Laura S and Host Walt - Board Problems?

[Offtune Angel]

Thanks, Laura for the reply. Updates go a long way to helping cope w/ any inconveniences. FWIW, I, like Lois, am Eastern Time Zone and most of my time on the boards is evening, night and 3:30 to 5:30 a.m. I don't know if these times will help in analyzing the problems. Luckily, I'm not dial-up. Thank all powers that be for cable-broadband. At least when I get thrown out I haven't already spent an eternity trying to get on to the boards.

 

As for the numbers of newbies and newposts, Congratulations! You must be doing something right for that kind of a response.

 

Again, the updates are greatly appreciated.

Terry:)

[Lois R]

Hi Terry:)

 

quote:

"Luckily, I'm not dial-up. Thank all powers that be for cable-broadband. At least when I get thrown out I haven't already spent an eternity trying to get on to the boards. "

 

Terry, some of us are still on dial-up and I am part of that group:eek:

[Offtune Angel]

...Terry, some of us are still on dial-up and I am part of that group:eek:

Oh, Lois, I feel for you (and all the others on dial-up. I remember how tired I used to be in those days (despite all the sleep I got waiting for the connection to happen). Hope broadband comes to you soon.

Terry:)

[Lois R]

Terry, we have Broadband. I just know how much $$$ everything costs. And I just choose to do it this way.

 

Actually my dial up isn't that bad. I usually do something else when this thing is in the "starting up mode". Then I come back and its on and fired up. I live on my own so its not like someone else is needing it.

[canderson]

Sorry for the delay in response.

 

We are aware of the prioblem. This appears to happen during the busiest time of the day....usually around lunchtime through 3pm Eastern time due to the large number of folks accessing. Usually, trying again in a moment or two works just fine.

 

We are working on the problem, which we believe at this time requires upgrade to equipment.

 

Laura

It's definitely not confined to those hours when it happens, and it doesn't happen every day between the hours you noted. Only CC can actually see demand vs. capacity issues from their end, but I'd be surprised if that was what was happening. I don't think there's a deluge of users at 1:00am Mountain Time.

[north-bound]

I can only confirm that this is not only at the busiest time. Living in Europe I usually check in during the morning. That is when most of you have gone to bed, even on the west coast. There are very few people at the boards at that time. Also in the evening, which is your afternoon. And I have had problems again and again, all through the week.

[zebra36]

I can only confirm the difficulty in accessing these boards is not limited to the evening hours. Not sure how closely this is related to AOL but since they (AOL) have discontinued supporting newsgroups and now this problem it may be time to look for a new ISP.

 

Frank

[ali-ali-oh]

Living in UK, can I add, that when I was experiencing problems there were only 43 people on the boards according to the summary (21 members 22 guests). I also have broadband and have no problems with other sites, including ebay. Just thought I'd stick my twopenneth in. However, when it works, I am a total addict.

[tuggers]

Did anyone mention the problem with multiple notifications? As many as 16 per post for me. But almost always 2 or 3 over the last few days.

 

Thanks

[gkm]

Gail, your multiple postings is strange. I'm not having them, and I haven't heard of any other posters getting those either. :confused:

 

Garry

[mafig]

I'm usually on this site on and off all day.

 

My experience is that there is no one time that it is faster than others. If there was, I'd be on then.

 

This morning it started out fine, then slowed up. I am on Eastern standard time.

[canderson]

This is just an example: About 10:15 Saturday a.m. Eastern time, only 80 users reported online, and things came to a complete halt again. About a minute later, all was well. The only way this could be a capacity problem is if you folks are suffering from DoS attacks.

[gkm]

I agree, canderson, there's something elso going on here. It's really frustrating. I've gotten so that now before I submit a post I copy it in case I lose it. That way I can just try again with a paste. I've lost a lot of posts over the last week and am getting where I don't spend as much time on the board. I don't have time to sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and then sometime have it timed out.

 

Garry

[isujim]

I really think it is approaching the time where they just need to shut down the boards for 48 hours if that is what it takes and get the problem fixed. I think it is better to do that then have continual frustration. Yesterday I got "froze out" 11 times.........finally left........wasn't worth it. I sympathize with the problems they have but I for one would hope they shut it down and get it fixed.

[Host Walt]

I really think it is approaching the time where they just need to shut down the boards for 48 hours if that is what it takes and get the problem fixed. I think it is better to do that then have continual frustration. Yesterday I got "froze out" 11 times.........finally left........wasn't worth it. I sympathize with the problems they have but I for one would hope they shut it down and get it fixed.

That has been done earlier this year and may happen again.

 

The volume of activity on Cruise Critic is far beyond all expectations and continues to grow exponentially. Laura shared with us a report that shows CC is near the top in activity (and lower in terms of membership) which means we have more active members than almost any other moderated board.

 

In my case, Adelphia Cable let me down yet again on Sunday and I've had only intermittent access myself...so I wasn't even aware of the slow down.

 

BTW, Host Anne is my co-host and is a second resource if...oops, I mean when...Adelphia Cable pulls the plug on me again.

 

I fired AOL and Earthlink DSL for service issues and thought Adelphia Cable would do the job. Did for about 3 months. Doesn't now.

 

I wonder what we did in the 70's and 80's without broadband (or the web, for that matter)?:rolleyes:

[mafig]

I really think it is approaching the time where they just need to shut down the boards for 48 hours if that is what it takes and get the problem fixed. I think it is better to do that then have continual frustration. Yesterday I got "froze out" 11 times.........finally left........wasn't worth it. I sympathize with the problems they have but I for one would hope they shut it down and get it fixed.

 

I agree.

 

Have they said anything about the plans to fix the boards? It is so frustrating, and then I get annoyed at myself for being so addicted.:mad:

 

Beautiful day here in Florida. Time for a walk, I think -- work off my frustration.;)

[Nancyquilts]

I couldn't get on through Google, did get on through Yahoo. Hmmmmm.

[Host Walt]

I agree.

 

Have they said anything about the plans to fix the boards? It is so frustrating, and then I get annoyed at myself for being so addicted.:mad:

 

Beautiful day here in Florida. Time for a walk, I think -- work off my frustration.;)

A major fix occurred in early January (with a 16 hour board down). More fixes are planned.

 

As I said earlier, the volume of activity is growing much faster than the server capacity, and when the weather in Florida is like it is here, pouring rain in L. A., the board activity jumps dramatically.

 

Bear with us. (BTW, thank goodness we moved over to vBulletin last year. The former web host was unable to handle our volume back then; just imagine how bad it would have been had the migration not occurred last year.)

 

Here's an earlier post made by LauraS, our Community Manager:

Here's a bit more info.

 

Jan - Mar has traditionally been Cruise Critic's BUSIEST time of year, with over 2,000 newbies appearing on the boards per month.

 

NEWBIES have a tendency to go far back in posts, and access and read everything. Couple this with our "regulars", and we have too many thousands of folks accessing the boards each day.

 

Add to the above there are over 8,000 new posts each DAY also taking up resources.

 

I thought that might make it easier to understand the enormity of what we've experienced over these past 8 months with the new boards, thanks of course, to everyone who hangs out here and helps answer questions.

 

Laura

[Host Walt]

I couldn't get on through Google, did get on through Yahoo. Hmmmmm.

It's really not a function of search engines; it's a function of our own server capacities and it's ability to handle a large volume of hits. If you have slow (or no) access from Google or Yahoo, it means CC is experiencing the same crush as the dining room when the doors open on board a ship. Try again a minute or two later.

[canderson]

 

I wonder what we did in the 70's and 80's without broadband (or the web, for that matter)?:rolleyes:

We used good old "Bulletin Board Systems" (I still have one running here that was initiated in 1986). Is Host Walt old enough to remember 300 baud acoustically coupled modems?

[raudacruise]

We used good old "Bulletin Board Systems" (I still have one running here that was initiated in 1986). Is Host Walt old enough to remember 300 baud acoustically coupled modems?

 

Had a TI Silent 700, the one that printed on thermal paper in 1980. Acoustic coupler and 300 baud modem. Not a computer, LOL. At the same time however could access Compuserve (got a free account from a class at OSU) with no problem.

 

There are definitely problems on this board again. Seems they started again last Friday (Feb 11).

[gkm]

This is strange. I'm on the board and my DH can't get on. We have cable broadband. He's pouting.

 

Garry

[morebeaches]

I seem to be having a different problem (I havent read this entire thread) but for the past couple of days I have not been able to do a search on the "Celebrity" board whild I have been able to on the "Princess" board

[Spf12]

It's really not a function of search engines; it's a function of our own server capacities and it's ability to handle a large volume of hits. If you have slow (or no) access from Google or Yahoo, it means CC is experiencing the same crush as the dining room when the doors open on board a ship. Try again a minute or two later.

Then fix it and stop making excuses.You are not the only place in town.

[Lois R]

WOW:eek:

 

I think they are trying to fix it. I don't think they are making excuses, I think they are trying to explain why it is has been slow.