Forum News

[Ploppy]

Hi All,

Just an update on what has been going on behind the scenes recently:

• Forum software upgraded to latest version, 2.2.2
• Modifications re-added (Board Panel, Who was online, Statistics, Article system etc.)
• Entries Added to the Plakias Map. See this post
• All outstanding registration verifications processed. Nice to see the new members posting as well.
• Cleanup of the website due to lack of space.

We currently host this website with Invision, the people who wrote the forum software.
They have recently restructured the pricing plans. Whilst this meant we (by we I mean John) payed marginally less for the hosting they slashed our storage space from 500MB to 100MB. This meant we were 400% over  which is why the map was unavailable for a while as I couldn't upload it. As mentioned above I have cleaned up the website and have got it down to 92MB, yep we have a whole 8MB (or 1 picture from my camera) free  
On top of this there is a bandwidth cap per month of 5GB. We are currently at 4.9. Tomorrow the site may be inaccessible.

In the interim I will probably upgrade our package to double the space and triple the bandwidth which should see us good for the foreseeable future. Long term there are other options to look at.

Anyway, sorry about the rambling but could we please not add large attachments at the moment. If you can please link to any photos hosted elsewhere. I am happy to host anyones photos on my personal site, just send me a message. I am currently creating a photo gallery for my photos where you will be also able to upload your piccies. There will be other stuff where you can add comments, ratings etc. I will post about it soon.

Thanks,

Paul

[Graham_and_Karen]

In the interim I will probably upgrade our package to double the space and triple the bandwidth which should see us good for the foreseeable future. Long term there are other options to look at.

Thanks,

Paul

If a few small? voluntary contributions from members would help, it might be a way of getting the storage and bandwidth we want. I've noticed that often, now, I get a 'server too busy' or other error message when I try to log in.

[Ploppy]

In the interim I will probably upgrade our package to double the space and triple the bandwidth which should see us good for the foreseeable future. Long term there are other options to look at.

Thanks,

Paul

If a few small? voluntary contributions from members would help, it might be a way of getting the storage and bandwidth we want. I've noticed that often, now, I get a 'server too busy' or other error message when I try to log in.

Hi Graham,

It is not hugely expensive but if anyone wants to contribute I suppose we could set something up. On a personal note, the beers I get from other members in September are much appreciated  

Yes that 'server too busy' message has been annoying but I think that is more down to server load than our bandwidth. It has got better the last couple of days so hopefully Invision are on top of it.

Say 'Happy Birthday' to Karen from us on Monday.

Cheers,

Paul

[John R]

It is not hugely expensive but if anyone wants to contribute I suppose we could set something up. On a personal note, the beers I get from other members in September are much appreciated

Can you give us an idea of upgrade costs and frequency. Speaking for myself this forum is well worth some little cost to some of us willing participants.

Re September beers - well deserved indeed. Now I know why you are coming back in September this year.

John R

[Graham_and_Karen]

In the interim I will probably upgrade our package to double the space and triple the bandwidth which should see us good for the foreseeable future. Long term there are other options to look at.

Thanks,

Paul

If a few small? voluntary contributions from members would help, it might be a way of getting the storage and bandwidth we want. I've noticed that often, now, I get a 'server too busy' or other error message when I try to log in.

Hi Graham,

It is not hugely expensive but if anyone wants to contribute I suppose we could set something up. On a personal note, the beers I get from other members in September are much appreciated  

Yes that 'server too busy' message has been annoying but I think that is more down to server load than our bandwidth. It has got better the last couple of days so hopefully Invision are on top of it.

Say 'Happy Birthday' to Karen from us on Monday.

Cheers,

Paul

 "Say 'Happy Birthday' to Karen from us on Monday."
Thanks Paul - Done - and Karen sends her regards. I echo John R's thoughts - I'd happily contribute a bit, given an idea of how much would help - The photos from Harribobs and others all add to the enjoyment of the site. It would be a shame if the posting of photos had to be restricted. If, say 10 members chipped in, how much a year are we talking to get the bandwidth/storage we would like?

[Ploppy]

Upgraded hosting will be around $240 a year. About a tenner a month with the current favourable exchange rate.

I need to speak to John before anything is done.

When we have more space you will be most welcome to upload photos.
Chris actually links to his own online photos, he doesn't attach them to the post.

If you need somewhere to upload photos you can try out my photo site as mentioned in my post over here.

[Mike G]

The photos from Harribobs and others all add to the enjoyment of the site. It would be a shame if the posting of photos had to be restricted. If, say 10 members chipped in, how much a year are we talking to get the bandwidth/storage we would like?

I agree about the photos. However, I've noticed that when people reply to a posting containing a photo they often copy the photo, with the end result that one photo often occurs many times and this must eat up our space allocation. We could easily economise with a bit of common sense.

Mike

[Greecemad]

I agree about the photos. However, I've noticed that when people reply to a posting containing a photo they often copy the photo, with the end result that one photo often occurs many times and this must eat up our space allocation. We could easily economise with a bit of common sense.

Mike

Mike,

I don't think this is correct. When people reply to a posting contianing a photo they are only copying a link to the same photo. So this won't chew up any more space. Most of the photos appearing on the board are links to photos that are hosted elsewhere (including all those posted by Harribobs), so these don't take up any space.

I don't mind contributing to the cost of the board, but what are the mechanics of this going to be?

Greecemad

[Ploppy]

Mike,

I don't think this is correct. When people reply to a posting contianing a photo they are only copying a link to the same photo. So this won't chew up any more space. Most of the photos appearing on the board are links to photos that are hosted elsewhere (including all those posted by Harribobs), so these don't take up any space.

I don't mind contributing to the cost of the board, but what are the mechanics of this going to be?

Greecemad

Yes that is right, where the same image appears in another persons reply in a thread it is only stored once. Also the image is only downloaded to your web browser once, the first instance is cached and the second reads from there instead of re-downloading.

The board software already has a provision for 'subscription' payments. What I have seen done in other forums is where members who make a donation get some sort of perk, more upload space or lack of adverts (not that we have any).

I'm really waiting to hear from John first to see what we want to do (if anything)

Thanks for the support,

Paul

[harribobs]

Upgraded hosting will be around $240 a year. About a tenner a month with the current favourable exchange rate.

I need to speak to John before anything is done.

When we have more space you will be most welcome to upload photos.
Chris actually links to his own online photos, he doesn't attach them to the post.

If you need somewhere to upload photos you can try out my photo site as mentioned in my post over here.

that was my understanding as well, hence why i always link in the big'uns

i'm quite happy to contribute towards the site as well, i'm sure there's enough of us to make the difference up

chris