I don't care if it is an orgy of death, there's still such a thing as a napkin.

Willow ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'


Bureaucracy 2: Like Sartre, Only Longer  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


DXMachina - Aug 21, 2003 10:09:25 am PDT #4495 of 10005
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

No simple answer at this point. It may solve some problems but create others.

Kristen "Buffistas Building a Better Board" Aug 20, 2003 3:47:26 pm PDT


deborah grabien - Aug 21, 2003 10:12:43 am PDT #4496 of 10005
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

DX, got it. Question, though - suppose we were able to afford a better, faster dedicated server? Without long answers, or making anyone work, would that lower the speed-loss problem occurrence?


DXMachina - Aug 21, 2003 10:15:58 am PDT #4497 of 10005
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

Faster is generally better, but is also more expensive.

The catch is that if there are significant problems with the underlying code, they'll still be there regardless of how fast the server is.


Jessica - Aug 21, 2003 10:18:05 am PDT #4498 of 10005
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I have a related question -- does Fangeek have its own server, or are we sharing with other IH clients?


deborah grabien - Aug 21, 2003 10:18:11 am PDT #4499 of 10005
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Faster is generally better, but is also more expensive.

Understood, and figured into the question. Depending on the rate of how much more expensive, it might be doable.

The catch is that if there are significant problems with the underlying code, they'll still be there regardless of how fast the server is.

But - tell me if I'm not getting this - on a dedicated server, the programmer Buffistae would have the time and room to work on fixing the code?


DXMachina - Aug 21, 2003 10:22:51 am PDT #4500 of 10005
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

But - tell me if I'm not getting this - on a dedicated server, the programmer Buffistae would have the time and room to work on fixing the code?

I don't know. I'd rather see us try to fix it on the less expensive option, than spend the dough and then have the system slow to a crawl under the load anyway.


Monique - Aug 21, 2003 10:27:21 am PDT #4501 of 10005

I have a related question -- does Fangeek have its own server, or are we sharing with other IH clients?

Semidedicated. There are other clients, but I have no idea how many others.

To give you a frame of reference, moving to a dedicated server could cost you anything from $200/mo. - $1,000/mo. Admittedly, that's just me looking at one other host's site, but I think it's a fair assessment of the general dedicated market.


Fred Pete - Aug 21, 2003 10:28:01 am PDT #4502 of 10005
Ann, that's a ferret.

FWIW on the dedicated server/Buffistaffiliates question --

Powell's pays its "partners" (their term) 7.5% of the purchase price and does not charge for partnership. There were 180 unique posters during the first 10 months of August.

Assuming these numbers are typical, an average of $20 spent per poster per month through affiliate links would lead to $270 per month. (7.5% of $20 = $1.50 per poster, x 180 = $270) At that rate, within 9 months we'd have the $2000-2500 that's been mentioned for a dedicated server. And have ongoing income for upkeep, a cushion for down months, and maybe a little extra for charitable contributions to honor ME-related births.

$20 per month is a little more than one full-price CD, or one fairly modest-priced DVD, or alternating one hardback book with one trade paperback each month.

Is this doable (as an average -- some will spend more, and some can't afford that much)? Is this something we want to consider?

(ETA, based on xposts -- Obviously, Monique has answered one of my questions -- $20 per poster would give us minimal service. And I'm tossing this out in the spirit of let's-play-around-with-ideas, not we-should-do-this-now.)


Jessica - Aug 21, 2003 10:29:48 am PDT #4503 of 10005
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Semidedicated. There are other clients, but I have no idea how many others.

Ok. (I wondered how close we are to effectively having a dedicated server already, in terms of MySQL usage. But if we're sharing with other clients, there's really no way to tell.)

Really just curious, though.


Jon B. - Aug 21, 2003 10:34:41 am PDT #4504 of 10005
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

$20 spent per poster per month through affiliate links

I think that's wildly optimistic, although I have no data to back that up.