CB Infinity forums crashed?

[Darnok]

What is it with the official forums at the moment? I get massive lag - and that only if I get the forum actually loaded. SQL errors otherwise. Anything on FB or Twitter about this (I use neither...)?

[Scorch]

Not yet. But maybe they are fixing it?

[Darnok]

This is the internet. Anything other than impatient rants is not acceptable.

[Scorch]

Oh, you're right! *rage rage rage* (hell and fire) (damnation)

[ElectricPaladin]

Yep, they're down for me, too.

[ElectricPaladin]

And... they're back.

[Zac]

Still not fixed though

[ElectricPaladin]

Still not fixed though

Yeah. Still no search function.

[Mob of Blondes]

Around June 5th they implemented Warcors, fucked up something else and had to remove lots of functions (no search or some special pages, eg) to keep things going. Or that's what they say. Since then the forum is in dumb snail mode, and probably will have issues now and then ("already read" is lost every some hours). Before I have seen SQL errors, not in the past weeks, but not "working correctly" either.

No info if they really are fixing it or even if they know what is really going on.

[Darnok]

Shortly after my OP the forums were back - I take that as "complaining on the interwebs WORKS!", and a personal achievement. You can now all thank and praise me.

Around June 5th they implemented Warcors, fucked up something else and had to remove lots of functions (no search or some special pages, eg) to keep things going. Or that's what they say.

I'm with "or so they say". Unless they use some incredibly weird stuff for the forums, it just doesn't add up: your normal forum software isn't that prone to mistakes. And even IF the Warcors addition is the reason, there was plenty of time to fix any issues.

[Mob of Blondes]

They use IPBoard. Warcors seems to be a group... maybe someone said "I know SQL!!!111!11eleven" and did a hack... in production server. Or tested... with 5 users. I have seen too many horror stories, so I can believe anything. All we know is that it was working acceptably until then. The speed of posts in some sections I followed has gone down afterwards.

Really, I'm pretty feed up of how tech things are handled (general, not CB), it's like if everything was new land so no lessons from past. Or always out of time/understaffed (= low in all kind of resources). Or both.

[Arachas]

Good thing we created an alternate forum for you guys to rant on!

[IJW Wartrader]

Around June 5th they implemented Warcors, fucked up something else and had to remove lots of functions (no search or some special pages, eg) to keep things going. Or that's what they say.

Vastly more traffic than normal because of Operation: Icestorm is what I'd heard. As far as I'm aware it's got nothing to do with the Warcors, that sub-forum adds maybe 5% extra traffic to the forums.

[Section9]

Around June 5th they implemented Warcors, fucked up something else and had to remove lots of functions (no search or some special pages, eg) to keep things going. Or that's what they say.

Vastly more traffic than normal because of Operation: Icestorm is what I'd heard. As far as I'm aware it's got nothing to do with the Warcors, that sub-forum adds maybe 5% extra traffic to the forums.

It's like the older forums. They'd crash pretty hard every new release week due to how much traffic they were getting[/nostalgia]

[Darnok]

It's like the older forums. They'd crash pretty hard every new release week due to how much traffic they were getting[/nostalgia]

That's a solid sign of shitty forum software...

[Mob of Blondes]

I would search and show you what was said exactly. But search doesn't work.

Memory still works, so some small snippets:

yesterday the admins started to update the warcor status for spanish players in the spanish forum and then they reported the same problems. I gues is all related, now we have the same problem in both forums.

Update: Palanka said in the spanish forum:
Es algo temporal. El foro está en modo "no queremos que se nos caiga el servidor". En unos días volverá a la normalidad.
It is temporary. The forum is in "we do not want the server to fall." mode. In a few days it will return to normality

Doesn't seem like PEBKAC, more that the forum is FUBAR.
Yasbir quoted Palanka, that it's related to the WarCors update, and that CB is trying to make sure the forums don't go completely offline by disabling some functions for a little bit.

Sorry! We had to put the forum on Performance Mode by now. We're trying to fix it as soon as possible.

It could also be related to poor configuration, not just "design". With machines you have to examine what is going on and then act, be it a damaged propeller cavitating or a SQL with wrong buffer sizes.

[Section9]

It's like the older forums. They'd crash pretty hard every new release week due to how much traffic they were getting[/nostalgia]

That's a solid sign of shitty forum software...

Or any server getting hit with significantly more users than it was intended to handle. A server intended to hold ~100 simultaneous users is going to hate life on release week when there are 1,000 users (trying to be) online simultaneously.

[Zac]

1000 active users is not usually the same as 1000 simultaneous connections. So even 100 simultaneous connections can account for a lot more active users.

I don't think that the Infinity forum gets as much traffic as sites like Dakka Dakka or other more general hobby forums so I'd be surprised if the underlying problem was traffic. More likely they are running their DB server and web server on the same machine

[Scorch]

1000 active users is not usually the same as 1000 simultaneous connections. So even 100 simultaneous connections can account for a lot more active users.

I don't think that the Infinity forum gets as much traffic as sites like Dakka Dakka or other more general hobby forums so I'd be surprised if the underlying problem was traffic. More likely they are running their DB server and web server on the same machine

Don't forget that CB is imagined much bigger than they actually are. I agree, they don't draw as much traffic as Dakka, or some of the other general game forums.. but I also think they have not that big a server as, for example, Dakka. While CB has grown in the last three years, they are still a small company and they are working hard to keep by with the demands of their playerbase.

(probably the reason why I'm getting pretty much up the fence lately when people criticize CB's decisions as much as as what has been going on lately. Those guys are working their asses off to keep up with the demand, they should get more respect than some currently have for them. I hope N3 will hit like a bomb, giving them some time and reasons to grow, not only in influence in the market, but also as a company to keep up with all the growing demand.)

[Taylor]

(probably the reason why I'm getting pretty much up the fence lately when people criticize CB's decisions as much as as what has been going on lately. Those guys are working their asses off to keep up with the demand, they should get more respect than some currently have for them. I hope N3 will hit like a bomb, giving them some time and reasons to grow, not only in influence in the market, but also as a company to keep up with all the growing demand.)

You're not alone there, man. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of the negativity and criticism directed towards them by some (not all) of their fans. These guys are really working hard trying to coordinate an international and multilingual system, and I give them all the props in the world for not speaking out in a similar fashion when they open their inboxes in the morning and see the vitriol directed at them.

[Mob of Blondes]

Work smart, not hard.

All this feels like "restart, reboot, reinstall, buy a new computer" periodic routine vs finding what the damn issue is and solving it for once. And, sorry, "forum is not part of their business" in this day and age is like saying a poor shop window display is no problem for a classic shop. There are options, like learning how to put the items in it, paying someone to dress it or running a direct sale, no display business.

[Zac]

(probably the reason why I'm getting pretty much up the fence lately when people criticize CB's decisions as much as as what has been going on lately

Its also just a forum. Its not the end of the world.

[Darnok]

Update: Palanka said in the spanish forum:
Es algo temporal. El foro está en modo "no queremos que se nos caiga el servidor". En unos días volverá a la normalidad.
It is temporary. The forum is in "we do not want the server to fall." mode. In a few days it will return to normality

So either something went wrong big way, or they have a very odd understanding of "in a few days".

And I never got why people complain about complaints. Either the critique is justified, then the problem should be adressed and preferably solved (not always possible though). Or it is unjustified, in which case this should be explained, and end of story. Somebody "working hard" is not an excuse for poor performance - I could work my ass off to build a car, it would still be a shitty piece of crap, and you would be right in pointing it out.

That said: I am happy for the CB forums running at all. I just wonder when they will return to their previous standard performance.

[Scorch]

And I never got why people complain about complaints. Either the critique is justified, then the problem should be adressed and preferably solved (not always possible though). Or it is unjustified, in which case this should be explained, and end of story. Somebody "working hard" is not an excuse for poor performance - I could work my ass off to build a car, it would still be a shitty piece of crap, and you would be right in pointing it out.

I personally think CB is doing a great job with the tools they have. As a small company they've claimed a big piece of the cake all for themselves in a relative short time. Seeing as most of the complaints are something like 'I don't get what I want!' followed by a tantrum I can pretty much say most of the complaints are completely unjustified and grounded in some immature toddler syndrome.
Next to that, you're right.. working hard doesn't equal delivering good products.. but I don't think that's the case with CB currently.

[Mob of Blondes]

So either something went wrong big way, or they have a very odd understanding of "in a few days".

Lunar days?

[chromedog]

No, just a very SPANISH understanding of a few days. Life there is NOT the same rush, rush, rush that certain nations elsewhere suffer with.
It's a slower pace - manana and all that.

[Darnok]

No, just a very SPANISH understanding of a few days. Life there is NOT the same rush, rush, rush that certain nations elsewhere suffer with.
It's a slower pace - manana and all that.

So THAT is why they lost in the preliminaries?

[Mob of Blondes]

So why did win a lot of things in the last years? Outsourced and lots of Impersonation L2?

[Pacific]

If you watch motorsport (specifically, world class motorbike racing) there is nothing at all, slow about the Spanish...

[chromedog]

Life in Spain isn't at the same pace as say Chiba or NY/Boston 'plex. This is in no way invalidated by your statement. Watch how swiftly Spanish bureaucracy moves (or doesn't. Glaciers have been noted to move faster).

Life on Spanish ROADS, however, is a different story. That can often be frustratingly short (the life, that is. The roads can be long with many a winding turn.). Impatience in Spanish drivers and the fuego of their tempers probably plays into this.