As there have been a number of occasions over the past few months where users have experienced slow page loading and timeouts - without too much information coming back, aside from "We're looking into it..." we've spoken with Mat, to try to get a better understanding of the problem.

Hopefully, Mat's explanation below will give you an insight into the current issues and also help when we ask you to "Bear with us. We're working on it!!" :)

Mat said:

"The problem appears to relate to the database server. Sometimes a query will just not finish, and that lock-up gradually leads to other processes building up and a slowing down of the server to the point where it feels sluggish, or just won't respond at all. For some reason this query doesn't time out as it should do, nor does it complete.

We've never fully determined what makes this problem happen, and believe me, both me and Dan have put huge amounts of time into that job - logging stuff, reading documentation and logfiles, posting to various forums and newsgroups (mostly MySQL and Django ones). No joy. It's not like either of us are inexperienced developers either.
It's the main reason the new site is so unpolished - an awful lot of money went on paying Dan to try and figure out why the site kept "crashing", money and time which really needed to be spent on refining the site's features. Then we ran out of cash before getting the issue properly sorted.

We made a number of changes to the site and its hosting setup, some minor, some more major - all appeared to reduce the problem, but not remove it entirely. In the end, Dan created some scripts that keep an eye on how things are running, and auto-restarts stuff if memory use gets out of control. This is far from an ideal solution and to have to stoop to this level upsets me a great deal. I'd always rather fix a problem at source than hack my way around it.

Most of the time the problem resolves itself - again, we're not entirely sure why this happens, but it does - or is resolved after one of our auto-monitoring scripts kicks in.

Any suggestions from MySQL/Django/Linux gurus out there would be much appreciated."

Posted by 540air

Thanks to parabolichobo for the very apt image.

NB If you haven't already done so - please add 'moblog news' to your friends list.

We really care about this community and with jc1000000's lead and the management team's agreement (Mat, Alfie & Lorifaye) we have joined together as volunteers to take on some much-needed upkeep of the site.

Our initial meeting took place last week where we discussed a number of current ongoing issues and ideas to progress the site which included actions to :

• Update the moderators list & increase access to the site moderators
• Create a good communication structure between Moblog management, moderators and mobloggers
• Clarify Moderation & Highlights policy
• Overcome subscription issues
• Investigate the use of ads on the site
• Investigate privacy controls
• Implement various marketing strategies - including promotional publications to generate incomes for the site
• Find and appoint technical troubleshooters with understanding of: Python / Django / MySQL / HTML/CSS Linux/Unix / Subversion / Image/Video processing
• Implement a 'Moblog Helpdesk'

We have created this blog as a means of explaining to you with transparency, how we are attempting to overcome current issues and develop the site further and will be posting our findings as we go along.

After pushing for changes we are also pleased to announce four familiar names into newly created roles of Community Administrator. Please say hello to 540air, Beth, Bronxelf & Nige who've agreed to take on this role and have now been granted full site administration in order to help towards general upkeep of the site.

Over the past few months, there have been issues regarding the running and maintenance of Moblog, which led to discussion across the site and within the moblog forums. We the mods, have now created this group to bring Moblog announcements, developments and discussions into one central place.

We think this is exciting and want everyone to join us, so please add 'moblog news' to your friends list, so we can keep you involved and updated with regards to the growth and development of the community and please, we need your comments or questions. The essence of moblog news is open communication.

thanks to SLG for the super image.