Severe A2K Performance Problems

I think it would be good to advertise the fact that the site could do with a bit of help.
I read that if people use the donate button you can't tell who donated what where - so what harm is there?

I thought a message like:

If you think this collection is worthwhile - please consider donating a small sum to the up keep of the site - donate button (bottom right hand corner) - thanks

Other people could do it too.

I dunno - it's an idea.

I think it's a great idea, Endymion.

There are members who only see a forum or two - don't wander out into General - aren't aware of the fact that the problems they're having are related to the site itself, not their home computers or ISP's. I've posted links to this discussion, and PM'd and emailed a couple of folks who were convinced the problems were in their own computer. I notice that Occom Bill's got a notice in his 'signature' directing people to either this thread or the donate button (or maybe both).

The more the message gets round - the better for everyone - whether it leads to more donations or simply helps some people understand what's going on.

So I'd say "Busk on, busk on" - get the word out - become the local forum Minnesanger.

Osso, I don't particulary feel I'm "owed" any performance, but, as I said before, I had only recently come to realize how little $$$ was needed to make navigating around here 100% more pleasantly. I mean Jesus, it not thousands of $$'s like I thought.... it's a couple of hundred, divided up amongst a lot of people.

I'm pretty sure craven didn't mind going out and spending donated money in order once he had it in order to stop getting complaints about the cursed slowness. If you do Craven, let us know. I sure do thank you for making the purchase for us. It's a LOT faster lately.

Like the song sez...

You don't need a penny, just to come around,
But if you got a nickel won't you lay your money down.

It's just a fact of life that support is needed, and there's lots of people happy, willing and able to give it, if they're aware of the need.

Hey, if Refdesk can ask for money, certainly A2K can:


http://www.refdesk.com/support.html

My fear is that if we send Craven more money it'll end up here

Whoa! Is everyone getting uber-quick response times?

no

I observed this behavior shortly after people started donated (though I'm too lazy to look where I posted the observation.) The problem does get a little worse when the Americans awaken and the load on the A2K server rises. But the correlation is weak. So maybe the merger of A2K's host company created technical problems to go with the diminished support staff. Is any of you guys sure its a dearth of RAM that's limiting A2K's performance?

Does anyone know whether the RAM has been added? I'm still encountering many problems--I assume we all are.

As my mother would say, "So, nu?"

Craven indicated in an earlier post that not only does A2K have growing problems, so does A2K Server over which he has no control.

Spring is coming, the glaciers will melt and all sorts of little flowers will bloom.

Meanwhile, I'm obviously more inconvenienced that anyone else because I am such a tender and sensitive person with thousands of demands on my all-too-limited time.

just a comment :
the wonders of technology sponsor their own problems ...
recently it was reported the canada's 'bank of montreal' mastercard system that had dealt with a certain store (homesense ?) had been COMPRISED (what a choice word ) .
i received a new mastercard last week with a notice that the new card had been sent out because the old card 'might have been comprised ' .
on friday mrs h tried to use her mastercard and it was refused .
i tried to phone the emergency numbers several times but could not get an operator . the message : "your call is important to us ... blah , blah , blah ... " was repeated over and over again .
so i dropped by one of the branch offices of the bank of montreal on friday afternoon .
yes , i was told , the card had been cancelled . there had been a security problem ; that's all the rep could tell me . a new card should be issued "shortly" :wink: .
so today (sunday) i phoned again . i used the lost/stolen card number and got an operator after about 30 minutes . yes , the card had been cancelled ; there had been a security"lapse" .
a new card would probably be issued 'within a week ' .
the interesting thing is that mrs h had not used her card at the 'security risk' store since the middle of last summer ! that seems to indicate that the 'security breach' must have taken place quite some time ago but had not been noticed .

i might add that we have used credit cards for probably about 30 years and have only had minor problems and they were always resolved quickly .

imo the bigger a system gets and the more transactions are being processed , the more likely the occurence of a major breakdown becomes - and it gets more difficult to fix .
hbg

Are the hamsters just taking too many breaks?

of course, now A2K is working at lightening speed.
Maybe the hamsters just needed more food (and caffeine)

Lightning speed? It's been down 3 times in the past 10 minutes!

And that goes on ... ...

I have no doubt the hamsters are doing their best, but it'd be good to know at what stage the fix is at. Right now we have absolutely no idea.

I have been holding my breath all morning. For the last few days, sad and depressed, I imagined that A2K was going the way of Abuzz........................a gentle memory out there somewhere in cyberspace.

And now today. So far A2K appears to have renewed vigor, and is merrily speeding along the information superhighway. Can it be true? Is it for real? I don't want to get too excited, but so far, things seem to be holding steadily.

I told you, Craven. Feeding a little cod liver oil to the hamsters does wonders!

Hate to say it, Phoenix, but I've been bumped and frozen out twice already. Had to log in three times so far.

Hate to say it, Phoenix, but I've been bumped and frozen out twice already. Had to log in three times so far.

Roberta- In general, A2K sems to be better. There was one time this morning though, when it took an inordinate amount of time to post a reply.