Foo - Worn out cliche: Can't access, server times out

I'm sorry, but I have been trying to an hour and twenty minutes to post. The post I originally wanted is gone, wiped by server timeouts. I understand that this is a free forum. I understand that these sort of things do happen once in a while. But this has become an ongoing struggle for me. Daily I attempt to post, only to stare at a blank screen.

I enjoy the interaction on this board. When I can do so. But my frustration level has reached a point where I have to vent. To those who will recommend that I upgrade my membership, I ask you if this will provide me with a guaranty that I will be able to post? I would be extremely disappointed if the access problems were to continue.

I see sponsors/ads. There seems to be a lot of traffic here. I don't understand why there are consistantly server timeouts. And by consistantly, I mean four out of five hours the board is unavailable.

I've got a coin in my hand. Do I flip it?

The servers can't handle all of the people trying to access the site. Notice whenever the site is slow, and won't load a page there is 800+ guests and 400+ members on the site.

Honestly, I'm sick of it too. But nothing we can do besides donate, and become a upgraded member.

Well there are heaps of people already upgraded, and i would have thought that would have helped but it hasn't. Infact as soon as the new server came in things only got worse? *confused*.

I am sick of it too, it frustrates me and there has to be another way around the slow server issues. What that is i have no idea and when this will improve i have no idea either. None of us do really.

Re: Biker Brent - No, upgrading to a red star is not going to improve the speed. i.e. donating members do not have a more reliable connection...however that does sound like a dam good idea.

On a practical note, before you post anything, do a CTRL A to select all the text in your pending post, and then a CTRL C to copy it to your clipboard (assuming a Windows computer). That way, if the server can't take your post, at least you got a copy of it.

Or instead of using firefox or internet explorer, you can use opera instead. Backwards and forwards do not clear text in forms.

Re: Biker Brent - No, upgrading to a red star is not going to improve the speed. i.e. donating members do not have a more reliable connection...however that does sound like a dam good idea.
Upgrading to a star doesn't make your speed better. It donates 25$ dollars to the site so joe can make things faster.

Yeah, this s**t is driving me bonkers. I'll donate again this summer, as that's what's needed to get the speed up (if enough folks jump on the bandwagon). My DirecTV dropped out on me tonight (doesn't happen often) during a movie, then I couldn't access the bikeforums site either...I was pulling my hair out! :mad:

Just thought I would give it a try before I went to bed.

On a lark I clicked on some ads.

They loaded friggin immediately.

Forums/Threads/Posts? 15-20 second delay.

Somebody email me when this is fixed. Brent@BikingFlorida.com

On a lark I clicked on some ads.

They loaded friggin immediately.

Well of course they do. The Google ads are hosted by Google, who has quite a bit of money to throw around on datacenters the size of a shipping container, crammed with yummy quad-Opteron rackmounts and SCSI goodness (www.mechbgon.com/SCSI_v_ATA.jpg). I'm sure Joe would be delighted if they'd lend him one of their servers and some disk space :)

I want to respond to this thread, but my reply is taking forever to load....I'm browsing other sites in the meantime. Please enjoy the pleasant music while you wait...

*Cue "Air Supply" Greatest Hits, Vol. II*

*Cue "Air Supply" Greatest Hits, Vol. II*

Proof that things could always be worse! :D

The slow speed of this new and improved server is why I haven't paid to use this site.

Is it my end or is the list of currently active users inaccessable? It used to automatically show everyone but now it's just a line. I click on the tree and nothing happens......???

I was getting that too. The users don't show up. Me thinks there are some unresolved server issues.

Okay thanks. My computer has been acting up and I didn't know if it was the server or my computer.

I got a pop up yesterday that indicated Joe was doing some system backup or server maintenance.

He's doing a lot of work getting this forum optimal.

No, a red star may not make it faster, but does directly help in maintaining the site, which Joe graciously offers for free. There are a ton of regular posters to this forum who don't have that red star. That's fine. They may not be able to spare $25 due to any number of reasons, which is understandable. What gets me is the regular posters who talk about high-end upgrade this and buying some Assos bibs that, but can't make that ONE TIME $25 donation to assist Joe in this board we all seem to rely on as if it was life/death if we can't get that post out there.

If you are having server problems and can't post, here is a good alternative: Log out, power down the PC/Mac, take a bike ride or do some work, then come back later and post. The board will be here (hopefully).

[end rant]

How about restricting guest access during peak periods? Mornings (eastern US time) seem fine for me, but forget about afternoons...

Just a thought.

How about restricting guest access during peak periods? Mornings (eastern US time) seem fine for me, but forget about afternoons...

Just a thought.

Interesting thought, but without guests, though, the forums would never get new blood. If the forum was un-readable to guests after they did a google search on a topic, they'd move on and probably not come back, which in the long run is not a good thing.

The road cycling section gets the most new posts each day. The most active threads in road cycling are the posts from BikesDirect, selling its Motobecane bikes. Most days, BikesDirect keeps three or four active Motobecane threads going on Page One of Road Cycling.

Deleting all threads promoting BikesDirect and their Motobecane promotions would improve both the speed and the quality of Bike Forums.

They need to strip down the fat. Get a ****ing network admin that knows **** about optimizing server and network configurations and get me some ****ing batteries that dont die. stupid ****ing mouse.