Mahray wrote:> Quote - I agree with Cliff-Dweller regarding the poll in everything but the real-time updating of results, it would probably cause less bias to have them kept under-wraps (at least until after a member has voted).

Also, good work coming up with a five point scale, again much more reliable than faster/normal/slower.

Oh yes, I agree 100% about not being able to see the current poll tally until after you vote...thanks for clarifying that, Mahray! Now that you mention it, I think that's how their other polls work (like AOM, e.g.). I just don't want the vote tally held back until the final results are in and posted...more credibility in the whole process if we can see the results as they unfold...once we've already voiced our opinion on the question.

Thanks Mahray!

While I was eating dinner, I started to think a bit more about this, and I've come up with what I think is a good idea which will really assess the degree to which this is a problem for members. Why not just run a poll and ask? I've even drafted some text for it:

Title of Poll: Poll Regarding Site Speed

"We at Renderosity are working hard to improve your experience while visiting the site. Towards that goal, please let us know how you would best describe the browsing speed of Renderosity:

A. Renderosity is much faster than most other sites I visit.

B. Renderosity is somewhat faster than most other sites I visit.

C. Renderosity is about the same speed as most other sites I visit.

D. Renderosity is somewhat slower than most other sites I visit.

E. Renderosity is much slower than most other sites I visit."

That's my suggestion and I think it's a fair poll. It seems to me that every time this topic comes up, it's suggested that this is an isolated problem, that most people aren't having any speed issues when they visit the site. So let's find out! Why not just run this poll, put it on the front page, place links to the poll in the weekly newsletter, place links to the poll as a sticky in every forum. Give it maximum exposure for a week, keep the real-time results public so there's legitimacy, and let's find out the true story. If the results show most people think the site speed is okay (which I would interpret to be any of the first three categories in the poll), those of us regularly complaining will have more reason to think "Hey, maybe it's a problem on MY end". On the other hand, if the results show a widespread speed problem, that would certainly be useful information for the PTB's...information they can use to plan the final stages of the conversion.

It's not hard to set up a poll such as this, but I'll guess that the PTB's will just say "No" to this idea, perhaps by saying "we're still in the middle of the conversion", or "we have an annual survey and members can express their feelings about the site at that time."

Well, just about all the major areas of the site are already converted: store, forums, gallery, site mail & freestuff. As far as the annual survey, I just think this is too important an issue to bury in the annual survey or rely on members "writing in" some comments about this.

Reliable information is so very valuable...let's all get some valuable information on this important subject!

Mahray, just my opinion, but I think this is a widespread problem that has been going on to varying degrees of severity for many, many months...including a "long enough" time since the majority of the php conversion has been in place. It's NOT just a few people experiencing problems that the sort of diagnostic you're suggesting would determine much.

If, for example, I go to this site and pages take up to a minute to load and then go to 5 other sites using the same browser and the same connection and all of those sites' pages open up "lightning fast," it seems pretty clear what the source of the problem is...to my logic at least. I've experienced this exact set of circumstances time and again...and dozens & dozens (hundreds & hundreds ??) of other members have reported the same thing.

Most people just aren't complainers or they've given up complaining about it. Still, this has been talked about in probably a hundred different forum threads here over the past several months...I don't know what it would take to fix the problem...more & faster server capacity comes to mind as one possibility.

Hi Bill, I think it has very little to do with the fact you're on dial-up. Your experiences match what mine were and I was on fast cable (well, fast everywhere else, at least). It IS incredibly frustrating to just sit there waiting for pages to open, and to know that you'll never be able to see all the things in the gallery you want to...just not enough time at the site's pace.

I hope you'll get some "hopeful" response from the PTB...the "php system will speed everything up" has pretty much been exhausted...I think it's partly a perception problem because usually their response to these complaints is "it's lightning quick for me" as in this thread ...so I'm not sure they even believe they have a problem.

{waves Hi} see ya Bill

Jen

jump & SndCastie...not sure if your comments were directed towards me  ..but, if they were for me, I'm obviously aware that you are investigating this and I have every intention of giving you the time to do so appropriately...don't think I've suggested otherwise.

While any copyright issues are obviously important, my greater concern is frankly that of artistic integrity...if we've lost that, the galleries just become meaningless...

btw, if you weren't talking to me with your posts, then......I'm just waving "hi" :lol:

lemur01 wrote:

Quote - Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww come onnnnnnnnn... you can't bait the hook like that and leave us hanging lol.

:b_grin: Sorry 'bout that...hehehe...

seriously though, I wasn't sure if what I described above was okay or not...I didn't think it was, but well, so much has changed around here I thought maybe that had changed, too. Once I got the "thumbs down" from an admin, I thought I'd give them a chance to investigate it discretely...

I hope the admins will deal with the situation...I am hopeful that they will...but I do plan to monitor this, so you may hear more if it goes unresolved...

:b_lipssealed: ...for now

just sent PM to you...this just seemed really wrong to me...let me know if you need more info

Quote - No it would be a copyright issue with both

okay thanks...will send you a PM in next few minutes

It's not just you...nearly every time I pop in here to check my PM's or take a peek around to see if anything has changed, the site speed is quite slow. Sure, once in a while it's pretty quick (or should I say "lightning quick" :tt2: ), but mostly it's slow. People have just stopped complaining about it because it's become the norm.

...such a shame...

site mail sent...

If I get another ebot for her products, I'm just going to report it as SPAM to the email service...think I should have just done that right from the start...

btw...the whole thing makes one wonder how wishlist ebots & the newsletter ever got connected...

"...look at once the conversion is complete." :rolleyes:  :lol:

Quote - Yea I am going to bring this up to the programers to see if we can't separate it :O)

Okay, thanks...I'll wait a couple of weeks and check back...really don't want to cut myself off completely...but I no longer want these ebots...hope there'll be a change made on this soon...thanks again!

SndCastie wrote:

Quote - under you profile towards the bottom of the page is a box to uncheck if you don't want to receive notification but this also deals with the newsletter

Yep, I did see that box. So let me make sure I've got this right: In order to stop receiving ebots for wishlist items, I have to stop receiving the newsletter, too?? :blink: :rolleyes:

[sarcasm ON] Now that's a fine piece of programming [/sarcasm OFF] :lol:

Thanks for the answer, SndCastie

Hey jumpstartme2, no problem...I did see that thread when I did a search prior to starting this new thread...I think Elizabyte did ask in the other thread about wishlist ebots, too, but it sort of fell through the cracks in the subsequent answers. Thanks for trying to help, though...I appreciate it!!

XENOPHONZ wrote:

Quote - And in case if you missed it, Rendo has just come down off of a large spike.

I'd label that spike simple "curiosity" about the new site changes...and it seems most of the extra traffic flow didn't stay long after getting an eyefull.

But I could be wrong...on all accounts. It just seemed to me the original question was: Are There Less Surfers Since the Site Changes. And the answer seems to be "YES" ...regardless of "why" and regardless of whether traffic is down anywhere else. I didn't think the answer had been really provided by your other Alexa charts, as interesting as they are. There's alot of "noise" in charts like those...some sort of summarization of data helps to clarify the information. That's all.

Speed is Slow

I guess the conclusion is "No, it's not just your imagination" Also, this all appears to be 3-month data, so I wouldn't expect "warm summer temperatures" is the full explanation, either.

just my two cents...I can still offer it, can't I?