Tom,

 

I'm very happy to hear things are on the mend and feel your frustration with having a sick infrastructure and being at the mercy of 3rd parties to help get things back up and running. Being in IT for the better part of 12 years I've seen my fair share of good servers all of a sudden turn against you and start failing...repeatedly thus causing the growth of new grey hairs to sprout from your head.

 

On the Avsim Facebook page I posted that it's about time to pony up a few dollars to help support everything you and your team provide to us as a simming community and I'm happy to say that I gladly placed $50 ($57.09CAD) into your donation jar just before posting this up. Having been a staff reviewer many, many moons ago and a surfer of the forms and a downloader of the files from the library it just felt like it was the right thing to do.

 

Welcome back and here's hoping the IT God's smile upon you for a long time and the worst of the infrastructure issues are behind you.

 

Mike Adamo

Mike Adamo

 

Of Links fame?!

Strange  that it takes you this long  just did a test on my end on the time it  takes

 

to open the main page of pmdg   took me 4 seconds

to open the support forum page  took  9 seconds

to click view new threads  took  4 seconds

to actually open up one of the posts   took 6 seconds

 

so comparing  to  it was before I say its a lot  faster  than it was

Hopefully a few others will chime in to help ascertain if there is a bum route between me n avsim, or if it's typical for other users.  Good it's fairly fast for you--it was 11-12 seconds just now for me...

Thanks for all the hard work anyone involved and great to see Avsim back online again.

Yes... agreed.  Thanks for the work and dedication to keep AVSIM running.

 

Hopefully a few others will chime in to help ascertain if there is a bum route between me n avsim, or if it's typical for other users. Good it's fairly fast for you--it was 11-12 seconds just now for me...

Yeah roughly that for me now too.

 

My observation is that it is better (quicker to load pages) now than it was prior to the drive failure a week ago.

 

Tom said (iirc) it will be a week or so before all the new drives are swapped in... so let's give it a week or so and see then where things are.

I get so sick of statements like these...

 

If there is a problem... let's work the problem.

 

Charge me an access fee... don't charge me an access fee... I really don't care either way.  Just don't chastise me as if I am some bloody ingrate because it appears the server is still struggling and I say something about it.

 

For the record... I'm not singling you out in any way nor did I mention you specifically by name, so just relax!

 

All I want to know, straight up, no you-know-what, is this:

 

If it takes eleven seconds for a page like AVSIM to open, with all of its banners, ads, and intricacies... is that too long?

 

It takes about 10 seconds for the AVSIM Forum Page to open for me; about 12 seconds before the Great Drive Kack of 2014. I have 'Basic' Internet service from Comcast, and run my Desktop through Wi-Fi, so it's no big deal for me. I wasn't aware that the expectation is sub 10 seconds, or even faster!

 

I guess it is an issue for others, though.

For the record... I'm not singling you out in any way nor did I mention you specifically by name, so just relax!

Look.  I deleted that part of my post you quoted.  I (tho relaxed) am a bit irritated with those kinds of statements.

 

But since you decided to re-post it (after I deleted it)... yeah... it does single me out -- and anyone else that feels there is a legitimate problem that should be expressed.

 

I get so put off being treated like a heretic when raising an issue.  We should instead just what?  Suck it up?

 

If it takes eleven seconds for a page like AVSIM to open, with all of its banners, ads, and intricacies... is that too long?

You are missing my point. A dozen seconds isn't so bad... unless it can be made better.  

 

So it isn't (in this case) so much about about whether such and such seconds are "bad"... I don't want to make excuses or sweep something under the rug when there could be an issue that points to a problem.

 

This much I can say... I greatly appreciate a snappy forum.  And I've been at AVSIM long enough to know it was not always "this way" (the slowdown prior to the drive problem).  And many others here noticed too.  We shouldn't be lumped in this "ingrate" category because of an observation.

 

I guess it is an issue for others, though.

It certainly can be.  I do not care to explain myself here as it is completely irrelevant to you, Alan.  But it certainly was an issue.  Hopefully that is past and of no real concern now, so as I said, I do not see any point to elaborate.

 

Like I said... do what Tom says and wait a week or so for the drive-swap and see how things have cleared up by then.

Cant see what you can do  in those extra seconds your waiting,  maybe  just sit  and relax is the way to go, what we talking about here  a extra 5  seconds of waiting not life threatening.

 

 

Cant see what you can do in those extra seconds your waiting

 

You talking to me? :lol:

Slow for a year heh? Okay, we'll refund your membership cost. Please tell me what we owe you.

I get you must be tired and mad after all this but you're really acting like an ###### (not the first time btw) !

The guy just makes a comment (a true and not that mean one at that) and all you can answer is kind of "you don't pay and you don't contribute so, basically, shut up or leave" ?

 

Either you're runing a free forum or you're not but i think you have to accept your own choice. You sound like people who don't pay don't deserve a good service or are not allowed to critisize... Then make it a payware forum ! But if you don't, you can't really pull the money card anytime you want. You can't blame people for their opinion when they're not as you want them to be.

 

I get that it's hard to get critized when you're trying very hard to please everyone, but you're a bit over-sensitive when it comes to criticism (again, this one wasn't that bad).

 

On a personnal level, i don't pay a dime to avsim because, in my opinion the website and forums while helpful are not that great, the way it works is annoying... And no, i don't participate (=post) much, but i don't spend a lot of time here either (i come mostly because WOAI, PMDG & FS2Crew use your services, it's not really my choice). So yes, avsim is helpful, but not important to me... Not enough so that i want to financially contribute. But I'm not sure it makes me more or less able (or authorized) to say if the forum is slow or not.

Vincent ...

 

... don't you think that long-term "volunteers" like Tom Allensworth providing valuable service for free deserve a little bit more respect and gratitude than what's perceptible in certain kinds of posts here?

 

Tom (and others!) have been running this forum for free for quite some time and all they are receiving after all this struggle and hard work is a "I think this forum is just way too slow"???

Vincent ...

 

... don't you think that long-term "volunteers" like Tom Allensworth providing valuable service for free deserve a little bit more respect and gratitude than what's perceptible in certain kinds of posts here?

 

Tom (and others!) have been running this forum for free for quite some time and all they are receiving after all this struggle and hard work is a "I think this forum is just way too slow"???

Respect is, to me, the default attitude to have towards somebody, unless he has himself be disrespectful. In the sentence i quote, my feeling is that Tom replied in a disrespectful manner to a guy who was critical yet respectful (you can perfectly be both at the same time). Of course the guy also used sarcasm, but as part of a critical comment which was true (please don't tell me the performance of the forum has been outstanding lately).

 

Again, to me the guy pretty much said "it's been slow for a year", Tom pretty much replied "shut up, you don't get to talk". You may not agree and i can understand that, but that really is how i feel it.

 

I'd like to add that volunteering is, of course, really great, but that's not because you're a volunteer that you can't be humble and take criticism. On the other hand, sure, a "thank you" is always nice.

In addition, the guy may not even know Tom is a volunteer and/or where the avsim money comes from.

 

A reply from Tom saying something like "we'd like to be able to do better and we know the situation is not perfect, but avsim runs mostly from donations and right now it's the best we can do with the budget we have" would have been a hell of a lot better i think. Instead, he took offence... he should know better, he runs the place... he should cool things down instead of adding fuel to the fire.

 

 

Hopefully a few others will chime in to help ascertain if there is a bum route between me n avsim

 

Four to six seconds to the main forum, and about the same for each page/thread I open. So far its much better than pre failure, where it could take twenty seconds or more, and no 503's apart from the one Tom said he caused.

Depending on how you look at it, don't we all in a way pay lots of money for anything founded fully or partly by income from advertisement?

 

To me Avsim is important because to me it's where I always go first for any information related to my hobby, a hobby I've been enjoying for many years and I've been a member of the Avsim community for most of these years. It's also a place where I've learnt to know lots of new friends and very nice and skillful people.

 

For this I'm extremely grateful and to show this I've donated money in the past and I also try to contribute in one way or the other to the community whenever I can by always sharing solutions I find, trying to help fellow users etc.

 

I also fully understand the frustrations you sometimes feel when things go wrong despite you trying very hard to fix them and then on top of that some people start commenting and of course not all of those comments will be positive.

 

With all that said I to react badly when I read comments like those made by Tom every now and then. I think what is most important to keep this community and hobby alive in the long run is that we all try to be play nice and looking not only at the topic discussed here but in various forums both here on Avsim and elsewhere the quality of treating others in a respectful and friendly way varies a lot.

 

In some places you almost don't dare to open your mouth to ask a simple question before someone will start jumping on your head asking why you didn't RTFM first, why you didn't search better for the answer beforehand not to mention should you dare to criticize a product or service.

 

Elsewhere you are always met by the complete opposite of this...people asking how you are, if you found a solution to a certain problem yet, if you read that or tried that product etc etc.

 

I guess this is no different from what we also experience IRL but I think it's equally important be it here or IRL for our own sake that we learn to treat each other in a friendly and respectfully way be it here or elsewhere.

 

Now I'm off enjoying the new version of Steve's DX10 Scenery Fixer! Wishing you all a great weekend and happy flying!!

Four to six seconds to the main forum, and about the same for each page/thread I open. So far its much better than pre failure, where it could take twenty seconds or more, and no 503's apart from the one Tom said he caused.

Exactly what I see too, the performance is much better than previously and hopefully it'll be even better when the RAID synchronization is fully completed.

Everyone saying that they only come here for product support, if you dont like it here why don't you just get support from the compost directly?

I get you must be tired and mad after all this but you're really acting like an ###### (not the first time btw) !

The guy just makes a comment (a true and not that mean one at that) and all you can answer is kind of "you don't pay and you don't contribute so, basically, shut up or leave" ?

Oh for Pete's sake! Tom simply answered 'hyperbole' with 'irony."

 

I'm constantly amazed at the apparent lack of reading comprehension...

Taking my Moderator hat off for a minute:

 

I suggest to you Eclipz that you don't have a dog in this fight. What Tom says to a snarky post or how he handles said criticism is just none of your concern. And, to take public offense at this and call Tom out on it is inexcusable. You know nothing about Avsim, Tom, the members that donate their time to make this the premier flightsimming site in the world, nor the costs and aggravation that go with the territory.

 

The site experienced slow response for ALL. Not just some. Tom worked tirelessly to get it back on its' feet, probably at considerable out of pocket expense and lack of sleep, and this is the kind of thanks he gets?  It's much better now. If that's not good enough for you, then you have a decision to make.

 

It's a good thing that I don't run the site, as I'm sure I wouldn't be as congenial as he is. You should just be glad with what you get for free and let it go.

 

Tom and Jim, if I'm in a bit of trouble for posting this, then I understand, but I've had it with the whiners and takers that use a free service manned by outstanding people as well as members and then have to read this kind of junk.  Especially when you've gone out of your way to post what happened  to the site and the backflips you endured to get it back up again.

 

Thanks. Mod hat back on.