Welcome To Websleuths # 3

[Spellbound]

@Tricia or any mod:

How can we find if a mod is online when we need someone soon? If we check in the members list, not all mods show when they are online. This has happened several times that a staff member was needed for a problem, and no one can be found. An alert is fine most of the time, but quite often it appears there is no one here to get the alerts. Is there any easy way to find what mods are currently online at WS?

Thanks!

 

[WS Admin]

It has been a tough week and a half. Keep in mind that the last time we had traffic like this (when The Killing Season aired) we were running not just the one server but 2
In other words
40 cores of processor (80 threads)
8 512GB SSD drives (these are the super fast hard drives) set in Raid 1+0 for extra speed and redundancy
256GB of DDR4 memory

at the time we were on vbulletin which only needs half the strength that xenforo does. So not including traffic, our needs doubled but our power halved. This is not a bad thing, trust me the one server still has lots of room for growth. The only reason we had doubled up on the server was because we just did not know what to expect with the TV show.

I guess what I am wanting to say, and you are wanting to hear, is the machine is now kicking butt and taking names. There have been no issues in 20 hours of solid traffic. There was a period last night with database errors, that was just me spending my sunday night doing some tweaking for perfection. This does not mean there will not be any more problems. A strong traffic peak can always happen and may require another 1 time adjustment. If that happens you are looking at another downtime of less than 5 minutes.

That is the good news now here is the bad news. over the last years there has been a ,major shakeup in the forum software community. We decided it would be best, instead of updating software versions back then, to wait and let the dust settle amongst the software companies. In other words the best way to plan for the future was to continue living in the past for just a bit longer than we would have liked. By staying on the older version of vbulletin, it meant we must also stay on the older versions of the server software that puts these pages together. This leads to further issues, for example when we switched to xenforo we could not go to the latest and greatest version we had to go with an older version. By making this change though I can now go update the server software to much more secure and much faster versions. Once the server software is updated, then I can bring the actual forum software to the latest version (depending on the availability of add ons that WS uses).

I am going to let our own dust settle before beginning any of the above mentioned steps. I will keep you informed each step of the way. Remember, when you see the forum down it is not because the sky is falling, it is only because we are moving ahead with our plans for the future.

Dave

 

[WS Admin]

@Tricia or any mod:

How can we find if a mod is online when we need someone soon? If we check in the members list, not all mods show when they are online. This has happened several times that a staff member was needed for a problem, and no one can be found. An alert is fine most of the time, but quite often it appears there is no one here to get the alerts. Is there any easy way to find what mods are currently online at WS?

Thanks!

The only way to do this would be to remove the "invisible" ability for everybody. That would not be fair to the registered users. I can remove the ability for just the mods but it would not be fair to promote somebody to mod yet take away abilities.

 

[WS Admin]

uhm, it looks like it crashed as I was typing it was fixed. Did anybody notice downtime just a couple of minutes ago? was there a message?

 

[FlossyMay]

Websleuths.com took too long to respond is all I got.

 

[bluesneakers]

The only way to do this would be to remove the "invisible" ability for everybody. That would not be fair to the registered users. I can remove the ability for just the mods but it would not be fair to promote somebody to mod yet take away abilities.

Is it possible for moderators to select show online status? So they could individually enable it while others have the ability to hide theirs?

From the privacy settings:

"Show your online status
This will allow other people to see when you are online."

I thought that's what that was for.

 

[WS Admin]

show online status is the same as invisible. This is exactly what I covered in my previous response. How is it fair to punish the mods by telling them they cannot use the feature but everybody is is allowed?

 

[bluesneakers]

show online status is the same as invisible. This is exactly what I covered in my previous response. How is it fair to punish the mods by telling them they cannot use the feature but everybody is is allowed?

I don't think it's punishing them. I would suggest part of being a moderator is being available to users when they need one. I've been on threads where posters were alerting and messaging moderators, even tagging them on threads and not getting a response. The spammer is another example - email Tricia? Alert on the posts? Message a moderator? It would be helpful to know who is online, or if no moderators are online.

 

[Gooddeeds]

I don't think it's punishing them. I would suggest part of being a moderator is being available to users when they need one. I've been on threads where posters were alerting and messaging moderators, even tagging them on threads and not getting a response. The spammer is another example - email Tricia? Alert on the posts? Message a moderator? It would be helpful to know who is online, or if no moderators are online.

show online status is the same as invisible. This is exactly what I covered in my previous response. How is it fair to punish the mods by telling them they cannot use the feature but everybody is is allowed?

Dave what was done on the old WS in regards to this? Comparatively speaking the dialogue with Mods & Admin now is sparse.

I don’t see it as punishment, I see it rather as the Mods are there to assist versus racking up friends and following cases. Why do they need to be concerned about us seeing where they are, they are working? Those in any Support arena are to be visible. I would think if they wanted to post or cruise, it would make sense for them to create a profile for that, where they can choose to select privacy status. Regardless if they are volunteers, that shouldn’t include the choice to be invisible. That defeats the purpose.

 

[WS Admin]

first of all i am only the tech guy and have no say in any of it. But if I did I would not change a thing. It is no different than it was on vbulletin, nothing has changed.

I will have nothing else to say on this matter as it does not fall within my scope of responsibilities.

 

[Gooddeeds]

first of all i am only the tech guy and have no say in any of it. But if I did I would not change a thing. It is no different than it was on vbulletin, nothing has changed.

I will have nothing else to say on this matter as it does not fall within my scope of responsibilities.

I appreciate that it doesn’t fall within your scope of responsibilities. My inquiry stems from, although it was the same on the old WS what is different now that has created little to no response on Alerts or questions addressed to Mods. I’m not skilled enough in knowing if the new software, site revision, limitations, etc have affected this.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

This is my opinion only.

The Moderators on WS are all unpaid volunteers who donate their own time to help in keeping this forum running.

If they are forced to make their presence visible to everyone I can foresee a problem. Here's a hypothetical. Lets say a member has a problem that they feel needs immediate attention. They see that a mod is online so they send that mod a PM asking that they address the problem.

This particular mod is trying to take care of a some things on the forum before leaving to take care important personal business and doesn't have time to respond to the members problem.

The member only knows that the mod was online and didn't do anything to take care of their problem. They get mad and post on this thread that the mod ignored them and didn't do anything to resolve the problem.

See the problem here? These mods don't owe us anything. They will do what they can when they have the time.

Demanding that they have to make their presence known to all is not justified by any means. JMO

 

[Spellbound]

Good points there, RANCH. Thank you for this perspective ... it is true, and not something I had thought of.

 

[Gooddeeds]

This is my opinion only.

The Moderators on WS are all unpaid volunteers who donate their own time to help in keeping this forum running.

If they are forced to make their presence visible to everyone I can foresee a problem. Here's a hypothetical. Lets say a member has a problem that they feel needs immediate attention. They see that a mod is online so they send that mod a PM asking that they address the problem.

This particular mod is trying to take care of a some things on the forum before leaving to take care important personal business and doesn't have time to respond to the members problem.

The member only knows that the mod was online and didn't do anything to take care of their problem. They get mad and post on this thread that the mod ignored them and didn't do anything to resolve the problem.

See the problem here? These mods don't owe us anything. They will do what they can when they have the time.

Demanding that they have to make their presence known to all is not justified by any means. JMO

This is my opinion only.

The Moderators on WS are all unpaid volunteers who donate their own time to help in keeping this forum running.

If they are forced to make their presence visible to everyone I can foresee a problem. Here's a hypothetical. Lets say a member has a problem that they feel needs immediate attention. They see that a mod is online so they send that mod a PM asking that they address the problem.

This particular mod is trying to take care of a some things on the forum before leaving to take care important personal business and doesn't have time to respond to the members problem.

The member only knows that the mod was online and didn't do anything to take care of their problem. They get mad and post on this thread that the mod ignored them and didn't do anything to resolve the problem.

See the problem here? These mods don't owe us anything. They will do what they can when they have the time.

Demanding that they have to make their presence known to all is not justified by any means. JMO

I think the point was missed entirely. My response was echoing in agreement with the original members post in regards to it not being a punishment. Notice in my post responding to Dave where I state “As I see it.”

My overall objective is to understand the differences from the old to new forum. I’ve been on threads where there were constant Alerts. Typically the Mods give a few warnings when that occurs. They are also quick to zero in and delete non complying post, such as those not MSM, etc. This type of interaction was constant and daily, though as needed.

Currently there are extended gaps of no communication from the Mods. It’s out of the ordinary in my experience. I’m wondering if what Dave detailed today for the ‘Bad News’ could be part of the reason for some of the differences, at least the more extreme ones.

The term ‘volunteer’ I suppose can be subjective, though in my opinion and experience it isn’t. If you have served on or chaired committees, as well as Volunteering in any capacity, General rules are expected to be followed. Otherwise it lacks order and can result in the individual assuming their own interpretation of what is acceptable. I don’t care to banter about what it means to me or anyone else. Im mentioning it only in response to the comment “demanding that they have to make their presence known” because I’m not demanding anything, period. It’s trouble shooting dialogue, nothing more-nothing less.

 

[tmar]

Hi Folks.
How can I PM someone, Please.
When I click on their name, there is no means to PM them.
Can someone advise, as previously I could do this.
Am following a trial, and wish to contact folk that were interested in past, that court has resumed.

 

[bears10]

Hi Folks.
How can I PM someone, Please.
When I click on their name, there is no means to PM them.
Can someone advise, as previously I could do this.
Am following a trial, and wish to contact folk that were interested in past, that court has resumed.

Click their name then “start a conversation”. If that option isn’t available maybe they do not accept PMs.

 

[tmar]

Click their name then “start a conversation”. If that option isn’t available maybe they do not accept PMs.

Thank you.
After quite a few, going through, one was rejected.
Now I am an expert.

 

[Shiressleuth]

I just came back to the site and had a message "this is a test Websleuths" as a header where the ad usually is. It was on the history. Having come to here to check if that was legit, it is not on the header in this thread. (It may have said test website not websleuths actually.) I'll go back and check.

Eta. It's on this thread too now. It says "Test this is only a test Websleuths".

Anyone else got this message?

 

[Tricia]

I just came back to the site and had a message "this is a test Websleuths" as a header where the ad usually is. It was on the history. Having come to here to check if that was legit, it is not on the header in this thread. (It may have said test website not websleuths actually.) I'll go back and check.

Eta. It's on this thread too now. It says "Test this is only a test Websleuths".

Anyone else got this message?

That is our new announcement box we are trying out. No need to worry about it. We are testing it just like it says.

 

[WS Admin]

We are setting up a special box that will show which mods are online. Thank you. Your question gave Dave a great idea and he is going to implement soon.

The box at the top has nothing to do with moderators.