The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later.

[Gem]

oh yeah, I make strange sounds when I lose a post.

(copy)

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

This is a free service remember....It's costing you nothing. It won't hurt to wait a while. Patience is a virtue!

If you're doing to post something but get knocked back by the server, that's unfortunate, but whatever you're trying to say - it'll keep.
Indeed, waiting a while may help you reflect so you can come back with a better answer.

I give myself a certain amount of time to spend on this forum. If I can' read or post then my time is wasted. That is a cost to me.
Patience may be a virtue when dealing with people but when dealing with computers we should expect results within a reasonable time without having to try dozens of time.

I think that the server is overloaded due to its design configuration, similar to an airline overbooking a flight. This is done by design. Cell phone companies and other Telco companies have a similar idea and it is called contention. That is how many people make simultaneous demands on the same resource, such as the uplink from a cell phone tower to the larger network. As far as the internet is concerned a contention ratio of 20:1 (20 users making use of the same exchange/line) is livable. If the contention ratio goes up significantly the system starts to degrade.

A possible solution for SF may be to ask to have the site moved onto a (hardware) server with a lower contention ratio.

[knightofalbion]

Originally Posted by amy green

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In your saying that the post will "keep" - perhaps you have not encountered losing a post. This can be frustrating if it is a long, detailed post which is why there has been advice on this thread on how to secure the post, i.e. it needs to be safeguarded/protected.

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I have had posts disappear. But it did indeed 'keep' and having had a bit of extra time to reflect I came up with a better answer. So in the grand scheme of things...

Originally Posted by knightofalbion

I have had posts disappear. But it did indeed 'keep' and having had a bit of extra time to reflect I came up with a better answer. So in the grand scheme of things...

Well your memory is probably better than mine then.

I see you chose not to address the experience I had mentioned in my post, i.e. of waiting one and a half hours to access this site. Does this mean that you don't see this as an important point/issue? It's one thing to wait a few mins when server is too busy, but I hope I don't have to wait that long again before just getting on to the site in the first place.

[knightofalbion]

I had seen it (the long wait) but saw no reason to comment. I have not had that long a wait. If I had, I would busy myself elsewhere until service returned to normal.

Yes, probably I am used to, and accepting of, a bit more 'spartan' conditions than others, so my view may be different. I do of course understand and respect yours dear Amy.

As is clear, this (SF) is a labour of love and it appears they don't have a lot of money so they have to make the best of it, as do we.
I'm grateful it's here, despite the technical problems.

knightofalbion I share your gratitude for the availability of this site (however haphazard it presently is). It is my fav site so I post on it a lot more than yourself (hence the glitches are experienced more often than yourself probably).

I hope the technical hitches can be sorted out soon though. It seems to be affecting so many members here adversely. Perhaps my initial suggestion of us contributing to a better service is the way forward (#10) and is an option that I hope is maybe being looked into.

Running a site, I know what can happen when a server starts to fail and no amount of repair helps. This happened to ours until our host finally replaced it. I am hoping the admins on this site is talking with its host about this. The problem is worsening, getting so I am getting hit with the server busy message pretty much every time I am here at least once. I thought I lost a post today due to it in spite of several tries because I had to go. I was surprised to find it went through when I returned hours later.

I know that it is very frustrating (trust me, my cats have been startled quite often lately at the loud growling emanating from me due to this, lolol!)
But yes, sometimes it does give you time to go over your post, and make any changes/additions/corrections that maybe you didn't notice when you first wrote it....

To knightofalbion

It won't hurt to wait a while. Patience is a virtue!

Oh, you SO sound like my boyfriend!!! I am a very impatient, full-speed-ahead Sagittarius, so he is fond of reminding me about patience every day!!! GGGRRRRR!!!!! LOL! I even bought myself a book of quotes about patience, thinking it may actually help.....hahahaha....my fave quote in the book??:

"Patience - a minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue"

Originally Posted by in progress

It does sound interesting. Maybe if we get some information that someone is willing to arrange for the upgrade if we get x amount of $ together that might increase interest and contributions. Maybe a fundraiser thread with a big notice at the top of the forum home page to attract attention of all the members.

Have you attempted to use Cloudflare? I use CloudFlare and a VPS Cloud Server for my website. The CloudFlare service, which is free, saves substantial bandwidth. If you care to know how CloudFlare works go to their site, sign up, then make the necessary DNS changes. There are free services and corporate services, all designed to save you bandwidth and speed up your pages while they load in client's browsers. Cloudflare implements CDN (content delivery network), and runs multiple data centers and cache static content at the edge in order to make it faster.

This in turn saves bandwidth and server loads. In the Last 24 Hours CloudFlare saved 358.7 MB. That's tremendous considering that it means almost 60% of all bandwidth is cached, not to mention page loading is quicker.

Hope this helps.