Forum is very slow and times out at times

[leon]

Well that is much better, thank you to the fixer.

Isn't it sad that all this malicious stuff keeps on happening some people are just so horrible, and all they want to do is steal and cause misery.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by AstroViking

It's an attack of sorts, Alex. Not a malicious "trying to break in and do damage" attack, but what's called a Denial of Service attack that degrades the site's performance so much that it becomes unusable.

There are a lot of search engine 'bots' out there that will try and download an entire website to help people find content on the 'net. (Think Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.)

There are also bots out there that will copy an entire site and then try to find configuration errors or vulnerable software versions so that malicious attackers can find a way in.

Most bots are well behaved and don't make thousands of connections at a time and will obey the "robots.txt". Sadly, there are far too many that don't.

Regards,
V

Thanks for all that.
Maybe I am just too suspicious but one must ask ...who and why?

I would love to track down the "who" as I am pretty sure that would explain the "why"...probably really ticked off his earlier nonsense was dealt with...motivation..thats what its all about...

alex

[Startrek (Martin)]

Thanks RB for alerting
Thanks Terry for fixing
Much appreciated
Martin

[alpal]

Originally Posted by mojo

The problem should be fixed now. The issue involved a bad web crawler that was indexing 1000's of pages at once and exhausting all the web server connections.

I have blocked the crawler with much prejudice. Should all be good now.

Cheers.

It's working - yay - thank you.

[mldee (Mike)]

Originally Posted by mojo

The problem should be fixed now. The issue involved a bad web crawler that was indexing 1000's of pages at once and exhausting all the web server connections.

I have blocked the crawler with much prejudice. Should all be good now.

Cheers.

Thanks Terry, all seems OK here.

However, while on my soapbox, it would be good for the creators/maintainers of the site to initiate a formal discussion with members as to the overall present situation, both personally and financially, so that possible solutions to any ongoing problems could be discussed and decided upon, to keep IIS relevant and technologically up to date for our collective benefit and enjoyment of the forum.

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Working well!
Humble thanks to the technical gurus who keep the site going! I am not worthy...

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Thanks to everyone involved who fixed up the issues all good again hopefully forever

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by mldee

Thanks Terry, all seems OK here.

However, while on my soapbox, it would be good for the creators/maintainers of the site to initiate a formal discussion with members as to the overall present situation, both personally and financially, so that possible solutions to any ongoing problems could be discussed and decided upon, to keep IIS relevant and technologically up to date for our collective benefit and enjoyment of the forum.

Mike has a point.. The recent slump in IIS performance (now seemingly fixed) is a reminder that this is a free facility but one many of us use (and value) as a means of keeping in touch with developments and one-another. It is something I, for one, would consider as a subscription service if that is what it took to keep it going and perhaps even improving.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

I am a moderator on another forum and we do have a flat fee of $10 which allows users to have full membership benefits including the classifieds etc. I have no issue with a fee whether annual or one off.

[xelasnave]

If we are considering fees perhaps consider what needs to be done in terms of an update...
One thing maybe is to be able to host decent sized astro photos...

AND to ask if the owners want to do something.

So does anyone have an idea of cost to move forward?
That number may show if it is worthwhile or not.

I am confident that the money could be raised..at least hopeful...revenue can come from more adds...we only have astro but there is no reason George the plumber can't have a spot here... a member ship fee maybe..a fee to place an add to sell your gear..$5 could not hurt...

It all turns on what the owners want for the site..but doing nothing will deliver expected consequences.

alex

[slice of heaven]

There is a Donate button at the bottom of the left hand column if anyone has overlooked it.
I've certainly found the site to be of great value to me over the years.

[leon]

At a quick count there are just under 20,000 members here, 50% join up but are not really active with no activity at all with zero posts.

So at half the members donating say $10.00 dollars a year at least $100,000 could be raised easily, even $5.00 would get some decent revenue.

Just a thought, maybe.

Leon

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by leon

At a quick count there are just under 20,000 members here, 50% join up but are not really active with no activity at all with zero posts.

So at half the members donating say $10.00 dollars a year at least $100,000 could be raised easily, even $5.00 would get some decent revenue.

Just a thought, maybe.

Leon

The IIS site has 2 basic parts - one is social and science and the other is the buy-and-sell section. In the latter, buyers seek a bargain and sellers a fair price. It is commercially driven whereas the former is not.

To avoid the likely disinclination of most folks to pay a fee in order to read Alex's latest witty riposte,the answer may be to levy a small fee to enable read/post access to the Classifieds might be the way to go.

I assume the motivation here is to keep the site going and improving. It is still a fairly archaic structure - based almost entirely on the old (very old) Bulletin Board concept of the early days of internet and even before.

I can remember using a dial-up modem to download files from obscure sites at 32 bps. That goes back to the 70s and 80s. IIS is just a visual version of the same. Perhaps a plan to morph it into something a bit more modern would not be out of place. Of course that takes money to design and develop.

I for one would support such a structure and plan and be happy to pay a fee to underwrite it.

[leon]

It seems that I am not that technology advanced and really don't know how all that you have described works.

My suggestion was if funds were needed to keep us going and update as you mentioned then I'm 100% for it.

I joined many years ago 2009 and am the 911th member, yea I know 911 was not a good number so I am still here and if I have to pay to be here I would be happy as this place is just the best

Even reading Alex's last post would deserve a $1.00 or two.

Leon

[mldee (Mike)]

Glad to see some discussion on the potential solutions to the present situation.

I also would be quite happy to stump up a modest annual fee for the privilege of using the site's facilities.

It's probably a little premature to be discussing "emma chisit?" but as per Leon's post, my gut feel is that an annual $10 fee to support the forum operations and maintenance costs would not be a great impost for most members. About the same as a bottle of cheap lens cleaning fluid...Shiraz or Merlot, your choice.

[kris85au]

Fees???

1. What value do you expect to provide for charging fees that many other forums don't provide x1000 better for free already?

2. Context / knowledge / discussion wise, there is very little traffic here except some people posting nice AP images.

3. Classifieds? 80% of time old gear with 90% asked price of the brand new equivalent gear. In other words, most of the time, people try to offload old junk for hefty price.

3. Friends? Online? Social media mirage.

4. This side engine is two IT epochs behind. We did that 10-15 years ago. Times have moves.

5. As evidently expressed, the owners of this site stopped carrying from about 2016, for whatever reason.

So, for what exactly should I pay the proposed fees?

[xelasnave]

I think I could generate income by promising not to post

I don't know but I think the best thing each member can do is to contribute...even if you have nothing to say then say it..like me

Now I don't know so opposing views are welcome..maybe we need to save space..I don't know.

I look at the hits on my thread on my observatory build and would like to think all those hits mean something for the site when presenting reasons why someone should place adds here in so far as it adds to the numbers in some way...no doubt so many of those hits are bots but for whatever reason the hits come in...the main reason I keep posting in that thread is in the hope that I generate traffic that helps the site..in fact my motivation overall in posting is to provide something that may have folk checking in to hear a funny yarn or to see how that old mug is going ...

I suspect that many folk here are somewhat introvert , just like me, and really don't want to say too much..I get that because believe it or not I am an introvert...but I feel by telling your story, and we each have a story that will interest someone, the site will benefit...heck you get a paper cut..start a thread to initiate a chat..I never get paper cuts these days...Hearing about a paper cut would have me reliving those times and how my secretary would fuss over me receiving such an injury at work and making me a cuppa..just like Mommy would do...and now they are both gone along with the paper cuts...

I post images so often that I am not happy with in the belief that others will feel more comfortable posting their efforts...

AND for goodness sake owners place the donate button with a bit more impact...the day before yesterday is the first time I have ever noticed it...I still have not made a donation but I plan to if I see some direction...and I am happy to make a rather big one if it remains annonomous.

But please folks what are your thoughts on my suggestion that maybe each member could be a little more active in posting? Does it help?.

AND look at folk who post to entertain.
Flash drive for example..he gives and keeps on giving.
My attitude jumps when I see "Poppy" has made a post because I know it will be fun.
He gives his time to bring us joy and I ask for folk to emulate his fine work.

So many times I have showed my daughter something he has posted and we are both happier for it.

Good on your Flash drive.

AND Hans ...always bring something of interest.


OK I know it's out there so you say..but we are here and how nice to be greeted with something joyful or informative giving folk good reason to visit the site even if they are not selling something or have a problem they need advice upon.


alex

[leon]

Money, donations or not IIS is a great place to be, have some fun as Alex mentioned, chat with friends at times, learn and ask some dumb questions and get some great answers.

Leon

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Originally Posted by kris85au

Fees???

1. What value do you expect to provide for charging fees that many other forums don't provide x1000 better for free already?

2. Context / knowledge / discussion wise, there is very little traffic here except some people posting nice AP images.

3. Classifieds? 80% of time old gear with 90% asked price of the brand new equivalent gear. In other words, most of the time, people try to offload old junk for hefty price.

3. Friends? Online? Social media mirage.

4. This side engine is two IT epochs behind. We did that 10-15 years ago. Times have moves.

5. As evidently expressed, the owners of this site stopped carrying from about 2016, for whatever reason.

So, for what exactly should I pay the proposed fees?

Mate you have 7 posts and barely a contributor so maybe not comment about fees. Why are you here? Serious question

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Nikolas

Mate you have 7 posts and barely a contributor so maybe not comment about fees. Why are you here? Serious question

A more serious question is ...who are you? Note the grammar

Judging from his involvement so far he is a very negative person that seems to be grinding some sort of axe if you read all his posts.... seems bitter and hateful and small minded with a misplaced superiority complex...probably thinks evolution is just a theory

Don't feed the troll.

alex