Speed Things Up A Bit

[8thsinner]

I have been trying to work out how to do this for you for a while, but ALL pages now have the ads, which I dont mind, however it does take much longer to load,

I am currently on a very fast connection and there is still a lag in loading.

Instead of loading the ads first, can you please try to load a place holder first, load the rest of the text then load the ads in the space holder?

[Johanna]

Hmmm...not sure why you are experiencing slow load times. We upgraded to a dedicated server a few weeks ago, and most people are reporting dramatic increases in the speed of a page loading. The ad banners have always been on top of every forum page. At home on my cable connection, when I click I get the header instantly, then 3 ads then the 4th ad and the page and it happens very quickly. I get to see it in slow motion when I use my Verizon connection. I'll talk to Kate and see if she can think of any reason the site's pages are loading slowly for you.

Johanna

[CitizenKate]

I have been trying to work out how to do this for you for a while, but ALL pages now have the ads, which I dont mind, however it does take much longer to load,

I am currently on a very fast connection and there is still a lag in loading.

Instead of loading the ads first, can you please try to load a place holder first, load the rest of the text then load the ads in the space holder?

When the site was hosted in a shared environment, that is one of the things we considered doing, and are still considering, and not just with the ads, but also with other script-generated content. Moving the site to a dedicated host kind of put that effort on the back-burner, since that alone sped things up considerably.

I am getting typical load times just over 2 seconds, when forcing my browser to re-download everything:

Using cached content, it's closer to 1.5 seconds, and the ads are taking up about 750ms of that. I'm guessing these are not the same page load times you're seeing at your location. So, while I think there are things we may be able to do on this end to improve what you're experiencing on your end, the real bottleneck may be somewhere between here and there. With the increase in membership from overseas (which is a very welcome trend), we have discussed a few ideas for providing better service in Europe, but since they are still pretty much in the idea stage, it's probably best not to share them at this point, because a lot will change between now and the time we implement anything. We are taking the issue very seriously, though.

In the mean time, I would be interested in seeing more information about what you're seeing from your end. Would you be willing to gather and send me some data on the connection you have between here and there, such as a tracert report? (Please PM me if you're not sure how to do that, and I'll be glad to help you with it.) Depending on what we see there, we can go from there.

Kate

[iwannabeacowboy]

I use Ad Muncher and have no problems at all. I never see the ads.

charlie

[TwinOaks]

I'm using DSL 'lite', at 54Mbps, and I'm seeing 6.35 seconds according to Firebug.

What is considered 'slow'?

[hivemind]

I use Ad Muncher and have no problems at all. I never see the ads.

charlie

If you're going to use an ad blocker, then at least have the courtesy to become a contributing member to help keep the site running. It's not like they're random ads for Viagra or car insurance, they're all hand-picked and vetted by the crew here to make sure they're advertising for reputable, relevant vendors.

Sheesh... It's not like the admins are quitting their day jobs to live high on the hog from this site or something.

[Johanna]

>smooch< to Hivemind.

~J

[hivemind]

I do IT for a living, and run a couple forums on my own time, so I feel your pain.

[Russ]

I use an ad blocker too. Not really for this site, but for the others I visit. Just out of curiosity, I turned it off and browsed the forum. The ads consistently cost me less than 3/4 of a second per page load. Total load times about 2.5 seconds. I'm on a relatively slow connection (cellular) and this forum is still extremely fast, compared to others I visit.

I have to say, this forum is run better than any of the dozen or so that I visit (and the two that I run, I might add). Kate and the other admins do a great job.

Something else kinda funny....I don't mind the ads as long as they are appropriate. I found myself actually looking at them and I clicked on a company that I never heard of before. Now, if ads for something completely non-leather popped up, or pop-ups or flashing ads started, I'd turn the blocker back on. But of course I know that won't happen here.

Kudos to all the admins. I have gotten my money's worth out of this site.

[Johanna]

Many people have told me that they disable their ad blockers for this site because they want to see the ads. I know you folks click on new ones.

We upgraded the forum software this summer and moved the whole site (It's a little more than 22 gigs total about now) to a dedicated server at the end of August. The site that has the ads also lives on the same server, and we have had many people tell us that the site sped up considerably for them after we made the change.

One of the things that was putting stress on the old server was the topic preview function, so we replaced it with IPB's built in "little green box". If you run your cursor down a line of topics, that box will pop up. Click it, and a fast first and last post will show in another small window. It would really help if we all put some thought into topic titles. 10 years from now is anyone going to know what your thread "look what I did this weekend!" is about? In 10 days, even?

If you like this site, tell people. Tell your friends. Tell your suppliers, and suggest they advertise with us. Tell our sponsors you appreciate their support of the site and that you saw their ads. Participate on the board, post your pics. We accept donations and sell advertising to survive (do you know what a dedicated server costs?) and as long as you folks want us to be here, we will.

Johanna