are things really slow again??? I cant get into anything (well at least I dont have the patience anyway)

Just curious.....

they seemed to be ok for a little while...

Yep. Really slow. They were good for a bit but then they slowed down. I open up a new browser window and look at other message boards while I am waiting for the page to load.

Same for me....works fine until I try to open a thread....then it freezes up. In fact, this is the first one(thread) that I've actually been able to open in three or four days...no problems with other sites I access.

John, is it something we are doing or is there a problem with the site?

I click a thread to open, then start an email, because I can usually finish one or two emails before a thread opens. It's seems to be really slow the first thread, but seems to gradually increase in speed, but never fast enough IMHO.

John I told you I'd gladly donate $1 per month towards some bandwidth...lol.

Nothing you guys are doing wrong. I'm trying to find a better hosting company without breaking the bank... Being a non-profit :P (not in a legal sense, just maintaining enough incoming cash flow to pay for the site), the fiscal resources are a little short on providing dedicated servers at $400 per month :o ...

Anyone know a good web host???

Not sure John, you would know more than me . How about David Bowie? I hear he has his own server or something. just kidding.

John R (06-26-2001 09:29):
just maintaining enough incoming cash flow to pay for the site), the fiscal resources are a little short on providing dedicated servers at $400 per month ... Anyone know a good web host???

John,
Try over at www.buydomains.com They offer web site hosting and you can transfer an existing site over to them...dunno a thing about their capability but I got a domain from them and transferred a message board onto it (capecodfishingnet.com) that I moderate - all are welcome to drop in - specific to Cape Cod fishing activity...how's that for a plug?
I've just started that board but I have no complaints about the way they've dealt with me and they are responsive, very fast to reply to any questions I've had. Might be worth a look.
Good luck,
Jerry Vovcsko
moderator
www.capecodfishingnet.com (hoo hah...another plug!)

John,

You sure you need a dedicated server and not a shared/virtual system? How much badnwidth do you use? That's the main reason for going to a dedicated system.

Hey Jerry - good luck (is that spam?, hehehehe)... I need MAJOR horsepower to run these boards. Most hosting companies will share 500-800 websites on a single server and I'm having trouble with this one running alone with the less than efficient code. The current software just isn't up to snuff and the I've had nothing but problems from the developers... TimS site runs on several dedicated servers - fairly high end too by the traffic he runs... Just need more horsepower/better code...

Maybe switching to another BBS system will help. Your site isn't as graphic intense so bandwidth should be eaten up so quickly.

500-800 sites per server? Is that what your host does? Yikes!!!! No wonder there are problems!!! We limit ours to 255 per server, most with much less (no spam intended).

Jaiem, in my case, it's not bandwitdh, it's CPU cycles. Even when the site was well behaved, at high output it was burning nearly 50% processing of a dual 533 with 256MB ram and frequent disk reads... I was running a rock solid 416K sDSL connection to my living room but that was unavailable at the new house and did not have these issues. The flat file based database is also no longer sufficient to run this board (currently at 35MB) and counting. The pruning features don't work and the guy that scripted the app has left town with no forwarding address. I'm looking now at other packages and hosts to replace it... I'm having difficulty finding one where I can import the current boards into a new package.... and still be alot faster.

Forward me the link for your hosting again (and are you reselling someone else's servers)...

LAter...

You may have to loose the current message base to go to a new BBS system. But I think the speed and reliability will make up for it. Using an SQL-based BBS should increase the speed.

I'll email you the URL for the host.