Michael Wed Feb 12 18:51:33 2003
Forum restored
Sorry about that (I know mouse and spinclad both were suffering from some withdrawal and I can only fear for Emsworth's own stability) but ... I'm coming to the conclusion, slowly, that I really need either a new server or a new place to host the mail serving for Despammed.com. It's too easy to tip the server over into an instable queueing situation. Not good at all. The latest was the fact that my robots.txt didn't exclude this (and a couple other) discussion boards on this site. The discuss.pl is kind of a hog, and the server is a very old and (by today's standards) slow one. A discuss.pl hit every few seconds was too much for it to take, and it tipped the mail handling into the Bad Zone.
This kind of thing has been happening all too frequently lately. I seem to have crossed a threshold with Despammed usage. There are upwards of 9000 active users of the service, and that's just a freaking lot of mail.
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mouse Thu Feb 13 14:37:14 2003
yay! it's back!
...not that i was actually in _withdrawal_ or anything, i was just, you know...._concerned_.
even tho i have posted this already to the snail dust forum, i will put it here too: http://www.moderntales.com/series2.php?name=teachingbabyparanoia&view=current
on the subject of defenestration (including some interesting footnotes on the history thereof). it is in modern tales, though - so check it out today!
(btw, michael - congratulations on all the business at despammed! but it does sound like a new server would be a good investment (and not just to keep _me_ happy)(not that keeping me happy isn't an important consideration))
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Michael Fri Feb 14 00:50:38 2003
Re: yay! it's back!
> (btw, michael - congratulations on all the business at despammed! but it
> does sound like a new server would be a good investment (and not just to
> keep _me_ happy)(not that keeping me happy isn't an important
> consideration))
Well, the problem with that is, it's a free service. So far (for over three years now) I've operated it as a hobby. But lately it's taking up a lot of time and effort. I mean a *lot* of effort. It's been very educational, of course, and in that respect I don't mind -- but managing the email for thousands of people free of charge is starting to look just plain stupid.
I'm thinking of two things. First, I'm going to ask people to subscribe on a voluntary basis for a dollar a month. Second, I'm going to work on premium services for subscription at two or maybe three dollars a month. Since the premium services will include functionality equivalent to (say) SpamArrest, which charges $36 a year, I figure that's pretty decent.
But you know, even if half my userbase kicked in a buck a month, I could go nearly full time supporting and extending Despammed.com. That has to be worth it to people, he tells himself. Got to be.
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spinclad Fri Feb 14 21:36:46 2003
Re: Forum restored
> A discuss.pl hit every few seconds was too much for it to take, and it
> tipped the mail handling into the Bad Zone.
Oh, was that me? (answer: no. blame all the rest of the jihad. i call shield of duck's breath!)
It was most gracious to be offered a copy of discuss.pl each time i came by... but not nearly as nice as the actual forum again.
> This kind of thing has been happening all too frequently lately. I seem to
> have crossed a threshold with Despammed usage. There are upwards of 9000
> active users of the service, and that's just a freaking lot of mail.
I must second venerable mouse in not being able to see how this can work in the long haul. If it's worth doing it's worth doing so it doesn't keep falling over... some questions would be: worth how much, to whom, are there fair levels of service so that some will gladly support others in an overflow of abundance (if i may be pardoned for rosy ways of speaking that may begin to ring of another era). (But who am i to talk, my own economic model has so very little to do with viability!)
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Michael Sun Feb 16 18:59:47 2003
Re: Forum restored
> Oh, was that me? (answer: no. blame all the rest of the jihad. i call
> shield of duck's breath!)
No, it was fastcrawler.no. That's why modifying the robots.txt helped.
> I must second venerable mouse in not being able to see how this can work
> in the long haul.
Well, as it turned out, I had a sysadmin epiphany shortly after writing this on Wednesday. Since Friday morning the server's been purring like a little kitten, or perhaps Otu in a calm mood.
In the long haul, though, you're right. The business model of Despammed.com has always been to get the free service running, then build premium services to sell. Unfortunately for the last two years, the recession (first incipient, then all too real) has kept me too busy to build the premium services. Only recently had performance degraded to the point where I couldn't just bop in every couple of weeks and tune things a little. The last two months have been a living hell, due to serious performance problems on the server from Despammed, combined with the last bits of this big AMTDA project. It's really almost eerie that I fixed the server just as the project finished -- I'm literally sort of floppy from adrenaline withdrawal.
Not that I don't still have plenty to do, but yesterday I actually wrote a Toonbots episode *from inspiration* instead of simply deciding it had been long enough, and then throwing something together hoping it would inspire me ex post facto. This was the first time that had happened in many months. I'll publish it this evening. I think it's actually funny.
Anyway, sorry the forum had to be disabled for so long. I don't think it will ever happen again. The server really is in much better condition now. One lives and learns. As always, thank you all for your fine patronage.
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mouse Tue Feb 18 15:18:53 2003
Re: Forum restored
> Well, as it turned out, I had a sysadmin epiphany shortly after writing
> this on Wednesday. Since Friday morning the server's been purring like a
> little kitten, or perhaps Otu in a calm mood.
hmmm - because i'm still getting the programming for discuss.pl on my home machine (did all weekend). i recently upgraded that browser to netscape whatever-the-current-version-is - 7.? ....so possible it is doing something weird (it automatically opens the text file, for one thing, rather than giving me a panel asking what i want to do with it.)
> It's really almost eerie that I fixed the
> server just as the project finished -- I'm literally sort of floppy from
> adrenaline withdrawal.
ain't that always the way things seem to happen? i agree with spinclad, though - you might want to go ahead and explore charging for despammed. $1/month seems quite reasonable. (of course, now i'm kicking myself because i keep thinking i should get despammed, and now i'm talking myself out of a free service - but then again, i feel a bit guilty getting all this from you for free....)
> Not that I don't still have plenty to do, but yesterday I actually wrote a
> Toonbots episode *from inspiration* instead of simply deciding it had been
> long enough, and then throwing something together hoping it would inspire
> me ex post facto. This was the first time that had happened in many
> months. I'll publish it this evening. I think it's actually funny.
yay!
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Emsworth the Disgruntled Tue Feb 18 17:15:48 2003
Re: Forum restored
>"I'll publish it this evening."
Which, roughly translated, probably indicates arrival on Feb. 26 or later.
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spinclad Tue Feb 18 23:03:46 2003
Re: Forum restored
> Which, roughly translated, probably indicates arrival on Feb. 26 or later.
30th. Februember 30th (pridie Kal. Mart. -- it's a short month this year, remember? It being a Lag Year and all...)
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mouse Sat Feb 22 14:44:31 2003
Re: Forum restored
> hmmm - because i'm still getting the programming for discuss.pl on my home
> machine (did all weekend). i recently upgraded that browser to netscape
> whatever-the-current-version-is - 7.? ....so possible it is doing
> something weird (it automatically opens the text file, for one thing,
> rather than giving me a panel asking what i want to do with it.)
turns out is _is_ netscape - it lives forever in the memory of the computer for faster startup - and was still remembering the version of this page it came up with weeks ago. silly netscape.
SO - what did happen to the new 'toon?
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mouse Tue Mar 4 15:27:08 2003
ummmm.....not to be difficult.....
but did i miss this? ....i could use a little funny.
> Not that I don't still have plenty to do, but yesterday I actually wrote a
> Toonbots episode *from inspiration* instead of simply deciding it had been
> long enough, and then throwing something together hoping it would inspire
> me ex post facto. This was the first time that had happened in many
> months. I'll publish it this evening. I think it's actually funny.
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Emsworth Tue Mar 4 16:04:18 2003
Re: ummmm.....not to be difficult.....
> but did i miss this? ....i could use a little funny.
No. Michael's either been ill, busy, or in as much as I noticed him on BoxJam's forum, just being a jerk again.
Also, though the forum itself has been restored, the archives have softly and suddenly vanished away, for the snark was a boojum you see.
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