Another rant

R. · 17 Nov 2003, 15:12

Here we go again:

This is the Meat Loaf UK Fanclub website and the messageboard you are using is part of this website.

Having said that, this is by no way an advertising platform for other websites.

This is message is directed at those people who have added a link to the ROL website in their signature. There is no way that i'm going to allow that an offsite link apears in more than 5000 messages. This is by far the worst kind of spam I have ever seen on this website. So, as of now we have a new set of rules that will be added to the announcement forum soon:

Edit: Obsolete rules removed.

I have disabled all user signatures as of now.
They will remain disabled until all spamlinks have been removed from the userprofiles.

Please correct your signature in case it contains a link.
Thanks for your time.

little_dancer · 18 Nov 2003, 00:04

oops- so I think I've already broken this rule unknowingly- so we can't post any urls to other Meat Loaf related sites?

Sorry- I'll go delete any I've posted.

Cheers

R. · 18 Nov 2003, 15:25

No - I'm just talking about signatures.

original sin · 18 Nov 2003, 15:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.

(1) Absolutely no signatures linking to other websites.
(2) Absolutely no texts/messages directing to other websites.
(3) Absolutely no avatars directing to other websites.

They will remain disabled until all spamlinks have been removed from the userprofiles.
Please correct your signature in case it contains a link.
Thanks for your time.

I have said what and how I felt on the other thread.

If these are the new rules across the board I shall abide by them.

dottie · 18 Nov 2003, 17:27

Please could our original signatures be re-instated - and I agree to abide by the rules

little_dancer · 18 Nov 2003, 18:27

thanks for the clarification, no problem RE: Signatures!

jcmoorehead · 18 Nov 2003, 22:02

Ok no offence but thats an absolutely stupid rule.... This is the first forum i've ever seen thats actually imposed this sort of rule and i've seen many forums. This includes many gaming sites where advertising in messages is against the rules whereas advertising in Sigs is allowed.

This is essentially what signatures are for. If you are going to remove signatures for this reason you may aswel remove the part in the profile which states "Website URL"

Links In Signatures are how Fan Sites become popular. For example:

I go onto a forum displaying the MLUKFC Site in my Sig
200 More People Click that link, Thus Increasing Visitor Rate.

The people are still going to visit the original forum and the MLUKFC Site.

Sorry but I had to express my view that this is an absolutely silly rule.

shadow1000001 · 19 Nov 2003, 00:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by dottie

Please could our original signatures be re-instated - and I agree to abide by the rules

I will as well

Bigmomma · 19 Nov 2003, 13:15

sorry R, i have allways been a bit of a rebel. but i promise from
now on i will be a good user of the forum and obey... the... rules,
(blimey i managed to say it, i must be getting old)
sorry i will obey the rules,sorry for joking about,lack of sleep.
kezzina

R. · 20 Nov 2003, 19:07

JC, no offense taken, but:

The website url part in the profile defines this button

below each and every posted message.
Having said that, this should be (imho) sufficient for displaying a link to a users website and thus making an additional link in your signature obsolete.

However, signatures will remain deactivated due to the huge traffic.
As soon as we're back on a usual traffic level, sigs will go online again and I might forget these rules.

Yesterday's (19/11/2003) data (without signatures):

Overall website traffic for 19/11/2003: 1344671 K (~ 1.3 GB)
Overall pageviews: 26372

Btw, if you use these numbers and calculate a worst case scenario, an average of additional 80 bytes for a link in your sig will cause ~1 GB of extra traffic

Michel · 21 Nov 2003, 12:56

Great news about the website traffic.

R. · 21 Nov 2003, 18:09

Traffic info for 20/11/2003:

Page views: 22474
Overall traffic: 1113278 K ~ 1.1 GB

PanicLord · 21 Nov 2003, 18:52

See? It's going down (joking!)

original sin · 22 Nov 2003, 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.

Traffic info for 20/11/2003:
Page views: 22474
Overall traffic: 1113278 K ~ 1.1 GB

OK so excuse my techno-stupidity but are you saying that this is now a general issue with the level of overall traffic to the site and the fact that we have had 81 new members registered since 14/11, rather than the fact that a few people who had joined the cyber staff of another Meat Loaf website added the link to their signatures, which to the best of my knowledge has now been removed from their profile?

Sin

R. · 22 Nov 2003, 16:03

Right now, this is an issue due to the high traffic amount.
I might even need to turn off all avatars.

original sin · 22 Nov 2003, 17:33

oooohh no not my dragon!!!!!
Seriously though what can we do to help?
Will the site need to be locked for new sign ups while?
What about clearing some of the topics would that help?

and I supposed posts like this don't help much do they?

But the last thing I want to see is this site struggling so please r. let us know what we can do

Sin

R. · 22 Nov 2003, 17:38

The only thing that would help is closing down the forum for a while, but this is not an option. Am I right?

heat · 22 Nov 2003, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.

The only thing that would help is closing down the forum for a while, but this is not an option. Am I right?

I would gladly forsake Sin's Avatar for the sake of the forums. Let it not be said that i'm nothing if not genorous...

shadow1000001 · 22 Nov 2003, 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by heat

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.

The only thing that would help is closing down the forum for a while, but this is not an option. Am I right?

I would gladly forsake Sin's Avatar for the sake of the forums. Let it not be said that i'm nothing if not genorous...

You are VERY generous Heat

dottie · 22 Nov 2003, 18:14

Keep your hands of my AVATAR

Bren · 22 Nov 2003, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by dottie

Keep your hands of my AVATAR

AND MY BAT

i can't be Bren The Batless

...that would never do

Bren

shadow1000001 · 22 Nov 2003, 20:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by dottie

Keep your hands of my AVATAR

I LOVE my Sylvester, PLEASE don't take away my Sylvester

Keab42 · 22 Nov 2003, 20:59

R. just a thought but.....

how much bandwidth does the buddy system take up?

CarylB · 22 Nov 2003, 21:17

Perhaps it would help for the next week or so to:

Get people to limit their posts to contributions rather than short simple agreements of a couple of words, particularly if these quote the passage they are agreeing to

When replying quote only relevant phrases, or just refer to the poster by name

Lock any double threads, eg GENERAL MESSAGES contains a bootleg thread which has been covered before

R. · 22 Nov 2003, 21:58

Buddy management is next to nothing. It just needs a little cpu-time while rendering the page.
60% of traffic is caused by people simply browsing the forum, 10% because of message posting.

17 Nov 2003, 15:12	#1
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	Another rant Here we go again: This is the Meat Loaf UK Fanclub website and the messageboard you are using is part of this website. Having said that, this is by no way an advertising platform for other websites. This is message is directed at those people who have added a link to the ROL website in their signature. There is no way that i'm going to allow that an offsite link apears in more than 5000 messages. This is by far the worst kind of spam I have ever seen on this website. So, as of now we have a new set of rules that will be added to the announcement forum soon: Edit: Obsolete rules removed. I have disabled all user signatures as of now. They will remain disabled until all spamlinks have been removed from the userprofiles. Please correct your signature in case it contains a link. Thanks for your time.

18 Nov 2003, 00:04	#2
little_dancer Super Loafer Join Date: 23.06.2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 363	oops- so I think I've already broken this rule unknowingly- so we can't post any urls to other Meat Loaf related sites? Sorry- I'll go delete any I've posted. Cheers

18 Nov 2003, 15:25	#3
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	No - I'm just talking about signatures.

18 Nov 2003, 17:27	#5
dottie queen post- whore extraordinaire Join Date: 29.01.2003 Location: Still Rockin' at "72" Posts: 13,181	Please could our original signatures be re-instated - and I agree to abide by the rules

18 Nov 2003, 18:27	#6
little_dancer Super Loafer Join Date: 23.06.2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 363	thanks for the clarification, no problem RE: Signatures!

18 Nov 2003, 22:02	#7
jcmoorehead Super Loafer Join Date: 09.04.2003 Location: Edinburgh, formerly Teesside Posts: 672	Ok no offence but thats an absolutely stupid rule.... This is the first forum i've ever seen thats actually imposed this sort of rule and i've seen many forums. This includes many gaming sites where advertising in messages is against the rules whereas advertising in Sigs is allowed. This is essentially what signatures are for. If you are going to remove signatures for this reason you may aswel remove the part in the profile which states "Website URL" Links In Signatures are how Fan Sites become popular. For example: I go onto a forum displaying the MLUKFC Site in my Sig 200 More People Click that link, Thus Increasing Visitor Rate. The people are still going to visit the original forum and the MLUKFC Site. Sorry but I had to express my view that this is an absolutely silly rule.

19 Nov 2003, 13:15	#9
Bigmomma Super Loafer Join Date: 07.07.2003 Location: Somewhere in time in my mind......... Posts: 655	sorry R, i have allways been a bit of a rebel. but i promise from now on i will be a good user of the forum and obey... the... rules, (blimey i managed to say it, i must be getting old) sorry i will obey the rules,sorry for joking about,lack of sleep. kezzina

20 Nov 2003, 19:07	#10
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	JC, no offense taken, but: The website url part in the profile defines this button below each and every posted message. Having said that, this should be (imho) sufficient for displaying a link to a users website and thus making an additional link in your signature obsolete. However, signatures will remain deactivated due to the huge traffic. As soon as we're back on a usual traffic level, sigs will go online again and I might forget these rules. Yesterday's (19/11/2003) data (without signatures): Overall website traffic for 19/11/2003: 1344671 K (~ 1.3 GB) Overall pageviews: 26372 Btw, if you use these numbers and calculate a worst case scenario, an average of additional 80 bytes for a link in your sig will cause ~1 GB of extra traffic

21 Nov 2003, 12:56	#11
Michel Mega Loafer Join Date: 14.04.2002 Location: Stadskanaal, The Netherlands Posts: 1,631	Great news about the website traffic.

21 Nov 2003, 18:09	#12
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	Traffic info for 20/11/2003: Page views: 22474 Overall traffic: 1113278 K ~ 1.1 GB

21 Nov 2003, 18:52	#13
PanicLord Mega Loafer Join Date: 18.06.2003 Location: At The End Of The Line Posts: 2,653	See? It's going down (joking!)

22 Nov 2003, 16:03	#15
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	Right now, this is an issue due to the high traffic amount. I might even need to turn off all avatars.

22 Nov 2003, 17:33	#16
original sin Sinner Join Date: 15.04.2003 Location: cyber space Posts: 2,457	oooohh no not my dragon!!!!! Seriously though what can we do to help? Will the site need to be locked for new sign ups while? What about clearing some of the topics would that help? and I supposed posts like this don't help much do they? But the last thing I want to see is this site struggling so please r. let us know what we can do Sin

22 Nov 2003, 17:38	#17
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	The only thing that would help is closing down the forum for a while, but this is not an option. Am I right?

22 Nov 2003, 18:14	#20
dottie queen post- whore extraordinaire Join Date: 29.01.2003 Location: Still Rockin' at "72" Posts: 13,181	Keep your hands of my AVATAR

22 Nov 2003, 20:59	#23
Keab42 Astrophysicist At Large Join Date: 19.04.2003 Location: Beneath his dreaming tree Posts: 4,284	R. just a thought but..... how much bandwidth does the buddy system take up?

22 Nov 2003, 21:17	#24
CarylB Mega Loafer Join Date: 16.04.2003 Location: Sheffield UK Posts: 5,910	Perhaps it would help for the next week or so to: Get people to limit their posts to contributions rather than short simple agreements of a couple of words, particularly if these quote the passage they are agreeing to When replying quote only relevant phrases, or just refer to the poster by name Lock any double threads, eg GENERAL MESSAGES contains a bootleg thread which has been covered before

22 Nov 2003, 21:58	#25
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	Buddy management is next to nothing. It just needs a little cpu-time while rendering the page. 60% of traffic is caused by people simply browsing the forum, 10% because of message posting.