Site Status

So far so good on my end. I had noticed at a certain time on the old server, the site becomes really slow. This is my theory why just in case people are wondering. At a set time, the software runs what we refer to as a cron job, a automated system. This can be set to clean the database, run maintenance etc. It also handles our automated mail system, this sends out notifications like PM's to you, subscriptions to posts, resources etc. On a heavy day, with lots of posts or especially if you enable email updates for tables, this can slow down the server because it can be a very heavy load, specially if there are a lot of new tables released and the forum is quite active. We are not a "rich" site, so that means our database is shared with the site, and not on it's own dedicated server, so we have one server handling everything at once. The forum, downloads, all the maintenance and all the database stuff.

For members, if you go through your subscriptions and remove the ones you no longer need, we would appreciate it. If the authors really want to help out, and you have a lot of releases, please spread them out over days. This not only keeps the server faster, but other authors who have table releases don't get lost in the listings. This site runs a lot of heavy plug-ins, and though this server is quite a bit better, every little bit helps everyone and helps keep this website zippy.
 
Testing has gone ok recently, a couple of notes, the database is on a different server than the site.
The software for the database was also updated to MySQL 8.0!

The sites forum software is actually built for sites much, much larger (Users, not Files) than Pinball Nirvana, as @shiva mentioned, cron jobs are very important and there currently aren't any errors for these jobs. That could change but if/when that happens I wouldn't suggest that Users unsubscribe to any content that they are interested in.
shiva said:
If the authors really want to help out, and you have a lot of releases, please spread them out over days. This not only keeps the server faster, but other authors who have table releases don't get lost in the listings.
Click to expand...
I second this suggestion, if possible. Last month for the first time ever I received a over quota message for email sending. I've looked into a offsite and separate email service and still will probably try one out. I noticed today that there were no new email error reports, we usually had some every day around 9-10AM, not for quota's but for failed deliveries that then are automatically queued to be tried again.

We are a pretty big site for files! The forums size is now at 228GB, which I love! I do have a request for all Users that use Conversations, I'd just ask that any attachments that were uploaded and not being used or needed anymore to be deleted in your conversations.

:metal::yes2:
 
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JonPurpleHaze said:
We are a pretty big site for files! The forums size is now at 228GB, which I love!
Click to expand...
I used to wonder about available space a lot. JP also asked this a year ago but never got an answer:
https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/threads/do-wa-have-to-save-space.22211/

Just as a side-note, seems like it would be pretty cool if and when users uploaded image attachments at some outrageous size (over 15mb maybe?) either the software or a plugin auto-resized it to something more manageable.

For example, some people don't have any conception of saving space on their phones, so all their pics are automatically ~10mb's or whatever.

I do have a request for all Users that use Conversations, I'd just ask that any attachments that were uploaded and not being used or needed anymore to be deleted in your conversations.
Click to expand...
Just my 2¢, but this is exactly the kind of thing that most people currently reading will nod their head at and comply with, then later forget all about. Which might represent 5% of the overall users messaging attachments anyway, hehe.

To make this really stick I would think you'd probably need to set convo attachments to be automatically deleted after a period of time. (a month maybe?)

Or if possible, users get a message on a monthly basis asking if they still need that attachment, with maybe a six-month hard limit for deletion. Something like that, anyway.
 
I agree with both ideas. I just checked and I have 13 pages of conversations in my inbox that date back to May of 2020. I don't have any idea which ones have attachments and it would take a long time to go through 300 messages. As far as I am concerned, you can delete any attachments older than 3 months so 6 months is good with me. I suspect you will have a substantial improvement if you delete all attachments from all private conversations that are older than 6 months for the whole site.
 
I just tried to delete an attachment of mine on an old conversation and it appears I don't have the security to do it.
 
GeorgeH said:
I just tried to delete an attachment of mine on an old conversation and it appears I don't have the security to do it.
Click to expand...

How exactly are you trying to delete the attachment?
Are you clicking Edit, and then removing the attachment by clicking trashcan in upper right of attachment?, and press Save afterwards?
 
xenonph said:
How exactly are you trying to delete the attachment?
Are you clicking Edit, and then removing the attachment by clicking trashcan in upper right of attachment?, and press Save afterwards?
Click to expand...

This is the message that has the attachment. The message only has options for Report, Quote or Reply.

1711164103219.png


The Edit option above and on the right side of the message appear to be options for the entire conversation. This is what I see when I click on it:

1711164475519.png

When I hover over the attachment with my mouse, it shows this. I don't see a way to delete the attachment or the message.

1711164691391.png
 
xenonph said:
Sorry to bother you, but...
Can you try one more time?
Click to expand...

Still no change. It could be related to my ability to edit my own posts. There are times I only have 15 minutes from the time of my posting before the clock runs out and I am not allowed to edit it anymore.
 
GeorgeH said:
Still no change. It could be related to my ability to edit my own posts. There are times I only have 15 minutes from the time of my posting before the clock runs out and I am not allowed to edit it anymore.
Click to expand...

Great info.
Should be fixed now.
 
I am going to bed now. It is 12:30 am my time.
 
My fault!

Thanks for fixing it @xenonph and @StevOz, I did test this myself before my post above but forgot about Group settings.

@GeorgeH, another change was made today so wondering if you can check to make sure that it still works for you?

Isaac Sauvage said:
I used to wonder about available space a lot. JP also asked this a year ago but never got an answer:
https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/threads/do-wa-have-to-save-space.22211/

Just as a side-note, seems like it would be pretty cool if and when users uploaded image attachments at some outrageous size (over 15mb maybe?) either the software or a plugin auto-resized it to something more manageable.

For example, some people don't have any conception of saving space on their phones, so all their pics are automatically ~10mb's or whatever.


Just my 2¢, but this is exactly the kind of thing that most people currently reading will nod their head at and comply with, then later forget all about. Which might represent 5% of the overall users messaging attachments anyway, hehe.

To make this really stick I would think you'd probably need to set convo attachments to be automatically deleted after a period of time. (a month maybe?)

Or if possible, users get a message on a monthly basis asking if they still need that attachment, with maybe a six-month hard limit for deletion. Something like that, anyway.
Click to expand...

GeorgeH said:
I agree with both ideas. I just checked and I have 13 pages of conversations in my inbox that date back to May of 2020. I don't have any idea which ones have attachments and it would take a long time to go through 300 messages. As far as I am concerned, you can delete any attachments older than 3 months so 6 months is good with me. I suspect you will have a substantial improvement if you delete all attachments from all private conversations that are older than 6 months for the whole site.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the ideas, I will probably wait 1 month and then make a separate announcement about my intent of deleting all conversation attachments older than 6 months, this will not apply to the conversations themselves, they will stay. Users might want to start saving any conversation attachments that they value that are over 6 months old.
 
JonPurpleHaze said:
My fault!

Thanks for fixing it @xenonph and @StevOz, I did test this myself before my post above but forgot about Group settings.

@GeorgeH, another change was made today so wondering if you can check to make sure that it still works for you?




Thanks for the ideas, I will probably wait 1 month and then make a separate announcement about my intent of deleting all conversation attachments older than 6 months, this will not apply to the conversations themselves, they will stay. Users might want to start saving any conversation attachments that they value that are over 6 months old.
Click to expand...

It still works. I suspect there are other users that are subject to the 15 minute limit on editing their posts.
 
GeorgeH said:
It still works. I suspect there are other users that are subject to the 15 minute limit on editing their posts.
Click to expand...
This should be fixed for all Registered Users!

A interesting note about Conversation deletions, they are not automatically deleted, Users can leave any conversation and it only disappears entirely when all participants leave.
 
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Site will probably be unavailable for some time during today and perhaps tomorrow for name server changes.
 
Some changes were made today, we are now using Cloudflare and I'll be tinkering around with it for some time to come.

I don't expect the site to go offline while these changes are made.
 
Ok, I had a problem loading the site with an error of too many redirects with a suggestion to delete cookies.
I deleted PN's cache and cookies and it seems to work in FireFox for a little while.

It turns out a setting had to be changed after 3 different browsers failed and the SSL certificate disappeared, hope it will be ok now!
 
JonPurpleHaze said:
Ok, I had a problem loading the site with an error of too many redirects with a suggestion to delete cookies.
I deleted PN's cache and cookies and it seems to work in FireFox for a little while.

It turns out a setting had to be changed after 3 different browsers failed and the SSL certificate disappeared, hope it will be ok now!
Click to expand...

It seems to load faster and have not seen any problems yet.
 
6 of our Add-Ons were updated today!

Developers have been expanding PHP compatibility in anticipation of a major forum software update which is in Beta status right now.
Some new features have also been added.

These were updated:
Chat
Donations
Member Map

And options that don't have a link but are active:
Multi Prefix (These can be added to the search filters drop down arrow in a Forum or the Resources)
Standard Library (required for the Multi Prefixes Add-On)
Resource Update

Ongoing testing has gone well, so far.

:updated: :shark:
 
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