Well, I got another call from my co-location provider today and to make a long story short, PFF's server is currently requiring way, way too much bandwidth.
In order for me to get a better idea what is causing the huge amount of traffic, I will disable uploading/downloading images from the PFF server for 24 hours, starting thursday sept. 18th 6:00am EST. As you know, PFF hosts well over 100,000 images posted by members (through PIP). This seemed like a good idea at the time, but since I first allowed the posting of images on the PFF server, the number of images as well as the number of members and visitors have increased tremendously.
So you'll probably see red X's all over the place tomorrow. Of course, you are still able to post images if the image resides on another server.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but unfortunately, this is a necessary test I have to run. In the worst case, I'll probably have to disable the posting of images on the PFF server altogether with the exception of signature images. Either that, or start paying double for the bandwidth I do now... On the other hand, there aren't many forums out there that support the posting of images on their server. So in the worst case, PFF will be like most other forums out there in that respect.
Again, my apologies for any inconvenience.
[This message has been edited by Cliff Pennock (edited 09-17-2003).]
Just a couple of suggestions. First, I'm sure it doesn't help when someone posts a reply and includes all of the pics in the original post. Second, would 84Bills idea about using thumbnails help?
Cliff - totally understand, you gotta do what you gotta do!
Question: Is there any way you (or we) can setup a profile to use PIP for uploading to our own servers? I know I can place images and link to them using FTP and whatnot, but the PIP interface is certainly simpler for day-to-day use (and I don't mind using my own space for the pics).
[This message has been edited by MinnGreenGT (edited 09-17-2003).]
Minn PIP already does that, you have to create a profile for the server you want to post to. I have used it to update pictures to my website.
quote
Originally posted by MinnGreenGT:
Cliff - totally understand, you gotta do what you gotta do!
Question: Is there any way you (or we) can setup a profile to use PIP for uploading to our own servers? I know I can place images and link to them using FTP and whatnot, but the PIP interface is certainly simpler for day-to-day use (and I don't mind using my own space for the pics).
What about just having avatars? Making remote linking a requirement?
The only pitfall I see with what I suggested is the loss of the PFF CD collection. It would also mean that any topics that anyone wanted to keep would have to be saved to a word file on their own machine.
I want this forum to stick around for quite a while. With your little one on the way, you will need to tighten the 'ol belt. We support your decisions.
I think that the idea of limiting pics to the tech section has merit. Pics should be limited in size, not just in pixels, but in bytes. 640x480 max and 60-80k file sizes or less would be good. I don't keep any pictures on Pennock's server, they're all on one of my web spaces at my ISP.
Because of problems posting pics on another forum (yes there are a few out there), I recently started using imagestation.com and it's working fairly well for me. If anybody has a better alternative, I'd like to know about it.
This is your place, you can do whatever is necessary for you.
A few posibilities: Limit the size of the pictures drasticly. They are very helpfull in the mall and in tech. Disable the pics in the other sections.
Only allow supporting members to post pics. It will limit the pics that are posted and will encourage others to contribute. To a degree you are selling a service to us, encourage more to pay their way.
Stop pics in quotes. We already saw them once a few lines earlier.
The perfect answer is to Email relevant pictures to each other,as already stated above.It makes interesting reading for other people, but is really relevant only to the Person requiring that image.I should hate to lose this forum;so from October I am going to double my standing contribution.$10 dollars is worth it for the wealth of information availabe for this brilliant car. The manuals available are, I am afraid, pretty pathetic, and don't cover important subjects in depth, if at all; I still go for the idea of displaying "contributor"; it is not a form of blackmail, but a display of pride in helping to maintain a wonderful site for the benefit of others. More power to your elbow, Cliff!! Fierofetish PS If we were to use the search button more thoroughly we could cut down an awful lot of new threads already detailed in the archives; is there a way of stopping posting of new threads until you have searched the Archives? I have been guilty of this before, but only through lack of experience being a new member.I now always check the archives first, and only start a new thread if I can't find a specific answer to my problem
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 09-18-2003).]
I think that the idea of limiting pics to the tech section has merit. Pics should be limited in size, not just in pixels, but in bytes. 640x480 max and 60-80k file sizes or less would be good. I don't keep any pictures on Pennock's server, they're all on one of my web spaces at my ISP.
JazzMan
PiP already does limit the size of pictures both in pixels and in kilobytes....I don't remember the limits off the top of my head, but I think the width limit is 640 pixels and the size limit is 52 kilobytes....but I'm not positive on that.
Cliff - Thank you again for providing this forum to us all, if you have to remove the images to keep costs down then by all means do it.
Nick
Edit - Thanks Mark . By the way, the first edit was to add the second paragraph, which is where I made the typos you pointed out.
[This message has been edited by naskie18 (edited 09-18-2003).]
I know this doesn't really pertain to a bandwidth issue, but is there a way we can go back and delete images we've posted on the server? I know there's a couple images I put up to point something out to someone, or to ask a question, then later figured it out. Any way we can delete those, or no?
Is this strictly a cost issue? Maybe we need to revive the dues idea and help support PFF on a more formal basis. If every member sent in a buck a month (or 6 bucks every six months) that's over 7 grand a month. I don't know the true cost of running PFF but that sounds like a fair bit of cash. Hopefully the price would be low enough not to scare anyone away.
I know this doesn't really pertain to a bandwidth issue, but is there a way we can go back and delete images we've posted on the server?
Storage space isn't an issue at the moment. I had replaced the harddisk of my server some time ago, and there's plenty of storage space left. It's really a matter of bandwidth. At peak times, there are anywhere between 80 and 150 people browsing the forum at the same time, and since most people nowadays have broadband, downloading (viewing) images from my server is a huge bandwidth eater.
Cliff, could you modify PIP to make it possible to move all images a person has uploaded to another location, and it would change the links? I could easily host my own images, but any archived topics (like the 90 prototype pix) would get hosed.
Well what ever happens happens.. But what ever you do.. PLEASE grab everything from the forum and slap it all on a CDr for us.. full of wonderful photos and all!! I know I'm one of few that can find myself spending hours surfing just the archives alone.
Pump all this on a CD set, remove photos in archives and let viewers know that if they would like to see the included photos to archived items they can either buy the Cd's or contact the orig poster, or someone with a CD. Do this and there'll be a hefty sized check on its way for a Lil disc of plastic.. I mean hello.. with out PFF I'd never have my baby back on the road or of meet so many wonderful people, while traveling all over the US!!!! Thank you cliff!!!!
------------------ Who ever said working on Fieros wasn't any fun?? They must not of had a rebody!
Do whatever you need to do to make it work for you. We'll adapt.
BTW, It's taking a looong time to load pages, in the past few minutes. (1:20 PM, EDT). Would have thought it to be just the opposite, without all the pics. Not complaining, just FYI.
I think limiting to linking pics with exception of tech section which would be limited to 10k or smaller size would fix the bandwith problem. Unless like someone else mentioned, people started to post pics of Brittney all over the tech board. Most people don't take time to resample thier 300dpi 1024x720 pics to a manageble size. Maybe Cliff could put a bandwith throttle on the image servers. I think that would also discourage people from posting large images that bog down the forum.
Because of problems posting pics on another forum (yes there are a few out there), I recently started using imagestation.com and it's working fairly well for me. If anybody has a better alternative, I'd like to know about it.
I had the same idea, but then I got an email from imagestation saying they didn't allow outside linking to the picture. They will give you 24 hours to delete the pictures that have been linked, or they will close your account. Sometimes, you can sneak a couple through. They can see where the pictures are being downloaded, and when they see fiero.nl a couple hundred times for an image, they know.
The person that hosts my website sells 100Meg blocks for about $10 a month. HE will work with anyone to set up what ever they want, but cannot afford to do it all the time. Also he Garantees 99% uptime or the month is free which is about 7-8 hours downtime MAX. HE also doesn't worry a whole lot about bandwidth since currently he uses close to 1% of his allotted amount. I think he has some other plans that are even cheaper than $10. Look him up at www.thewolfenet.com He's a great guy!
(EDIT) Here's an excerpt from his price list. This would come up to $60 a year and I doubt you'll run out of space with just PICS.
For ONLY $5 a month you get ------------------------------------------- 20 MB Drive Space 256 KB Transfer EMail Forwarding DNS Hosting (not incl. registrar fees) FTP Account Browser Upload Utility Site Monitoring
[This message has been edited by stuartlowery (edited 09-18-2003).]
Although I can't offer much in the way of financial help Cliff I do have unlimited web space and bandwidth available. I would gladly allow people to upload pictures to www.auto-alley.com with PIP. How do I set up a profile for it though and an auto profile as I am getting unknown error 12003 when I set up a profile to a directory on auto-alley.
If possible, the pictures in tech would be the ones I'd like to see stay. Pics in Sigs can go as far as I'm concerned. Event pics can go on a website like imagestation.com and just post the link to where the pictures are. If there's something in the mall you can always ask the seller to email pics to you. I don't necessarily agree with only allowing contributing members to post pics, it needs to work the other way, like only contributing members can SEE the pics posted. And that would turn into an administrative nightmare for Cliff.
Although I can't offer much in the way of financial help Cliff I do have unlimited web space and bandwidth available. I would gladly allow people to upload pictures to www.auto-alley.com with PIP. How do I set up a profile for it though and an auto profile as I am getting unknown error 12003 when I set up a profile to a directory on auto-alley.
Well, that would be great! All I would need is an upload URL (and whether it's FTP or HTTP), and a username and password (which will be used automatically by PIP). If you could send that to me through email or PM, I can run a test to see if it will actually work.
BTW, how did you get unlimited storage space and bandwidth? I'm so jealous!
Anyway, The inital test results so far show that the images indeed eat up a lot of bandwidth. Without the images, my bandwidth stays well below my max allowed. So I'm unsure what to do yet. If Aus's solution works, that would be a great solution for the time being. Or at least until I get the US server up again (the US server was located at my sister's house but she moved and they don't offer webhosting through broadband yet in her area).
Well, that would be great! All I would need is an upload URL (and whether it's FTP or HTTP), and a username and password (which will be used automatically by PIP). If you could send that to me through email or PM, I can run a test to see if it will actually work.
BTW, how did you get unlimited storage space and bandwidth? I'm so jealous!
Anyway, The inital test results so far show that the images indeed eat up a lot of bandwidth. Without the images, my bandwidth stays well below my max allowed. So I'm unsure what to do yet. If Aus's solution works, that would be a great solution for the time being. Or at least until I get the US server up again (the US server was located at my sister's house but she moved and they don't offer webhosting through broadband yet in her area).
So is there anything anyone here in the US can do for the bandwidth or server ???
I'm not computer literate enough to enough to do much more than peck a keyboard but I'd REALLY be more than happy to put something together if needed by me or my company..........I can upgrade my DSL connection to a T-1 if necessary or whatever else may be needed ?????
Although I can't offer much in the way of financial help Cliff I do have unlimited web space and bandwidth available. I would gladly allow people to upload pictures to www.auto-alley.com with PIP. How do I set up a profile for it though and an auto profile as I am getting unknown error 12003 when I set up a profile to a directory on auto-alley.
I had the same error when I set up PIP for my webserver. It turned out that my address (http://euclid.nmu.edu/~rhallstr) was actually a shortcut to (http://euclid.nmu.edu/home/rhallstr/pub). PIP requires the actual path on the server. Now it works like a charm! But unfortunately, I can't put autoconfig, since I'm not the admin on the server.
hey i kinda fell away from the forum but i was wonder if you could make a thread and move all the archives. even if it was just a geocities or somethin.
i dont know much about teh subject so feel free to bash me i guess. just thought i'd throw in my 2 cents.
On the other hand, there aren't many forums out there that support the posting of images on their server. So in the worst case, PFF will be like most other forums out there in that respect.
. By the way, the first edit was to add the second paragraph, which is where I made the typos you pointed out.
