Mahz's Dev Journal

[FantasyChic]

@Mahz No, just in some pages, I can't access. I'll click on the Characters tab, for example, and it will bring me to the IC part, or the OOC part. I know a few others in the same RPs are also having issues with certain pages.

[Lady Absinthia]

Currently for me personally I get the following...

502 Bad gateway - this happens the most

Application Error - 2nd most

Straight up time out - last

Doesn't happen much accessing the first page. More often trying to access subscriptions. Trying to access pm's page or profile page - a crap ton. Can take up to ten minutes to "push" through on those.

[Mahz]

@FantasyChic Thanks. That sounds like a bug. I'll look at the code to see how the server could get the tab wrong long that.

@Lady Amalthea Thanks for the list. That helps a lot.

[mickilennial]

I receive 502 errors more than any other issue. In fact, I just ran into said error trying to enter roleplaying discussion.

[Mahz]

Yeah, those 502's are timeouts.

I'm a bit apprehensive about pushing any changes at the moment since so many people are online and things are likely to get much worse before they get better. At least right now posting is possible even if a bit insufferable due to timeouts.

I'll keep investigating in the meanwhile and plan to push changes later tonight (after the Guild's peak hours) until further notice.

I'm eager to fix this issue. What makes it hard is that I don't have much visibility into issue.

For example, I just realized the database I'm using doesn't keep a log of slow queries by default, so I'd have to reconfigure it and reboot it, yet I'm not sure long that downtime is. Is it 10 seconds, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes?

[mickilennial]

I would just make an announcement about downtime. A few days ago Iwaku had to announce a sudden one hour (estimate) of downtime due to maintenance issues. As long as it is announced I doubt people will be surprised or take issue.

[Mahz]

@Inkarnate Agreed, I'll announce it in the site header, if I can figure out a good way to push an intermediate code release.

[Mahz]

Here are the stats for the pending code changes:

- 40 files were modified
- 4,661 lines of code were added
- 8,890 lines of code were removed (many of these were just from deleting some files)

For a bit of good news for a change, I've been experimenting with a spam detector. I ran it against 25 spammer posts and 25 legit posts, and it correctly differentiated between them.

I'll be testing it out after the dust settles.

[POOHEAD189]

Noice. I think my biggest problem has always been and will always be the guild destroying itself when I want to check my own profile lol. I know I never really travel to the announcement thread, but I have a present for you @Mahz. It's how I feel about the job you're doing.

Hider

[Hank]

In other Guild news, @Ruby has been added back to the staff roster as a moderator. She's a returning veteran that's held the position before and we're glad she offered to pick up the mantle once more.

@Buddha: she's a very community-oriented moderator, so enjoy.

[Dion]

@Hank but what about that new admin though.

[Hank]

@Buddha One thing at a time.

[Dion]

@Hank ah, well. C'est le vie. I hope the other points on the list were at least looked at.

[mickilennial]

The community concerns were very valid and important, I agree. I hope going forward we see some of our questions answered and suggestions implemented.

[Mahz]

I have to fix the perf issues, first.

Right now I have the Guild running on a cloned server + cloned database where I'm testing some upgrades.

I've enabled the slow-query logger on the main database which is now collecting data and will help me figure out what I need to rewrite.

[Lady Absinthia]

I am sure everything is being looked at, just certain things take priority over others. Keeping the guild from constantly timing out and making it hard for people to post I would think would be the top right now.

And we know at least some of the concerns expressed by us have/are being dealt with. A new mod was added, which will hep the current mod load as well as let even more be looked at in the long run. Seems like a very good step to me.

[Dion]

@Lady Amalthea maybe. I'm not entirely satisfied with the choice of mod, but again, c'est le vie, and for the sake of not appearing like a whiny child I'll keep those thoughts to myself.

I'll just say that I'm rather disappointed with how the new moderator has set herself up in the suggestion thread then, among other things.

[Lady Absinthia]

@Buddha I can understand the apprehension, yet the Mod Staff has had some bad eggs in the past. So for them to pick someone new they haven't dealt with before on a moderator level is an unreasonable request. Ruby has a track record with them, they know her. It seems fitting that if they have re-promoted her and she is taking up the mantle again. Especially with as much as many of us were pushing for an expanded Moderator team. It was a good middle ground compromise that helped both the staff and the Rpers.

They could very well add more moderators over time, new blood to the mix. Yet that takes time and vetting. It's a slower process. This at least gives us 2 very positive things - One, it lets us know they are listening. Two, it shows us they are working for the betterment of the community.

[Dion]

@Lady Amalthea as far as I could take anything away from Hank's statement it's that she offered to be moderator. They didn't pick or ask her, as far as I can tell. I also know that numerous other people have offered to help, who are in my mind pretty capable. If the only thing that separates them is 'her track record' then I don't think that's a fair process at all. So were those peoples offers for help put forward at all? If not why was there no feedback?

Add to that her rather unconstructive nature in the suggestion thread ('I disagree' as sole argument) especially compared to some other moderators and I honestly think that that was a bad call. Icing on the cake being that she's being called 'community-oriented'. But again. I'll just shut my mouth because I don't want to look like a whiny child more than I already have.

[NuttsnBolts]

Picking a moderator is never an easy task and would you rather Mahz pick someone that he has worked with in the past—even if she offered to help—or a random/unknown person at short notice. Mahz can look at a proper recruitment later but you seemed quite eager to have something done now.

Clearly this is something personal between you and Ruby, so if you wouldn't mind could you take it to the PMs...