The Never Ending Thread Causing Server Problems?

[GMScud]

I admit I have had some fun on The Never Ending Thread. I knew a thread against that thread would start soon. I'm actually surprised it took this long. I am indifferent, although I will say if only 5 or so people ever post on it and it slows down the site for hundreds of other users, then it should go bye-bye.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by GMScud

I admit I have had some fun on The Never Ending Thread. I knew a thread against that thread would start soon. I'm actually surprised it took this long. I am indifferent, although I will say if only 5 or so people ever post on it and it slows down the site for hundreds of other users, then it should go bye-bye.

I don't understand the hate associated with the thread.
Fact is, 95% of the posts on that thread are after you are all in bed. It has ZERO affect on this site.
Matty already explained it's not about viewing, it's about posting. There are 5 times as many posts about Brunell hating that slows the server down. I don't recall the server being too busy because of the never ending thread.

[jamf]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I don't understand the hate associated with the thread.
Fact is, 95% of the posts on that thread are after you are all in bed. It has ZERO affect on this site.
Matty already explained it's not about viewing, it's about posting. There are 5 times as many posts about Brunell hating that slows the server down. I don't recall the server being too busy because of the never ending thread.

I honestly think it does cause problems for the server every time someone views the thread.


The site is based on queries. each page has a list of PHP commands that query a database on the server. Every time someone opens the thread, the server has to calculate how many posts there are, how long is each post, How many post should be displayed per page, How many pages and so on.

In theory, 1 person opening that 5000 post thread uses as much computational power as 1000 people opening a 50 post thread.

It's been years since I've done any PHP/MySQL programming and i've never installed Vbulletin; Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The server probably has more than enough power. Matty is probably correct when he says viewing the thread doesn't cause problems.

btw, There's no hate for the thread content, just the number of posts in it.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by jamf

I honestly think it does cause problems for the server every time someone views the thread.


The site is based on queries. each page has a list of PHP commands that query a database on the server. Every time someone opens the thread, the server has to calculate how many posts there are, how long is each post, How many post should be displayed per page, How many pages and so on.

In theory, 1 person opening that 5000 post thread uses as much computational power as 1000 people opening a 50 post thread.

It's been years since I've done any PHP/MySQL programming and i've never installed Vbulletin; Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The server probably has more than enough power. Matty is probably correct when he says viewing the thread doesn't cause problems.

btw, There's no hate for the thread content, just the number of posts in it.

In all honesty, if someone can prove that it does cause a lot of issues with the server, then by all means, lock it and let it die. But I just don't think it's the problem. Like matty said, it's the posting that is the issue, not the views.