9 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Hey fellow members...we need your help. Its a small thing but it will have huge consequences for the site. WE NEED TO CONSERVE SPACE & BANDWIDTH!!!

Yup...we are getting really big and while we can't save bandwidth...we can conserve space. To conserve space our only options are to either cut out old posts (not one I am in favor of), buy a bigger license (requires going to a dedicated server that will be 4x what we pay now) or find ways to keep the space used on the site minimized.

The latter is where you all come in. So how can you help?

1. Our TOS located here (also known as community guidelines) asks that all members keep their signature lines to 3 lines max. I know many of you (including myself) do not adhere to this policy. If you multiply the number of lines in your signature by all the posts you make...we are talking an area that you can personally help save space on the site.

So please relook at your signature line and see if you can use SMALLER FONTS or just cut back on the number of lines of text. (One notable exception are the SD Trip Coordinators and Staff...they need the extra lines to provide you with valuable information.)

2. When posting a post please do not exceed size 5 in font size. First its hard to read anything larger than size 5 and once again you can save a lot of space on the site if you choose to minimize your font sizes.

Please do not use anything larger than SIZE 5 FONTS! And trust me...SIZE 3 is plenty Big!!!

3. When posting in a thread please do not use the REPLY button in the post above you rather use the ADD REPLY button at the very top or very bottom of the thread. This will open a CLEAN box for you to type in.

If you hit the reply button and it copies all the content from the previous post...THEN delete the content of the box by hitting CNTRL A to select and then CNTRL D to delete or simply hit the space bar and it should delete the post info it copied in your reply.

By not copying everyone's replies...or only the part relative to your comments...you will save TONS of room on the site. Some sites automatically prevent you from being able to keep the previous content in the 'reply post'. However ours will keep copying and copying it. In fact I've had some people completely copy the entire contents of a trip posting just to ask a question or reply. We try to fix these posts but there are so many and only a few of us able to fix them. So PLEASE just reply and don't copy all the previous verbiage.

[WreckWench]

Yes there are some ways to trim the posts that no longer have real value...but I really see that as a last resort...its like throwing out our history...I'm just not ready to do that yet until there are no other options!

[Victoria]

I totally understand the desire to keep the history of the forum (via the threads) intact. I was thinking about this problem this afternoon, and there are a couple big memory hog threads that perhaps can either be eliminated or seriously truncated. The first that comes to mind is the Internet Scrabble Game. It was great fun, but it's also a huge chunk of memory. As you may recall, we were copy/pasting the entire list into our replies, in order to keep straight which words had been used. But at 37 pages, that adds up! At some point I'd love to start a new Scrabble Game thread, but that old game truly doesn't need to continue taking up server space.

I'm thinkin' that other candidates in that category may be some of the similarly long game threads from several years ago. Certainly I'd love to see new ones started, cuz they're rather fun, but those sorts of threads that were purely games which have long since slipped to the back pages can probably be deleted without affecting the great board our members enjoy.

Just my 2 psi. Whatdya think?

[drifter]

Ouch! Guess that means those of us with pending memberships need to take care of em, eh?!!

If only people would STOP posting on the website we wouldn't have this silly problem

[Greg@ihpil]

K,Something that I had noticed & pondered.Not knowing or understanding your dilema.Since I'm ,#1 a new member & a non-geek.Just a ,What if you stored the information on one of the portable drives that are now out?? If anything for your own desire to keep the thread's.With all do respect & my lack of experience in this area.If someone needed a thread,store it , in such a way it could be accesable,or put back on line for that person.Probably to much time & $$$,huh? Just a thought...Greg

I had another idea & wondered about .With the x000,members you have.had you ever considered using a zip code of members to see the highest concentration of members or ACTIVE members or to plan HH's?I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here.

[WreckWench]

Ouch! Guess that means those of us with pending memberships need to take care of em, eh?!!

If only people would STOP posting on the website we wouldn't have this silly problem

Ya know...you started off pretty good there...in fact I was tracking with ya pretty good until you got to the last part!

But seriously...we probably are going to have to move to a dedicated server at 4-5x our present hosting costs...so obviously ever little bit helps.

And community awareness is vital...so keep the suggestions coming!

[WreckWench]

Just my 2 psi. Whatdya think? [/color][/size][/b][/font]

Another good idea. We will probably collect them all first and then evaluate them and then start implementing. (Assuming we have lots of ideas of course!)

[Jerrymxz]

another suggestion is to go back and delete any thread that no one has posted in older then 3years. I just did a quick look and there are happy hour planning threads that no one has posted in since 2004. That would be a big step to keeping the overall size of the board down a bit. Not a hard rule just a bit of house cleaning.

[Hipshot]

WILCO

Rick