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A little question, how is the forum going to be prepared for Premiere?



Tigero
Rivendell


Nov 16 2012, 6:53pm


Views: 1024
A little question, how is the forum going to be prepared for Premiere?
I remembered when the first trailer came out, the forum was barely usable, took 5 minutes to open a thread. (Or is it just my connection) Wonder how it will last the flood of posts after premiere...
Pessimists have no disappointments.


Ardamírë
Valinor


Nov 16 2012, 7:46pm


Views: 884
I wonder that too
With both trailers, I've had so much difficulty getting on the boards. I'm really hoping it's not going to be like that for the first few days after the release.
"...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales


Silverlode
Forum Admin / Moderator


Nov 16 2012, 9:20pm


Views: 850
I'm afraid
that it will. It has to do with server capacity, and we can surely expect a massive jump in site visits when the movies are released. If past experience is anything to go by, however, the first several days' worth of posts will be made by newbies saying things like "OMG!!!! KILI is HAWT!!!!!!" and people won't be able to engage in normal discussion until things calm down a little anyway. Tongue

On the bright side, these boards, while they may slow down as the servers bog, don't crash as easily as the ones we had during the LOTR releases. Also, Flat mode is likely to load up faster than Threaded when things are busy, so those of us who normally view Threaded may want to change over for a few days until the first rush is past.
Silverlode






Magpie
Immortal


Nov 16 2012, 9:47pm


Views: 823
but...
that doesn't quite make sense to me.

I come into each board with the default set to threaded collapsed. I only see subject heads. If I click on a subject head, I see that one post and the rest of the subject heads in an outline.

If I were to view that thread flat, I'd have to load every post (or some set number of them). With threaded, I only have to load the post I want to read and the rest are just subject heads.

Why is threaded slower?

I will say, if I try to view a forum as threaded expanded, that is slower than threaded collapsed. But that difference is between collapsed and expanded, not between threaded and flat.

edit to add: I thought the setting were collapsed and expanded but they are actually collapsed and threaded.

So the choices seem to be

threaded - collapsed
threaded - threaded (just checked it out... it's expanded)
flat - collapsed
flat - threaded (again... this is a expanded view).

FINAL ANALYSIS :
There are two places that one can chose threaded: Default Post Display and Default Forum View.

It makes sense that Threaded for Default Forum View would be slower.

But I don't think having Threaded for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View) would be quicker - or as quick as having Flat for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View).

LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide

(This post was edited by Magpie on Nov 16 2012, 9:54pm)


Silverlode
Forum Admin / Moderator


Nov 16 2012, 10:06pm


Views: 814
I don't know for sure...
but I suspect it has to do with simpler ordering - Flat mode arranges by time stamp, while Threaded arranges by the "reply to" tags. I think it's not so much the number of messages shown at a time as the outline display that bogs things down.

That's my theory, anyway. I just know by practical experimentation in times of extreme board stress that often Flat will load while Threaded times out. Flat/Flat (also known as Collapsed/Flat) is the quickest loading option because it never shows you the whole thread in subject lines.

As to your options, yes, much confusion is caused by the fact that they're labeled differently on the profile settings than they are on the board. But there are two categories:

Forum view: When you click on the main forum screen, you will see either
1. Threaded/Expanded - all threads laid out in outline form, so you can see the form of all the threads as you scroll down the page
2. Flat/Collapsed- you see only the subject line of each post.

Thread view: When you click into the thread, you will see either
1. Threaded - you will see the post you are reading, and below it the outline of the conversation with the currently-open message bolded.
2. Flat - You will see all posts one after the other, sorted into pages. No display of the thread outline.
Silverlode






Magpie
Immortal


Nov 16 2012, 10:07pm


Views: 810
sorry, typo (that makes no sense) caught past edit window...
Quote
But I don't think having Threaded for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View) would be quicker - or as quick as having Flat for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View).
I meant to say just the opposite:

I DO think having Threaded for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View) would be quicker - or as quick as having Flat for Default Post View (paired with collapsed for Default Forum View).

LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide


Magpie
Immortal


Nov 16 2012, 10:11pm


Views: 815
Well, I'll try it out when things bog down
but I hate flat so much that I will likely just avoid the forums since all the joy of visiting will be sucked out it! lol.

It's like saying, You have to read it all if you want to read any of it. I only want to read what I want to read and if it takes 3 minute to load a threaded outline of 150 new posts - when I really only want to read 10 of those in the end - I don't think I'd gain that much time by loading flat and hitting next three or four times and perusing all the threads in each page display.

If the boards break... I'll probably just do private email. :-)

LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide


Silverlode
Forum Admin / Moderator


Nov 16 2012, 10:22pm


Views: 842
I understand.
And from a personal enjoyment standpoint, I much prefer Threaded also. My standard view is Threaded/Threaded because I like to see everything at all times. Wink However, as an Admin, the difference between being able to get on and not being able to tips the scale in times of high traffic. Better to be able to scan a thread by skimming posts I'm not interested in than not to be able to see it at all.

Knowing you and where your stress threshold is, you probably are better off on email or at least PM for a week or two following release. When things calm down enough for you to use your favorite viewing mode, they may also be calm enough to engage in the sort of discussion you prefer. Smile
Silverlode






Ardamírë
Valinor


Nov 17 2012, 12:25am


Views: 840
Well that stinks
Though I won't regret having to wade through the fanatics.

I do use flat, though, so that should help me a little. And I use collapsed for the forums.

Hopefully I'll get to experience some of the mayhem!
"...and his first memory of Middle-earth was the green stone above her breast as she sang above his cradle while Gondolin was still in flower." -Unfinished Tales


Carne
Tol Eressea

Nov 17 2012, 1:37am


Views: 832
While we're on this topic
I was not here when LOTR was released, so I don't know how it happened then, but will there be a stickied thread where people can post reviews etc once they start popping up?
I'm guessing it would quickly fly off the first page if not (due to all the other news and info we're bound to get closer to release).


(This post was edited by Carne on Nov 17 2012, 1:37am)


Silverlode
Forum Admin / Moderator


Nov 17 2012, 2:04am


Views: 941
Probably.
It's not a bad idea, and I expect something of the kind will be needed. Smile Our old boards didn't allow for stickies, so it wasn't an option in the LOTR days.
Silverlode






Chopsta123
Gondor


Nov 17 2012, 12:10pm


Views: 931
I've been wondering about server capacity as well
from what I can remember with my uber-long thread there can only be a certain number of posts on the first page of the forum, right? has this been fixed by now?
if not how will you cope with increased traffic?


(This post was edited by Chopsta123 on Nov 17 2012, 12:14pm)


Silverlode
Forum Admin / Moderator


Nov 17 2012, 8:13pm


Views: 800
In general...
an uber-long thread causes trouble, because it means that (a) the reply-to ordering is more complex and (b) it pushes the total post count on one page very high. What we have found in times of increased traffic, especially when there are lots of newbies, is that people are constantly starting new threads whether they really need to or not, and so the problem is to get people to stay in one thread at a time long enough for things to actually get some discussion before they get pushed off the first page. People are always sure that their observation deserves its very own thread and will get lost in existing ones. So we tend to get a dozen smaller repeat threads rather than monster threads (even with our locking threads and asking people to keep the topics together), and the board page total never gets near the danger zone.

I very much doubt any of the threads around the release date will have the chance to get as long as your game thread. It's extremely rare for any normal thread to get over 500 replies, while you guys with your dedicated thread exceeded 1000! In addition, only a small portion of the site's visitors actually make their way to the boards. Lots more just visit the home page, or Barliman's, or read through the other sections. We alone aren't likely to break the servers but the overall site hits might.
Silverlode






Chopsta123
Gondor


Nov 17 2012, 11:55pm


Views: 1236
ye makes sense
My knowledge of how the servers acutally work is limited but what I meant was the case when we have many threads on the first page with a couple of hundred posts each. as far as I can remember splitting my thread into chunks of 300 did not resolve the problem of instability.
But I'm sure you probably have everything under control tho ;D


Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal


Nov 19 2012, 7:07pm


Views: 849
LOL! "OMG!!!! KILI is HAWT!!!!!!"
Yep, that sounds like December of 2001, with the Leggy-loo lovers :-D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories

leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Starling
Half-elven


Nov 21 2012, 4:43am


Views: 822
That is sooooooo kewl!!!!!!! //