Slow loading and freezing

[Wrex]

Is it just me or has the news sub section of the forum gone?

[WV]

What happened to the match reports that were done by forum users for the first couple of games? 

[robf]

1 hour ago, Wrex said:

Is it just me or has the news sub section of the forum gone?

Not gone, just hidden. I've been trying a few things to help the speed of the site. It may return but it's part of a test.

[Conrad]

Mine’s a lot better now rob.

[Wrex]

3 hours ago, robf said:

Not gone, just hidden. I've been trying a few things to help the speed of the site. It may return but it's part of a test.

Okay, fingers crossed cuz I found I useful

[robf]

So an update...

I am no server expert but various speed tests on the site (from third party tools) do suggest server settings and delays could be contributing. 

Thankfully, I've had a kind offer from a forum user to take a look at the server as they know more about these things than me. There's no guarantee it's going to be a magic bullet but that's going to be the next step and I am very grateful for their offer of help. However, I am busy with non-OVF things for a few days so this server won't be for a few days so please bear with me as I won't be able to look at the server things till later this week.

I apologise for any issues the slowness causes in the meantime but I hope the above shows that:

1) It is being looked at

2) There's no immediate solution so work will continue for some days yet.

Please be aware that as tests and so on continue some site functions may be switched off. As an example - why was the forum section for news updates switched off? Well, my theory was that as it is scheduled to pull stories from other sites every so often, I wondered if that updating was putting a load on the server and slowing the site down. Hence that's why that was temporarily switched off. It's logical to assume that if the site slows down every hour or so (for example) then an hourly update of something may be the cause. I don't think the news updates is the issue by the way, but I may do the same with other site features to see if anything in particular causes these regular slowdowns. So, there may be all sorts of things switched on and off as I try to get to the bottom of this. 

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Jacko51]

Rob, please don’t feel the need to apologise for anything to do with this forum. It’s magic!!

[robf]

On 05/11/2023 at 14:09, WV said:

What happened to the match reports that were done by forum users for the first couple of games? 

I did publish them when they were sent to me but I haven't received any for a while. I'd be very happy to do so again if anyone wants to takes this up

However, it's not something I can do for obvious reasons.

It's very much up to you guys (and not me) to step up and offer to do it - you'd get a positive response if you do.

What I'd really like to get is other voices on the frontpage and it not just my view and opinion of the game all the time. I've been updating this site for a LONG, LONG time and not only would some other contributions give you lot a break from me but it would also give me a break too. So, if anyone wants to talk about contributing something - be it a report, an opinion or any column of any sort, do get in touch.

[robf]

On 05/11/2023 at 13:21, Wrex said:

Is it just me or has the news sub section of the forum gone?

This has now returned after testing 

[robf]

By the way, the next step is...

A forum member has kindly offered to help to check server settings and tweak things there. That should be fairly soon and may also help resolve this issue. I'll keep everyone informed as to how it's going and whether the site will be down for any period of time while the above happens.

[Mellor!]

Thanks for the updates Rob. Hadn't seen them before,🫢 and I'd just come back to the thread as the forum has gone really slow again today. Really appreciate the hard work.

I've set up a small monthly Paypal donation as well, so at least I can back my moaning up 😃

[robf]

13 hours ago, Mellor! said:

Thanks for the updates Rob. Hadn't seen them before,🫢 and I'd just come back to the thread as the forum has gone really slow again today. Really appreciate the hard work.

I've set up a small monthly Paypal donation as well, so at least I can back my moaning up 😃

Thank you @Mellor! - that's very kind! Hopefully, we'll get there speed-wise eventually!

[chickensteve]

Hi Rob. I am struggling with the site loading as well. I've seen the post above from mellor. Where is the donation link and would this help you to increase the bandwidth (if that helps to resolve the issues). Also I was one of the contributors after the matches but I missed most cup games due to work and the home league game results that I compiled took so long!

[Brian Johnson]

The loading is struggling all the time on both my laptop & phone

[robf]

Hi all,

To answer a couple of things...

1. It's still slow

We have yet to review the server settings which I now think is going to be the possible cause of the slow loading. Please bear with us on this, it's not a quick process and in the meantime there will be periods of frustration due to it being slow to load. Your patience is much appreciated and I am trying to do short-term fixes such as rebooting during slowdowns, clearing caches, optimising pages so they load quicker etc but I am not around 24/7 so there will be times I am not around and it is slow!

2. Donations

To be honest, I don't think this is a financial issue as the server *should* be able to cope so upgrading won't make a difference I would imagine. So, I'm not going to go cap in hand asking for donations because, in terms of this issue, it's not the answer and I don't want to set up the expectation that a flood of donations will quickly solve it. However, in general donations are still much appreciated as the costs in general are high (in fact there has just been a price rise this month). There is a link to "Donate" in the top menu of the forum (in desktop). If you can't see it because you are on mobile or an app then the link is - 

Make a donation to OVF - onevalefan.co.uk

WWW.ONEVALEFAN.CO.UK

Thanks,

Rob