In recent weeks, I’ve been troubleshooting issues which slow the site, and recently de-activated our Member Forums as part of that effort.
We’ve identified and slain a few of the gremlins, and I’ve re-activated the Forums (which you can access under the Members tab above).
I’ve also removed the latest blog posts and Member comments sections from the home page — again to speed page load times. You can still instantly access the blog and the recent comments page from the links at the top of the homepage.
[UPDATE: I’ve restored both of these features to the homepage. According to our measures, the site is now running faster than it has in a long time.]
Google fonts remote files were a small part of the speed problem, so I’ve moved those files to our server in hopes of accelerating page load.
There are still many issues to resolve, and ultimately we need a brand new machine, as patching this one in flight won’t keep us going much longer.
We appreciate your gracious patience with the issues caused by the growing popularity of our Member community.
9 replies on “[UPDATE] Restored Forums, Plus Update on Efforts to Speed Site”
A couple of weeks ago, our web host moved the site off the shared server where it dwells because it was causing performance problems for other sites. Various trouble-shooting behaviors ensued. A little after 3 a.m. today, they migrated the site back to our home server, and so far, so good.
Thanks, Scott. FWIW pages are loading faster. This is no longer the slowest loading website I visit. That distinction belongs to a sport team site that is slow due to the ludicrous number of ads and links to all kinds of silly website links that I never click.
Good to hear. Thank you.
I liked seeing the Member Blog Posts on the home page, but get why you had to do this. So for once I won’t be a pain in the a** about the change. Thanks for the update Scott, and glad to see you back!
I appreciate your efforts, especially because I understand so little of them. Sidney Harris’ Step Two pretty much captures the depth and breadth of my comprehension:
When I was in college, I had to take a class in Boundary Layer Theory for which the instructor and department head had written his own text book. He would skip steps, frequently, in order to finish on time. We took to putting lightning bolts in our notes, calling it the Schetz condition. (that was the professor’s name) Because some sort of miracle had occurred.
That’s a great story. I just looked up Boundary Layer Theory and the explanations have managed to increase my incomprehension. Lightning bolts I get. Incompressible flow counterpart, way not so much.
Thanks, Scott. Glad you made it back safely. Look forward to a long Backstage on Tuesday where you regale us with your adventures.
As has been said before, this is a good problem to have. Trouble because of increased veiwing. Don’t worry. We understand. Don’t stress out. And thanks for all you do. Behind the scenes people are rarely noticed until something goes wrong or they are absent. Being one, I notice and appreciate it.