SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

The forum for general posting. Come join the madness. :)
Message
Author
User avatar
littlebeast13
Dumbass
Posts: 31103
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 7:20 pm
Location: Between the Sterilite and the Farberware
Contact:

SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#1 Post by littlebeast13 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:47 am

Eleven years ago today, after 5 days adrift in the internet high seas when out beloved original Go Bored was unexpectedly taken away from us, Gary Love endowed us with a new home. It was a magnificent gesture, and one only made possible by the fact that so many of us longed to stay together and continue posting together, that we were willing to drift from lifeboat to lifeboat until we found our new island.

The anniversary of this event actually didn't occur to me at the time I decided to make this post, but I thought it was fitting at the very least to include in it.

Five years ago, when we wound up here on this new Bored tubadave had created for us, the one thing I never dreamed we ever had to worry about again was our Bored conspiring to disperse this group. I still figured Ace's Prophesy would eventually manisfest itself in some other way at some distant point in the future, but at least we would not have to worry anymore about whether out little corner of cyberspace was going to be there the next day or not.

But sadly, the pesky and seemingly perpetual server errors are killing this Bored unlike anything else in the past has ever done. We survived the death of the original version of the show that brought us all here in one way or another, we survived threats from Morlocks and Booches, we survived intense in-fighting that would make what passes for "bullying" on this Bored nowadays look like preschool stuff, we survived the torching of three of our previous homes, we survived the schism that occurred with the creation of the GC, we survived the political flamewars, and we have even survived the rise of social media cesspools like Facebook and Twitter that have rendered our preferred mode of internet communication seemingly obsolete....

But we are not survivng the server errors.

And if they persist, and get progressively worse as they have now for the past 2 years, we will have finally been defeated by an enemy we had never even anticipated. This place is already becoming the Gobi Desert, and it's quickly becoming a bonifide ghost Bored.....

As one of this Bored veterans of 12 and a half years, and someone who has gotten more out of this place over that time than I can even begin to list in a single post, I am not about to stand by and let this happen without trying to do something about it. I love this place too much, and given the dogged persistence of many others in trying to weather this storm, I do not believe I am alone in that feeling.

We don't need another new home.... it's too late in the game to try packing up and moving again, and besides, I think we would all agree that, server issues aside, this particular Bored has been by far the best of our many homes. And we don't need a new place, because we can save this one.... there's really no reason we can't.... it just needs to happen.

If it takes trimming the database, we can live with that....

If it takes upgrading the server package for this Bored, I don't think there's anyone here who wouldn't be willing to chip in to allow this to happen...

If it takes shutting the Bored down for a few days to fix some internal issues with it (like maybe some wonkiness created by that massive PM 2 years ago), short term loss for a long term gain....

If it takes banning Bob Juch, well...... LOL

The answer to solving our problem is out there somewhere....

But by whatever means possible, we need to SAVE THIS BORED!!!!

Who is with me on this?

And if someone could please forward this to Dave's Facebook account since that is always the quickest way to reach him, I would be much obliged....

S.O.B.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lb13
Thursday comics! Squirrel pictures! The link to my CafePress store! All kinds of fun stuff!!!!

Visit my Evil Squirrel blog here: http://evilsquirrelsnest.com

User avatar
Snaxx
Posts: 4668
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:24 pm
Location: I've been everywhere. Really? Not quite really.
Contact:

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#2 Post by Snaxx » Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:56 am

The J! Board seems to operate fine with the same phpBB software. Maybe the five years of posts in storage, with no purging, is the issue. The J! Board is rather new. One thing about the J! board is they store game show transcript information elsewhere (j-archive) which would reduce the need to keep old posts.
---
Winner of 2011 Sports Madness :mrgreen:

User avatar
tlynn78
Posts: 8651
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:31 am
Location: Montana

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#3 Post by tlynn78 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:37 pm

SOB!!

t.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

User avatar
christie1111
11:11
Posts: 11630
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:54 am
Location: CT

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#4 Post by christie1111 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:40 pm

I will go forward on FB to Dave.
"A bed without a quilt is like the sky without stars"

User avatar
SportsFan68
No Scritches!!!
Posts: 21098
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: God's Country

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#5 Post by SportsFan68 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:17 pm

I'm with you! ATTICA! ATTICA!!

Er, I mean, save our bored!

I'll chip in if a server upgrade is what it will take. Just let me know where to send the check.
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller

User avatar
earendel
Posts: 13588
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:25 am
Location: mired in the bureaucracy

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#6 Post by earendel » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:17 pm

Snaxx wrote:The J! Board seems to operate fine with the same phpBB software. Maybe the five years of posts in storage, with no purging, is the issue. The J! Board is rather new. One thing about the J! board is they store game show transcript information elsewhere (j-archive) which would reduce the need to keep old posts.
Not entirely - there are some games that have transcript-like information posted to the J! board and they do have discussions about the game, plus other things like trivia games and the like. I think the problem may be a storage issue, in which case we should try to acquire more.
"Elen sila lumenn omentielvo...A star shines on the hour of our meeting."

User avatar
Bob Juch
Posts: 26427
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:58 am
Location: Oro Valley, Arizona
Contact:

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#7 Post by Bob Juch » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:22 pm

The problem is almost definitely that other websites are sharing the server that runs MySQL which holds the database with our posts. In the past it was slow or totally unavailable for about an hour a day which was probably due to them running a backup on it. (That's the best I can do diagnosing it from here.)

The cheap solution is for the hosting company to figure out what is now causing the SQL server to be overloaded and to either rebalance the workload across all of their servers or to move the offender(s) to their own, isolated, server.

The expensive solution is to get our own dedicated server. That might run as high as $100 or more a month.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.

User avatar
tubadave
Official Bored Breaker/Fixer
Posts: 826
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 8:17 pm
Location: D/FW, TX

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#8 Post by tubadave » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:23 pm

/facepalm

Such drama. :P

I'm working on it, albeit slowly. (They frown on me doing non-work things at work, for some reason.) All options are on the table, up to and including torching the entire thing. I'm optimistic that it won't come to that. When I have some realistic options (or if I'm able to just get it fixed) I'll let you all know. Hopefully by this weekend.

Hang in there.


tubadave
"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer." -- Dave Barry

User avatar
Bob78164
Bored Moderator
Posts: 21626
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:02 pm
Location: By the phone

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#9 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:25 pm

SportsFan68 wrote:I'm with you! ATTICA! ATTICA!!

Er, I mean, save our bored!

I'll chip in if a server upgrade is what it will take. Just let me know where to send the check.
Me too. Save our Bored! --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

User avatar
ghostjmf
Posts: 7420
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:09 am

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#10 Post by ghostjmf » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:48 pm

lb says:
it's quickly becoming a bonifide ghost Bored.....

If it were really a ghost board, only I would be on it.



Well, OK, Marley too, but he's currently on a different plank than am I.

lb says:
what passes for "bullying" on this Bored nowadays look like preschool stuff

Nope, most preschoolers, even the preternaturally eloquent ones I've been meeting & seeing interviewed recently, aren't snarky & snide as are you-all bully-ers. They're very sincere, I find.


I'm still on a couple mailing lists, & traffic's low on them too. Traffic's higher on this board even with the "dead in the water" instances coming more & more frequently. The board eats my lovely screed on it's way to "internal error message", I've just got to remember to type it into Word 1st, or whatever, for it's own posterity opportunity.


A certain amount of low traffic is due to the "we just want your commerce" aspect of the current internet; people using devices from which you can't easily type can't easily post, though they can click on what they're buying from a commercial site.


Before there were message boards, & before there were even mailing lists, there was the rec hierarchy on usenet. That's pretty much a dead bird, so sadly, now; all I see there whenever I check are ads. At least the music groups generally have ads for music, not sex toys.


Another message board I was once on got completely taken over by the porno ads, & though various people tried to block that stuff they couldn't get the blocks to work. And the board died; well, it still exists, if you want to read a lot of porno ads.


So at least this board is not being felled by porno onslaught. Squirrel onslaught, maybe, but at least the squirrel seems to have it's "traditional" (though ever-changing) clothes on, marking it, to lb & supporters anyway, as a "real" squirrel, not like those to-lb-imposter squirrels I ran into recently in the park (they were pretty cheeky & one, this was an NYC red squirrel, just stared & stared; maybe even though not "real" (to lb that is) it was trying to tell me something, before it squirrelled away).


Technical problems can be resolved, I hope. People problems, probably not.

User avatar
MarleysGh0st
Posts: 27930
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
Location: Elsewhere

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#11 Post by MarleysGh0st » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:35 pm

littlebeast13 wrote:Who is with me on this?
I'm with you!





(If the 500 Internal Service errors let me be.)

User avatar
tlynn78
Posts: 8651
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:31 am
Location: Montana

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#12 Post by tlynn78 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:48 pm

tubadave wrote:/facepalm

Such drama. :P

I'm working on it, albeit slowly. (They frown on me doing non-work things at work, for some reason.) All options are on the table, up to and including torching the entire thing. I'm optimistic that it won't come to that. When I have some realistic options (or if I'm able to just get it fixed) I'll let you all know. Hopefully by this weekend.

Hang in there.


tubadave

Hey! We live for drama, mistertubaman.

t.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

User avatar
tubadave
Official Bored Breaker/Fixer
Posts: 826
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 8:17 pm
Location: D/FW, TX

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#13 Post by tubadave » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:52 pm

tlynn78 wrote:
tubadave wrote:/facepalm

Such drama. :P

I'm working on it, albeit slowly. (They frown on me doing non-work things at work, for some reason.) All options are on the table, up to and including torching the entire thing. I'm optimistic that it won't come to that. When I have some realistic options (or if I'm able to just get it fixed) I'll let you all know. Hopefully by this weekend.

Hang in there.


tubadave

Hey! We live for drama, mistertubaman.

t.
Well no wonder the Bored is having issues!!! When I created it, I checked the box labeled "Drama Free Zone". 8)

tubadave
"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer." -- Dave Barry

User avatar
tlynn78
Posts: 8651
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:31 am
Location: Montana

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#14 Post by tlynn78 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:54 pm

tubadave wrote:
tlynn78 wrote:
tubadave wrote:/facepalm

Such drama. :P

I'm working on it, albeit slowly. (They frown on me doing non-work things at work, for some reason.) All options are on the table, up to and including torching the entire thing. I'm optimistic that it won't come to that. When I have some realistic options (or if I'm able to just get it fixed) I'll let you all know. Hopefully by this weekend.

Hang in there.


tubadave

Hey! We live for drama, mistertubaman.

t.
Well no wonder the Bored is having issues!!! When I created it, I checked the box labeled "Drama Free Zone". 8)

tubadave
Glad I could help pinpoint the problem! I'm a giver. :lol:

t.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -Thomas Paine
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. -Ayn Rand
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

User avatar
SportsFan68
No Scritches!!!
Posts: 21098
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: God's Country

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#15 Post by SportsFan68 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:54 pm

This avatar cannot not win!
-- In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people.
-- America would be a better place if leaders would do more long-term thinking. -- Wilma Mankiller

User avatar
jaybee
Posts: 1922
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 8:44 pm
Location: Knoxville, TN

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#16 Post by jaybee » Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:48 pm

So how many 'active' posters do we have here? IE, those who post at least several times a week. 125? 150? Whatever the amount is, an even division of costs can't be that much.

I'm here a lot less than most but if it comes down to having to chip in some bucks to keep the lights on then count me in.
Jaybee

User avatar
DevilKitty100
Posts: 1800
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:34 pm

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#17 Post by DevilKitty100 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:01 pm

jaybee wrote:So how many 'active' posters do we have here? IE, those who post at least several times a week. 125? 150? Whatever the amount is, an even division of costs can't be that much.

I'm here a lot less than most but if it comes down to having to chip in some bucks to keep the lights on then count me in.
Within reason I nearly always operate on the premise that any "problem" that money can fix is not a problem. Count me in as a supporter.

User avatar
a1mamacat
Posts: 6942
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:02 pm
Location: Great White North

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#18 Post by a1mamacat » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:18 pm

do we REALLY need the 5000 or so FNGD posts?

That might unclog the sink a wee bit
Lover of Soft Animals and Fine Art
1st annual international BBBL Champeeeeen!

User avatar
Bob78164
Bored Moderator
Posts: 21626
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:02 pm
Location: By the phone

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#19 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:26 pm

a1mamacat wrote:do we REALLY need the 5000 or so FNGD posts?

That might unclog the sink a wee bit
A very wee bit. Your post was number 448,950. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

User avatar
kayrharris
Miss Congeniality
Posts: 11968
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:48 am
Location: Auburn, AL
Contact:

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#20 Post by kayrharris » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:42 pm

It's Bob###'s weight log, I'm telling you. Why do we need years and years of weigh ins??????


kay
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. "
Benjamin Franklin

User avatar
Sistine Fanny
Underground Artiste
Posts: 1299
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 2:34 pm
Location: The Crawlspace

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#21 Post by Sistine Fanny » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:52 pm

kayrharris wrote:It's Bob###'s weight log, I'm telling you. Why do we need years and years of weigh ins??????


kay
Especially when they're all repeated in Every Single Post. If Bob feels that that those 4 posts per month are absolutely crucial to his post count, then maybe he could just post what otherwise could have been added to his master post?

Also, maybe people who have hundreds or even thousands of saved PMs could do some pruning? Also, I know admins can't look at PMs, but can they delete them from accounts? Like say all of the Merry Men accounts, along with those IDs that were registered before the PM bomb but never posted or even logged in after that date? That's a whole lot of Magnificent Sevens that could be jettisoned.

I don't think either of these PM suggestions are too much to ask, since most of the forums to which I belong have a 30 or 60 day limit before PMs are automatically deleted. (Yes, I know it's technically supposed to be "fora", but I like forums better. When the world stops putting possessive apostrophes in "its", then I will revisit this decision....ha!)
It's the Final Countdown.....

User avatar
Bob78164
Bored Moderator
Posts: 21626
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:02 pm
Location: By the phone

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#22 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:07 pm

Sistine Fanny wrote:
kayrharris wrote:It's Bob###'s weight log, I'm telling you. Why do we need years and years of weigh ins??????


kay
Especially when they're all repeated in Every Single Post. If Bob feels that that those 4 posts per month are absolutely crucial to his post count, then maybe he could just post what otherwise could have been added to his master post?
I'd say we need them about as much as we need to create a new login identity every time the old one reaches 1,299 posts. (Note that the same database that holds posts also holds login identities.) Note also that I currently have only the 8th largest number of posts (in a single identity) on this Bored. Guess who's currently sitting at number 7.

Most of us here have our quirks. But the primary problem is that more than 5 years of posting has resulted in nearly 450,000 posts. No one thread, or person, is responsible for the Bored's performance issues. And anyone who finds the format of Bob's Log cumbersome is free to ignore it when the (single, text-only) thread gets bumped once a week. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson

User avatar
DevilKitty100
Posts: 1800
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:34 pm

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#23 Post by DevilKitty100 » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:07 pm

ghostjmf wrote:lb says:
it's quickly becoming a bonifide ghost Bored.....

If it were really a ghost board, only I would be on it.



Well, OK, Marley too, but he's currently on a different plank than am I.

lb says:
what passes for "bullying" on this Bored nowadays look like preschool stuff

Nope, most preschoolers, even the preternaturally eloquent ones I've been meeting & seeing interviewed recently, aren't snarky & snide as are you-all bully-ers. They're very sincere, I find.


I'm still on a couple mailing lists, & traffic's low on them too. Traffic's higher on this board even with the "dead in the water" instances coming more & more frequently. The board eats my lovely screed on it's way to "internal error message", I've just got to remember to type it into Word 1st, or whatever, for it's own posterity opportunity.


A certain amount of low traffic is due to the "we just want your commerce" aspect of the current internet; people using devices from which you can't easily type can't easily post, though they can click on what they're buying from a commercial site.


Before there were message boards, & before there were even mailing lists, there was the rec hierarchy on usenet. That's pretty much a dead bird, so sadly, now; all I see there whenever I check are ads. At least the music groups generally have ads for music, not sex toys.


Another message board I was once on got completely taken over by the porno ads, & though various people tried to block that stuff they couldn't get the blocks to work. And the board died; well, it still exists, if you want to read a lot of porno ads.


So at least this board is not being felled by porno onslaught. Squirrel onslaught, maybe, but at least the squirrel seems to have it's "traditional" (though ever-changing) clothes on, marking it, to lb & supporters anyway, as a "real" squirrel, not like those to-lb-imposter squirrels I ran into recently in the park (they were pretty cheeky & one, this was an NYC red squirrel, just stared & stared; maybe even though not "real" (to lb that is) it was trying to tell me something, before it squirrelled away).


Technical problems can be resolved, I hope. People problems, probably not.

........blah, blah, blah...........

Limiting Ghost's rants to 99 words or less could save a lot of space.

User avatar
Sistine Fanny
Underground Artiste
Posts: 1299
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 2:34 pm
Location: The Crawlspace

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#24 Post by Sistine Fanny » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:26 pm

Bob78164 wrote:
Sistine Fanny wrote:
kayrharris wrote:It's Bob###'s weight log, I'm telling you. Why do we need years and years of weigh ins??????


kay
Especially when they're all repeated in Every Single Post. If Bob feels that that those 4 posts per month are absolutely crucial to his post count, then maybe he could just post what otherwise could have been added to his master post?
I'd say we need them about as much as we need to create a new login identity every time the old one reaches 1,299 posts. (Note that the same database that holds posts also holds login identities.) Note also that I currently have only the 8th largest number of posts (in a single identity) on this Bored. Guess who's currently sitting at number 7.

Most of us here have our quirks. But the primary problem is that more than 5 years of posting has resulted in nearly 450,000 posts. No one thread, or person, is responsible for the Bored's performance issues. And anyone who finds the format of Bob's Log cumbersome is free to ignore it when the (single, text-only) thread gets bumped once a week. --Bob
Eight extra user IDs isn't what I (or anybody that was serious) would call voluminous. And I have no idea who is number 7 (I'd guess Kiki, if you're specifically bringing it up), but it's not the number of posts about which I'm speaking. It's the data volume contained therein.

I didn't say anything about the number of posts. I'm not going and looking or trying to figure, but 5 years of a post each week is 260 posts. It's probably not too far afield to say that each of those posts is at least 10 times bigger than the average post (smushing the novelettes in with the "Found It!"s) and growing. No, that in itself is not the cause of the problem. But, like the drought stricken farmer said while peeing into the Arno, "Every little bit helps". People ignoring it (which I assume practically everybody does, anyway) doesn't do anything to minimize the space it takes.

As for text only, back when this was talked about before, I proposed that people stop putting pictures into every single quote instance (as I always try to do) and even volunteered to be one to help go through and take out duplicates. I was told that those pictures don't take up much space because they're merely linked to, so the source is providing the bandwidth.
It's the Final Countdown.....

User avatar
Vague Mini
Merry Man
Posts: 1014
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:23 am
Location: Ummm.......somewhere.....

Re: SAVE OUR BORED!!!!

#25 Post by Vague Mini » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:56 pm

Okay--you can blame it on Merry Men, but you better not point fingers at the Hello Kitty interface!!!!!!!
Huh? What?

Post Reply