READ THIS FIRST - What's Broken, What to post here

Twice now I have tried to answer someones question on forum and the reply wouldn't post because the subject line the original poster used is apparently too long - longer than 64 characters or something - even though it clearly worked for the original post. I had to erase parts of the original subject both times before my reply was accepted.

Hi,
I noticed that you listed slowness and that it is now crossed through. This is, in fact, the slowest web site ever. I wonder if I need to change any of my own settings or whether it is just a continual problem that you are working on. I really hope you can resolve the issue as I don't have much time and want to take in as much as possible in my limited time frame.
Thanks!

I've been on this site since before nine a.m. est and have had nothing but delays. It is taking anywhere from two to five minutes for a page to load. We have internet through our cable provider. The rest of the internet is not taking as long to respond. I have ADD and PMS, if this had been a laptop it would have gone through a window long ago. If this continues I will not be posting again. That could be problematic as I am a ML.

"An apple a day will keep anyone away, if you throw it hard enough."

Stephen Cobert (The Cobert Report)

I understand the concerns about the slowness. I have been on it since 5:30 eastern and it has been slow the whole time. But there have been over 1200 people online pretty much the entire time. Currently there are at least 1346 people connected. I don't know what they are doing, specifically, but I would assume a lot of them are here in the forums.

I am sure that this continues to be worked on and will hopefully continue to improve as we approach November.

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NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

I see that this issue has been crossed out in the first post, but I'm sure you must be aware this web site is still running p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y slow. Just one heads-up out of 1,000s probably!

Start each day as an optimist and end each day as a realist. You will never be let down.

Please keep an eye on the Home Page as that is where we give general announcements (you can even subscribe to get those notices without having to check the site). We expect Monday & Tuesday of this week to be our peak time.

At the moment Russ has deactivated the Author Search & Search functions to improve the speed (which has actually worked quite well).

NaNoWriMo & ScriptFrenzy Staff

I noticed that you listed slowness and that it is now crossed through. This is, in fact, the slowest web site ever. I wonder if I need to change any of my own settings or whether it is just a continual problem that you are working on. I really hope you can resolve the issue as I don't have much time and want to take in as much as possible in my limited time frame.

Well, at the time it had been crossed out, the problem was solved. The recent spike of visitors has brought the problem down on our heads again. Nothing can be done on our end but patience... and trying not to exacerbate the problem overmuch. It will be back in order, though there will probably be another spike in activity and slowness on the first. By then, though, you should be able to fill in the time by writing. :)

Heather
Forums Moderator

I wasn't smart and didnt read that i should approve the guy's file for chat and now my chat wont work at all and I don't get the whole IRC channel thing to run the chat? Any way I can get the option to DL the chat option again?

I don't seem to be able to add buddies...I can't even find a link for it. Was it temporarily disabled due to overloading, and if so, should I expect it to be up in a couple of days? Anxious friends who are signing up want to know.

Thanks for all your hard work!

Laura

"Live fast, take no prisoners, and never look back at the carnage."

Hi Laura,

To add a buddy, you need to be looking at their profile. Currently the author search mechanism is down (temporarily) so you can't search for anyone you wish to add via that mechanism. Typically, though, you would go to the author's prodile and then click the link on the left that says add as buddy. The link will be disabled when you are looking at your own profile because as much as we may like ourselves, we don't need to add ourselves as writing buddies.

This has come up on other topics. Some ideas as to how to get around the lack of the author search can be found here:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1017969

I hope this helps.
Rob

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NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

I get "Accessed Denied" when I select NaNoMail on IE 7.0. But I was able to send a NaNoMail to another member. Has this been disabled?

Thank you!

Ellen or "Alienor"
She who writes first, writes last
http://www.firstgiving.com/ellenwilkin
http://www.electricrider.net/ellen/index.htm

So, this has come up on another thread and I believe the resolution was to check your profile (Edit Profile) to see if 'Allow Private Messages' was enabled. I believe that enabling that option resolved the 'Access Denied' issue.

You may have another issue, but this sounds like the same one. I have been using Nanomail successfully with IE7.

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NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

Might we get an update on the site slowness issue? Last night I was unable to use the forums at all, given the long lag time (around 10ish PM EST?). This has been a consistent problem for me since the site came back up with its new look/feel a few weeks ago.

This morning, however, the site and forums appear to be working at a normal (acceptable) speed, and I'm wondering if this is due to the time of day (I'm posting this at 9:20 AM EST.). Or, dare I hope, could it be because the database overload/site slowness problem has finally been fully resolved...?

Any news appreciated...

-Dandelion Gal

In general, the times of worst site slowness are going to be consistent with peak usage times... you'll find that the whole system works like a charm in the wee hours of the morning (don't ask how I know that!) - but when everyone's home, full from dinner, and relaxing after the kids go to bed... they all go to the NaNo site.

Hopefully Russ has beaten the problem, but I think it more likely that this is just a slow traffic period.

Heather
Forums Moderator

I'm not looking for a fix on this I just want to document it so other's might see it.

With the Authors tab hidden, (while repairs are being done)
the picture in your profile may not allow for changing (updates to a different picture).
I suggest waiting until Author tab is showing again for doing this type of edit to profile.

thank you.
You guys are doing a great job. If there were a smilie for bowing I'd use it here.

Chance is only Fate using a pen name ~ ej runyon

Good to know it's not just my computer that's slow! I was running out of browsers to try. :-)

The good news is that I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve for making things faster.

The bad news is that as we approach November 1, we'll only get more and more and more people on the site, so we're fighting a losing battle.

The good news is that traffic should drop off by November 7 or so to usable levels again.

The site is very quick if you are not logged in. I recommend staying logged out while reading, and then logging in (and suffering) when you're ready to make a set of posts.

-> firebus
-> Web Programmer
-> www.nanowrimo.org
-> www.scriptfrenzy.org

Never mind--using the cunning and complex plan known as reading the next page, I found out that my question had already been asked and answered.

This morning there were 15 emails in my inbox. Eight of them linked to one post; four to another; three to separate posts. Plus I had already gotten emails about each of these posts yesterday. Why is my inbox flooded with duplicates?

Also, your suggestion of not logging in has me baffled. Since I clicked on Remember Me, I get logged in automatically. How do I undo that? Is that a command within my own computer or a communication between my computer and your site?
Thanks. I know it's a busy time.

I got the same problem. I got the same email 4 times. Just a friendly, "Hey, it's not just effecting one person". :)

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison

Firebus, I don't know if this is something you've already pursued, but I was discussing the site slowness with someone who said this in response about Drupal:

"The problem is in a well known bug that slows the page to a crawl when
one of the modules is turned one. If you want, show them these:

http://drupal.org/node/32091

Make sure they are using InnoDB tables in
MySQL <-- this could be a BIG problem. Turn off Paths Module. "

I actually have no idea what this really means, but perhaps you do, and it's something that could help you WRT Drupal.

Take care,
Dandelion Gal

Please check the forum itself for updates on things that have been reported by other users. The multiple email notifications per post has been reported several times already; there's no need to do so in a separate thread.

Heather
Forums Moderator

To log out, there is a link at the top, right-hand side of the page. Click Log Out and you will then be logged out. Next time you want to post, log in again by clicking the User Login link that is right in that same area.

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NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

Too much/Not enough email from notifications

So, if that's in the list, does that mean that I don't have to tell you that I have never gotten an email from this site that was sent to my entire region -- even when I sent it myself -- because you already know it's not working right?

Banai
Co-ML in Salt Lake City, Utah
AIM, YIM, GTalk: banai47
2007 NaNo: The Gift

ML Regional emails are a different issue entirely; The email notifications he's talking about in the topic are from forum subscriptions.

My first guess in your case would be to check your settings, and make sure you're set up to receive email notifications from MLs... I get my regional messages just fine.

Heather
Forums Moderator

I made a contribution to the Office of Letters and Light through the Donations/Store and I was wondering when I could expect my halo to appear next to my name.

Thanks, Jann Dunn

"He looked up then and paid me what I shall always regard as a marvelously high compliment.
'Thank God, Rutherford,' he said, 'you are capable of imagining things.'
----"Lost Horizon"

It can take them some time to get it activated. However, the staff of the Donations office does not read this forum; if the delay has been longer than you believe is necessary, you can send them a message through the store contact form and they will get on it as soon as they can. :)

Heather
Forums Moderator