Moderators -PLEASE LOCK OUT GUESTS WHEN FULL

[capoly]

Would it help to go back to 'naked' posts, no pics, avatars, siggys, etc.? Remember when we had to remove all that stuff so the board would run more smoothly?

I wondered about that also. It had to be done on a large medical forum my son belonged in order to allow more members to participate.

 

[TallCoolOne]

This is ridiculous and kind of rude imo.

Oh man, I sooooo agree. I don't recall there being a daily post reqirement to join. I guess those of us who have to work 50-60 hours a week should quit our jobs so that we can post more......

I'm just sayin'............

 

[JBean]

Oh man, I sooooo agree. I don't recall there being a daily post reqirement to join. I guess those of us who have to work 50-60 hours a week should quit our jobs so that we can post more......

I'm just sayin'............

Hi TCO. I have a lot of posts but that doesn;t mean i say anything

I read a bit during the day and don;t sign in all that much. So I am a guest during the day. but I don;t mean to make this about me!. I mean so many people don't post or join but they read and that is why this is a public board.
It should be available to all!

 

[LinasK]

Two comments:

1) I interpreted Turbo's comment to mean the unregistered lurkers who haven't gotten around to getting a gmail or yahoo address.

2) WS just did migrate to a larger server and it's still not enough so that is a bad suggestion IMO.

:truce:

 

[dellemma]

Hi TCO. I have a lot of posts but that doesn;t mean i say anything

I read a bit during the day and don;t sign in all that much. So I am a guest during the day. but I don;t mean to make this about me!. I mean so many people don't post or join but they read and that is why this is a public board.
It should be available to all!

Hiya Jbeanie! I'm sure you remember I am notorious for reading reading reading and rarely posting! I think I am a good example of some of us who would hate to be locked out because of post count!

 

[LinasK]

Hiya Jbeanie! I'm sure you remember I am notorious for reading reading reading and rarely posting! I think I am a good example of some of us who would hate to be locked out because of post count!

I don't think it's post count, I think Turbo means the 900+ unregistered guests, when registered members can't even get in. Even happened to Tony Padilla last night...

 

[TripleA]

I appreciate this free community and information source. My husband owns two forums, one free that comes with annoying advertisements to cover the server costs and one pay site without advertisements. I also belong to two other boards, one free with ads and one pay site with no ads. I rarely see a board as organized and well run with no fee AND no ads. Kudos to the owner and admin.

I think that the suggestion to lock out unregistered viewers is appalling to say the least. I would pay a few bucks a year for a well run community without hesitation. If Trish does not want to charge then it seems to me that she is trying to provide a free community to everyone who wants to stop by and not just those who want to join in on the conversation.

 

[TallCoolOne]

Hi TCO. I have a lot of posts but that doesn;t mean i say anything

I read a bit during the day and don;t sign in all that much. So I am a guest during the day. but I don;t mean to make this about me!. I mean so many people don't post or join but they read and that is why this is a public board.
It should be available to all!

Yuppers, I am with you. We all started out as a guest at some point........ me? I read a lot and post very little, but I follow a lot of the cold cases and some of the missing as well as this board. Oh well, 'nuff said.

 

[TisHerself]

With all do respect, I find your reasoning quite selfish.
:blowkiss:

Agree, and may I add quite abnoxious. I have been on this site a long time. There are times when I do not log in either I am in a rush and I just want to see something quick.

 

[coltsgal]

I think that if we have something to say to the mods, we should send them a PM. IMO, it was inappropriate to make this a forum matter.

 

[MagicRose99]

This whole discussion is a mute point anyway... this is Tricia's site... Tricia has stated many times she will not charge for the priviledge of posting here, nor will she lock anyone out.

It's not just the general public that peruses these forums... the media, authors, LE... if they were all locked out the forums, posts, info, news all become stifled.

 

[Julessleuther]

I agree. I was a guest for 3 yrs before I joined. I do not always log in, I just check the boards quick. Locking people out is a sure fire way to lose members, but I am guessing that was the posters idea...

I understand the frustration at not being able to get on WS and being booted off when your trying to reply to a message or go to the next page. But, gosh it seems that this board has taken an unfriendly turn.

I've been here for years, no I don't post a lot, I don't do the chit chat thing except for in the Jury Room, but I've never felt that WS members were unfriendly.

jinniemae is right there are a lot of folks who can't register because of email addresses, I was one of those people for a couple of years! I also don't always log in when I come to WS I spend a lot of time reading the threads.

BTW- I got server down message many times before I was able to post this message.

 

[Julessleuther]

ALWAYS the voice of reason, thank you!!!


:blowkiss:

Thank you all for your comments. Please, no offense is taken. It's a frustrating problem, but there are worse ones to have.

In July, due to steadily increasing activity, we roughly doubled our capacity. What we are facing today, however, is about 5 times the activity we have had previously, not just with the number of people reading but with the number that wish to participate.

The proper solution to the problem of more people wanting to participate that we can handle is to increase our ability to handle them, not to lock them out.

As a practical matter, some of the solutions in this thread are well intentioned, but won't work:

--vBulletin does a bunch of work when a new person connects that happens before determining if they are a returning registered user, so restricting the board only to registered users wouldn't make much of a difference in the load. And it would prevent registered users who do not want browser cookies set from getting in as well;

--vBulletin does not have a provision for allowing unregistered folks to post;

--The recently resolved case of Tawni Mazzone shows the efforts of folks who have been here for a short amount of time as well as ones that have been here for years. Number of posts accurately measures number of posts. Length of membership measures length of membership. Results measure dedication and effort.

The financial costs of running this site are borne by exactly 1 person - Tricia. The staff here does their best to get the most performance out of what she can afford. For about 1 cent per registered visitor per day we could afford a server about 5 times as powerful, but Tricia does not accept donations and that's her decision to make. So we tweak the settings where we can, we live with the slow response when we must, but we keep the victims first. That's what it's all about. If you want to be a part of it, it's up to us to find a way to let you. That's why I've spent this morning wringing the last bits of performance out of the server we have, and I'll continue to do it. You all keep up the good work, and welcome to all. You are the reason we are here, not an impediment or a problem.

As I am busy, I have not had a chance to triple check this message for anything insensitive, mean, or possible secret messages. So if anyone reads what I wrote and there is two ways to interpret what I said, and one of ways those hurts your feelings, I meant the other one. Back to work for me and the staff.

Thank you all.

 

[Julessleuther]

Sweety, you always have something good to say! :blowkiss:

Hi TCO. I have a lot of posts but that doesn;t mean i say anything

I read a bit during the day and don;t sign in all that much. So I am a guest during the day. but I don;t mean to make this about me!. I mean so many people don't post or join but they read and that is why this is a public board.
It should be available to all!

 

[LI_Mom]

IMO, I didn't think TurboThink post was rude or offensive.

It might not have been a great idea BUT I think he/she was only trying to come up with a solution to help the board traffic.

He/She didn't suggest locking out guests permanently... only suggested trying it when the 'server is too busy' & see if that helps. Considering we are ALL 'locked out' when the 'server is too busy' message pops up.... it seemed pretty logical to ask if the system can recognize which users were already logged in & let them back in the door AHEAD of people who weren't looged in when the server became too busy.

 

[Julessleuther]

I like the idea of getting rid of all the extra photos, art etc. I am sure that takes up alot of bandwidth. Maybe just a small pic as your avatar...?

 

[TURBOTHINK]

IMO, I didn't think TurboThink post was rude or offensive.

It might not have been a great idea BUT I think he/she was only trying to come up with a solution to help the board traffic.

He/She didn't suggest locking out guests permanently... only suggested trying it when the 'server is too busy' & see if that helps. Considering we are ALL 'locked out' when the 'server is too busy' message pops up.... it seemed pretty logical to ask if the system can recognize which users were already logged in & let them back in the door AHEAD of people who weren't logged in when the server became too busy.

Thank you...........I didn't mean for it to be rude at all.

I just looked at the people on here and there were 781 guests and 210 members. Many of the members were having trouble posting, so to me it was just logical to when the server became overloaded to hold off the guests for a few minutes.

Since guests can't post, if members were not being able to access the boards, then the information the guests received would not be up to date anyway.

I didn't mean to offend anyone, just trying to find a solution so that members don't leave and post elsewhere with the new information.

 

[LinasK]

IMO, I didn't think TurboThink post was rude or offensive.

It might not have been a great idea BUT I think he/she was only trying to come up with a solution to help the board traffic.

He/She didn't suggest locking out guests permanently... only suggested trying it when the 'server is too busy' & see if that helps. Considering we are ALL 'locked out' when the 'server is too busy' message pops up.... it seemed pretty logical to ask if the system can recognize which users were already logged in & let them back in the door AHEAD of people who weren't looged in when the server became too busy.

I'm in agreement as usual LI Mom, posters are taking this too personally, Turbo meant the people who don't bother to register and only lurk who are taking up all the bandwidth and the involved posters can't even get on because of them!

 

[QuickAttack]

I've got a solution to this problem.

Anyone who wants to tell Tricia how to run her board or thinks they can do a better job, go sign up for a domain name, buy the software and the servers, and open your own site.

JMHO.

 

[QuickAttack]

I think that if we have something to say to the mods, we should send them a PM. IMO, it was inappropriate to make this a forum matter.

I agree. It's like trying to foment mutiny.