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Old 15-07-04, 15:38
Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)'s Avatar
Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) is offline
former OC MLU, AKA 'Jif' - sadly no longer with us
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 5,400
Default Re: Bandwidth

As I wrote to Mr. Murray last night, what I'm trying to do right now is identify where most of the bandwidth is being used, and project future requirements. I do NOT want to limit postings or topics -- the variation here has made MLU what it is. Accordingly, we've become immensely popular...

I agree that pics should continue to be posted here, for reference. They're an invaluable tool. There's already a size restriction on pictures, although I think I'll reduce that a bit (smaller pics = less transfer rate). I'll let you know the details in a TAC HQ post, shortly. In the meantime, try to keep pics to at least 600 pixels width and perhaps 80 kb in size; any basic graphics program can do that for you. If you don't have the capability and can't find someone to help you, email the pic to Hanno or me and ask us to do it for you... better you try it yourself, though, to maintain the spontaneity of your interactions here as well as develop your computer skills...

I'll reiterate part of what Hanno said; if you're linking to a pic elsewhere on the net, post the link rather than import the pic. Secondly, when you are quoting a post with a pic in it, manually delete the reference to the pic in the quote part; there's no point in posting the pic twice (or more!), as it's already just above for anyone to see.

For those of you who are not internet-savvy, every word and every picture on every page is downloaded to one's computer everytime one views the page. That means that if there's x-amount of text in kilobytes and x-number of pictures (measured in considerably more kilobytes), those kilobytes are transferred from our server every time someone looks at that page. And it's not just our members... note the huge number of lurkers we get!

That's what "bandwidth" means.

There are other qualifiers as well, of course. Unlike some other software types, our interactions here are stored in a database on the server, which naturally grows in size with every post. Example: my April backup was approximately 100,000 kb - this is just a raw SQL data file - the backup I did Monday was 150,000 kb! In other words, we've grown by 50% in three months, and that's just the raw data from our database!

This is what constitutes are "archive", and it's invaluable really, not just for research, but to set and maintain the character of this community. I will only delete posts on a very rare basis, as even some of what some might call 'nonsense' has its own place here, as in any 'family'.

MLU will continue to flourish and grow, at a rate dependent upon its usefullness to its membership. That is the true test of any publication in any medium, anywhere. I shall never sink to the level of attaching advertisements, so no worries there; at this point I'm not even thinking about sponsorship either. We can do this ourselves. And, no, I'm not thinking of splitting this off into another forum - I like our community the way it is.

As I said, we're OK for now, so not a problem. Whatever support you DO lend is greatly appreciated of course, but rest assured MLU is not in danger of failing without it, and I'm certainly not going to whinge about all of this (I'm just happy to be its sponsor)! If it ever comes close to that, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks, all, for your continued support. You ARE what makes this what it is, to the benefit of all of us. I will post future developments in the TAC HQ Forum, as I decipher statistics and postulate future requirements.

Here's to many more years of good companionship!



David: yes, that is my mailing address, for any related MLU matters.

Nuyt: Thank you.


Geoff
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