I've enabled page compression for the forum. Page compression is where the server will compress the file (with the gzip algorithm) before sending it to your browser. That means you need to download less to view the same pages (a definite pro for dial-up users).

However, I don't know if this additional server-side processing will be more beneficial or detrimental to actual perceived performance. If things do seem worse, I'll disable it.



As for the forum upgrade itself, it'll take me a while. Sourceforge had configured the servers in such a way that scripts cannot create or modify files. This is a big problem because to install Phorum, it needs to be able to create and modify files. :-|

Thanks for the job, Everling.

Some of us noted (not only myself) a jump forward in performance last week, are you responsible of that or was Sourceforge? When exactly has been enabled page compression?

I hope you suceed with the phorum update.

Will it be possible to implement Brian's suggestion about captchas in older than a two months threads? If so, I would like to open a votation to choose what style of captcha do we prefer. I would leave my vote for Rapidshare style captchas.

I did the page compression just shortly before I posted, so I can't take the credit for any performance jump before that. :-)

As for the Captchas, it is possible to place them in threads two months old.

BTW: How about uniting the two forums for Development and Improvement requests to one forum and adding a new forum for all kinds of off-topic small talk and such? There would still be four forums, but I wouldn't have to see threads like "IBM to use Linux instead of Windows Vista?" that are not related to K-M in any way in the general K-M forum ;-/ ...

In short the suggestion is:

K-Meleon General
K-Meleon Bugs
K-Meleon Development and Improvement requests
Off-Topic (everything else)

I've definitely noticed more responsiveness. Usually, it takes between 3 to 5 seconds to download/render a thread about this size... today it only took about 2 seconds- so, it is noticably faster... or it's all in my head (placebo effect) ;-).

Brian

How about uniting the two forums for Development and Improvement requests to one forum and adding a new forum for all kinds of off-topic small talk and such? There would still be four forums, but I wouldn't have to see threads like "IBM to use Linux instead of Windows Vista?" that are not related to K-M in any way in the general K-M forum ;-/ ...

I could look into merging the forums, if Phorum doesn't already have such a facility.

But I don't think merging them is a good idea. To me, the Development and Improvement Requests are significant because they have a large number of posts in them.


or it's all in my head (placebo effect) ;-).

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it and waited for you to comment on it. ;-)

Well, I just noticed it this morning... things have been loading much faster. I usually open up about four threads... maybe five at a time (in the background with a middle click)- usually it takes between 12 to 15 seconds for those to load (sometimes even 20 or 25 on slow days or REALLY long threads), but today it only took about 8 seconds for me to open up 5 threads. I counted. There is definitely a speed increase. I can tell.

Brian

I could look into merging the forums, if Phorum doesn't already have such a facility.

But I don't think merging them is a good idea. To me, the Development and Improvement Requests are significant because they have a large number of posts in them.

I could also live quite well with an additional, fifth forum, as long as all off-topic discussion can be moved there.

K-Meleon General
K-Meleon Bugs
K-Meleon Development
K-Meleon Improvement requests
Off-Topic (everything else)

As for moving the off-topic discussions... a lot of people, particularly those new to the forums, may think their thread has been buried underneath others or has simply been deleted unless some sort of notice has been made for them.

Brian

We could also correct the forums numeration, the bugs forum should be number 2 (now is the 3) and the develpment should be number 3 (now is 2). This or change the order on which they appear on the main forum window.

Just as a thought, won't creating an "Off Topic" forum invite people to post off-topic threads?

Sure, but as some people do it never the less they won't disturb on-topic discussion with their off-topic threads anymore (well, hopefully, anyway) and would still have a place to socialize...

Most of the off-topic chat appears while discussing a topic issue on a topic thread, I can imagine someone saying in the middle of a thread "hey, stop this off topic chat and let's move to the off-topic forum". Off-topic chat appears naturally.

Why does the website keep timing out? I've had six timeouts just in the past five minutes. It's very rare for me get timeouts from this website.

Brian

errr ... What is a timeout?

Most of the off-topic chat appears while discussing a topic issue on a topic thread, I can imagine someone saying in the middle of a thread "hey, stop this off topic chat and let's move to the off-topic forum". Off-topic chat appears naturally.

That's certainly true. But there are also threads like "some cool software for old computers" and stuff like that. And before I quit reading the main forum there were all kinds of polls around. Now it's better to read again, but I'm still not interested in discussion about Thunderbird, file hosting providers, lite programs, songbird, etc. I thought that some people might like the idea to chat with each other on topics that are unrelated to K-M. But well, if no one would use the forum ...

Yes, you're right about that, Ra. It's a good argument on off-topic threads. On my last post I was thinking about the off-topic chat which appears in the middle of a conversation about on-topic matters.

Why does the website keep timing out? I've had six timeouts just in the past five minutes. It's very rare for me get timeouts from this website.

I didn't do anything lately.


errr ... What is a timeout?

If you really don't know... The browser or any user agents (UA) will usually wait a few minutes for the server to respond to any request. If the server fails to respond within that time the UA decides it probably won't respond to its request at all and "times out".

This is part of the Internet protocol (IP) which was designed to deal with poor connections or server failures. If you never had your data routed via countries with less than excellent infrastructure or tried to access a server that went down, you'll probably won't ever see a timeout.


But well, if no one would use the forum ...

I don't really have a problem with setting up an additional forum. If nobody objects, why not have a go at it?

Thanks for the info, yes I've experienced time outs (just I didn't knew that was it's name).

It could be good the addition of a new forum. If you're gone to do that and start changing things it could be a good oportunnity to fix the forums numeration (or to change the order on which they appear on the main window to be correctly ordered).

We could also start a poll if s.o. would actually use the off-topic forum (and I mean a real poll - like the one that is commented in the page source - not a discussion in the forum).

How ironic that the same thread that I had previously said had loaded within seconds is the same one that continuously timed out or only partially loaded several times this morning. Is there something wrong with the servers? They've timed out repeatedly within the past few days.
Could it be some of my networking settings used in K-Meleon to speed it up that is causing problems with the server?

Brian

@ Brian.

I'm experiencing the same today. Last days everything was running fine at a high speed, but from this early morning it's all slow again, with time-outs. Something must be wrong with the servers.

PS. I've noted that pages tend to load faster by opening on new layers.

:-|

Should I undo the page compression then? Or wait it out for a month before deciding?

Even if we do disable page compression, I intend to try it again when I get the upgrade done.

@everling
Well, maybe disable it temporarily (if you haven't already). I haven't had any timeouts yet since I started browsing a minute or two ago. Maybe the time I came is just a time of really heavy traffic.

Brian

No, I haven't done it yet. I like page compression and I haven't encountered any problems with it myself. And although I am concerned for you guys, you'll have to actually ask for it to be disabled before I'll disable it. ;-)

Evertything is running fine today. I hope yesterday was an exception. I think page compression always helps to mske things faster so if things are going wrong, we should thank page compression because it could be worse.

IMHO we should keep it.

Thank you, everling, for enabling page compression. I guess, people on dial up will appreciate it. The timeout problems - that I experience, too - have nothing to do with it. I assume, these problems are caused due to routing/DNS lookup problems in the sourceforge network...

Yeah, it looks like there was an answer, because K-M doesn't wait for one any more. It's just that the page that is displayed is completely empty. Reloading helps.

Yeah, definitely keep the compression. It must've just been a time of very heavy traffic.

Brian

@ Everling.

I've seen that in the moderator forum admin, once you click on the forum you want to moderate you can choose between easy admin and unapproved messages.

Only easy admin works, unapproved messages gives an error when clicked. Do you know what is unapproved messages for?

If it's not working, can you fix it?

And if it's not possible to fix it or if it's does not worth the time to fix it because it's useless, can you remove that so you only have to choose the forum you want to moderate clicking once and not twice?