I've noticed during a few of the site slowdowns, that the database appears to be locking up trying to fetch a super long thread (like the "longest thread ever").  Way back, two software packages ago, Hairspray used to lock a thread when it hit 20 pages.  The old software was WICKED inefficient compared to this one. 

However, all software has limitations, even this package.  So, even though it lets the threads hit thousands of pages, it's not necessarily a good idea on a busy site to allow that to happen.  Not if you want the site to work ok.

Also, I think the super long threads are a little intimidating for new visitors to the site, so it ends up becoming the same handful of individuals talking to themselves.  That's not good for any community, fresh new faces are a good thing.  Spam and trolls are bad, and we can still deal with those as they arise.

Also, I'm considering moving these open ended topics ("what did you eat today", "longest thread", etc) onto their own board entirely. Due to their nature, they tend to crowd out more interesting threads.  I would really prefer to see more new threads in the long run really.

If you don't want to comment, at least vote either way.  I certainly want to hear feedback before we begin locking super long threads.

Brilliant!  :D

You should probably still put a 50 page limit on the threads in the new forum should you decide to do it.

I like super long threads!

I like them, but if they are slowing down the system, then i say do away with them.

Are these long threads the cause of those SMF errors?

I like the super long threads since most of them carry on the legacy of RnRF, sort of like a message board afterlife.

I like the longer threads......it's fun to re-read some of the pages and see what people were talking about a year ago or even 4 months ago. 

I like the longer threads......it's fun to re-read some of the pages and see what people were talking about a year ago or even 4 months ago. 


And what would The Longest Thread Ever be with only 50 pages!? It'd be the same length as every other thread ever!

And what would The Longest Thread Ever be with only 50 pages!? It'd be the same length as every other thread ever!


Then it should be re-titled "The Same Length as All The Other Threads Ever" :D

They may be fun and good for reminiscing, but if they are slowing things down then something should be done about them.
That's not to say that Chucky will delete the threads - for those concerned with post count.
Moving them to the archives and locking them would eliminate the slowing down while peeps can still read them.
I think this is an excellent idea.

I agree, they are fun to look through but if they are slowing the boards down then maybe they should get locked. Besides back in the day when Hairspray did used to lock them we just started 'part 2' or 'part 3 ' and continued the thread that way. I'm not sure about putting them on their own board though, I've a feeling the PPP would die a death without them!

Could it be possible that the slow down not only comes from the long threads but also the huge amount of images. If that were a factor in the site slowdown, they could be limited or eliminated.

No, I don't care if the site slows down, super long threads are more fun is how I answered, but I would have liked to seen an answer choice of (threads would be moved to another board, but not locked) because I'm opposed to threads being locked. I like the boring threads, I like it slow and simple and like them to go on & on. I am not happy to hear that people feel like they are intruders on threads like that, and wish it weren't so. The long threads have become daily routines, and I look forward to those. And if a thread reached it's end and were locked, wouldn't someone just start a new one?   I believe the ChuckyG has always looked out for the board/message forum and I feel he's invested a lot of time into maintaining it, so I support whatever decision he makes.  Wasn't it Mr. Spock who said
"The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few"    so that's my 2cents worth     8)

Is there a way to archive them once they reach say 100 pages, and then have a new one start? Constant refreshing, kinda like the feel any way threads?

Locking a thread does not equal removal of the thread.  The way this used to work is, someone would lock the thread (either the person who started it, or an admin) and then someone would start the new one.

What was the purpose of a Longest Thread Ever anyway?  ???

What was the purpose of a Longest Thread Ever anyway?  ???




To have the longest thread ever.  That, and to have a catch-all thread where anything and everything is discussed.

To have the longest thread ever.  That, and to have a catch-all thread where anything and everything is discussed.



Oh....so you like the idea of a catch-all thread? That just seems too silly to me. ::) If I'm gonna discuss "anything and everything", as you put it, I'll use "I Like To Move It In MC Hammers Pants." In your defense, however, if we really wanted to have a so-called "Longest Thread", then it should've been started long before February of 05. Rome wasn't built in a day.

I'm all for long threads...but if we were to halt them after maybe a thousand pages or so, then we already have a few threads that exceed that. I'm down with the idea, though. Moving them to a 'different board' is absurd, because some of them are game threads, whereas others are for general discussion. Among the long threads...I'm all for "What Song Are You Listening To Right Now"; I don't know why we have an exact same thread in PBG ("Name The Song..."); to me, that is an entirely duplicate thread. If I'm listening to a song and I don't care about what decade it's from, I'll use "What Song Are You...", because that one was here first.

I hate having to go back four pages to find the source of what's being discussed.  I also dislike random posts, with no topic.
There fore i choose to have them all die in fires.

They may be fun and good for reminiscing, but if they are slowing things down then something should be done about them.
That's not to say that Chucky will delete the threads - for those concerned with post count.
Moving them to the archives and locking them would eliminate the slowing down while peeps can still read them.
I think this is an excellent idea.


I agree with you, Tam!  :)

I'm all for long threads...but if we were to halt them after maybe a thousand pages or so, then we already have a few threads that exceed that. I'm down with the idea, though. Moving them to a 'different board' is absurd, because some of them are game threads, whereas others are for general discussion.

Why can't we just close the old games threads and start new ones when they reach a certain number of pages?  Is it really necessary to keep the old ones?  I mean, how many people actually look way, way back on those?  ???

Why can't we just close the old games threads and start new ones when they reach a certain number of pages?  Is it really necessary to keep the old ones?  I mean, how many people actually look way, way back on those?  ???


sounds logical to me!

Some of the long threads seem like a conversation.  I don't think it's the length.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for good conversation.  :)

I like long threads.

I picked impose a max. length and move them, although I really don't give a damn if they're dead and buried. :)

I picked impose a max. length and move them, although I really don't give a damn if they're dead and buried. :)


Go Jesus go!  :D

Hmmmm, tough one.  I kind of like some of the long threads (like LTE) but like a lot of people said, if it is slowing things up, then maybe they should be limited.




Cat

They may be fun and good for reminiscing, but if they are slowing things down then something should be done about them.
That's not to say that Chucky will delete the threads - for those concerned with post count.
Moving them to the archives and locking them would eliminate the slowing down while peeps can still read them.
I think this is an excellent idea.


I think I agree with you on this, Tam.  :)

Why can't we just close the old games threads and start new ones when they reach a certain number of pages?  Is it really necessary to keep the old ones?  I mean, how many people actually look way, way back on those?  ???


This is true. One thing about the game threads is that if you post in it one time, then you're binded to it forever when you recheck your "updated posts" page. It really fouls things up for me because I generally look at that page to see responses on more relevent topics, and they've been buried by the game boards I've responded to in the past.

Go Jesus go!  :D
the threads will be resurrected

I feel that some long threads should be preserved in the archive, so that the details are not lost and still there for reference.

I feel that some long threads should be preserved in the archive, so that the details are not lost and still there for reference.


again, for clarification:

I am not going to delete any threads.  I am only talking about locking them.  They will appear in the archives just like everything else does.

They may be fun and good for reminiscing, but if they are slowing things down then something should be done about them.
That's not to say that Chucky will delete the threads - for those concerned with post count.
Moving them to the archives and locking them would eliminate the slowing down while peeps can still read them.
I think this is an excellent idea.


What Tam said.  :)

Why can't we just close the old games threads and start new ones when they reach a certain number of pages?  Is it really necessary to keep the old ones?  I mean, how many people actually look way, way back on those?  ???

I occasionally do...tee hee ;D

But locking them up after a certain number of pages does seem doable.

again, for clarification:

I am not going to delete any threads.  I am only talking about locking them.  They will appear in the archives just like everything else does.

Fair enough. :)

What we are talking about here are the threads as follows:


Link The Songs                                                        31717
Longest Thread Ever                                                31490
Chain Of Songs                                                        23303
Words Link                                                              17022
Word Chain                                                            16670
Name the Song You are Currently Listening to!            16310
What song are you listening to right now?                  16163
Baker's Dozen game                                                15609
What Did Or Are You Going To Do Today                    14707

and any others similar in length that Chucky might deem necessary to lock and move.
New ones can always be started in their place as has already been said. :)

Oh....so you like the idea of a catch-all thread? That just seems too silly to me. ::)


Of course it does.

If there's a way we can move them without losing our post counts, I say go for it.. and then, like, once a year, archive all of that year's huge threads.

I'm thinking of something I did with the Feel Any Way thread, to avoid losing massive amounts of posts if it got deleted again.. I make a new one every month.. would it be possible to do that, yearly? Like, make, say a "What Song Are You Listening To Now?" thread in 2005, at New Year's in 2006 (or some time close to that, whenever the moderators get around to it), it would be archived, and a new one created.. would that work?

If there's a way we can move them without losing our post counts, I say go for it.. and then, like, once a year, archive all of that year's huge threads.

I'm thinking of something I did with the Feel Any Way thread, to avoid losing massive amounts of posts if it got deleted again.. I make a new one every month.. would it be possible to do that, yearly? Like, make, say a "What Song Are You Listening To Now?" thread in 2005, at New Year's in 2006 (or some time close to that, whenever the moderators get around to it), it would be archived, and a new one created.. would that work?

Sounds like a good idea...but that's already passed. Maybe it can be considered for New Year's Day 2007.

If there's a way we can move them without losing our post counts, I say go for it.. and then, like, once a year, archive all of that year's huge threads.

I'm thinking of something I did with the Feel Any Way thread, to avoid losing massive amounts of posts if it got deleted again.. I make a new one every month.. would it be possible to do that, yearly? Like, make, say a "What Song Are You Listening To Now?" thread in 2005, at New Year's in 2006 (or some time close to that, whenever the moderators get around to it), it would be archived, and a new one created.. would that work?


I like this suggestion.

Some of the long threads could just be locked after 20 pages (or whatever) like we used to do.  I'm thinking mainly of the games threads.  But the Longest thread Ever in PPP and Perhaps The Last of the Mattering Threads in the parodies board are threads that I might look back over occasionally.

I like this suggestion.

Some of the long threads could just be locked after 20 pages (or whatever) like we used to do.

Yeah, but twenty pages doesn't seem long enough these days. I'm sure the majority of the threads on this forum are currently longer than that.

Sounds like a good idea...but that's already passed. Maybe it can be considered for New Year's Day 2007.


Well, New Year's was just an example.. we could just pick one fixed date, not necessarily New Year's.. plus, this New Year's is coming up.


Some of the long threads could just be locked after 20 pages (or whatever) like we used to do.  I'm thinking mainly of the games threads.  But the Longest thread Ever in PPP and Perhaps The Last of the Mattering Threads in the parodies board are threads that I might look back over occasionally.


Well, there's also things like LTE, which actually exists mainly (though it gets used to miscellaneous conversation) to get length like that.. but then, if we're only allowing one or two threads like that, it won't slow us down too much.

Well, New Year's was just an example.. we could just pick one fixed date, not necessarily New Year's.. plus, this New Year's is coming up.

Yep...in seventy-five days. :o Time sure flies when you're having fun.

What would take up more space in the database, one thread with a thousand posts or one thousand thread all with one post each?

What would take up more space in the database, one thread with a thousand posts or one thousand thread all with one post each?


Neither. 

The problem isn't with the amount of data being stored, it has more to do with presenting the data.  If you have a thread with 20,000 messages in it, trying to sort and display all those messages can be messy.

Neither. 

The problem isn't with the amount of data being stored, it has more to do with presenting the data.  If you have a thread with 20,000 messages in it, trying to sort and display all those messages can be messy.


This is why I just removed the print and "send topic to a friend" links.  I think those links may have been responsible for crashes in the past, on those super long threads. I think what happens, is the search engines crawl the website, and see those links and just go nuts trying to crawl them all. 

This is why I just removed the print and "send topic to a friend" links.  I think those links may have been responsible for crashes in the past, on those super long threads. I think what happens, is the search engines crawl the website, and see those links and just go nuts trying to crawl them all. 


It totally was the problem.  I just tried the print link on the "longest thread ever" and it completely froze the site for half a minute.  Imagine a search engine hitting ten of those threads during the day, and that would be why the site crawls to a grind.  I removed the links, and even made sure the old links didn't work anymore too.  Hope no one wanted to print a 35,000 message thread.

It totally was the problem.  I just tried the print link on the "longest thread ever" and it completely froze the site for half a minute.  Imagine a search engine hitting ten of those threads during the day, and that would be why the site crawls to a grind.  I removed the links, and even made sure the old links didn't work anymore too.  Hope no one wanted to print a 35,000 message thread.


If I ever quit a job that has a printer in the office, I'll let you know, so you can reinstate it for me to click just once.  ;)

If I ever quit a job that has a printer in the office, I'll let you know, so you can reinstate it for me to click just once.  ;)


The sad thing is that it never even worked.  The scripting language PHP would time out while the database (mySQL) would chug trying to pull together that huge list.  So after 30 seconds you get a time out message, but the mySQL server freezes everyone else out for three or four minutes.

I'm sure I could write a program that would generate 30,000 pages of giberish for you to feed a printer.  When I was in college, I one of the professors accidently sent an executable program to our VAX printer on a Friday night after everyone had left (from a remote terminal).  Wasted an entire box of paper (I had changed it out the night before).

It totally was the problem.  I just tried the print link on the so-called "longest thread ever" and it completely froze the site for half a minute.

The same thing probably happens for "Link The Songs" and "Chain Of Songs"...those are the only other threads with 20,000+ replies.


This is why I just removed the print and "send topic to a friend" links.  I think those links may have been responsible for crashes in the past, on those super long threads. I think what happens, is the search engines crawl the website, and see those links and just go nuts trying to crawl them all. 


  Imagine a search engine hitting ten of those threads during the day, and that would be why the site crawls to a grind.  I removed the links, and even made sure the old links didn't work anymore too.

You only did that for LTE, Link The Songs and Chain The Songs, right?

The same thing probably happens for "Link The Songs" and "Chain Of Songs"...those are the only other threads with 20,000+ replies.

You only did that for LTE, Link The Songs and Chain The Songs, right?

Wow...I just noticed that when you click on the "Print" link on any thread, it takes you to the "inthe00s" homepage! :o When you said you removed the print link, I thought that meant the link itself wasn't there anymore...period. Turns out, you just disabled it.

Wow...I just noticed that when you click on the "Print" link on any thread, it takes you to the "inthe00s" homepage! :o When you said you removed the print link, I thought that meant the link itself wasn't there anymore...period. Turns out, you just disabled it.


there shouldn't be a print link at all anymore.  where are you still seeing a link?

Yeah, but twenty pages doesn't seem long enough these days. I'm sure the majority of the threads on this forum are currently longer than that.
20 pages can be acheived in a day, almost.

there shouldn't be a print link at all anymore.  where are you still seeing a link?



I don't see one on the LTE.


Edit: It's not at the top of the thread, but when you scroll down, it's there.

yes. i apologize, but i can't stand that "what music are you listening to" topic that is ALWAYS on the front page of the 2000's thread. oh yeah, and that "what song is currently stuck in your head" they never go away. people just keep on posting. stop posting in these topics. PLEASE STOP!!!

there shouldn't be a print link at all anymore.  where are you still seeing a link?



It's not at the top of the thread, but when you scroll down, it's there.

Yeah, I still see one on the bottom of each thread.

If there are threads of actual interest, there shouldn't be any limit on them.
There should be a "No PostW----" rule.

This is why I just removed the print and "send topic to a friend" links.  I think those links may have been responsible for crashes in the past, on those super long threads. I think what happens, is the search engines crawl the website, and see those links and just go nuts trying to crawl them all. 


OFten at times, I used to see guests "Printing the Longest Thread Ever".  That would surely slow down the forum?

yes. i apologize, but i can't stand that "what music are you listening to" topic that is ALWAYS on the front page of the 2000's thread. oh yeah, and that "what song is currently stuck in your head" they never go away. people just keep on posting. stop posting in these topics. PLEASE STOP!!!
Yes, ma'am.

They may be fun and good for reminiscing, but if they are slowing things down then something should be done about them.
That's not to say that Chucky will delete the threads - for those concerned with post count.
Moving them to the archives and locking them would eliminate the slowing down while peeps can still read them.
I think this is an excellent idea.

I also concur with Tams thoughts  :)

Yes, ma'am.



ROLF.

OFten at times, I used to see guests "Printing the Longest Thread Ever".  That would surely slow down the forum?


More than likely, it wasn't a true guest, but an automated search engine of some sort that wasn't getting flagged as a spider.

Yes, it would slow things down.

Yeah, I still see one on the bottom of each thread.


Found it.  Odd that they repeat it twice in the code too, not the way I would have coded it unless I was in a rush.

If I get some free time (ha!) I could probably modify the code to put a limit on the types of threads that can be sent or printed.  ie. If XX amount of pages, tell the user tough luck.

Found it.  Odd that they repeat it twice in the code too, not the way I would have coded it unless I was in a rush.


It's gone now. O0



If I get some free time (ha!) I could probably modify the code to put a limit on the types of threads that can be sent or printed.  ie. If XX amount of pages, tell the user tough luck.

LOL...seems like a plan ;D

I voted no.

I like the longer threads......it's fun to re-read some of the pages and see what people were talking about a year ago or even 4 months ago. 
That's a great point!

That's a great point!

it sure is! 8) I enjoy reading posts from the past.

I think this one is going to become one of those long threads....

it sure is! 8) I enjoy reading posts from the past.
It is like reading through a diary.

It is like reading through a diary.

Exactly! O0 In fact, I used to keep diaries (logs of my personal life) when I was 11 up until I was 15. A few years back, I unpacked those little books and read through them for old time's sake. It took a couple days to read through it all.

Exactly! O0 In fact, I used to keep diaries (logs of my personal life) when I was 11 up until I was 15. A few years back, I unpacked those little books and read through them for old time's sake. It took a couple days to read through it all.
There again, blogging is writing a diary too?

There again, blogging is writing a diary too?

I suppose so! Of course, that term wasn't around 15 years ago.