DP Forums Upgrade

[digitalpress]

Well by now you've surely noticed that the forums crash often, there are occasional strange MYSQL or search engine messages and there's more downtime over these past few days in particular. Well, you're not alone. Figure if you've noticed it, it's been a hot topic among our site admins and forum moderators.

The Roundtable forums have simply grown too big for the software (phpBB). With an immense user base and over a million posts it's just plain huge. Throw in the online guide database and all of the other things tied into THAT and you've got what turns into a huge bottleneck that happens more and more often as our user base grows.

We've seen this coming and the time to act is now. We're going to be shifting the forums (which cause the largest bottleneck) over to a new software system, to be followed later on by the rest of the site. We'll preserve the forum history, post counts, user id's... though we may lose some of the extra stuff like meseta, lottery, arcade scores, etc (though we'll certainly be looking to move that stuff over as well over time).

Please bear with us while these changes are being implemented. The forums, as well as the DP server itself may be laggy or simply deactivated for extended periods of time (we're talking hours to a few days, not weeks) during the transition.

Thank you for your patience - trust that the short-term issues are part of a long-term solution. We love this place too much to let it stay broken any longer!

Game ON.

[Lothars]

Awesome, Thanks for the Update Joe

Also Thank you for all your hard work, I look forward to the change.

[ozyr]

I'll miss some of the things here, but I had a real good hunch for over a month now that this was going to happen.
phpBB is good, but it just can't handle a very large amount of data. Version 3 may change that, but I'm guessing your not waiting for that (it's been coming for years). Looking forward to the new system, and hoping it is as easy to use as phpBB! (there are many alternatives that I do not care for!)

:D

[Steven]

Yeah I noticed DP down an AWFUL lot the past 48 hours or so... moreso than usual. Well, I normally hate change but as long as you perserve the key elements (old posts, search engines can still retraced posts from 2002) then I'm all for it.

Is there a timetable for approximately when this new set up will be in place 100%?

[Lady Jaye]

Yeah, that's gonna be great. We're all working hard to make it as painless as possible.

[evil_genius]

My life is ruined, thanks alot.

[jcalder8]

Thats awesome news I can't wait until its all up and running stable again.

[JerseyDevil65]

Very good news Joe. I definately look forward to an upgrade. 8-)

[Kitsune Sniper]

Nooooooooooooo! My meseta! My icon thingies! ;)

What's the software being upgraded to? AtariAge uses Invision Power Board, but I dunno if that's free or even cheap.

[kainemaxwell]

Good luck with the move then!

[Xizer]

Sounds great. Just PLEASE keep the ePixel theme, or make one as close to it as possible when you switch over. It's the only theme I can stand. The default red, white and black looks sloppy and is hard on the eyes.

[bangtango]

What about deleting old X-Mas related posts or Buy/Sell posts dating back to 2002-2003?

I mean there are a couple hundred pages of buy/sell threads. Wouldn't wiping out the last 40-50 pages in that particular forum help, since it is safe to assume those transactions were resolved one way or another? I could care less what some members, who might not even be around anymore, were selling or buying back in 2002, 2003 or even 2004.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

Nooooooooooooo! My meseta! My icon thingies! ;)

What's the software being upgraded to? AtariAge uses Invision Power Board, but I dunno if that's free or even cheap.

I don't know if Invision is cheap or free, but I do know I like the way forums are set up on Invision. They use it on another forum I frequent very often.

Dave

[digitalpress]

Sounds great. Just PLEASE keep the ePixel theme, or make one as close to it as possible when you switch over. It's the only theme I can stand. The default red, white and black looks sloppy and is hard on the eyes.

Dude, there are at least half a dozen themes other than "subred" that were specifically designed to be boring and easy on the eyes. When things move over you can be sure we'll have similar dull corporate looks that you can rest your eyes on.

[tholly]

awesome news......it was starting to suck that DP would be down due to the user base (but, a huge user base is good)....hopefully the fix will help and our beloved DP won't have the downtime it has been experiencing the last few months......

[PingvinBlueJeans]

The default red, white and black looks sloppy and is hard on the eyes.
Black is very easy on the eyes (especially in low light), and on the computer monitor. I like it personally...oh well. Better than the blue, grey, and white that AtariAge uses, anyway.

[boatofcar]

I just wanted to throw in that I like the bb software AtariAge uses as well. Can't wait for the update!

[Synergy]

Very good news to hear! I've been poking through the online rarity guide making a shopping list, and it sucked to see it crashing again and again, but I just figured it was too busy or some tinkering was going on behind the scenes. It happens.

Thank you much, kind sir, for the heads-up on the situation, and everyone's hard work toward the forum upgrade! Can't wait to see it. :)

[Snapple]

This is awesome. I've been waiting for a software update for a long time. That's worth spending my meseta on.

[christhegamer]

Thanks for the heads-up. if you need to scrap anything, do it with meseta; IT'S SO F**KING USELESS!!! Sure, I'll hate to see it go, but it will be a hell of a lot easier if you just offer the shop items as icons to paste in one's signature/or something to that nature.

stay fresh, DP :)

[jgenotte]

Sweet! The down time latley has really been a downer :D . Once again, you guys prove that DP is the best.

-james

[MrRoboto19XX]

Thanks for the update, I think not having my meseta is worth having a stable board, and such an excellent free service at that.

Hope its smooth for you.

[sisko]

In order to minimize traffic and in turn keep the boards as stable as possible during the conversion, I will begin slowly locking topics down in the order of relativity and importance.

I'd also like to point out that the software we are converting to is a paid license (phpBB was free). Meaning Joe has to cough up $160 out of his own pocket to make these boards a better place. Any donations would help him out quite a bit. Just use the Paypal link on the top of the page :)

[Xizer]

Oh, so we're getting vBulletin! Wheeee!

[Ze_ro]

I just wanted to throw in that I like the bb software AtariAge uses as well. Can't wait for the update!
Indeed. The switch from phpBB to IPB worked really well for AtariAge, and despite it's additional features, it seems to be coping nicely with the gradual increase in number of posts and users. Of course, I don't know much about actual administration work, so who knows what goes on behind the scenes or how easy/hard it is to work with. IPB also isn't free, which I imagine could be a problem.

It's good to know people are working on the issues, as the downtime is getting really frustrating. By the way, I know that when AtariAge started to have problems with phpBB, it really helped when they disabled editing of posts. For some reason, whenever someone edited their post, it really bogged down the system. I'm not sure if the stability problems here are quite the same, but perhaps turning off the edit feature might help in the short term?

--Zero

[Mattiekrome]

Yay! Thanks Joe! :D

[Xizer]

Want to know who else runs vBulletin? Something Awful! (http://forums.somethingawful.com/)

42,000,000 posts and that site manages to run fast. But that's probably just because they have a 1337 lobster admin.

[Sothy]

DIGITAL PRESS FOREVER

[Lothars]

DIGITAL PRESS FOREVER

Amen Sothy

[RetroYoungen]

DIGITAL PRESS FOREVER

Amen Sothy

QFT.

I'm looking forward to the new system, hope the transtition is as painless as possible! :)

[THATinkjar]

W00t! :) This is really great news, Joe. A little out of the blue, but great nonetheless. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour in the coming days.

[Predatorxs]

I was thinking.. things where getting to the point where a big change would be needed. It is abit of pain when you go to log on and you get either really long load times or the page not found message.

Someone mentioned about deleting old posts in the Buy and sell thread, that would be a start, as well deleting buy and sell posts that have had no activity for say 60 to 80 days?

If you do a search through usernames, there are alot of inactive users as well. Maybe if those "dead" (as in no activity, no posts and not logged in for say a year) users where deleted, that would help alittle.

and if "Locked" posts e.g (posted in wrong threads, etc) maybe if those were deleted by the mods after 3 or 4 days, and also threads that are started, but get no replies, maybe those should be deleted after 1 or 2 months of inactivity.

And i'm guessing the admin's activily delete general crud, they see hanging around, misq posts, unwanted/please delete my thread/topic (really when someone asks or changes the name of the thread to please delete it should be done asap) etc.

I'm sure alot of what i'v just mentioned is done anyway, thus the reason for having admins and mods, i ws just wondering.

And also i'v been to alot of other websites, that have chatrooms, i'v got the hang of the chat here at DP, i have it running, but it really does need updating, i know it's not a priority right now, but once the new service is up, that would be a nice addition.

Maybe a flash based chat room, or even something like msn, so once your logged into DP, you just do into the chatroom and your straight in, and have one or two rooms, classis gaming, modern gaming and general chat?

There are quiet times when you see a few DPer's milling around different area's, i'v sure if there was a better chat thats where peoples would head too. Please most if not all the people here at DP are a good bunch, so it's not something that would need a mod?

Sorry it's abit long.. But i'm really looking forward to the New service/system ;)

Keep up the great work Joe and the rest of the team!

[christhegamer]

DIGITAL PRESS FOREVER

Amen Sothy

"Yeah. Amen, brotha."
http://www.50-cent.us/pictures/0002_0.jpg
<does some serious gangsta sh*t>

[Snapple]

DIGITAL PRESS FOREVER

So the new board will be debuting in 2015?

[digitalpress]

What's the software being upgraded to? AtariAge uses Invision Power Board, but I dunno if that's free or even cheap.

vBulletin. We looked into Invision and it's good - far better than phpBB - but vBulletin is a more secure, stable product.

Things are underway right about now, so you may see those forum outages I mentioned in the first post beginning as early as this morning.

[digitalpress]

By the way, I know that when AtariAge started to have problems with phpBB, it really helped when they disabled editing of posts. For some reason, whenever someone edited their post, it really bogged down the system. I'm not sure if the stability problems here are quite the same, but perhaps turning off the edit feature might help in the short term?

Editing is indeed a major resource burner. I've turned off editing in the primary forums (classic, modern, and off-topic), though I've left it in the Buying & Selling.

You'll probably see other features blink on and off, forum locks, permission changes, etc over the next few days. We'll try to keep things running during the transition but it's pretty likely we'll experience downtime as well as the quirky changes here for a bit.

[johno590]

Thanks for everything you guys do.

[Austin]

Thanks for all the hard work.

[segarocks30]

I'm glad for the change. The forum was being down WAY too much. it was like "Gosh darn it, can't look at coolio DP...."

I do like phpbb, although Vbullitin is nice. Too bad I won't have my Trackmania High score that no one touches for a while though.

[sisko]

I was thinking.. things where getting to the point where a big change would be needed. It is abit of pain when you go to log on and you get either really long load times or the page not found message.

Someone mentioned about deleting old posts in the Buy and sell thread, that would be a start, as well deleting buy and sell posts that have had no activity for say 60 to 80 days?

If you do a search through usernames, there are alot of inactive users as well. Maybe if those "dead" (as in no activity, no posts and not logged in for say a year) users where deleted, that would help alittle.

and if "Locked" posts e.g (posted in wrong threads, etc) maybe if those were deleted by the mods after 3 or 4 days, and also threads that are started, but get no replies, maybe those should be deleted after 1 or 2 months of inactivity.

And i'm guessing the admin's activily delete general crud, they see hanging around, misq posts, unwanted/please delete my thread/topic (really when someone asks or changes the name of the thread to please delete it should be done asap) etc.

I'm sure alot of what i'v just mentioned is done anyway, thus the reason for having admins and mods, i ws just wondering.

Part of the problem is the phpBB's delete function is as buggy as its edit function. Using either one has the potential to bring the boards to a grinding halt. We use both of these options very seldomly and again with extreme caution.

With vBulletin, we will likely be able to take care of this a little better.




And also i'v been to alot of other websites, that have chatrooms, i'v got the hang of the chat here at DP, i have it running, but it really does need updating, i know it's not a priority right now, but once the new service is up, that would be a nice addition.

Maybe a flash based chat room, or even something like msn, so once your logged into DP, you just do into the chatroom and your straight in, and have one or two rooms, classis gaming, modern gaming and general chat?

There are quiet times when you see a few DPer's milling around different area's, i'v sure if there was a better chat thats where peoples would head too. Please most if not all the people here at DP are a good bunch, so it's not something that would need a mod?

Sorry it's abit long.. But i'm really looking forward to the New service/system ;)

Keep up the great work Joe and the rest of the team!

The chatroom isn't really a chatroom (ya rly @_@). It is a Javascript client which creates an slimmed down IRC instance in your browser. Despite the fact that it is there, it really isn't intended to be a long term solution. There are many full fledged, good, and free IRC clients out there at your disposal, and we recommend that you choose one that best suits your liking.

[Xizer]

vBulletin is light years ahead of phpBB in features and stability.

There are dozens of massive Internet forums with 10,000,000+ posts and they run lightning fast. Most use vBulletin.

phpBB is a lot less secure, and it's struggling with barely 1,000,000 total posts.

Also, I would be greatly opposed to deleting topics! That's a bad idea. Maybe archive them or something, but as of now DP is a massive resource thanks to its large forums.

[/b/tard]

So glad to hear this good news. I don't post much but I do browse DP quite often, and I find the server down about half the time. If it were any other site, I'd say "screw it", but this place is far too great to stop visiting. I can't wait to see DP on a new board, and thanks for your hard work.

[sisko]

Sorry about the downtime, but we ran into some unexpected snafus that are slowing us down.

We are still working on getting everything rolled over, it just will take us a bit longer than expected.

[jajaja]

Works great!

[jajaja]

Oh.. no edit button? :) The board seems alot fast now, but it might be due to not many users online.

[cyberfluxor]

Cool stuff. Keep 'er rollin'!

[digitalpress]

Works great!

Ummm... nothing's been done yet. Glad you like the old software though! I don't.

[PDorr3]

so I guess its fair to say the new forums will sorta resemble these?
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/

I have never posted on a forum with that kinda layout (mainly the way posts are shown when browsing a thread), so Im sure it will be interesting and fresh :)

[Melf]

Vbulletin is MUCH more stable and secure, and has more options as well. It cost me $190 for the license and skin for Sega-16, and it was worth every penny.

[Xizer]

Well, I have one suggestion: When you put in vBulletin, make sure it fits to match peoples' resolutions, instead of being at a fixed width.

Here's an example:
http://forums.rarewitchproject.com/

Ick, it's just awful for anyone using 1024x768 or higher. Look at all that blank space to the right of the screen.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Works great!

Ummm... nothing's been done yet. Glad you like the old software though! I don't.

The lack of editing is a bit of a pain, especially for those of us who suck at writing. LOL But the forum does seem quite a bit faster now that that's removed.

[Steven]

I have a simple question... sorry in advance if it's a bad one.

1. When DP moves to the new board, will the current threads transfer over? i.e. (If I posted something today, will that topic be there on the new board?)

1A. Do you have a rough estimate of when everything will be in place?

Thanks, DP is a great community for gamers... keep it up.

[Radiac]

I havent seen any mention of the blogs. Are they sticking around or are they getting the axe?

BTW, thanks for putting in the effort and money to make DP better.

[sisko]

I havent seen any mention of the blogs. Are they sticking around or are they getting the axe?

BTW, thanks for putting in the effort and money to make DP better.

I'm 90% certain that they will not be available right away, but there are mods out there that will give VB blogging capabilities.

[sisko]

I ran into some more technical issues, so I opened the boards back up while I am fixing them.

Expect me to shut them down again later tonight. Rest assured I am working on it as fast as the software will let me.

[Melf]

1. When DP moves to the new board, will the current threads transfer over? i.e. (If I posted something today, will that topic be there on the new board?)

Yes, they should be able to import the current board, so all member info, threads, and posts should make it over intact. Vbulletin makes importing from phpbb pretty easy (we did it with Sega-16's board).

[MarioMania]

I'm glad you're fixing it..

[suppafly]

Thanks for all your work.

I wont join the party of moaners and whiners..

Good luck with the upgrade!!! :)

[Radiac]

I havent seen any mention of the blogs. Are they sticking around or are they getting the axe?

BTW, thanks for putting in the effort and money to make DP better.

I'm 90% certain that they will not be available right away, but there are mods out there that will give VB blogging capabilities.

Will all of the info on the current blogs be lost then, or can they be carried over?

[Predatorxs]

I think in the interest of sisko doing what he needs to do, and people asking so many different questions, maybe everyone should just hold of, and see what happens?, weither the new DP service will include everything we have now? Lets just wait..

and let the DP team do there thing, asking all these Q's isn't getting anything done. ;)

[DigitalSpace]

Will all of the info on the current blogs be lost then, or can they be carried over?

I'm wondering about this too. While I retired my DP blog, there are users here who used theirs as their main internet blog, and if the information is going to be lost after the update, we should at least warn users to make backups or something if they wish to keep their entries.

[Melf]

I'm not up to speed on all the technical aspects of phpbb running large databases, but I do know that I was very disappointed by the lack of options it had. Even the Invision free board I first used had more stuff. I switched over to Vbulletin and love it.

I don't care what DP does or what software it goes with, as long as the forum and site run smooth and safe.

[aaron7]

All I know and care about is the forums are back and up... :D

Thanks for the hard work!

[cyberfluxor]

It's nice to see the boards back up but it's still under phpBB which means it's bound to go back down soon for more work. It's rough trying to fill the gaps of time at work without the reading and posting I do here.

On a side note though, it would be a great service to the community as well to ban christhegamer. Too much nagativity to his posts and smartass remarks plus apparently no room for authority and respect for the board administrators and overlord.

[cyberfluxor]

I forgot to ask before.

Any idea of what color schemes will be avilable (and if they'll all have the same options menu at the top), if our signitures, avatars, titles, ect. will carry over, is the Online Rarity Guide being upgraded as well, and what will happen to the Arcade and the characters we have.

I know that's a lot to ask but just currious what to expect. ;)

[The Shawn]

It's nice to see the boards back up but it's still under phpBB which means it's bound to go back down soon for more work. It's rough trying to fill the gaps of time at work without the reading and posting I do here.

On a side note though, it would be a great service to the community as well to ban christhegamer. Too much nagativity to his posts and smartass remarks plus apparently no room for authority and respect for the board administrators and overlord.

Fourthd'ed?

[RJ]

Fifthed'deded.

[snes_collector]

Awesome, I can't wait. Keep up the good work guys!

[tom]

Joe, you doin' a great job to all video gamers in the universe, i don't know how you can keep it up, but there you go.

As long as we don't lose RoD

[Andred]

I have to say that the forums are running much better now. I don't know if it's the upgrade or the fact that traffic hasn't picked back up since the site was down but either way I want to say GREAT JOB GUYS! This is by far the best gaming forum I've been to and I appreciate everything you guys do to keep it running. Thank you!

[Griking]

I have to say that the forums are running much better now. I don't know if it's the upgrade or the fact that traffic hasn't picked back up since the site was down but either way I want to say GREAT JOB GUYS!

Was there an upgrade? I though the upgrade was going to be a change to a new software package, and since we're still on phpBB I assume the upgrade hasn't happened yet.

[Kitsune Sniper]

The forum is running smooth because editing has been disabled. Which sucks for those of us with sale posts... :(

[digitalpress]

The forum is running smooth because editing has been disabled. Which sucks for those of us with sale posts... :(

Umm... I never removed the editing from the Buy & Sell forums. That would have been really really foolish.

[Andred]

Doh, didn't realize that the update hadn't been done. I guess disabling most of the editing really helped though. It sure seems like it.

[Niku-Sama]

still phBB powered? there any software updates or modifications you can do to phBB to keep up with demand?