Massive slowdown and Database Errors

[Shayuri]

I've been having a thing that happens on and off, usually in early afternoon (Central time zone) where the forums become really slow, and it becomes very prone to giving me database error pages. I figure this may just be heavy traffic hitting the site, but maybe I'd throw this up here and see if maybe other folks have had problems, and it turned out to be something they could fix on their end.

If not, then I'll deal with it.

After losing a few posts to sudden database error page appearances though, I got desperate enough to actually ask for help.

 

[discosoc]

I've always had problems with this site. Keep in mind that the guy(s) running it actually have both PHPMyAdmin and the VBulletin admin side accessible to the public. Furthermore, the webserver is a version of NGINX that dates back to 2010 *and* it doesn't even have a simple SSL cert. My best guess is it's just a hobby site that grew beyond his/her technical ability to manage.

And if you'd like some context, run a PageSpeed Insight test against it here (google). Even a out-of-the-box Wordpress install will get higher than that.

*edit*

Just to clarify, the PageSpeed Insight test isn't even dealing with the bulk of the database performance. So basically it's a very poorly-built site with a database that's possibly too large for the hardware (or maybe just badly indexed), and some questionable design decisions (for example, it appears the website is handling a redirect from @ to www when letting DNS deal with it would be better*).

*redirects may be needed for link compatibility, but if so it just reinforces my belief that the site was/is managed by someone not technically capable.

 

[Shayuri]

Fair enough. I'm not trying to point fingers here. I love the site and I figure it's a huge challenge to keep it up with the traffic on it.

I just thought I'd see if there was anything I could do on my end.

Thanks for shedding some light on the behind-the-scenes stuff though!

 

[Ancalagon]

Large forums have always been challenging to do right - too long threads can negatively impact the database etc. If we wanted "high class" performance, a lot more money should go into the site - ie more of us should subscribe and become supporters.

Speaking of which, I should go do that...

 

[Morrus]

My best guess is it's just a hobby site that grew beyond his/her technical ability to manage.

No need to guess. The history of the site isn't a secret. You are correct -it's my little D&D news page with its attached forum. I started it 17 years ago when Eric Noah closed his site.

There is an SSL cert going in and somebody is taking a look at the current slowdowns.

 

[discosoc]

No need to guess. The history of the site isn't a secret. You are correct -it's my little D&D news page with its attached forum. I started it 17 years ago when Eric Noah closed his site.

There is an SSL cert going in and somebody is taking a look at the current slowdowns.

That's good to hear, and thanks for the update.