SPEED UP THESE BOARDS!

[Guest]

This is crazy! It just took me over 5 minutes to post a friggin 2 sentence message! How in the hell are people supposed to participate in discussions when it takes so long to do anything on these forums!

Seriously, if Stratics wants to keep people coming to this site, they better add some hardware or bandwidth to speed things up a bit.

 

[Kethinov]

There are thousands of user accounts and millions of posts just on the UO board. Stratics is a massive network which takes on a much greater load than the MyUO servers ever did. Try to be patient with the servers. This is a free service after all.

 

[Guest]

Hey, if I had another choice of boards where I could converse with and read posts by the OSI devs, I certainly would. I used to post here all the time, but then Stratics started having it's network problems, and that's when I moved over to the uo.com boards, as they were reliable and much faster.

You want to know what is so funny about your reply for me to be patient? Study after study has shown that the vast majority of people simply will not wait for slow web pages to load. Stratics generates revenue from the ads that are here, and the less people that come here, the less revenue is generated. I would think it is in the best financial interests of Stratics to improve the speed of the forums.

If you want to take the attitude that it's a free service and people can take it or leave it, then you'll just find more and more people leaving it. That kind of attitude is not good for Stratics, sorry.

 

[HUCK]

Hell, it just took me 20 minutes to connect to this forum! It's ****ing rediculous!

 

[Orglif]

Must... restrain... urge... to... bitchslap...

 

[Guest]

I'd like to see you try ;-)

 

[Kethinov]

*shrugs* believe what you want
But the wait never stopped me. I just come, open up all the new topics, and browse another site while I wait. stratics HAS been in much worse shape in the past

 

[the great bob]

This is crazy! It just took me over 5 minutes to roll my hamster ball!! How in the hell are people supposed to participate in hamster madness fun when it takes so long to roll a hamster ball!

Seriously, if my hamster wants to keep on living, it better better learn how to roll faster or I'm going to flush it down the toilet.

 

[DumpsterDan]

LOL

 

[Orglif]

<blockquote><hr>

I'd like to see you try ;-)

<hr></blockquote>
Yeah, and I'd like to see you throw a little money at Stratics before you start crying about how they handle the server load. It's a free site, you twit. When someone throws you a bone, don't pancake about how it tastes.

 

[Guest]

Like I said before, I don't really WANT to use these slow boards, but I HAVE to if I want to talk to and read posts by the OSI devs, whose salaries I DO help pay for. I think OSI made an extremely bad decision moving here, as these boards coudln't even handle the load before the uo.com boardies moved over here. FYI, I'm going to continue to "cry" until someone implements an acceptable solution. Waiting 5 minutes to make one post is not acceptable. For all I care, OSI can buy Stratics some new hardware, and help pay for some extra bandwidth. Since we customers don't have a choice any longer, then I think that's the least they can do.

If you don't like that, then too bad. You can't stop me from posting my opinion

 

[Orglif]

<blockquote><hr>

I think OSI made an extremely bad decision moving here

<hr></blockquote>
So do I, and so does everyone else dealing with you and your whining ilk, but hey... we're trying.
<blockquote><hr>

I don't really WANT to use these slow boards

<hr></blockquote>
Tell ya what then: piss off, and I'll send you an email when they speed up again. Promise!

 

[Kethinov]

Your blunt bitterness is admirable. *bows*

 

[Guest]

Maybe you should pull up two web browsers to while one is posting you can be looking at your XXX rated webpages. Are you mad because posting here is taking time away from your porn? If you hate the time it takes the post, why are you here? You chose to post here. Deal with it.

 

[Drakken Payne]

Come on. Even those of you who are flaming wilki for complaing about the boards being so slow have to admit that sometimes it's just ridiculous how long it takes to load.

Free service? So ****ing what? They make money off of this thing. Do you really think they'd be doing it if they weren't?

I've seen no less than 3 'upgrades' to the Stratics servers. Every time it would get better for about a week, then it was right back to the way it was before.

I have cable internet access and it's like I have dial-up when I'm on Stratics. Same thing when I had DSL. When I was on dial-up it was horrible.

I don't think there's anyone here who can argue that the boards aren't slow as hell at times.

And as for the 'free service'...

Well, we'll see about that when 'Stratics Plus' get's here.

 

[Orglif]

Ugh. I've seen days where it took a good 20 minutes on cable to load a page. You know what conclusion us logical, thinking people draw?

If it's too damn slow, leave. Stratics, in an effort to retain their userbase, will fix the problem.

The problem, however, does not get resolved with everybody and their inbred uncle posting across 40 sub-forums about "how damn slow" it is. It adds to the problem.

 

[imported_Kral]

<blockquote><hr>

Ugh. I've seen days where it took a good 20 minutes on cable to load a page. You know what conclusion us logical, thinking people draw?

If it's too damn slow, leave.

<hr></blockquote>

And that's exactly what all these people did back when Stratics was a total joke for months and took half an hour to load a single page. They went to the my.uo boards, formed a subcommunity without any of your input, and then went around Trammelizing the entire game, as while the Ultima clueful were here waiting 30 minutes for a page to load and posting suggestions no one would ever read due to the extreme delay, they were giving the dev team (bad) input. Yeah, 'just leave' really worked out great, didn't it?

Regardless, now Stratics is the only serious way for people to communicate with the dev team. They can't just leave. It's no longer an option. The only real option is for people to complain and for Stratics to upgrade, and they don't have the cash as they failed to arrange financial support from OSI for hosting their boards for some unknown reason that still boggles my mind, and ads aren't paying enough apparently (I do remember warning that running obnoxious ads like popups and interstitials for offtopic things would push people to install ad blocking software..).

So, we're faced with this StraticsPlus stuff which they think will be the light at the end of the upgrade tunnel, but more likely that light'll be a freight train, as the my.uo people will feel justifiably furious if to get a usable medium to communicate with their dev team they have to pay off a 3rd party (back to the 'OSI should have funded this' point), and if the main advantage of StraticsPlus (which it currently is) is 'acceptible lag', that means non-Plus must be unacceptible lag to get people to justify paying for it, which means non-payers get screwed, too. Oh yay.

Which brings me to, wait, where was I going with this? Oh yeah. Complaining is good. It gets the problems out in the air rather than leaving folks to guess why they've suddenly become a community of one. Not complaining is why closed betas of games are always pointless - they're full of fanboys that are too worried pointing out why a game sucks will ruin their chances of having GM ImaDev wave at them the next time he drew the short straw and had to attend an expo. If you were to 'just leave' every time you thought things could get better, you wouldn't be living in America, so either get the hell out of my country right now, or wave the flag while complaining how damn heavy it is!

 

[Drakken Payne]

<blockquote><hr>

You know what conclusion us logical, thinking people draw?

If it's too damn slow, leave.

<hr></blockquote>

Logic, like many things is subjective to perspective. From my perspective that logic is faulty and an obtuse way of thinking.

What exactly is wrong with complaing about it?

<blockquote><hr>

Stratics, in an effort to retain their userbase, will fix the problem.

<hr></blockquote>

I'm certain they will. And the more people who complain, the higher Stratic's motivation will be to correct this issue. You see, complaing does serve a legitimate purpose.

<blockquote><hr>

The problem, however, does not get resolved with everybody and their inbred uncle posting across 40 sub-forums about "how damn slow" it is. It adds to the problem.

<hr></blockquote>

I'm still trying to figure out how exactly it adds to the problem. Maybe that goes back to that faulty logic that I was talking about earlier.

See, if alot of people complain about it, someone will notice. Maybe that someone will tell someone who can actually do something about it.

Besides that, it's not any worse than alot of the dumbass topics I've seen on this board over the years.

 

[Asmodeus (Atl)]

Blunt bitterness is all fine and dandy; personal attacks are not. This thread needs some coolant.

 

[Asmodeus (Atl)]

<blockquote><hr>

Free service? So ****ing what? They make money off of this thing. Do you really think they'd be doing it if they weren't?

<hr></blockquote>

Yeah, actually, I do. None of us get paid. Stratics is a privately run organization, and I'm pretty sure Den has actually shelled out money from his own pocket to keep it going. Even if Stratics turns a profit, it's certainly not worth the trouble it takes to maintain it. Which is why I don't think it's for profit.

<blockquote><hr>

And the more people who complain, the higher Stratic's motivation will be to correct this issue.

<hr></blockquote>

Motivation doesn't fix problems. Trust me, we know about the slowdowns, and right now, there's nothing we can do. We're getting hammered by the sudden inflow of uo.com posters on top of the Stratics load we've been barely dealing with. Jhariden has tweaked and upgraded to kingdom come, and I'm sure that right now he's still trying to find a way to pick up site speed. Just trust me when I say that complaining is not necessary, and we know it's a problem and we're trying to solve it as soon as possible.

 

[Guest]

My question then turns to why on earth did Stratics accept the "Official UO Forum" status then? If it was clear that the current hardware/bandwidth setup could not handle the large influx of people, and OSI wasn't willing to help support these new people they herded over here, why on earth subject both your current users as well as new potential users to this kind of service? Why not demand that OSI help Stratics add the needed resources to take on all the new users that would be coming over when the uo.com boards went down, or tell OSI to go elsewhere?

As it is now, everybody has to suffer, new and old alike.

 

[Asmodeus (Atl)]

Because Stratics has always been open to everyone. It's not our style to simply tell people to go away. And although we do not turn decent profits, we are still competitive in the industry. Users that go elsewhere are lost to us.

As for why OSI doesn't financially help Stratics, I think there might be legal implications in the way, not to mention the mass of posters who would just love to scream "SELLOUT" if that ever occurred.

 

[Drakken Payne]

I'm well aware that you don't get paid Asmo. I'm also aware that Stratics is a privately run organization. Maybe they don't turn a profit, but they aren't running this site completely out of pocket. If they are running it out of pocket, and doing just for fun and because they love MMORPGs and helping players, that's great. Very admirable. Sadly there's very few things done that way anymore in the world.

That's all really beside the point anyway.

Motivation doesn't fix problems???? In the bizzaro wolrd maybe. If it weren't for motivation no problem would ever be fixed anywhere. Motivation absolutely DOES fix problems.

I'm not bashing Stratics. Hell, I like Stratics, contrary to what some might think. I've gotten an amazing amount of help here over the years, not just with UO but other games as well. Stratics is, in my mind, without a doubt the place to go if you've got a question about any MMORPG. I can't think of a sight that has more info or a better group of people, both staff and posters, who will help you out. Not just with information, but actually ingame from time to time. I've made many friends both here and ingame thanks to Stratics.

But, that aside, facts are facts.

There are times when it takes ages for the forums to load. People will complain about this as much as you (figuratively) don't want them to.

I'm sure that the entire staff is aware of the problems. I have no doubt of this. It's not like it's a new problem. This has been an ongoing thing ever since I've been coming here, and most likely before that. I suppose that's the nature of the beast as sure as people will complain about it.

I also have no doubt that Stratics is trying to fix the load speed. But a little more motivation can't hurt.

 

[Asmodeus (Atl)]

Fair enough. /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Budner]

"Stratics generates revenue from the ads that are here.."

I don't think I even SEE the ads any more. I've never clicked on one in 3 years.

But load times are horrendous I agree. What can you do though, it's always been this way.

 

[Tyro]

With a massive new registered posters, stratics can go back to the old smooth way. Only way to counter this is preparing/upgrading on your end.

Btw, I'm not new. Registered in 2000.

 

[Drakken Payne]

Say...

How about Stratics gets rid of that stupid ****ing banner ad for 'The Core' already!

It will load and play the audio, which sometimes it will let me turn off and sometimes it won't, while I wait for the page to load.

I swear if I have to listen to that ****ing thing again...

I don't know what, but it won't be nice.

 

[Asmodeus (Atl)]

Amen.

Jhariden hasn't made a statement about it yet, but a LOT of people are complaining about that ad. Myself included.

 

[Guest]

whoa, calm down Brainiac, believe me we are all ecstatic to see the great and knowledgable Kral back but really, do you really believe the drivel that you just posted? Complaining in this game is useless. You say it led to the trammelization of this game. The basic lowest common denominator wave led to that, inexorably and undoubtedly. That would have happened if there were no boards or if every site on the internet was devoted to UO and the trammy influence. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

Do you know what consensus brings? Thats right, mediocrity. Listening to the masses if it ever happens is most often a total waste of time, energy and leads to highly ****ed up results.

I agree w/you Orglif..if you dont like it, leave. If you truly believe your (general, not you specifically) whinings and complaints are listened to by the Dev team..well then keep smoking.

 

[Drakken Payne]

You know, I wasn't interested in that movie to begin with.

The premise just doesn't strike me as entertaining for some reason.

Now I really don't want to see it. In fact, this ad is having the exact opposite effect on me than what they intended.

Unless they intended to make me NOT want to go see this movie.

 

[imported_Kral]

<blockquote><hr>

Complaining in this game is useless. You say it led to the trammelization of this game.

<hr></blockquote>

No, I said the lack of complaints from a uniform distribution of the players led to the game changing against the majority interest. 'Twas paragraph 1.

<blockquote><hr>

The basic lowest common denominator wave led to that, inexorably and undoubtedly. That would have happened if there were no boards or if every site on the internet was devoted to UO and the trammy influence. You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

<hr></blockquote>

So you'd say that the user community of the my.uo forums that was communicating with the dev team was of the same philosophy and make up as the Stratics community that wasn't? I think it'd be really hard to make that point, especially considering things like 'duh of the day' were so unanimously expected. There was clearly a player representation problem, which wasn't helped by players being afraid for their accounts for the content of their complaints on the my.uo forums. For example, you had to come to Stratics to complain about exploits, as my.uo posts would either get removed or get your account itself threatened. Given the more knowledgable UO players knew of, and were pissed off by, exploits, it resulted in the polarization of the community between somewhat ignorant dev-visible my.uo posters, and somewhat knowledgable dev-invisible Stratics posters. Hence the 'my.uo people are stupid' perception due to them being less UO savvy, and hence the less UO savvy being overrepresented when it came to dev decisions.

<blockquote><hr>

Do you know what consensus brings? Thats right, mediocrity. Listening to the masses if it ever happens is most often a total waste of time, energy and leads to highly ****ed up results.

<hr></blockquote>

So I take it you're anti-Democracy, anti-Capitalism? /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif I'll admit, Dictatorships are potentially more efficient, and Socialism sure sounds nice on paper, but when you're being sent to a re-education camp because Supreme Ruler doesn't like the way you lace your shoes and you have to stand in line for bread due to that whole supply and demand thing being subversive doctrine, they lose their appeal.

<blockquote><hr>

I agree w/you Orglif..if you dont like it, leave. If you truly believe your (general, not you specifically) whinings and complaints are listened to by the Dev team..well then keep smoking.

<hr></blockquote>

They haven't been listened to from the Stratics community in the past as they weren't posting to a forum the devs read, which is what I'm saying the problem has been. Complain, and make sure your complaints are heard! If the only complaints they're hearing are that Felucca should be removed to make room for more housing, well, you know what happens.

 

[Guest]

Basically i would sum up my points as saying it simply would not have mattered if you lived w/the devs and whispered practical, common sensical ideas in their head every night as they went to sleep. Somethings are bound to go a certain direction. We have seen that since UO came out all over MMORPG's have not even approached the level of freedom and chaos that initially was such a vital, if not the most vital aspect of UO. You of all ppl should know that.

The initial 18 months or so of UO were special but the ruleset appealed quite obviously to a statistically fringe group. It was inevitable that the UO pendulum would swing towards a more median position.

And while i am not anti-democracy (who was it? Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain that said, to paraphrase, that democracy is the worst form of govt. ever created, except for all the other kinds?) for society as a whole but i am for lack of consenus when it comes to smaller scale entities like games, companies, sports and that sort of thing as a general rule of thumb.

 

[Babble]

Some topics are timeless

 

[Taylor]

Some topics are timeless

But thread necromancy is not.