In-Fo-Mation

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Two pieces of information for the forum:

1) I will be gone from tomorrow (Aug. 1) to the next Tuesday (Aug. 6). Ron is da man during that time. If you have any forum-related questions, make sure and ask him, because my Internet access will be very limited in the primitive wilds of Alabama.

2) Some of you have noticed recent technical problems with the forum. The fact is, we're too big for our web provider again, which is great for the forum, but bad for my pocketbook.

When I get back from Alabama, I will be asking our web provider to move us to a new database server. This may alleviate some of the recent forum slowness and errors. If not, our next step is to move to a dedicated server - a server just for The Forge, and no other websites. This ranges from $125-250/month in price, however. If this has to happen - which I pray it doesn't - we'll talk about it first, as a forum.

In the meantime, I apologize if the forum gets slow, or you can't connect. I've had these same problems myself, and they're usually alleviated within 10-15 minutes.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I've moved the database to a new server in expectation of the post-GenCon traffic, as the old one was a very busy DB server according to our web host.

Of course, we were a big part of the reason it was so busy, so we'll see if this solution works.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

It seems after a few weeks, that the database problems have continued. Hmm.

Looking around, I've tried to find a hosting provider that can fit our needs. Unfortunately, the amount of bandwidth we use (300-500 MB/day) results in most providers being uninterested or very expensive. (On average, the Forge's cost/month now equals about $40.)

The other option we have is a dedicated server. This means that we'd have one computer for all our needs. This, unfortunately, is expensive. Normally it's around $250/month, which I can't afford. Some deals range in the $150-200 range, which is still high.

I have found one offer that's fairly inexpensive and might fit our needs. I'm wary of moving hosts again, though, so I'll have to look into it more closely.