Statement as to recent site slowdowns and related issues

[Antihero]

Are there any stats to get a pattern of what subforums or types of threads are attracting the most attention? Is it really come for the DA2 hate, but stay for the /gd/?

The donate button is up where I usually would mentally block out or scroll past ads, even if I weren't using that which shall not be named. I'm sure somebody would take offence to it - and you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip - but what about copying it somewhere a little more prominent as well? Nothing gaudy, but I dunno: Profile/.../Stats/Hey bros, click here to donate.

I'm not sure how much it would help or hinder in the end, but what about something like the gold bricks raised vs. the target might motivate some people to chip in if they knew the Codex could use it. I could see not wanting to always disclose any short term surplus if that'd see long term shortfalls, though, so maybe make it an estimated annual target?

Last solution. Sell out: redesign the front page for a month and start pimping DA2 for a large pay off out of seedy marketing slush funds. Use cookies to redirect first time visitors back to the front page, so they can't escape it if they just followed a link here. Then get VD to write a glowing review how it's the best action RPG as if DMC4 had a baby with Arcanum, and alienate all the Biosocial lurkers we're just assuming are coming here. But it might be too late for that already, so we'd better get planning for Skyrim just in case.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

The real problem is that Bioware acting as such shitheads as they do at the moment, you'll have to deal with a lot (and I mean a lot) of refugees. They can spam "Rpg Codex is the evil" on the Bio forums as much as they want, people are not so dumb as that. Be ready to deal with a lot more of circulation in the next days/weeks. Even the dumbest moron can see the difference between being treated like a cretin by uberasshole Stanley Woo or by a random Codex creep who has actually sometimes something to SAY about RPG design. Get ready for the flood, your servers will soon explode.

 

[ironyuri]

This is just a modest proposal, but if servet load is part of the problem, could one not ban Prosper and delete Prosperland again? Do we really need a second spam forum for one guy who also loads onto the server by adding images to his posts............


Also, do we need the "Hosted cRPG Sub-Forums"? AoD now has its own site and forums, could those subforums not in use be archived and no longer displayed?

It may also be prudent to block (ab)users registering lots of alts to cut down on numbers posting/viewing who are Drog/Bryce/Chefe alts...

 

[J1M]

I think more people would be willing to donate if you offered a preferred account that disabled all ads.

So, you're blocking ads, aren't you J1M?

I don't use an ad blocker, but years of internet browsing has caused my brain to completely ignore anything next to one. Had no idea that was there.

Now you just need to get codexia categorized as a religion (sounds like the site is already non-profit) and people could get a tax write off out of it.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

So, DU, what do you think of limiting guests access to the subforums?

At the moment there is The Final Solution™ we're working on which can best be surmised as optimising a bunch of database queries. We're hopeful that this will solve 90% of our problems for now and keep us going for a long time to come. The server needs a few extra features first though and we're still waiting on the upgrade for that (we were concerned the upgrade would knock some of the sites on this server out so we've had to check a bunch of stuff and cross our fingers a bit) - and even after the upgrade it's still going to take me some time (months?) to complete, as it effectively requires me to re-write everything. And I mean everything.

Until that occurs though, we have to hold the fort. So search, registration to view certain forums and anything else that's relatively quick and easy to do is on the cards. Ideally when implemented, The Final Solution™ will revert all of that. If however, The Final Solution™ fails, then we'll resort to plan B which includes The Final Solution™ plus all the other draconian measures we can think of, along with healthy amounts of panicking.

 

[waywardOne]

1. registered members only - a troll will still need to go to the trouble of linking an account to an email, more trouble than it's usually worth and will cut down on casual browsing traffic. this site is about quality, not quantity.

2. decide on the best source of revenue and provide a straight-up, no-frills link at the top nav bar. ads can get hijacked and be a gateway for malware. i'd rather get a popped-up window to GoG or YourFavoriteSportsDrink than clicking to GetOutofDebtRightNow.com. double duty as the revenue helps us and a site we want to support gets hits.

3. dump GD. faggots that want to talk about religion or politics on a gaming forum are the same ones demanding buttsex in their RPGs: they're part of the decline. fuck 'em.

4. another way to donate. i can't be the only one that refuses to give business to PayPal.

 

[Forest Dweller]

registration to view certain forums

So which forums are you thinking of?

 

[SCO]

Put links to buy at the end of reviews.

In the case of DAO it would be a goatse.

 

[ghostdog]

INTERNUTS MULTIHEADED DICKS HITTING CODEX ARMS AND LEGS OH GOD ITZ HEAVAN



Just how much extra would it cost to move to better servers and keep them running ? I'm sure you'd be able to raise donations for server costs. Last time you asked for $500 and you raised more than $1000 in half a day. Asking for donations to remove ads wont get you much, but when asking for donations to keep the site running, codexers will respond.

registration to view certain forums

So which forums are you thinking of?

GD. It would be for the best, any way you look at it.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Good things come to an end, huh? Cute, but I wouldn't pay for an internet forum, even if I spend a lot of time on this place. Your own your own gents, jackals don't help each other

I say burn down GD. There's a lot of suckers who aren't here for the rpgs, don't give them a reason to post. I don't mean that there should be more heavy moderation, I just mean forget the bullshit threads about politics and talking about your feelings and such. No loss for anyone

It wouldn't be nearly so bad if it were all posters that were interested and active in rpg discussion. There's some humorous and scary-crazy posters here and it's good to have somewhere where you can talk about other topics / have a 'codex-community' without cluttering the rpg discussion. My personal beef is with the folks who seem to have either no interest in rpgs or no interest in talking about rpgs (e.g. that woman who suddenly became the centre of attention in GD for a week due to 'omg a female in codex GD!!!' and when asked by Andhaira what her favourite rpg was, answered with a disdainfulL what lol, like I have time for games let alone rpgs). For me Andhaira in his most inane posts is 1000 times better value than the folk who post at an rpg site with no interest in rpgs, simply because other sites are less tolerant of their stupidity.

 

[Shannow]

Put the referrals to amazon and GOG in view near to "post topic", "post reply" top and bottom.

Do I need to click the amazon referral every time I buy something? I've copied it into favourites and switch between clicking that and the one on the codex.

Requiring people to register before viewing GD and the playground seems like a good idea.

 

[Azrael the cat]

1. registered members only - a troll will still need to go to the trouble of linking an account to an email, more trouble than it's usually worth and will cut down on casual browsing traffic. this site is about quality, not quantity.

2. decide on the best source of revenue and provide a straight-up, no-frills link at the top nav bar. ads can get hijacked and be a gateway for malware. i'd rather get a popped-up window to GoG or YourFavoriteSportsDrink than clicking to GetOutofDebtRightNow.com. double duty as the revenue helps us and a site we want to support gets hits.

3. dump GD. faggots that want to talk about religion or politics on a gaming forum are the same ones demanding buttsex in their RPGs: they're part of the decline. fuck 'em.

4. another way to donate. i can't be the only one that refuses to give business to PayPal.

I posted this as a joke, and an impulsive/stupid joke at that, a couple of weeks back, but if folks really want to dump GD then I'd actually suggest this seriously: make it so that your proportion of posts in rpg discussion/workshop must outweigh the % of your posts in GD, while enforcing rules on forum-relevance (random checks and bans, or just occasionally checking suspicious posters, if it can't be automated). Keep GD as a minor side-forum for off-topic posts amongst folk who are mainly here for the rpgs.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Ditch GD. The only good thing to ever have crawled out of that place is Jimbob's comics. Besides, I can continue to tell you all how much I hate this place through other, less blunt, means.

Ah, I'm just kidding. I love this place.

(But shut down GD.... and VD while you're at it.)

 

[tarkin]

Unlocked the ads, clicked on one.

Apart from "rewriting everything", are you considering migrating to a more efficient CMS or a message board? Taluntain mentioned something about it, but you (DU) haven't. If you are, and you have to pay for the license then i might donate for that. cause.

 

[Angthoron]

In addition to GD being for registered-only members I'd like to suggest the following:

1) DELETE inane threads that no-one will miss
2) Clean up Retardo from shitty 1-post threads like those by Exmit and the likes. The place is fucking enormous.

 

[Black]

In addition to GD being for registered-only members I'd like to suggest the following:

1) DELETE inane threads that no-one will miss

That sounds okay but we're on Codex, that's a slippery slope.

 

[Angthoron]

In addition to GD being for registered-only members I'd like to suggest the following:

1) DELETE inane threads that no-one will miss

That sounds okay but we're on Codex, that's a slippery slope.

Well, I mean things like 1-post threads mainly, and probably mainly from GD. There's quite a bit of truly retarded material there, the sort that their own authors forgot about moments after shitting it out.

And yeah, I know that the shorter threads aren't much an issue, but still.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

registration to view certain forums

So which forums are you thinking of?

Everything other than News and even that too if it becomes necessary. We'll close each one off to the public as required. Starting with GD and working our way up.

Just how much extra would it cost to move to better servers and keep them running ? I'm sure you'd be able to raise donations for server costs. Last time you asked for $500 and you raised more than $1000 in half a day. Asking for donations to remove ads wont get you much, but when asking for donations to keep the site running, codexers will respond.

Taluntain's pretty confident that the upgrade we're doing will be fine for this server. Even without search enabled (at all, not even for donors anymore) we've reduced the load considerably as it is which should buy us enough time until then. If the upgrade doesn't work, then we *may* be at the point of doing the whole dual / multiple server thing and looking into whatever is required to split a website up over two servers and how that all works (I'm a PHP code junkie, not a server guy so I have no idea). That is expensive though (double the servers, double your server bill I guess?) and would really require us gearing up for donations a lot better because it would have to be supported entirely by donors. That would mean annual donation drives to raise the funding required to keep us alive for the next 12 months.

We have a few other options too, so it'll depend on how things work out and which path we choose to go at that time.

 

[janjetina]

People who pay for a membership on an internet forum (case in example: SA sheeple) are dumbfucks. As much as I like the Codex, I would never pay for the membership on it (or on any internet forum for that matter). If GD must go, then it should go, but GD dumbfuckery must not spill over to other subforums.

 

[Morkar Left]

4. another way to donate. i can't be the only one that refuses to give business to PayPal.

I second that. Another moneyservice instead of paypal where I can use my cc and I will donate.


What about the concept of "Premium"-memberships? We could hype that a bit further and introduce a fixed price for it. It could include the picture hosting service, no ads and custom avatars (plus free access to "dlc" included) and or custom tag for premium members (if they want)?
I know its already there, but include everything in a simple package might help.

EDIT: These Amazon links need to be bigger. I already use the gog link but recognized the amazon.de link just now. It's nice when adverts don't jump in your face but this is too tiny.

Btw I liked the poker ad. The clumsy rpg-reference had some charm on its own.

 

[Johannes]

I don't really see a downside to not showing gd unless logged in.

 

[treave]

Just how much extra would it cost to move to better servers and keep them running ? I'm sure you'd be able to raise donations for server costs. Last time you asked for $500 and you raised more than $1000 in half a day. Asking for donations to remove ads wont get you much, but when asking for donations to keep the site running, codexers will respond.

This. Though things seem to be running alright now while you guys are figuring out the rewrites, if a donation drive is ever needed I'm sure most Codexers would rather fork out for the site than pay real money for DA2 or Skyrim.

 

[Elwro]

Does the GOG referral thing pay anything? I always use it when buying there but maybe people don't know about it in general?

 

[thesheeep]

Does the GOG referral thing pay anything? I always use it when buying there but maybe people don't know about it in general?

Same here.

We already have GOG-Links here. So could the same be done for Steam, Gamersgate or Impulse?

 

[turn_based_fanboy]

What happened on 14th of February ?

Was it DA2 demo leak ? Huge increase in hits seems to be timed around release of demo.


BTW are we hosting avatars internally? Maybe good way to save some bandwidth would be to block pictures hosted on our servers.