Seems to Me

Interesting observation.

I wonder if it has to do with that last subscription drive and the lack of new subscribers?

It also maybe do because of the success of the the gaming side of the house there just are not enough resources available.

As you say, another cause maybe with work being done on the update/upgrade to the WC site.

I think past history shows us this is pretty much a cycle the site goes through.   

Hi Ken! Sunshine to you. I agree, but when it's all boiled down, just what can any of us do?

I agree about I.D. and Jafo's locations, but undoubtedly they have the contact numbers of who to call when things go down.

What bothers me the most was that the big move of the servers was supposed to solve the problem. It clearly hasn't. We subscribed for a certain level of service and that should be honored. The site is usually quite slow. I would understrand if it happened every 3 or four months...ok.

The fact that it's predictable is what bothers me so much. If it's so predictable, what stands in the way of finding out and solving what's wrong?

I agree that I'd like to see Admin respond with an explanation of what's wrong and what's being done to correct it. I don't think that's a lot to ask.

I'd also like to see announcements about slow-downs/unavailability ahead of time. If something's planned, why can't a notice be put up? That's happened only once (thanks, I.D. and I mean that sincerely) and then only well after the galleries were unavailable. Maybe that notification isn't coming from where it should in time.

This is not a complaint so much as a request for consideration, and I feel we deserve that.

Hi Doc and Philly....there is nothing we can do but at least let it be known that it is very noticeable and not appreciated.  If there are not enough members to make it worth their while to keep it running in top form,  than so be it and we can all just hang in there until it becomes simply not worth it on this end as well.

But, at least, I think it is important to call attention to the situation and let the chips fall where they may.  I have worked with both Jafo and ID on issues and always gotten a timely response.  But as noted, they are not in Michigan and must rely on others to fix server and/or data base issues.  That side has become all but invisible to me at least.

Months? It's been busted for years

I was trying to let bygones be bygones and just deal with current history although it does seem like a neverending story as you point out Fuzzy.  Let's just call it "more Busted" recently then!

I wonder if it's really "broken" or if bandwidth is being reassigned?

That would go under "not enough members to make it worth their while to keep it running in top form"  Could be, I haven't a clue as to what they are up to these days.  I just see the result.

Question? I was told Neowin is on the Stardock Servers...........So why does their site load faster than Wincustomize. Is it just down to the coding of the site.

Of all the websites I visit Wincustomize has to be the slowest of the lot............by far

Indeed!

From an open tab in IE7,WC home page loads in less than 5 seconds for me most of the time. Where it seems to bog down for me is browsing the galleries.There are times it takes so long to go from page to page,I forget what gallery I'm in or what I was looking for.

 Forums have their ups and downs,but can be slower than desired some days.(Todays understatement)

Ja I agree with all that has been said here, it makes sense.....the only reason I put up with it, is because of the fact I love this place, so sometimes if I have to wait 5 mins for a gallery page to open, or ten mins even, I swear and curse a bit to myself, sometimes out loud, but because I love being here I put up with it, but it is sad that it is like this though, it makes for very tedious viewing or communicating in the forums.....lets just hoipe that things look brighter for ther future, I mean it can't get any worse.....could it??????

That is why I started this post...if the current condition of things becomes the accepted norm, than of course it can get worse.

Absolutely correct. I wonder, could online gaming be getting a large portion of the bandwidth? I really don't know how it works, as I'm not a gamer, and know nothing about whether that is even possible. It just occured to me.

Maybe all the sites share the overall bandwidth and more active or resource intense sites get bmore automatically. I just don't know and am not ashamed of admitting it. No crime in being ignorant and asking to know/understand...only in not asking.

I wonder if anyone who knows will answer our questions?

Uh....NO! Now go away!

In my point of views the gaming side does not anywhere have as much stuff to post as we do here. So no way to compare bandwidths. Thus it would only seem that time to time there is a wide spectrum of people who visit this site. From one end of the world to the other. Meaning that there is your bandwidth as such. But I'm also fully sure that the people at this site are aware of whats going on.

Times are tuff... I'm happy with this site that it is atleast there for us. I would hate to think it would ever fade away. I've always put my trust in the people here to get things running a bit better. Thus as in the past... they did their best to do so. Meaning it has it's ups and downs. But so does any other larger website with as many people using it's servers. I'm not going to compare. But we should as members try to stick with our website and do our best to try to keep things going in the right direction.

Ken not saying we should not ask questions or try to make things more aware. But as you have mentioned about the past where we had people to deal with things a bit more. Thats a house full of things to do and it does take away from whatever else that person could be doing to help correct our given situation.

I think we have a great staff here on a daily basis. They work hard and are doing their best. For me that is all I require or ask of them. My real point is that this site has advanced so much it is hard for anyone to really keep up with everything. I just hope it keeps getting better... which in truth if you go back and see the past. It really has; even though we have to go through these developmental phases. I agree it gets hard at any point to be aware of whats going on. But with that you get so much of this stuff from just visitors and how they are saying things like as if they came here to troll us. They just do not see everything and react to things wrong. Then others are just what they are trolls and start terrible things up to slow things down.

Besides all of that with just the people problem. There is the wide spectrum of hackers and rippers. WC and Stardock has had a large battle with both on a said daily basis. Any and most every site does. Some more than others; but we can only stick together here and try to see through these things.

To say an ole saying I usually use for this site. "Stick around - wait and watch... be ready for anything and most of all even with all the ups and downs; It is Getting Better!" The people I see at Stardock now are doing their best and I do feel there is a lot in the works. Things will always get better and things can always go wrong too. But we can only be cooperative with this and do our best for everyone who comes here to help them; Plus ourselves...

So please do not get wrong... you are right about how it goes. Plus ID and Paul [Jafo] do one hell of a good job here. So do many others of the mods and Stardock staff.

Sorry but sometimes I take this website a bit to seriuosly.

I guess living downhill from Stardock/WC has no advantage.  

Today (Sat 03.05. 09 in Oz) page loads have been tardy at best.

Oh well, it's not like I gotta be someplace yesterday... so I'll grin and bear it.

Yeah, it seems to have gotten worse since redevelopment commenced... so hopefully it'll all be good once the new site is up.

Really? Have you seen the Demigod forum?

No but he had to, had to give the answers for being a person who knows____or more accurately for being called as a person who knows the answers.

==> listen to me  listen to me.

There are plenty of members, and plenty of visitors. There are not enough subscribers...

The thing is, an OD subscriber doesn't gain much from a subscription. I don't see a point in subscribing, specially since I know the service is none better than the service I get with just an OD subscription. I don't really care for the extra premium blinds given to WC subscribers, even if I did, I can't trust that I'd ever get even close to the amount promised.

Also, most people don't want to pay for broken service. Stardock has a history of being bad with keeping promises, so saying "buy a subscription, and we'll make it better" is not something I believe in.

The site need to be in top form to gain more members. There's no reason to start hanging out on a poorly managed site.

I do think we're in for something better with the promised changes. I don't hold any expectations on when it's going to be released though.

... Don't read this post TOO literally, I'm a bit unfocused at the moment, and I have a feeling this may be a bit fragmented to say the least. I do love this community, it's absolutely marvellous, but it's not without its problems.

There are so many variables...Bandwidth usage...number of guests and or members viewing the site...server issues...upgrades...uploading...downloading...many things then add to that what needs be done to improve and keep up...

Things have to slow down somewhere along the line. I doubt it's the fault of Admin. They can only do so much. Perhaps when this economy gets back on track and theres a bit more of what's needed to go around the site improve as will everything else. Ups and down happen and no help for it. Gots to keep the faith...I do. for all the guys and gals what makes WC and Stardock what it am. Kudos

No disagreement, Shelby...just looking for answers. There's no crime in that. And that the staff work hard? Not a single doubt in my mind. They're also good people.

Ye gawdz...I had no idea.

I agree with you.

Subscription, value and worth aren't being questioned. Not by me, at least. I'm a subscriber, and I think being kept in the loop is good customer relations, and that's good business. I, and others have been given to feel that we aren't important nor profitable. I suppose that's true...and my feelings about things haven't proven really that far off base in the past.

I care a great deal about the people here. That won't change.

As long as the big companies calls a 5 billion dollar profit when 8 billion was expected a crisis and start to fire people because of it we're going nowhere...

Correct its excellent. There are some problems everywhere but actually I don't see any problems. In fact I don't feel the site is too slow but its a bit heavy. A normal page is around 500-800 kb while some pages are upto 2-3 mb due to large amount of pix uploaded.

Nothing in the world is problem-free except for pizza.

I got food poisoning because of a pizza once, there was definetely a problem with that one.

     As long as the big companies calls a 5 billion dollar profit when 8 billion was expected a crisis and start to fire people because of it we're going nowhere...
[/quote]

     Unfortunately you hit the proverbial nail on the head. If only the high muck-a-mucks would consider people above profit...but we all know that won't happen. The almighty dollar has to tight a grip on this reality.