre on 2001-09-15 13:55:00
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...
Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-15 14:04:00
I hope Qhimm doesn't kill me for this.   :)
Actually, I've discussed the option of using a php board rather than a cgi based board. Being the "poor" people we are, we came to a conclusion that phpBB is a good idea. Anyway, Qhimm was just waiting for 3Dstream to upgrade to the latest version of php.
 
Quote
Originally posted by ficedula
(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).
It'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   :)
Assuming that Qhimm converts this whole board to a php based board with the exact same features, you will notice that his board will "work" a whole lot faster. Why? Cause php generates pages a whole lot faster than cgi does. When phpBB2 comes out all of you can rejoice cause it supports gzip handling. That means it actually compresses all messages and decompresses them on request, so all you d/l is the compressed
text.   :wink: Just how much smaller are php based boards I hear you say? A lot smaller. The current backup of nextff's forums(a few days ago) information (this includes,usernames,posts,settings, etc) is only 299k.
With gzip enabled in version 2.0, the whole
database would only be 74.3k   :)
Easy for backup's eh?

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).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-15 14:49:00
 
Quote
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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-15 15:12:00
As for cgi- or php-boards: I've got no idea 'bout this.

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).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Srethron Askvelhtnod on 2001-09-15 21:15:00
Reznor007: Unfortunately, that probaby won't help us out much. YABB is also CGI.

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.

Quote
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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-15 23:56:00
 
Quote
Originally posted by dagsverre
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...
Must have missed your post earlier. I think you posted only minutes before me.
About your comment, agreed.

Quote
Originally posted by ficedula
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.
True, 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.
 
Quote
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.
:)
Do you really want to know why?
Let's get down to how things work since I'm pretty sure you'll understand.
Firstly, lets face the fact, no matter how fast php is, it isn't any faster than loading a pre-formatted html page.
That's cause with php you'll have to wait for the server to parse the data before providing output.
See, those second counts at the boards of nextff.net?
Those are the parsing times, not the loading times obviously.
Php is fast, so you will rarely see any parsing time that takes more than a second unless you have a really huge page.
As for why you don't see a difference compared to here (well, UBB in general) is because UBB stores everything as HTML pages, thus increasing the usage of storage space.
Ever notice that in all the old threads, your rank is still the old one though you know you're not that rank anymore?
That's because of the way UBB works.
As a side note, UBB stores the posts in the board in 2 files, one as a .CGI file and another as a .HTML file.
Everytime someone makes a post, the information is written to the .CGI file , it is parsed & converted into a HTML file.
Therefore, everytime you view the threads on a UBB board, you're actually just viewing a plain html file of the server.
This method is a pretty good method since it makes up for all the slow processing time that CGI makes.
So, what's the difference I here you say? Wouldn't a php board be slower since it actually parses every file even when I view it?
True, phpBB files take a "slightly" longer time to display compared to UBB since they have to parse the files first, but this is barely noticable because the parse time is rarely more than 0.5 seconds. It's usually about 0.19 seconds or something.
The big difference comes here. I'm pretty sure people like Srethron will notice this.  :)
The part that php boards really excel in is the parsing of data, for example, making posts & editing posts.
Try and make posts as long as Srethron's and you'll notice that you'll have to break it up a lot or all you're gonna get are timeouts.
Using php, all the information is written to the mySQL database directly, so what is sent is recieved directly. When you try to view the page, the information is pulled from the database and parsed on the fly.
With the above information, you can see that php based boards only show speed improvements when doing anything else that isn't viewing a preformatted html file. Nothing can beat that.
 
Quote
Originally posted by Srethron Askvelhtnod
Incidentally, just how reliable is NextFF's host, anyway? A whois shows the host is DirectNIC
Which did you check? nextff.net or nextff.com?
I'm not sure about nextff.com since I know it isn't on the main admin panel I go to. It's hosted somewhere else, so it could be where you say it is, DirectNIC. AFAIK, nextff.com is only a domain forwarder.
nextff.net is hosted by liquidweb.com and I've known them to be pretty reliable.
As for how much bandwidth we have, we have 30GB's of transfer a month available to the whole site.
I doubt you guys can generate enough traffic to kill even 2GB's / month using a php based board.
The current nextff.net board only generates traffic in MB's  :)
The stuff that will really kill the server are the main hosting of nextff's website which is loaded with graphics.
 
Quote
Originally posted by Srethron Askvelhtnod
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.

Most 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?
In case you might be interested, php can in fact check the filesizes of JPG's, GIF's & PNG's (Yeah, PNG's rule!). Not only that, php can actually overlay graphic files with other stuff. In other words, let's say you have a picture of a button. Php can write text, or draw shapes onto the picture on the fly before displaying it. What's more, php actually has "C" like abilities to use fread / fwrite functions to modify data files before displaying them. Cool, eh? I thought so too when I read through the php manual a fortnight ago.

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.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-16 00:09:00
You're right SaiNt - disabling sigs is the simplest option. Whichever option we end up with, a no sig board is pretty important ... Even with 15KB sigs, 20 people (happens on larger threads) generates 300KB of traffic which is over a minute of downloading on a modem .... plus it makes everything look so damn untidy!

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...

Title: The end of this board
Post by: eerrrr on 2001-09-16 00:12:00
Yeah I guess you guys are right there. I got my facts mixed up too  :P. Putting a NextFF banner on the board would be cool, plus the guy who does the art is very good at Photoshop, so the banner would probably look really cool. So maybe he could make a banner which would match the theme of Qhimm's board (I dont think he's made a proper banner yet).


 

Quote
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?  :-?

Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-16 01:00:00
Eh?
From what I've read above and what Qhimm has explained to me, is that rpgboards.com is gonna make us a subboard, so we exists like a catagory at rpgboards.com's boards.

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:

Title: The end of this board
Post by: leej32 on 2001-09-16 05:22:00
I love Qhimm's site and I'd love to help you guys with the message board problem.
I can offer you a subdomain and some space at Loquarium.com. You can either move this board there or use a new board like phpBB (I can give you a MySQL database too).

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).]

Title: The end of this board
Post by: halkun on 2001-09-16 05:45:00
I can live with popups. I'm going to be using mozilla soon and I can disable java's openwindow and filter the IPs
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Caddberry on 2001-09-16 10:43:00
I will leave it up to you guys to figure out what the board is going to do.. i will really miss this board if it just goes away.. I am already registered at Nextffz board it seemed a cool place to go and register even if i am a silent observer but i doubt that will happen.. i like the way this board is.. its quick.. easy.. small.. and there are not alot of idiots running around.. *cough joey cough* LoL he he he
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sephiroth 3D on 2001-09-16 12:27:00
 
Quote
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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-17 05:17:00
Umm, let's disable some taxing features in the board and make a comparison with  this one . You'll realise something.........
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-17 10:32:00
If you're sad, try doing this with your mom's acessories. The skirt is actually a bathing cap. Just to cheer things up!!
 
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Qhimm on 2001-09-17 17:46:00
From my point of view, the banner solution through NextFF sounds good. One thing though, what kind of banner are we talking about? A banner for NextFF (I'll gladly put one in there, or make one myself to fit the new design - if their webmaster approves), or a commercial ad banner? Not too fond of those. Also, the banner size is important, if nothing else for me to adapt the design to accomodate it smoothly.

Anyway, things will work out nicely. This board will *not* go down until the new one is set up properly.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-17 17:52:00
Glad to hear it, Qhimm!
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Caddberry on 2001-09-17 22:45:00
All hail our fearless leader Qhimm!!! YaY
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Anonymous on 2001-09-18 06:16:00
hey qhimm, are you going to transfer the threads?
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sephiroth 3D on 2001-09-18 10:22:00
Here's my question:

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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-18 11:12:00
No problem, besides, we're allocating another board for Qhimm. Qhimm should be working on the new boards at the moment. He'll just convert everything over to this new board I think.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Qhimm on 2001-09-18 22:09:00
About transferring the member list: It depends, a lot of the members here are completely inactive, not a single post by them has been made. If I can, I'll probably only transfer those with, say, 10+ posts. Sound okay to everyone?
Title: The end of this board
Post by: chowderhead on 2001-09-19 00:00:00
*Checks post count*

Yeah, sounds good to me!  How many active posters are there roughly?  75 or so (if that many?)

Title: The end of this board
Post by: J*** H******* on 2001-09-19 02:29:00
Message.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-19 10:59:00
Good Idea.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: mirex on 2001-09-19 11:36:00
* checks posts count too *  :)

looks like good idea

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Sephiroth 3D on 2001-09-19 14:24:00
Wouldn't it be better to remove anyone who hasn't made a post in 2 or 3 months, then transfer the remaining people to the new site?

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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Ant on 2001-09-19 16:16:00
Can you just transfer people like that.
Surely they need to sign up for themseleves?
Title: The end of this board
Post by: M0T on 2001-09-19 18:48:00
Transferring the people over is a good idea, but I'd do a over 10 post only transferred plus newbies that have posted in the last month.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-19 23:43:00
Qhimm: I'm glad that this board is not going down...

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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: eerrrr on 2001-09-20 20:29:00
I think the idea of not transferring people who havent posted in 2-3 months is a bad idea. I think there are quite a few people who havent posted in a while, but still post every now and then none the less.
The 10+ idea sounds good though.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-20 20:38:00
If they want to post on the new board, they can always reregister. There's no point transferring accounts that're never going to be used, though.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Edea on 2001-09-20 21:38:00
Does that mean I won't be transferred since I'm not here everyday and I dont post everyday?  :(
Title: The end of this board
Post by: The SaiNt on 2001-09-21 10:09:00
Qhimm said people with more than 10 posts, so I guess it should be okay for you.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Joey on 2001-09-21 13:38:00
Umm, can you notify us by mail when it moves?
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-21 22:44:00
I know that this is going a bit off-topic, but...

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

Title: The end of this board
Post by: Anonymous on 2001-09-21 22:49:00
alhexx> Thats the default text for UBB. Qhimm cant give you permission.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Anonymous on 2001-09-24 00:08:00
haha! then i can post as dark again.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-24 17:19:00
darkness: Default? Hum, I didn't know that. But okay... (I just hope UBB hasn't anything 'gainst that...)

darkness 2: Where? At my board? Or when Qhimm 'kills' (almost) all 0-post users?

- Alhexx

Title: The end of this board
Post by: KojiroTakenashi on 2001-09-25 16:45:00
Hmm...EZboard would be the absolute best solution, in my opinion. We could all (or most of us) donate ala community chest and get a CSC gold membership. It'd work out pretty well...
As for the layout, you can retain it if you want. EZboard has an option to plug in pure HTML into it for layout, but you've got to know your stuff...
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Anonymous on 2001-09-25 05:15:00
hehe i dont think ezboard would like us very much.

alhexx> qhimm's new board.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: M0T on 2001-09-25 20:26:00
why woulnt EZboard like us?
Title: The end of this board
Post by: Alhexx on 2001-09-25 21:37:00
I'm sure EZboard would like us, but I think not all of us would like EZboard...

- Alhexx

Title: The end of this board
Post by: M0T on 2001-09-26 03:13:00
first ezboard wouldnt like us and now we wouldnt like them whats going on?
btw if you arent from the usa the name EZboard makes no sense. in the uk Z=Zed
Title: The end of this board
Post by: mirex on 2001-09-26 10:49:00
Mot: what that means z = zed => EZboard = EasedBoard ? (It is pronounced like that, no?)
Title: The end of this board
Post by: ficedula on 2001-09-26 17:42:00
In the US Z=Zee so EZBoard sounds like EasyBoard...

...in the UK it'd just sound like esboard which doesn't really have the same impact.

Title: The end of this board
Post by: M0T on 2001-09-26 21:05:00
yep, its easedboard so you can imagine it just sounds stupid.
Title: The end of this board
Post by: eerrrr on 2001-09-26 21:22:00
I live in the UK, and pronounce Z as Zed, but I've always thought of it as EasyBoard. Easedboard never crossed my mind.