SITE CHANGES JUNE 16 2006

[truth]

Late yesterday our hosting company informed me that one of the reasons why our server has certain problems is because this site is using too much CPU resources on our shared server. They gave me three options:

1. Switch to a dedicated server (and pay them an arm and a leg for it.)
2. Figure out how do reduce our CPU usage to average levels.
3. Do nothing and have my account (this site) suspended.


So #1 and #3 are not really options, so that left me trying to figure out #2. Hero gave me major help on this and we took out the non-essential features that seemed to be hogging the most processing power.

Here's what had to change:

-downloads section is gone, hopefully to be replaced soon by another version that hogs less memory. The data that was here is still linked in the site in their original places as attachments, so the only feature lost (for now) is that all the site's attachments aren't on one central page.
-scrolling list of top 15 last active topics is gone. It's not coming back.
-each forum page displays less thread topics per page. This just means you have more pages to click through to see all the threads.


Overall we didn't lose much, I tried to keep the changes minimal. Please don't complain unless you are a programmer and can PM me with a better solution.

[LilNewbie]

Thanks for the update and all your hard work, Truth!

Newb.

[InfinityMax]

Nice work, Truth. Thanks for doing all this ass-busting.

[Gambit]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing,but if it will make the site better im all for it.

[ninthdoc]

I'd like to make a constructive suggestion.

A few weeks back, Simon was looking for a use of HLD.com. I just went there and it looks as though he's setting up customs' blog site. Any chance that Simon might allow the use of his site to host the download section?

[ultradoug]

well they not really work with you did they? Basicly they just said screw off or pay more, thats really bad service on there part. There should be some in-between medum that they could have. But leave it to big compinys not to really care. I wonder what would be involved with having the page on its own server, so you would not have to rely on someone else's compney for it, I'm sure that would cost huge so it wouldnt really be worth it, but in a way it would pay for itself since you would save from having to pay for hosting, then again as we saw in the past having your own server does not meen that you will not have problems with the page.
I guess in the end theres only to hope for the best and work with what you have.

[truth]

I'd like to make a constructive suggestion.

A few weeks back, Simon was looking for a use of HLD.com. I just went there and it looks as though he's setting up customs' blog site. Any chance that Simon might allow the use of his site to host the download section?

The problem was not having a download section it was how this one functioned. I'm working on getting a download section up shortly that is much easier on system resources.

[truth]

well they not really work with you did they? Basicly they just said screw off or pay more, thats really bad service on there part. There should be some in-between medum that they could have. But leave it to big compinys not to really care. I wonder what would be involved with having the page on its own server, so you would not have to rely on someone else's compney for it, I'm sure that would cost huge so it wouldnt really be worth it, but in a way it would pay for itself since you would save from having to pay for hosting, then again as we saw in the past having your own server does not meen that you will not have problems with the page.
I guess in the end theres only to hope for the best and work with what you have.

Yeah Doug, you don't really know what your talking about on this one ;).

[Oprime]

Sorry I started a new thread before really looking around for the answer. :oops:

[LilNewbie]

well they not really work with you did they? Basicly they just said screw off or pay more, thats really bad service on there part. There should be some in-between medum that they could have. But leave it to big compinys not to really care. I wonder what would be involved with having the page on its own server, so you would not have to rely on someone else's compney for it, I'm sure that would cost huge so it wouldnt really be worth it, but in a way it would pay for itself since you would save from having to pay for hosting, then again as we saw in the past having your own server does not meen that you will not have problems with the page.
I guess in the end theres only to hope for the best and work with what you have.

I don't think they have provided bad service. It's normal and expected for Web Hosting sites to monitor and limit bandwith usage on accounts. It costs money to provide it and a site that is using too much bandwith can detract from other Websites being hosted from that provider. Unless you purchase a dedicated server and bandwith from a Web Hosting service they will limit a site's bandwith usage per day, week or month (depending on service provider.) Just my .02.

Newb.

[daevablacc]

Thanx for the info! :)

[shakey_snake]

Late yesterday our hosting company informed me that one of the reasons why our server has certain problems is because this site is using too much CPU resources on our shared server. So, then it was this site that got attacked, not another on the server?

That sucks.

[truth]

well they not really work with you did they? Basicly they just said screw off or pay more, thats really bad service on there part. There should be some in-between medum that they could have. But leave it to big compinys not to really care. I wonder what would be involved with having the page on its own server, so you would not have to rely on someone else's compney for it, I'm sure that would cost huge so it wouldnt really be worth it, but in a way it would pay for itself since you would save from having to pay for hosting, then again as we saw in the past having your own server does not meen that you will not have problems with the page.
I guess in the end theres only to hope for the best and work with what you have.

I don't think they have provided bad service. It's normal and expected for Web Hosting sites to monitor and limit bandwith usage on accounts. It costs money to provide it and a site that is using too much bandwith can detract from other Websites being hosted from that provider. Unless you purchase a dedicated server and bandwith from a Web Hosting service they will limit a site's bandwith usage per day, week or month (depending on service provider.) Just my .02.

Newb.

Basically, only think server resource usage rather than bandwidth.

[truth]

Late yesterday our hosting company informed me that one of the reasons why our server has certain problems is because this site is using too much CPU resources on our shared server. So, then it was this site that got attacked, not another on the server?

That sucks.

Actually our site is/was attacking the server. The download section thing was poorly designed and was killing the server (or so we suspect this is/was the problem) The latest topic scroll wasn't helping either.

[shakey_snake]

Gotcha. That makes sense.

[toddrew]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing,but if it will make the site better im all for it.

The 'posts since your last visit' still works and can approximate the function of the 'scrolling 15'

EDIT: and after having been forced to use it in place of the scroll - I've come to like it much better - I can see the past 15 topics that have been replied to all at once rather than be at the mercy of the scrolling :)

[ultradoug]

Late yesterday our hosting company informed me that one of the reasons why our server has certain problems is because this site is using too much CPU resources on our shared server. So, then it was this site that got attacked, not another on the server?

That sucks.

Actually our site is/was attacking the server. The download section thing was poorly designed and was killing the server (or so we suspect this is/was the problem) The latest topic scroll wasn't helping either.

Translate: Truth is a hackorz.

[shakey_snake]

|-|/\X0rz?

[cbs42]

Truth, first and foremost thanks for being on top of this.

Is it really an all-or-none proposition for bandwidth usage from this provider? I've not hosted a site of this scope before, but it would seem that they could provide different levels of bandwidth, rather than just requiring you to have a dedicated server if you want more.

Also, how much more money are we talking about? Is it possible to maybe organize some funding drives and/or auctions to raise money for the higher hosting costs? I really miss the "latest posts" feature, and would be willing to pitch in more money to help get it back. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

[shakey_snake]

CPU cycles. Not Bandwidth.

[reapersaurus]

Late yesterday our hosting company informed me that one of the reasons why our server has certain problems is because this site is using too much CPU resources on our shared server. So, then it was this site that got attacked, not another on the server?

That sucks.

Actually our site is/was attacking the server. The download section thing was poorly designed and was killing the server (or so we suspect this is/was the problem) The latest topic scroll wasn't helping either.This worries me.

As I understood it, the techs determined there was a Distributed Denial of Service attack going on on the server that HSers is on.

If they minsinterpreted the CPU load of HSers as a DDOS, than frankly they are incompetent.
A professional, who;s job it is to maintain web serves with SQL on them and multiple wbsites, simply should not be concluding a DDOS is going on without capturing traffic. It is very simple to determine if the problem is internal or if it is coming from a deluge network traffic.

Now, from what I heard, this tech seemed to know his stuff, which suggests that them saying it was our CPU cycles that downed it yesterday is a smokescreen. I don't know why they'd say that - other than the obvious "point the finger at the annoying customer we'd rather not have"

truth - do you think they may be making us scapegoats, so they can get out of supporting a contract they didn;t know would be this resource-intensive?

Because another fact points away from us being the problem yesterday:
It makes zero sense that the CPU calls that our site made on the server were any cause of downing it, since we by definition have made those similar CPU traffic on previous days, yet that never caused a server lock-up and SQL errors. :roll:

Pointing at our traffic yesterday as the answer to their server performance problems is simply not supported by logic or previous days performance. :headshake:

[reapersaurus]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing,but if it will make the site better im all for it.

The 'posts since your last visit' still works and can approximate the function of the 'scrolling 15'

EDIT: and after having been forced to use it in place of the scroll - I've come to like it much better - I can see the past 15 topics that have been replied to all at once rather than be at the mercy of the scrolling :)I am mystified why anyone would use the Last 15 feature over the Posts since your last visit feature. :?:

Posts since last visit is the only way I can read these busy forums.
Last 15 takes too long to scroll anyway, and only has a small bit of screenspace to work with, and if you missed it you have to wait for it to come back, AND it was in an out-of-the-way part of the screen.

Seriously - if anyone has not used the Posts since last visit, they owe it to themselves to try it out asap.

[cbs42]

CPU cycles. Not Bandwidth.
AHH. Gotcha.
;)

Yeah, it helps to read.
:oops:

Still, I would like to know the answer to the cost question. We might be able to cough up the dough if it's not rediculously expensive.

[cbs42]

Seriously - if anyone has not used the Posts since last visit, they owe it to themselves to try it out asap.
Just tried this out. BIG :thumbsup:
Dunno why I never saw that screen before, but I agree it's way better than the scrolling list.

thanks!

[truth]

It is quite a bit more expensive. A couple hundred dollars more a year. for a VPS. I know some will miss that scroll, and maybe I can bring it back after we find out where we are sitting on CPU usage. The downloads section is nearly done :) This new way of doing the download section won't only be more efficient it should be quite a bit easier to use as well.

EDIT: What they wanted me to do was go to a full dedicated which is like triple what we are paying now!

[ultradoug]

Dont forget about the chat room upgrade so i can be mod of chat truth!


server people thing says "We cost too much."

[hero]

Sigh. Truth just tries to keep folks in the loop and all of the sudden it's pigpile on the evil hosting company. The hosting company is actually the single best one I've ever worked with. They were nice enough to:

1: Monitor a shared server closely enough to identify an anomoly, identify the owner, and suggest ways of dealing with it.
2: Not let the machine crash.
3: Not immediately suspend the site

Most shared hosting companies would not have done 1, 2, or 3.

What happened was this (for those of you who care about the details) -

To be clear, this site, which is NOT that huge, was taking 30 percent of the CPU cycles of a 4 processor, very efficient server with gobs of memory and really really good maintainance guys.

Truth had installed a bunch of Mods to PhpBB2. This is in general fine, but the reality is, since the Mods are just developed by cheese-eating high school students, they tend to be coded like crap and smell like ass.

The one that did the "scrape the site for anything with attachments" thing was written by some 7-year old who'se mom was on crack when he was born. Every time you hit that page, it did an incredibly innefficient search of the ENTIRE ****ING DATABASE. No index is saved, no logic is used. So each hit to that page resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of new database hits. That page alone, I'm guessing, could have caused the issues.

The recent/hot posts thing was (likely, I didn't read all the code) written similarly asshat. Most modders don't want to **** with the dbase, so instead of doing something smart (like altering the post code to update a table of hot threads) they do something stupid (like poll the database for the sort every single time you call the page). This adds hopefully only a few, but possibly hundreds, of calls to the Dbase every time someone hits the page. (bad loops kill).

The simple fix of number of threads on a page has more impact than you might imagine. The two most hit pages on this site are the viewforum and viewtopic pages. They're also very dbase intensive. If there are 50 items on each view, then there are between 50 and 200 calls into the database each time the page is hit. (I don't know *exactly* because I only know how my old codebase used to do it, not how this exact version is running). Cutting that down to 15 or so makes a HUGE impact on the load at any given measurement period. Let's face it, 90% of the time you hit the topic page, and the thread you want to hit is right there in the top 10 anyway.

So hopefully this solves the problem. After a few days, I will beat on truth to call the techs and ask them to review load. If I'm wrong, and it still sucks, then I quit. But I'm not wrong.

[shakey_snake]

EDIT: What they wanted me to do was go to a full dedicated which is like triple what we are paying now!
:shock: Of course they would! They've gotta stay in business, right?


Hero: :rofl:

[truth]

hero = the man! :D

[funrun]

Thank you Hero for explaining that better than I could have!

[ultradoug]

I want to blame someone who should I blame if I cant blame the hosting people?
I blame... (looks around) I blame Truth.


...and cheese eating highscool students!

And reaper! I have not blamed him in awhile.

[toddrew]

I am mystified why anyone would use the Last 15 feature over the Posts since your last visit feature. :?:

ignorance :oops:


Seriously - if anyone has not used the Posts since last visit, they owe it to themselves to try it out asap.

:!: AMEN :!:

EDIT: for any not aware, the 'view posts since last visit' link is in the upper right corner above the forums box on the forum main page/index page, right below Cupid's Kyrie

[reapersaurus]

Sigh. Truth just tries to keep folks in the loop and all of the sudden it's pigpile on the evil hosting company.

snip a bunch of obscene, but awesome info.I don't believe the sigh and evil hosting reference was for my posts, so I'll assume they aren't....

That's some great info, hero - and let me be very clear and loud in thanking you for bringing your unique skills and knowledge to help the community when it needs it.

As you know, it looks like this could have been (or may well be) a very damaging thing if the hosting company had forced the issue on this. In other words, another move.
Anything you can do to help that not come to pass is a big benefit. :thumbsup:

What still doesn;t follow logic and past performance even after your informative post, is:
Why would yesterday have caused a problem, when all that code was there for weeks beforehand, not causing the server problems it did yesterday?

[truth]

Sigh. Truth just tries to keep folks in the loop and all of the sudden it's pigpile on the evil hosting company.

snip a bunch of obscene, but awesome info.I don't believe the sigh and evil hosting reference was for my posts, so I'll assume they aren't....

That's some great info, hero - and let me be very clear and loud in thanking you for bringing your unique skills and knowledge to help the community when it needs it.

As you know, it looks like this could have been (or may well be) a very damaging thing if the hosting company had forced the issue on this. In other words, another move.
Anything you can do to help that not come to pass is a big benefit. :thumbsup:

What still doesn;t follow logic and past performance even after your informative post, is:
Why would yesterday have caused a problem, when all that code was there for weeks beforehand, not causing the server problems it did yesterday?

More people utulizing code in question... build up maybe?

[truth]

Okay guys!! Unfortunatley we had that bad bit of code so we have some more work to do for downloads. If everyone could stip thier attachments from the threads in this site and upload them in the new downloads section and then just put links up in the threads that would be fabulous!!! I'm going to kill the attachment mod shortly so any help I could get in moving stuff over there would ROCK!!

[funrun]

What still doesn;t follow logic and past performance even after your informative post, is:
Why would yesterday have caused a problem, when all that code was there for weeks beforehand, not causing the server problems it did yesterday?
I don't think their numbers were based on yesterday alone, I think it was a monthly total. I'm also not sure that our CPU usage was the only problem they encountered. From what I understood while talking to the customer service rep, they were attacking several problems with this server and doing a thorough optimization of the whole thing. This explains why he did not yet know when I talked to him that we were one of their problems. They must have uncovered the CPU usage later in the day while doing their thorough search.

[reapersaurus]

Okay guys!! Unfortunatley we had that bad bit of code so we have some more work to do for downloads. If everyone could stip thier attachments from the threads in this site and upload them in the new downloads section and then just put links up in the threads that would be fabulous!!! I'm going to kill the attachment mod shortly so any help I could get in moving stuff over there would ROCK!!could you define exactly what needs to be stripped and changed? :quarter:

Img links to the Gallery are OK, right?
And images attached inside posts (from postimage.org) are OK, right?

Just maps and the like?

[shakey_snake]

I've got maps done, follow the link in my sig for an example.

[truth]

I've got maps done, follow the link in my sig for an example.

yeah I put up a map too as well as the unoffical guide to HS.

Upload a picture to be used as a thumbnail whenever possible it makes things look alot nicer.

The downloads section is still a baby so there are no links back to here on it, but they are coming.

[funrun]

For those of you missing the Top 15, I've made it a lot easier to find the more useful "View posts since last visit" links by inserting them where the Top 15 used to be. Enjoy not waiting for the scroll now. :D

[cavie]

Okay guys!! Unfortunatley we had that bad bit of code so we have some more work to do for downloads. If everyone could stip thier attachments from the threads in this site and upload them in the new downloads section and then just put links up in the threads that would be fabulous!!! I'm going to kill the attachment mod shortly so any help I could get in moving stuff over there would ROCK!!

I moved my three downloads over easily and it all worked fine. Just wondering if there is any way to update/edit once they are submitted?

[truth]

Okay guys!! Unfortunatley we had that bad bit of code so we have some more work to do for downloads. If everyone could stip thier attachments from the threads in this site and upload them in the new downloads section and then just put links up in the threads that would be fabulous!!! I'm going to kill the attachment mod shortly so any help I could get in moving stuff over there would ROCK!!

I moved my three downloads over easily and it all worked fine. Just wondering if there is any way to update/edit once they are submitted?

Not yet there isn't... but that is kinda crucial. Let me go see if it's available in the premium version of that code.

[Revdyer]

Will the "Notify me when a reply is posted" be reinstated, or is that service too much to handle? Thanks.

[hero]

Just to be clear, if I say something negative, I almost ALWAYS mean you reap. Just for old times sake.

As for "why now" - as people have suggested, it was likely not a little bell going off, it was 11 customers calling them and saying "how come my server is dogging?" So some tech ran a log check and said "WTF?".

Moving to a new host over something like this would actually have made matters worse. If you're reasonably smart and willing to do the work, these guys are the best in the business. (Yes, the same guys I used at .net.) I can't tell you how many hacks they helped me troubleshoot.

[daevablacc]

The site is running better today. Thanx Truth! :bowdown:

[toddrew]

Will the "Notify me when a reply is posted" be reinstated, or is that service too much to handle? Thanks.

Same with the PM notices?

[skyknight]

This site logs me out an awful lot, thats why I liked the scroll, sometimes when I click the view your last posts I get logged out, when I go back, well I have already visited that page so their is no posts since my last visit. Maybe its just me on this one, but when it used to do this to me, I was not about to search each forum seperately to figure out what I missed. Oh well, its gone I guess for the betterment of the site. :(

[netherspirit]

This site logs me out an awful lot, thats why I liked the scroll, sometimes when I click the view your last posts I get logged out, when I go back, well I have already visited that page so their is no posts since my last visit. Maybe its just me on this one, but when it used to do this to me, I was not about to search each forum seperately to figure out what I missed. Oh well, its gone I guess for the betterment of the site. :(

Do you check the Log Me each visit (or something to that affect) box when you log in?

[skyknight]

I do, the other thing it does is what it just did to me when I logged on this time, It says no topic or criteria meet your search or something like that, after that there is no going back either. I used to find new threads with the scroll and then visit view my post topic which when I try to go to the second page often gives me that same we have no idea what you are lookin for message? Is this just me havin this problem?

Edit: I just tried it again, here is the message, no topics or posts meet your search criteria. This is kilin me

[shakey_snake]

If anything is to ever come back, could we put more posts per page at the top of the list?

[GaryLASQ]

I'm going to kill the attachment mod shortly so any help I could get in moving stuff over there would ROCK!!
i'll just remove my attachments outright and get them into the new download area a bit later.

hey, i like the new frontend for downloads. although i know it was in reaction to freeing up resources (memory) it ended up being an interface improvement to boot! :)

thanks Truth!

[ultradoug]

glad I was not the "attachment" mod.

[funrun]

I do, the other thing it does is what it just did to me when I logged on this time, It says no topic or criteria meet your search or something like that, after that there is no going back either. I used to find new threads with the scroll and then visit view my post topic which when I try to go to the second page often gives me that same we have no idea what you are lookin for message? Is this just me havin this problem?

Edit: I just tried it again, here is the message, no topics or posts meet your search criteria. This is kilin me
Myself and others have gotten the "no topics or posts meet your search criteria" also. In my experience it is triggered when a second search page is clicked to too quickly after the first. Essentially, the database is slightly slower than our mouse clicker-fingers. By "search" page, I mean any page that searches the database for conditions specified by you (your account), such as View posts since last visit, View your posts, and Search.

Solution: after you click one of these search pages, wait a bit longer before clicking to another search page.

[Parduz]

Maybe i've not right understood.... IF the download section is up, then this is all i can see:
Warning: fopen(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/skins/skin1/main.htm) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/admin/:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp) in /home/admin/public_html/download/functions/global_functions.php on line 1104

Warning: fopen(/skins/skin1/main.htm): failed to open stream: Operation not permitted in /home/admin/public_html/download/functions/global_functions.php on line 1104
Can not write to /skins/skin1/main.htm

<EDIT>
The "chat" and the "Home" buttons in the upper right corner still lacks of a string in Italian (i don't know if they have one in English)

[Gambit]

Maybe i've not right understood.... IF the download section is up, then this is all i can see:
Warning: fopen(): open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/skins/skin1/main.htm) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/admin/:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp) in /home/admin/public_html/download/functions/global_functions.php on line 1104

Warning: fopen(/skins/skin1/main.htm): failed to open stream: Operation not permitted in /home/admin/public_html/download/functions/global_functions.php on line 1104
Can not write to /skins/skin1/main.htm

<EDIT>
The "chat" and the "Home" buttons in the upper right corner still lacks of a string in Italian (i don't know if they have one in English)

dont sweat it, theyre probly just adding stuff to the downloads section, it happend to me too

[Parduz]

Yep! No sweat (which was also the name of great, mostly unknown, HardRock BonJovi-clone group)

As i said, i still have to understand if the DL section is UP or still in maintenance. :)

[funrun]

truth installed the upgrade for the downloads section and this caused some problem with the code. A programmer is looking into it now. We will have it up and running as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Downloads section is fixed now. Unfortunately we had to start over, but the new features are working. The layout and design of this area of the site is still being working on, but I hope everyone finds all of the functions you need are there.

[skyknight]

I tried waiting this time, I opened one page the forum page, clicked view all posts since last visit and there was that stupid message again. I am now in the process of checking every forum to see what I missed, the strange thing is view my last posts almost always works to the first page and only about half the time to the second one, forget a third.

[ultradoug]

why when you click a topic do you goto the first page sometimes?

[skyknight]

whenever I click on a topic I go to the first page, Is that what you mean? If I click on the page number I do not, but if I just click on the thread it takes me to page one.

[DarkSpade]

click on the little orange fille picture.
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/templates/subSilver/images/icon_newest_reply.gif

[gibberish_47]

I'm gone for a couple days and this is what happens? :lol:

Seriously, though, I don't mind the changes at all. Good ridance scrolling topics.

The new download section rocks! I'll get my stuff moved over.

[Gambit]

I'm gone for a couple days and this is what happens? :lol:

Seriously, though, I don't mind the changes at all. Good ridance scrolling topics.

The new download section rocks! I'll get my stuff moved over.

you wer gon? no wonder my speling hasnet been being corrected,whatevr nice to see you bak

[jcb231]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing,but if it will make the site better im all for it.

The 'posts since your last visit' still works and can approximate the function of the 'scrolling 15'

EDIT: and after having been forced to use it in place of the scroll - I've come to like it much better - I can see the past 15 topics that have been replied to all at once rather than be at the mercy of the scrolling :)

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

[Gambit]

whatever it dosnt matter, we can drop it now

[jcb231]

I'd like to make a constructive suggestion.

A few weeks back, Simon was looking for a use of HLD.com. I just went there and it looks as though he's setting up customs' blog site. Any chance that Simon might allow the use of his site to host the download section?

Couldn't HLD be used for lots of things for this site?

[Miniature Geek]

To all the people invovled in running this site, thank you. Even though I might think I can, I doubt I can imagine how much work goes into this site. You all have done so much for this community, and for that I'm greatful, a few changes, meh, at least we have a site to call home, sure its a fixer uper (I don't mean that in a negative way) but that's what gives it it's charm.

[Jason]

I've always used the "View Posts since las visit option" never even knew about the "Last 15" feature

[skyknight]

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

That is a good idea, would dropping chat free up the space, that is hardly ever used.

[Revdyer]

I just tried it again, here is the message, no topics or posts meet your search criteria. This is kilin me

It has started doing that to me, too, sky. <sigh>

[skyknight]

Well misery loves company rev. :P Anyways it is a bit tough to search every forum to see what is new. I enjoy your guys company enough to do this but I really wish there was another way. And yes Rev <sigh>

[truth]

I'd say it a browser issue... You guys have cookies enabled right?

[skyknight]

yeah I do have cookies enabled, I use Aol, it may be the browser except sometimes the search works other times it does not. I have never been able to get to the second page, its a great idea and I just want it to work for me.

[funrun]

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

That is a good idea, would dropping chat free up the space, that is hardly ever used.
If the top 15 didn't scroll then you would just be looking at the same threads as you see in the "View posts since last visit," which is the same as the list that was on the front page of HQ. The point of getting rid of the top 15 scroll wasn't so much the scrolling part, it was the number of queries it made on the server that was bogging down the server's memory.

[shakey_snake]

I use AolOH dear God. I'm sorry SK.

Do you have any other options?

[truth]

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

That is a good idea, would dropping chat free up the space, that is hardly ever used.
If the top 15 didn't scroll then you would just be looking at the same threads as you see in the "View posts since last visit," which is the same as the list that was on the front page of HQ. The point of getting rid of the top 15 scroll wasn't so much the scrolling part, it was the number of queries it made on the server that was bogging down the server's memory.

Right. As people are navigating across the index that thing pops up over and over again. This will reduce the number of queries to just when your looking for it. It functions perfectly so if you having issues it's likely your browser at fault. I suggest firefox.

[funrun]

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

That is a good idea, would dropping chat free up the space, that is hardly ever used.The type of things we had to drop was code that was taking a lot of CPU memory to run on the server. Dropping chat wouldn't do much, especially since it isn't used often.

[funrun]

The "chat" and the "Home" buttons in the upper right corner still lacks of a string in Italian (i don't know if they have one in English)
I have been wondering if the translations were working. Are you saying the Home and Chat buttons do not translate in Italian? If you tell me what the Italian translations are then I can fix it.

[truth]

Why does the last 15 have to scroll and be all fancy? Couldn't it just be a plain old list on the front page of the forum section....kinda like how HQ used to be?

That is a good idea, would dropping chat free up the space, that is hardly ever used.The type of things we had to drop was code that was taking a lot of CPU memory to run on the server. Dropping chat wouldn't do much, especially since it isn't used often.

Dropping chat wouldn't do anything at all actually. It's hosted offsite and just embedded here. And people do use chat. There is a chat group going once every couple of days.

[Parduz]

The "chat" and the "Home" buttons in the upper right corner still lacks of a string in Italian (i don't know if they have one in English)
I have been wondering if the translations were working. Are you saying the Home and Chat buttons do not translate in Italian? If you tell me what the Italian translations are then I can fix it.
There's no strings at all, just the icon button.

The fun part is that there's not an italian word for "Chat": we use "chat" :D

More or less, same for "Home page": you can use "Pagina principale", but each net surfing italian know what a "home" link means.

Anyway, if you want to strictly translate all, you can change "Gallery" in "Galleria" (even if the correct one is "Galleria immagini", 'cause "Galleria" means also "Tunnel", like the ones between Italy and France :D)

[DarkSpade]

I use Aol.


I think we've discovered the cause of all your internet problems.

[Revdyer]

I'd say it a browser issue... You guys have cookies enabled right?

Yep, cookies and all. The thing is that everything works fine for me 90% of the time. I'm not worried about the other bit, actually. It's just most interesting.

[funrun]

The "chat" and the "Home" buttons in the upper right corner still lacks of a string in Italian (i don't know if they have one in English)
I have been wondering if the translations were working. Are you saying the Home and Chat buttons do not translate in Italian? If you tell me what the Italian translations are then I can fix it.
There's no strings at all, just the icon button.

The fun part is that there's not an italian word for "Chat": we use "chat" :D

More or less, same for "Home page": you can use "Pagina principale", but each net surfing italian know what a "home" link means.

Anyway, if you want to strictly translate all, you can change "Gallery" in "Galleria" (even if the correct one is "Galleria immagini", 'cause "Galleria" means also "Tunnel", like the ones between Italy and France :D)I'll look into this and see what I can do.

[Miniature Geek]

Okay, not that I'm complaining, but who changed the forum all around?

[funrun]

LOL, MiniatureGeek read this http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=857&highlight=

[Miniature Geek]

LOL, MiniatureGeek read this http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=857&highlight=

Thank, I really need to learn to look for threads that might explain things...

Oh well, as long as Nether, LilNewbie, and you exist, I have help.

[Revdyer]

Thank you (powers that be) for the return of the reply notices!

[ninthdoc]

I keep getting this message when I push the "View posts since last visit" button:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/admin/public_html/community/includes/template.php(127) : eval()'d code on line 64

I see that a calendar has been implemented, is there something that I need to update?

[Pilgrim]

Ditto

[ninthdoc]

Okay, so when I try to access both my public profile from the membership list and my private profile the "Profile" button, I get this:

Template->make_filename(): Error - file profile_view_body.tpl does not exist

[truth]

Yeah I know there are some code issues. I'm waiting on the designer of the calander mod to get back to me. Hopefully he can help. If not I"m going to have to pull down the calander mod.

[Revdyer]

We all appreciate what you're doing, though, Truth. Don't get discouraged. (Just to show you I'm serious, I think I'll go donate some cash. Of course, if that doesn't work <laughing>.)
EDIT: that part worked just fine! Hurray!

[ninthdoc]

While it is frustrating that I can't use the site as I normally do, I think the calendar mod is a cool idea. Hopefully it can be successfully integrated. Thanks for the update.

[Parduz]

Am i the only one wirh problem with the "your message" and the "message since last visit" queries?

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/admin/public_html/community/includes/template.php(127) : eval()'d code on line 64
I receive this error clicking any one of the two links.
If after this error i go back and then click on the other, i obtain an empty search result without errors.
Then i go back again, and re-click the last one: i see this string again.[/code]

[ninthdoc]

Um, no, there were a couple of complaints one page over.

[skyknight]

This is kinda like what my browsing experience has been like since my top fifteen was removed :( My view last posts only works about 25% of the time). Welcome to my world.

[truth]

Well we all see it 0% of the time until we get this string of code fixed. Anybody on the board particularly gifted in this area?

[shakey_snake]

if you email me template.php(127) I'll see what I can do about line 64.

[reapersaurus]

the View Posts since Last Visit is 100 times more important than a Calendar feature (as cool as that would hypothetically be).

While we as humans love to see events put in calendars, I just don't see the need for it - there's an entire forum for Events, if people want to know what's coming up.
And I think the Event people have been doing very good in putting dates and updating the thread titles for all the stuff going on lately. :thumbsup:

[truth]

the View Posts since Last Visit is 100 times more important than a Calendar feature (as cool as that would hypothetically be).

While we as humans love to see events put in calendars, I just don't see the need for it - there's an entire forum for Events, if people want to know what's coming up.
And I think the Event people have been doing very good in putting dates and updating the thread titles for all the stuff going on lately. :thumbsup:

Not saying it's not more important, but I'd rather see if it's an easy fix (from the code writer) before tearing down the calander. I think the community can survive a couple days without view topics since last visit.

[shakey_snake]

it actually effects all searches.

[truth]

it actually effects all searches.

Your right I took down the calander and restored backups in an attempt to fix this, but it looks like it did something to an SQL table or something and so I'm lost until I can get some help.

[reapersaurus]

I Google searched and found this: Q: I'm getting an unexpected $ or $end parse/syntax error, what's causing
this?
A: This is caused by an expression which is defined with an opening brace,
while
the closing brace is omitted.

Examples:

if ($condition) {
....
// No closing brace; the error is thrown

function foo () {
....
// No closing brace; the error is thrown It appears to be missing a bracket on line 64.... :shrug:

oh - and this looks promising - the same Line 64 problem!

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10325109

or maybe it's 2 opening brackets in the confirmUser sectrion:
http://www.codingforums.com/archive/index.php?t-76473.html

[funrun]

I'm afraid this fix is not that simple girls and boys. If it was a one-line problem I woulda fixed it 2 days ago when I found the missing brackets causing the errors on our admin panel pages. The cal mod clearly had messed up the brackets there, so this is a plausible cause for these errors here as well. However the forum search pages are not built the same way as the admin pages, so the error is not really where the message says it is. Let me attempt to explain. . .

If I follow the error message
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/admin/public_html/community/includes/template.php(127) : eval()'d code on line 64
to line 64 of the template.php file, that line is just a comment in the code, which does nothing, so that's not the problem. This leads me to believe that this error message is really saying "in the file 'template.php' on line 127, the code that is being evaluated has an error on line 64". And sure enough on line 127, the code in template.php says
eval($this->compiled_code[$handle]);
which the best I can decipher in laymens' terms is saying "run all of the code in the variable 'handle'".

Now if I look at the code stored in the variable "handle," that is is actually hundreds of lines of code, part of which is also telling the code to pull in all the code from the file "search.php" which also contains hundreds more lines of code. So in effect, the error is somewhere in these hundreds of lines of code, likely in the search.php file since all our problems are with search pages.

Line 64 in search.php is actually a blank line. I've checked line 64 (and 127, just for good measure) and up and there is nothing that catches my eye as an error and there are no missing brackets, but since there are lines referencing other variables, I'm not sure that line 64 is really the 64th line after all the references get evaluated.

So there my error code trail ends.

truth it is possible this error was cause by the RSS feed mod and not the cal mod. Did you notice whether or not this problem happened after the RSS mod or cal mod? Most importantly, do you have a backup of the site files, specifically /community/search.php?

[truth]

I'm afraid this fix is not that simple girls and boys. If it was a one-line problem I woulda fixed it 2 days ago when I found the missing brackets causing the errors on our admin panel pages. The cal mod clearly had messed up the brackets there, so this is a plausible cause for these errors here as well. However the forum search pages are not built the same way as the admin pages, so the error is not really where the message says it is. Let me attempt to explain. . .

If I follow the error message
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in /home/admin/public_html/community/includes/template.php(127) : eval()'d code on line 64
to line 64 of the template.php file, that line is just a comment in the code, which does nothing, so that's not the problem. This leads me to believe that this error message is really saying "in the file 'template.php' on line 127, the code that is being evaluated has an error on line 64". And sure enough on line 127, the code in template.php says
eval($this->compiled_code[$handle]);
which the best I can decipher in laymens' terms is saying "run all of the code in the variable 'handle'".

Now if I look at the code stored in the variable "handle," that is is actually hundreds of lines of code, part of which is also telling the code to pull in all the code from the file "search.php" which also contains hundreds more lines of code. So in effect, the error is somewhere in these hundreds of lines of code, likely in the search.php file since all our problems are with search pages.

Line 64 in search.php is actually a blank line. I've checked line 64 (and 127, just for good measure) and up and there is nothing that catches my eye as an error and there are no missing brackets, but since there are lines referencing other variables, I'm not sure that line 64 is really the 64th line after all the references get evaluated.

So there my error code trail ends.

truth it is possible this error was cause by the RSS feed mod and not the cal mod. Did you notice whether or not this problem happened after the RSS mod or cal mod? Most importantly, do you have a backup of the site files, specifically /community/search.php?

RSS feed mod dosn't effect any files it just puts a couple of new files in. Therefore should be causing no problems. I put the backup files for the calander mod up but it didn't fix our problem. I found an unistall instruction text for the calander mod and it looks like you have to go in and change something in an SQL table, this I don't know how to do, so I'm going to have to wait until I have help.

[GaryLASQ]

without the handy "view posts since last visit" and "view your posts" lookups, seems like forum traffic got cut in half.

[funrun]

I agree, I wish I could fix it!

[Xotli]

Now if I look at the code stored in the variable "handle," that is is actually hundreds of lines of code, part of which is also telling the code to pull in all the code from the file "search.php" which also contains hundreds more lines of code. So in effect, the error is somewhere in these hundreds of lines of code, likely in the search.php file since all our problems are with search pages.

funrun, if you'll send me the search.php and possibly even the code that sucks it in I will take a look at it for you. No guarantees, but it's worth a shot.

I found an unistall instruction text for the calander mod and it looks like you have to go in and change something in an SQL table, this I don't know how to do, so I'm going to have to wait until I have help.

And, truth, I'd be happy to take a look at that as well if you like. I could probably send you the exact SQL commands you need to run if that would help. (Of course, if the problem is that you're not sure how to access the DB, I obviously wouldn't be able to help there.)

But my point is, this is the sort of stuff I get paid to do everyday, so I could theoretically be useful. :)

[funrun]

Much thanks for your code Xotli! If anyone saw some weird page code tonight, it was actually Xotli's code that I was running. It allowed me to narrow down my search for the real culprit file (not the template or search), and once I found it, spotting the missing end tag was no problem. I was able to fix it within seconds!

[bunjee]

Wheeeeeee~!!!!!!!!!

Happy happy happy happy, and thank you to all the time spent, and the new help offered and utilized.

And this is why this community rules!

[Xotli]

Much thanks for your code Xotli!

Ah, shucks. Tweren't nuthin'.

Oh, and hey ... my name's up at the top of every page now. Wow. :oops:

[Taeblewalker]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing

Amen.

[netherspirit]

too bad we had to get rid of the top 15 active topics, i lived by that thing

Amen.

Click the "View Posts Since Last Visit" link at the top right of the forums. It is also located at the bottom where the scrolling thing you used to be. It is FAR superior to the scrolling mod.

[skyknight]

Does not work for everyone though :(

[bunjee]

Does not work for everyone though :(

What is the error you get skyknight?

[skyknight]

I and a few others get a message saying something about no topics meet your search criteria. I get this about seventy five percent of the time. Even in my view my posts, I can look at my first page of posts but usually when I try to get to the second page I get that same message. Any help would be great Bunjee. Some people said it is because I use AOL, but I just recieved a PM from someone saying that they had the same problem but did not use AOL. I do use dial up, I do not think that is the problem though.

[Xotli]

I and a few others get a message saying something about no topics meet your search criteria. I get this about seventy five percent of the time. ... Some people said it is because I use AOL, but I just recieved a PM from someone saying that they had the same problem but did not use AOL.

Well, I don't know, but maybe this could help. If you look at the phpBB FAQ (http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=faq) and go down to question 10, you'll see it's entitled "My AOL based users keep getting logged out!". Intriguing. If you were contantly getting logged out, that would certainly explain it: you log in, look at posts since your last visit, immediately get logged out, then there are no posts since your last visit (since at that point your last visit was a couple of seconds ago).

Also note that while AOL is the most likely ISP to have this problem, it certainly isn't the only one. For instance, I was trying to set up a server on Verizon DSL a while back and the IP changed so wildly (and frequently) that I finally gave up.

What I'm wondering, though, is if this really is the problem, it seems like you'd notice you were having to log back in all the time. Maybe your browser is doing it for you--remembering your login info and all that--but you should still be able to see it doing it, I would think.

So ... does this sound like it's what could be happening to you skynight?

[funrun]

Well for sure we know this problem was before the calendar mod and it does not seem to be a problem with the code here but a problem caused by your internet connection or settings. I'm really sorry that you have problems, but I don't know how to fix them for you without compromising the hacking possibility addressed in that Q10.

[bunjee]

I and a few others get a message saying something about no topics meet your search criteria. I get this about seventy five percent of the time. Even in my view my posts, I can look at my first page of posts but usually when I try to get to the second page I get that same message. Any help would be great Bunjee. Some people said it is because I use AOL, but I just recieved a PM from someone saying that they had the same problem but did not use AOL. I do use dial up, I do not think that is the problem though.

Actually, I think I may know what this is, though not how to fix it.

When you are clicking the "view posts since" link, it queries the server about your account in some way for when you last visited. If no posts have been made between when you first click the link and then click it again, it will say "no posts meet your criteria"
Now, as for clicking on page 2, I've had this happen if I wait to long after clicking the "posts since last". If posts are made between when you click for page 1 and then click to page 2, it resets your time stamp, and there is no page 2 because there aren't enough results, or there are no results, so no page 2.

My trick? When I click into "since last visit" for the first time, I then open each of the pages links into new windows so I can just visit the windows as I finish each one. If I don't do that, by the time I get done with page one, page two has no results anymore.

Yeah, it ain't perfect. Computers aren't really very smart. They are overly literal.

[reapersaurus]

MY experience is very similar to bunjee's - she saved me time typing that out.

Except I don't open up new windows (most of the time) - I'm just careful not to navigate "away" from the window that has the first Posts Since LAst Visit page.

Meanin - I click forward to view pages and threads, then always click the Back button to get back to the 1st Posts since last visit page.

If I navigate back to the first page too quickly, it gives me that same error. I just wait about 30 seconds or so and Refresh. It doesn't lose its memory of what pages are new - in fact, it will keep 3, 4, 5, or 6 pages there for hours, even after I've read many of them.

If I close that browser window, then it's all over - totally new posts.
If I don't click some activity in a long time (around an hour), I think it does the same thing.

[netherspirit]

I do the same thing as bunjee except instead of windows I use tabs.

Firefox rules.

[Revdyer]

Computers aren't really very smart. They are overly literal.

Just like some of my compatriots in the spiritual professions.

[bunjee]

eh, tabs are just windows stuck to each other.
Whatever works for you, I just like to have multiple screens for my multiple needs, whether they are tabbed or loose.

And I like to use keyboard commands to switch windows, what is the keyboard command to switch tabs?

[skyknight]

I and a few others get a message saying something about no topics meet your search criteria. I get this about seventy five percent of the time. ... Some people said it is because I use AOL, but I just recieved a PM from someone saying that they had the same problem but did not use AOL.

Well, I don't know, but maybe this could help. If you look at the phpBB FAQ (http://www.phpbb.com/support/documents.php?mode=faq) and go down to question 10, you'll see it's entitled "My AOL based users keep getting logged out!". Intriguing. If you were contantly getting logged out, that would certainly explain it: you log in, look at posts since your last visit, immediately get logged out, then there are no posts since your last visit (since at that point your last visit was a couple of seconds ago).

Also note that while AOL is the most likely ISP to have this problem, it certainly isn't the only one. For instance, I was trying to set up a server on Verizon DSL a while back and the IP changed so wildly (and frequently) that I finally gave up.

What I'm wondering, though, is if this really is the problem, it seems like you'd notice you were having to log back in all the time. Maybe your browser is doing it for you--remembering your login info and all that--but you should still be able to see it doing it, I would think.

So ... does this sound like it's what could be happening to you skynight?


I do get logged out alot Xotli, this is exactly my problem I think. If I open multiple windows it logs me out, sometimes it logs me back in though but not often.

edit: Xotli, I read that and it really did not make any sense to me though that is what it sounds like is happening. how do I fix this? Please help :pray:

[netherspirit]

eh, tabs are just windows stuck to each other.
Whatever works for you, I just like to have multiple screens for my multiple needs, whether they are tabbed or loose.

And I like to use keyboard commands to switch windows, what is the keyboard command to switch tabs?

CTRL+TAB. I have an extension that even brings up a little menu of all my open tabs, and another that will show me thumbnails of my tabs to select from. Firefox is teh_awesome!

I use keyboard commands for EVERYTHING. I am a keyboard Samurai!

[Xotli]

edit: Xotli, I read that and it really did not make any sense to me though that is what it sounds like is happening. how do I fix this? Please help :pray:

Well, dude, I dunno that there's much we can do: it's not like we're going to convince AOL to keep you on the same IP for any reasonable length of time, and I'd say from that description of the problem I found that trying to change the phpBB code might make it worse instead of better. So, unless you're planning to switch from AOL any time soon, you may be stuck with the constant logout issue.

Now, as to how to solve your original problem--the loss of the scrolling latest topics--I can see how that could have been implemented in such a way to make it the resource hog that it was. But it seems to me like there should be alternative implementations that would be more efficient. Now, I'm no expert on phpBB, but maybe we can look around and see if there's some add-in that could take the place of the old scrolly dealie without killing the server.

And I like to use keyboard commands to switch windows, what is the keyboard command to switch tabs?

CTRL+TAB.

I like Ctrl+PgUp/Ctrl+PgDn better.

I use keyboard commands for EVERYTHING. I am a keyboard Samurai!

Yah, me too.

[bunjee]

edit: Xotli, I read that and it really did not make any sense to me though that is what it sounds like is happening. how do I fix this? Please help :pray:

Well, dude, I dunno that there's much we can do: it's not like we're going to convince AOL to keep you on the same IP for any reasonable length of time, and I'd say from that description of the problem I found that trying to change the phpBB code might make it worse instead of better. So, unless you're planning to switch from AOL any time soon, you may be stuck with the constant logout issue.
Hey Skynight, are you using AOL's built in browser, or are you logging in with AOL and then using IE or Firefox?

And I like to use keyboard commands to switch windows, what is the keyboard command to switch tabs?

CTRL+TAB.

I like Ctrl+PgUp/Ctrl+PgDn better.

I use keyboard commands for EVERYTHING. I am a keyboard Samurai!

Yah, me too.Xotli, are you left handed? Seems like ctrl-pgup or dn would be a stretch and I generally like to keep one hand on my mouse when surfing. When I'm using my laptop and the trackpad it matters less.

[skyknight]

Aol's built in browser, should this be changed? Is Firefox something I can download as a browser?

[bunjee]

Aol's built in browser, should this be changed? Is Firefox something I can download as a browser?Oh please please please!!!!

http://www.getfirefox.com/

You still have to launch AOL to establish your connection, assuming you are dialup. If you are using AOL broadband you may not have to launch AOL at all.

Believe me, you'll be a happier person using a browser other than aol's built in one.

[DoesntCompute]

Aol's built in browser, should this be changed? Is Firefox something I can download as a browser?Oh please please please!!!!

http://www.getfirefox.com/

You still have to launch AOL to establish your connection, assuming you are dialup. If you are using AOL broadband you may not have to launch AOL at all.

Believe me, you'll be a happier person using a browser other than aol's built in one.

Dump AOL! You'll be a happier person in general! I HATE AOL.

[Xotli]

Xotli, are you left handed? Seems like ctrl-pgup or dn would be a stretch and I generally like to keep one hand on my mouse when surfing. When I'm using my laptop and the trackpad it matters less.

Nope, not left handed. Just got used to Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn from using Excel. And I always keep two hands on the keyboard; can't type otherwise. :) I hardly ever reach for the mouse. Of course, once I do have to grab the mouse, I'd rather stick with that and then I don't want to go back to the keyboard. It's not one or the other I hate, it's just the switching back and forth. Need to get me a keyboard with a mouse control built in or somesuch. Except not like a laptop; most of those suck to have to work with for an extended period of time.

[truth]

Well I just got the email, our site closer ticket has been closed. Our CPU usage is under control.

[funrun]

Well I just got the email, our site closer ticket has been closed. Our CPU usage is under control.Excellent news! I'd been wondering if all our changes did the trick.

[funrun]

The Event Registration text should all be visible again now, i.e. it should be easy to find the unregister button now that it says "Unregister" on it again!

[GaryLASQ]

i was wonder what happened to the Event features. thought my mind was playing tricks on me again.

I use keyboard commands for EVERYTHING. I am a keyboard Samurai!
Yah, me too.
me three. if you notice, my own HS website has a small number of Tab stops per page. that is not by accident ;)

[ninthdoc]

i was wonder what happened to the Event features. thought my mind was playing tricks on me again.

Well, I don't know about your mind, but:

"You're eyes can deceive you, don't trust them."