ANNOUNCEMENT: Stricter terms for posts on forum (sorry)

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 11:19 am

Fellow 480 drivers, lend me thy ears...

Normally you would expect a great story to begin here, with a super plot and lots of excitement, but that sadly isn't the case. This time I would like your attention for something not so nice.

I will show you a small list of data traffic on the server at different times:
1) September '02 - September '03 = about 2.0 Gb/month.
2) September '03 - November '03 = about 5.5 Gb/month.
3) December '03 - onwards = over 6.7 Gb/month.

1) Shows you the time period when we had our website at D-Hosting without the forum. Everything was working fine within the 2.44 Gb/month we were allowed to generate.
2) Shows the monthly traffic after we stopped using EZBoard (still very pleased about leaving) and started using PHPBB on our own server. In November '03 we have payed an extra 70 euro to increase our allowed monthly traffic with 3 Gb. But now it's ever increasing more and more...
3) Shows you the current amount of traffic on the site and I am wondering how far it will continue to rise unless we act.

So to be honest I am looking at ways to decrease the monthly traffic while keeping a good forum with interesting material. Some of us have used this forum more like a chatbox than a forum. If you think you are one of them, please do not feel offended (I mean that). There have been lots of fun threads and I hope we can keep it fun in here for the future.

The most important role of this forum is to have a place where Volvo 480 enthusiasts can get together. It is divided into several parts with each serving a special role. Naming them might give a better idea to how they are intended:
There is the General Volvo 480 Discussions (renamed it today from just 'General Discussions'). Here everyone can post the every-day chitchat they want to share about their car. Think of 'why the heck did they make the seatbelt-guide-arms so weak' or whatever. As long as it has to do with the 480 in some way.
Next we find the In Depth Technical Questions. As the name shows things like 'how do I dismantle this and that' or other technical thingies belong here. All technical discussions here must apply to factory-default cars. As soon as it is about something custom like custom pressure valves it belongs in the next forum.
The Tuning and Tweaking forum that is. Everything like chipping, boost pressure, etc. can be posted here.
Next we have the Styling forum. Also pretty clear what this is for. If you want to paint your dashboard or know more of a certain bodykit, this is the place. It is not intended for selling or buying parts, just like the previous mentioned forums.
Then there are two 'club forums'. The first one is used primarily by me to announce changes to the website.
The second one is intended to announce a Meeting you want to organise. You can use it to see if there is enthusiasm for a certain meeting. If you want to go ahead in organising it you can e-mail me all relevant data and I can set up a page for it in the meetings section of the clubs' website. The one organising it (or someone else, but that's up to the person arranging it) can make a list of everyone who really is coming through e-mail. If the person setting up the meeting wants I can also make an online form where members can apply for a meeting online. Our database would store everyone who is coming. Interested? Just e-mail me.
Then we get to the marketplace. Here you can buy, sell Volvo 480, or Volvo 480 related materials (like manuals, scale models, parts, everything basically). If you see something interesting on the web you can post it here with a link to it. This is also the place to sell custom made parts, rather than in the styling section. A post in the styling section with a link to here might be best.
And now the trickiest part of the website: The Wastegate. It was added to the forum because there were topics that didn't fit in any of the forums above. At the moment it seems to have gone too far. Most times I visit the message board I see for example 12 new posts in the General Discussions and Technical Questions section together, and 9 posts in The Wastegate. I understand that when the 480 isn't having problems it's hard to think off what to post about. But please don't start all sorts of meaningless threads; I have said it before and will do so again: this is a message board and not a chatbox. I don't want to be mean and spoil everyones fun, but I want to ask you to have a little more content in the posts.

Our contract with our current webhost provider lasts until September '04. I have started looking around a bit to seek a webhost provider that allows more bandwith for less money, but at the moment there isn't much we can do. When there is enough donations we can discuss if we want to use anything on top of the current webhost-costs to buy more monthly traffic for more chitchat or if we want to start making goodies like mugs, shirts and caps. *Heck*, I even took the liberty to have a prototype made in Sweden last summer! click here to see.

So please don't be mad for trying to narrow down everyones freedom here on the forum, the majority of the discussions is not affected. It's just that I ask for you to think about the use of a message before you post it. And now I am going to take some rest as I don't want to get RSI

Oh, and finally: this!

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 12:31 pm

I agree, server space and bandwidth, is a very precious thing!
I hope that the club can find a suitable (Cost Effective) host in the near future.

All the Best
Mat

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 1:12 pm

When we link a image from photobucket is that put down as usage by your host?

I'm sure it don't but it's just a question.

I bet you already know this/done it. Make sure the main site has really small image sizes. blah blah u get the idea.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 1:14 pm

Also move the site images to photobucket/whatever and that saves our usage !

but don't tell them

+ How come I can't edit the last post I made?

Gimle · Post by **Gimle** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 1:18 pm

Perhaps you made the forum angry?

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 8:42 pm

Hi Martin,

I the server won't use external pictures downloads as data traffic since the browser on the host computer should get the image directly from the location where the image is without help from the forum. That line is very vague, but I knew what you meant and I think you're correct!

Think I will put everything on photobucket (all the images), that should indeed make some/a big difference

king_j · Post by **king_j** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 8:50 pm

or get a better host and then the site/forum wont have to be restricted, the last thing ya want to do wae a club is restrict its growth, if its getting busier it because people are using it.

ive seen this b4 and if people restrict it people get put off and they leave.

strangegame · Post by **strangegame** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 11:06 pm

Being honest good points but king_j gets mine too true seen it myself.... keep it going.. get more room-- loads more are using it ______ this is a good usefull site

i for one like it the way it is

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 11:12 pm

I think what Coyote is saying is that the way it currently is, is over twice the maximum 'allowed' bandwidth.

It looks like a bit of a dilema:

-- Cut posting down (lose some members)

or

-- Move to a larger, more expensive server, cost of forum goes up (Lose some members)

It's a tricky one.

So pool your ideas everyone

king_j · Post by **king_j** » Thu Jan 01, 2004 11:56 pm

why would going to a larger serve cosr more, ive already talked with coyote1980 about this, i currently pay Â£70 a year for 500mb of space and 40gb of badwidth per month.

ive got loads on my SITES and many forums and im yes to get nea half that each month.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 8:20 am

Think I will put everything on photobucket (all the images), that should indeed make some/a big difference

We are so bad

Also are these Emoticons hosted on this host or another?

I dont think you can host these Emoticons on photobucket because they are animations.

We could link to another server using the same idea as above

Edit the top pic (with xmas tree) and remove the tree (reduce image size)
Maybe remove the snow also? (is it java script?)

PS:- The girls in Prague so fine

and it's snowing for real

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:28 am

Haha, lol, you behave with all them Czechian beauties around you?

I think the smilies are no prob at photobucket, they are just gifs, animated gifs, but that should make no difference.

I'll see what I can do in one day time. The forum will keep having snow until junuari 7th. (so enjoy it while it lasts

)

hebruins · Post by **hebruins** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 2:45 pm

how about adding a chatroom for all the "chatting" that's now posted in the Wastegate??

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 3:19 pm

We have one here:

http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/clubdata/chatbox.html

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 5:09 pm

Well, I have moved all the images at the top (and the snowflake image) to the photobucket I use... Hope photobucket won't mind too much

hebruins · Post by **hebruins** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:13 pm

MatBat wrote:We have one here:

http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/clubdata/chatbox.html

I noticed so, after I posted here

anyway, then the solution is to endulge the members to use the chat more than the "wastegate"

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 2:21 pm

I think it's all bollocks - no offence Daniel, you do a great job, but to restrict what people do on the forum is just wrong - the traffic for the site has grown because there are more members - in idiot-proof terms, the club is more populour - it's more populour because of what it is - if you start to restrict how people use the forum (especially as it's being used within the descriptions of what the sections are for, so technically noone's done any wrong), then you WILL lose members - once the more off-topic stuff goes, people WILL start looking at the forum less often, and as the number of new posts drops, people will check even less often, meaning they might just not come back, or if they do, they are less likely to post. Getting rid of the stuff that makes this place warm and friendly will not make more posts that are "on topic" appear - it will simply slash what happens on the forum and if severe enough will start a rot, a decline in membership.

Find a better provider - your deal sound absolutely crap - you don't need to stay in the Netherlands if all your providers offer similer packages - go to somewhere in the UK or the States.

Also, it's no small point that on no less than 7 different occasions in the last 15 months or so, I have offered the club hosting for FREE - *sigh*

Daniel - don't start a downward turn by restricting what people do - you'll be sorry in the end.

-serious mode off-

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 5:22 pm

OK, this is going to be hard for me to reply on. On the one hand I want to let everyone do on the site and forum whatever they want. On the other hand I want to try to stick with the 5,5 Gb/month we have with our current provider. Not forever, but until August when our webhost contract ends. By then I hope to have found a better and cheaper webhost provider. This should be possible, even in Holland.

At first I had not foreseen these problems with more datatraffic than expected. We payed 60 euro for a 100 Mb webspace and 2.5 Gb monthly traffic (and the PHP support and MySQL database). Right now we had to buy an upgrade as previously mentioned which comes down to 70 euro extra. Still the same 100 Mb webspace but now 5.5 Gb monthly traffic.

I have browsed a dutch website that lists all sorts of webhost providers and I see several that give at least the 100 Mb webspace we need and offer 8 Gb or 10 Gb or even more monthly traffic. The problem: hard to find reviews of customers at those companies. But heck, we have plenty of time before it's August.

But... to get back to dragons point: I too believe that strict terms can ruin the fun element of the forum. The wastegate stayes open and everyone can post whatever he wants. It's just that I got the feeling more and more threads were rising that didn't have ANY point. It was only these kind of threads I was worried about. On the other hand I will admit that these few pointless threads are not the major traffic-generator we had on our forum.

I have by now (as Martin suggested) moved the pictures at the top of the pages to photobucket accounts. I think this will be a good start.

Conclusion of my post: everyone just keep posting as they were used to, and never mind this thread, it was just me babbling...

And PS: dragon, you know how much I appreciate you hosting lots of club files!

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:46 pm

If you need any hosting of images or sections of the forum, but you just want it temporarilly before August, just let me know. And the permanent hosting offer is always there...

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:46 pm

I didn't mean to sound like an eejit in my first post by the way.

PS: How come you can't edit your own posts in this section?