Site News
04-16-2005, 07:20 AM
#1
Members
Senior Members
Thread Starter
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to bring you all up to speed on things I've been working on, have changed, and plan to implement.
First of all, forum speed. As I've mentioned a few times before, the forums run on a busy mail server and occasionally it would slow things down in terms of mysql response time. I have made some changes to the mail server prior which have helped out a lot but not fully solved the problem. Since then, I've noticed many e-mail spikes which caused the server load spikes, hence slowing down mysql and the forum itself. These e-mail spikes were from Asian sourced IPs and they were all trying to send spam email through the server, to our customers and to other servers, so I've gone ahead and blocked off all Asian IPs from reaching the mail server all together. Namely IPs in the range of 59.*, 61.*, 211.*, and 218.* - 223.* are all blocked from reaching port 25. They can still visit the site, just not send e-mail to this particular server. No offense to any of our Asian friends here however with the amount of people there and the amount of infected computers, it's a huge issue, not only in terms of email floods but in terms of denial of service attacks but that's another story. In any event, with this new change there should be no more, or much less, random forum slow-downs. There is one more change I have to make which I should get done this week though that should stop all random slow downs, period. Ofcourse the real solution is to have the forums running on their own server, dedicated just to this web site, but we haven't reached that size yet.
Secondly, forum bugs. There's a calendar bug that's been around since Christmas. There is a fix and I'm waiting for it to be applied by the lead developer of this software. After months of complaining it'll be taken care of soon!
Thirdly, a setting change. Just today I increased the maximum personal message storage limit from 100 to 500 messages. Some members apparently save and organize their messages into folders -- which is OK, I just haven't considered that.
Fourth, sometimes you guys complain that new members don't enter their Location. The problem is that there is no way to enter the location upon registering and no way to easily modify the registration process in the Admin control panel here. I'm going to put the Location field in the registration page and make it required, suggesting that new members put the country where they're from. That's going to take some coding and figuring out how the board works internally but it's do-able. It'll be included in future versions of the board (I think 2.1) again per your recommendations.
Fifth, guest posting. This issue has come up more often recently. Guest postings are still allowed ... however, now that we've crossed 2000 members I'm thinking that it should be disabled also. It seems like it was yesterday when we crossed 1000 members and now it's already 2000. WOW. I will probably disable guest posting as soon as I fix the location field on the initial registration screen.
Sixth and final point ... banner advertisements, spam, and donations. I frequently get e-mails from parts retailers and other places to put up links or banners and the like and always turn them away. I don't want to pollute the board with spam like others do. Less frequently, I get e-mails from members curious how I can run this board with no banners and they want to offer donations. I have turned them away also however a few weeks ago (maybe more?) two members e-mailed me and I think it'll be OK to accept donations after chatting with them. I do plan on putting a donation link in the menu bar there to the left of the Gallery, Help, Search, etc.. text links. I have a personal issue with this and that is that I don't want any members to feel that they're required to donate anything which was why I declined in the past. So, I think donations will be okay, but never expect to see banners or spam here. I might put up a seperate "Links" section eventually though.
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
This message got much longer than I originally expected.
I'm open to comments for any other issues you guys have noticed, suggestions, questions, anything ...
I just wanted to bring you all up to speed on things I've been working on, have changed, and plan to implement.
First of all, forum speed. As I've mentioned a few times before, the forums run on a busy mail server and occasionally it would slow things down in terms of mysql response time. I have made some changes to the mail server prior which have helped out a lot but not fully solved the problem. Since then, I've noticed many e-mail spikes which caused the server load spikes, hence slowing down mysql and the forum itself. These e-mail spikes were from Asian sourced IPs and they were all trying to send spam email through the server, to our customers and to other servers, so I've gone ahead and blocked off all Asian IPs from reaching the mail server all together. Namely IPs in the range of 59.*, 61.*, 211.*, and 218.* - 223.* are all blocked from reaching port 25. They can still visit the site, just not send e-mail to this particular server. No offense to any of our Asian friends here however with the amount of people there and the amount of infected computers, it's a huge issue, not only in terms of email floods but in terms of denial of service attacks but that's another story. In any event, with this new change there should be no more, or much less, random forum slow-downs. There is one more change I have to make which I should get done this week though that should stop all random slow downs, period. Ofcourse the real solution is to have the forums running on their own server, dedicated just to this web site, but we haven't reached that size yet.
Secondly, forum bugs. There's a calendar bug that's been around since Christmas. There is a fix and I'm waiting for it to be applied by the lead developer of this software. After months of complaining it'll be taken care of soon!
Thirdly, a setting change. Just today I increased the maximum personal message storage limit from 100 to 500 messages. Some members apparently save and organize their messages into folders -- which is OK, I just haven't considered that.
Fourth, sometimes you guys complain that new members don't enter their Location. The problem is that there is no way to enter the location upon registering and no way to easily modify the registration process in the Admin control panel here. I'm going to put the Location field in the registration page and make it required, suggesting that new members put the country where they're from. That's going to take some coding and figuring out how the board works internally but it's do-able. It'll be included in future versions of the board (I think 2.1) again per your recommendations.
Fifth, guest posting. This issue has come up more often recently. Guest postings are still allowed ... however, now that we've crossed 2000 members I'm thinking that it should be disabled also. It seems like it was yesterday when we crossed 1000 members and now it's already 2000. WOW. I will probably disable guest posting as soon as I fix the location field on the initial registration screen.
Sixth and final point ... banner advertisements, spam, and donations. I frequently get e-mails from parts retailers and other places to put up links or banners and the like and always turn them away. I don't want to pollute the board with spam like others do. Less frequently, I get e-mails from members curious how I can run this board with no banners and they want to offer donations. I have turned them away also however a few weeks ago (maybe more?) two members e-mailed me and I think it'll be OK to accept donations after chatting with them. I do plan on putting a donation link in the menu bar there to the left of the Gallery, Help, Search, etc.. text links. I have a personal issue with this and that is that I don't want any members to feel that they're required to donate anything which was why I declined in the past. So, I think donations will be okay, but never expect to see banners or spam here. I might put up a seperate "Links" section eventually though.
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
This message got much longer than I originally expected.I'm open to comments for any other issues you guys have noticed, suggestions, questions, anything ...
04-16-2005, 07:31 AM
#2
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
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My Ride: Gone: 2004 525i Jet Black, Built 03/04, Premium Package, Black Dakota Leather, Halogen to Euro Spec Bi-Xenons Retrofit, Dark Poplar Wood Trim, Steptronic Breyton Spirit Reps 20x9F 20x10R - Nitto NT555 245/35/20F-275/30/20R, M5 Front Bumper, H&R Sport Springs, Chrome Grills, 20% Tint, Euro Reflectors, Debadged, Aux Input, CIP v19.x
keep up the good work 
04-16-2005, 07:57 AM
#4
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Originally Posted by Lomag' date='Apr 16 2005, 10:20 AM
Hello Everyone,
<big snip of really good stuff>
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
<snip>
<big snip of really good stuff>
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
<snip>
[snapback]116072[/snapback]
04-16-2005, 10:31 AM
#5
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: FL
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My Ride: F02 LCI Individual
Model Year: 2013
Originally Posted by JDN' date='Apr 16 2005, 05:57 PM
[quote name='Lomag' date='Apr 16 2005, 10:20 AM']Hello Everyone,
<big snip of really good stuff>
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
<snip>
<big snip of really good stuff>
Well I think that's it. If you read this far.... well, I'm proud of you.
<snip>
[snapback]116072[/snapback]
[snapback]116084[/snapback]
[/quote]^^^^^^What JDN said!
! thanks a million
04-16-2005, 04:49 PM
#8
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Belgium
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My Ride: 525D with M-Sport Package (M-rear spoiler incl.) - Manual Drive - Carbon black - amethyst leather (2 tone) - Summer: styling 128 rims (245/35 R19Y - 275/30 R19Y on Michelin PS2) - Winter: styling 135M rims (245/40/18ZR on Dunlop M3 SP Winter Sport)- Logic7 - Nav.Syst.Prof. - bluetooth - xenon - adapt. headl.- PDC - Sun Protection Glass - Through Load Syst. - M5 mirrors - Chrome Grill - Extended Inter. Light Package - Front Seat Heating and...the amazing floormats
Originally Posted by Lomag' date='Apr 16 2005, 05:20 PM
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to bring you all up to speed on things I've been working on, have changed, and plan to implement...
I'm open to comments for any other issues you guys have noticed, suggestions, questions, anything ...
I just wanted to bring you all up to speed on things I've been working on, have changed, and plan to implement...
I'm open to comments for any other issues you guys have noticed, suggestions, questions, anything ...
[snapback]116072[/snapback]
Still a rookie around here though between a lot of knowledgeable people, but have enjoyed every minute of being on this site. Has been a bit addictive though...
1 suggestion and I don't know whether it's worth considering or practically feasible. Totally up to you.
There's a lot of posts and pictures coming in from people who just got their new car and there's also a lot of people interested in that info because they want to know what's new in a certain software version or whatever.
Currently these posts arrive in between topics on all sorts of subjects.
It could perhaps be useful if there would be a separate forum for 'Newborns' where people could announce the delivery of their car and post pictures, because it is easy to track when which car was delivered to whom. So, if you would have questions about a certain new car, it becomes easy to get to the info.
Perhaps this has some added value, perhaps not. You do with it what you like. I am totally happy with the site layout as it is today. I'll let you and the guys who've been around much longer than I have make comments on it.
Great job
!!!
04-21-2005, 06:51 PM
#9
Members
Senior Members
Thread Starter
Well ... adding the location field to the initial registration page is heck of a lot more complicated than I thought it would be so I'm going to can that idea for now. In related news though, version 2.1 (alpha) of the forum software is available now. I'm debating if we should be testers of it or not if it fixes the other bugs we've had but I fear it might break the gallery. We'll see soon! It sounds like the damn CIP upgrades, we're always waiting for the next one to fix such and such bug. LOL. 