Metro Jacksonville

Welcome to Metro Jacksonville => Feedback and Suggestions => Topic started by: Charles Hunter on February 11, 2025, 09:42:11 AM

Title: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 11, 2025, 09:42:11 AM
For the last few weeks, the Jaxson has been very slow. Slow on initial load, slow to respond to 'post' or 'reply' actions. I know my Xfinity is slow, but the Jaxson's response is much slower than anything else.  Are there server or database issues?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 11, 2025, 12:48:23 PM
There were some hung processes on the server. It's been rebooted and hopefully will be ok now.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Ken_FSU on February 11, 2025, 01:59:34 PM
I noticed too, but assumed it was just Stephen in the database again editing comments critical of his moderation style into suggestions that a $1.50 drip coffee should entitle you to free refills and complimentary WiFi for life at Three Layers. 
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 11, 2025, 03:47:10 PM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on February 11, 2025, 01:59:34 PM
I noticed too, but assumed it was just Stephen in the database again editing comments critical of his moderation style into suggestions that a $1.50 drip coffee should entitle you to free refills and complimentary WiFi for life at Three Layers. 

OK, I really did LOL on this!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: acme54321 on February 11, 2025, 04:24:31 PM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on February 11, 2025, 01:59:34 PM
I noticed too, but assumed it was just Stephen in the database again editing comments critical of his moderation style into suggestions that a $1.50 drip coffee should entitle you to free refills and complimentary WiFi for life at Three Layers.

Lol
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 11, 2025, 11:01:14 PM
The ssssllllloooooowwwwwws are back.  11 PM Tuesday (actually noticed earlier tonight, waited to see if it was a momentary thing)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 12, 2025, 09:48:14 AM
I've restricted the forum to members only for now. There is just too much bot traffic hitting it. If you notice the guest user count is almost 15k over the past 30 minutes.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 12, 2025, 10:19:04 AM
Thanks. This loaded immediately.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: BridgeTroll on February 12, 2025, 12:01:57 PM
Quote from: Lunican on February 12, 2025, 09:48:14 AM
I've restricted the forum to members only for now. There is just too much bot traffic hitting it. If you notice the guest user count is almost 15k over the past 30 minutes.

I noticed that as well... cutting them off for a bit may help... but still seeing 753 "guests "
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: acme54321 on February 12, 2025, 05:20:08 PM
They all heard about the Starbucks coming to Laura St.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: BridgeTroll on February 12, 2025, 05:27:10 PM
Quote from: acme54321 on February 12, 2025, 05:20:08 PM
They all heard about the Starbucks coming to Laura St.

OMG...  ;D ;D ;D Exactly what I was thinking!  But seriously...
There are over 7900 "guests " logged in currently...  >:(
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: BridgeTroll on February 13, 2025, 02:35:29 PM
Still verrryyy sloooowww... took two tries to post this
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: fieldafm on February 13, 2025, 02:46:59 PM
Quote from: BridgeTroll on February 13, 2025, 02:35:29 PM
Still verrryyy sloooowww... took two tries to post this

China must be waking up. Unfortunately, the bots are really hammering us.  We may have to go back to making it member-only accessible. That worked last night, but obviously you have to be logged in to view (I'm never logged in from my phone, for example).  There's been a bump in (seemingly legitimate) new users signing up as a result, so that's a perk of the member-only option.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 13, 2025, 02:51:40 PM
I just moved it back to member only. Working on another solution but it's not ready yet.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: BridgeTroll on February 13, 2025, 05:06:05 PM
Quote from: Lunican on February 13, 2025, 02:51:40 PM
I just moved it back to member only. Working on another solution but it's not ready yet.

Does member only include guests?  Over 9000 guests right now...

Users Online
9471 Guests, 8 Users

Users active in past 30 minutes:
BridgeTroll, tree-up, Joey Mackey, Steve, civil42806, marcuscnelson, Tacachale, Lunican

Most Online Today: 10461. Most Online Ever: 31652 (January 22, 2025, 12:23:40 PM)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 13, 2025, 05:51:11 PM
Logged in users can see the forum and visitors not logged in just see a login screen. This reduces the load as it doesn't have to call the database.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jax_hwy_engineer on February 14, 2025, 08:19:29 AM
site has been far more responsive lately. this is fascinating to me, bot traffic is so odd... why would 35k bots need to access a city-specific forum?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 14, 2025, 10:29:47 AM
Quote from: jax_hwy_engineer on February 14, 2025, 08:19:29 AM
site has been far more responsive lately. this is fascinating to me, bot traffic is so odd... why would 35k bots need to access a city-specific forum?

Maybe it's DOGE looking for fraud and waste?!?  :o  ;)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jaxoNOLE on February 14, 2025, 10:46:03 AM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 14, 2025, 10:29:47 AM
Quote from: jax_hwy_engineer on February 14, 2025, 08:19:29 AM
site has been far more responsive lately. this is fascinating to me, bot traffic is so odd... why would 35k bots need to access a city-specific forum?

Maybe it's DOGE looking for fraud and waste?!?  :o  ;)

Well, if they stumbled onto the U2C thread, they found it!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jax_hwy_engineer on February 14, 2025, 03:43:32 PM
Quote from: jaxoNOLE on February 14, 2025, 10:46:03 AM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 14, 2025, 10:29:47 AM
Quote from: jax_hwy_engineer on February 14, 2025, 08:19:29 AM
site has been far more responsive lately. this is fascinating to me, bot traffic is so odd... why would 35k bots need to access a city-specific forum?

Maybe it's DOGE looking for fraud and waste?!?  :o  ;)

Well, if they stumbled onto the U2C thread, they found it!
that's the one thing I wish DOGE would shut down. Maybe we could weaponize Elon's insecurities by saying the U2C is cooler and better than CyberTaxi to make him jealous and shut U2C down out of spite
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Ken_FSU on February 14, 2025, 11:12:46 PM
Appreciate the work troubleshooting this.

I wonder how much of it is AI scrapers/LLMs?

Good list here of potential crawlers to try blocking:

https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on March 15, 2025, 09:12:57 AM
The board is getting The Slows again
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on May 30, 2025, 11:15:33 AM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on March 15, 2025, 09:12:57 AM
The board is getting The Slows again

It's happening again.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: urban_ on May 31, 2025, 05:29:19 PM
Same here, for at least a couple of days
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on June 01, 2025, 07:53:32 PM
Thank you, oh great gurus of the page ... it is all zoomy now.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on June 11, 2025, 09:31:56 AM
 ... annnnnd ... back to sluggish

Are we having a Bot invasion?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: urban_ on June 11, 2025, 10:40:27 AM
Apparently, 10,700+ guests on currently. Seems excessive.
On the topic, how is this forum funded? Is it free to operate, or can we crowdfund more RAM? lol
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: thelakelander on June 11, 2025, 03:35:21 PM
Yeah, we're going to have to figure something out. We fund it out of pocket because there's a decade plus worth of good information on the forums that should always be free, accessible and available to the public.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: urban_ on June 11, 2025, 06:12:56 PM
Is there some way members/readers can contribute? Not just to make it faster, but to offload some of the upkeep from y'all! I agree that this forum is important to keep up indefinitely.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on June 13, 2025, 12:59:11 PM
The forum went online June 2, 2007!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on July 22, 2025, 09:22:29 PM
Molasses in February in Greenland.  It's got the slows again.

I second urban_'s suggestion - is there some way we can help with the financial side, and upgrade the servers (and maybe get a decent 'search' feature)?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: BridgeTroll on July 23, 2025, 02:15:42 PM
Quote from: Lunican on June 13, 2025, 12:59:11 PM
The forum went online June 2, 2007!

Time certainly flies... damn :) 8)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: urban_ on July 23, 2025, 04:37:26 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 22, 2025, 09:22:29 PM
I second urban_'s suggestion - is there some way we can help with the financial side, and upgrade the servers (and maybe get a decent 'search' feature)?
A search feature would be dope too!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on August 05, 2025, 09:28:42 AM
It's got the sssslllloooowwwwwwssssss again.

Maybe the Site Guru who fixes this recurring problem could put a reminder to wave their magic wand every week or so?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jax_hwy_engineer on August 05, 2025, 03:50:38 PM
I wonder if it would be possible to put the site behind Cloudflare or something similar? Likely that AI bots, which have taken over the internet, are crawling the site and ignoring the robots.txt as they're known to do. Real sick of AI ruining things...
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on August 05, 2025, 10:52:09 PM
^ Trying to avoid it but may have to use Cloudflare turnstile.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on August 05, 2025, 11:02:24 PM
Quote from: Lunican on August 05, 2025, 10:52:09 PM
^ Trying to avoid it but may have to use Cloudflare turnstile.

Would this affect the user experience of the intended users?
If the trepidation related to cost? Remember there are multiple offers on the table (well, the forum) to assist.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on August 06, 2025, 11:18:00 AM
No it's not cost. It will likely make things worse for regular users and I need to find time to do it.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on August 06, 2025, 12:19:25 PM
Worse in what way?

And I realize this ain't your full-time job, so whatever you can do is appreciated.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on November 26, 2025, 06:48:59 PM
I think the site had its Thanksgiving Turkey a day early - it's got a bad case of the sllllooowwwwwzzzzz
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on January 19, 2026, 07:05:17 PM
It's happening again. Been slow all weekend.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 17, 2026, 09:37:09 PM
Our very old server was just retired. Hopefully this new setup will be noticeably faster.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 17, 2026, 10:01:53 PM
Quote from: Lunican on February 17, 2026, 09:37:09 PMOur very old server was just retired. Hopefully this new setup will be noticeably faster.

Cool! The new look was a bit of a shock. And, I learned I need to check "forever" on how long I want to be logged in. Will give the search and adding links and images over the next few days.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jaxlongtimer on February 17, 2026, 11:31:34 PM
Great improvement.  Is there a word search function now?  Charles appears to mention one but I am not seeing it.

Also, when I read a post it goes to "MetroJacksonville."  I have to return to Bookmarks to get back to the Jaxson home page.  Am I missing something there?

Thanks!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 07:08:18 AM
Yes, search is available in the top menu.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: KenFSU2 on February 18, 2026, 01:12:49 PM
On one hand, it's a huge improvement and modernization.

On the other, end of an era after what, 20+ years?

Thanks for all the hard work guys! Still the most knowledgeable, civil online community in Jax.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 02:49:44 PM
I have been able to embed a graph into a post. Also, making a word in a post a link to a URL works like I used to from another message board - instead of the former way of having the URL spelled out in the post.
My next experiment is to embed a photo.

But, no success. Is there a user manual for this board?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: KenFSU2 on February 18, 2026, 04:01:13 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 02:49:44 PMI have been able to embed a graph into a post. Also, making a word in a post a link to a URL works like I used to from another message board - instead of the former way of having the URL spelled out in the post.
My next experiment is to embed a photo.

But, no success. Is there a user manual for this board?

When you're typing a post, in the text formatting bar at the top (Bold, Italics, Underline, Justify, etc.), click on the icon of an image. A secondary menu will pop up asking you for the image URL. Paste the URL, hit "insert," and it will insert your photo for you.

Like so: (https://snipboard.io/ybzUrn.jpg)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 04:06:21 PM
@KenFSU2 Are you locked out of your original account?
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 04:57:32 PM
Ken - yeah, I get fiddling with fonts. My question is how to add a photo (image) to a post. In another message board (on the vBulletin platform), I choose a photo from one of my storage clouds (PhotoBucket, OneDrive, etc), select the option that gives a URL to the selected photo, then on the message board I surround it with the code   I tried that here, and nothing appeared.

(https://photobucket.com/share/d5568e21-9f78-4e7d-9ffe-873dfc410c28)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 06:01:32 PM
That should do it. Here is the code from Kens post.

[img]https://snipboard.io/ybzUrn.jpg[/img]
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:20:29 PM
I tried that format from PhotoBucket. Will try from another cloud

(https://photobucket.com/share/d5568e21-9f78-4e7d-9ffe-873dfc410c28)

should be a photo of some cute chicks
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:23:03 PM
one more time

(https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/sd5oIWXoRGyWL8CKfTamFA._63kAt9U65KcbdAfcag3zE)

Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:25:53 PM
I'm using the "share" option, share link, in Amazon Photos, then copying the link that comes up

Okay, I tried it in that other (vBulletin) message board, with the same result. Off to check my privacy settings.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:31:06 PM
Didn't see privacy settings in Amazon Photos

(https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/sd5oIWXoRGyWL8CKfTamFA._63kAt9U65KcbdAfcag3zE)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:34:24 PM
Cats?

[i m g]C:\Users\jm52g\CrossDevice\James's S25+\storage\DCIM\Camera\20260218_130154.jpg[/img]

Here's the latest one, with img expanded so the text appears
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:41:45 PM
Another try

(https://1drv.ms/i/c/48794d2fcce580e9/IQDdMNlVfCc2QZdGF3Kf5kb7ASZEV9ORyCcMkREOCigJ4rA?e=egFN7c)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:44:45 PM
and another

(https://1drv.ms/i/c/48794d2fcce580e9/IQDpgOXML015IIBIhk0AAAAAARzV_-aF049AW2Rt2_1LDVM?e=dUjN2n)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:52:46 PM
Trying on a different browser

(C:%5CUsers%5Cjm52g%5CCrossDevice%5CJames's%20S25+%5Cstorage%5CDCIM%5CCamera%5C20251214_234722.jpg)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: KenFSU2 on February 18, 2026, 07:10:27 PM
Quote from: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 04:06:21 PM@KenFSU2 Are you locked out of your original account?

I might be! I've had it for so long that I can't even remember what email address it's associated with. I'll try the "Forgot Password" route tonight.

Would hate to miss my opportunity to hit 50,000 posts under dubious circumstances, make a self-congratulatory thread about it, and then threaten to sue you all over my intellectual property rights.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 08:44:51 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 06:34:24 PMCats?

[i m g]C:\Users\jm52g\CrossDevice\James's S25+\storage\DCIM\Camera\20260218_130154.jpg[/img]

Here's the latest one, with img expanded so the text appears

This needs to be url, not a location on your computer or phone.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 09:40:16 PM
Weird.
One more time? From photobucket

(https://photobucket.com/share/6ccad635-9b0d-40a8-a886-7f9827c9063f)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: jaxlongtimer on February 18, 2026, 10:20:06 PM
(https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/panoramic-view-jacksonville-skyline-dusk-florida-panoramic-view-jacksonville-skyline-dusk-florida-usa-105473381.jpg?w=1400)

Charles, just copy the web image address into the post and then click on the photo icon.  It does the rest if this post works  ;D .
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 10:46:49 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 18, 2026, 09:40:16 PMWeird.
One more time? From photobucket

(https://photobucket.com/share/6ccad635-9b0d-40a8-a886-7f9827c9063f)

The url to the page that has the photo and not the photo itself was used.

It looks like photobucket has an easy linking mode that can be turned on that will help you with getting links directly to images: https://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/articles/360056545931-Easy-Linking-Mode-for-mobile-browsers

Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 19, 2026, 11:10:47 AM
I see that the "Easy Link" requires a premium subscription, about $100/year more than my current PB subscription. Will have to ponder if it is worth it.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 19, 2026, 11:22:34 AM
Attempt to post from Amazon Photos:

(https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/sd5oIWXoRGyWL8CKfTamFA._63kAt9U65KcbdAfcag3zE)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Ken_FSU on February 19, 2026, 03:37:04 PM
Quote from: Lunican on February 18, 2026, 04:06:21 PM@KenFSU2 Are you locked out of your original account?

Found it! Thanks  8)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Lunican on February 19, 2026, 04:32:58 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on February 19, 2026, 11:22:34 AMAttempt to post from Amazon Photos:

(https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/sd5oIWXoRGyWL8CKfTamFA._63kAt9U65KcbdAfcag3zE)

@Charles Hunter, it's a change in how these photo hosting sites work. They don't want to host images for third party forums anymore.

See https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40492668

Also:

QuoteAmazon Photos does not allow third-party hosting for images; it is primarily designed for personal storage and sharing within Amazon's ecosystem. For embedding images on forums or other websites, you would need to use a different service that supports third-party linking.

Try something like https://postimages.org/ or https://imgbb.com/.
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 19, 2026, 04:50:05 PM
*sigh*

I vaguely remember this transition, and my recollection is that I signed up for the least expensive service that would allow 'hosting.'

Wait! I found the "media" tab.
Will this work?
Drumroll ....
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/7d94fe8f-eb6e-4498-89a9-72e863ded383/ee47d5b2-e177-4021-82c8-eb689fff2604.jpg) (https://hosting.photobucket.com/7d94fe8f-eb6e-4498-89a9-72e863ded383/ee47d5b2-e177-4021-82c8-eb689fff2604.jpg)
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: Charles Hunter on February 19, 2026, 04:53:36 PM
Okay. I just paste the PhotoBucket quick line into my comment, without the IMG brackets. Woo!
Title: Re: Slow Loading
Post by: MakeDTjaxGre@tAgain on February 20, 2026, 02:33:10 PM
Love the new forum layout.