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Is it just me, or is GP's website slowing to a crawl?


Hobo2

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We are currently doing performance testing so the site will be up and down for a little bit today. Want to make sure it's running as fast as we can get it before the weekend hits!

 

-Raine

 

Thanks for all you do. I know it is generally a thankless job that only gets noticed when something goes wrong.

Edited by Destitute
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:):D I just gave up on Geocaching.com is so slow this afternoon :laughing::laughing:

Bye...don't let the door hit you in the...never mind. :o

 

:laughing: The Modreators will not let me respond the way I want, but you know the reply :P

 

No point in replying, sorry.

Edited by Destitute
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It is painfully slow right now.

 

It sure is.. And I though having Vista was bad enough.. I can't even view a friend's page..

 

"Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding."

 

Are the servers running IIS? If so is it set to recycle worker processes and shut down idle processes? Or is this an issue with the SQL calls?

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# of members x $3 per month = $,$$$,$$$.$$ revenue per month!

 

Maybe it is time to invest in an upgraded server. I know it is hard to spend profits, but there is a moral obligation to keep things running smooth while continually collecting income. This system is clearly overwhelmed now, and it is just going to get worse! It is time to make the hard decision NOW!

 

PS. It was very, very, slow and sticky all weekend long! :rolleyes:

Edited by Hobo2
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Hi Hobo, After I run my PQ's I can preview them, all appears well, but I never receive the file in my email to download to my GPS. I'm also not receiving any emails for caches on my watchlist? It's worked great for years. I don't know? :rolleyes: OOPs I see there is a whole thread on PQ problems of late sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Edited by CWFI34
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While the weekends are obviously the worst, I am finding frequent slow/stop periods at all time of the day EST.

 

There will be a short period where you get instantaneous response and suddenly nothing works for about 5 minutes. This is really annoying if you are creating a new listing and making frequent changes to the html listing.

 

And this is not related to my ISP. Other sites continue to be responsive while gc.com and associated forums are stalled.

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Hi Hobo, After I run my PQ's I can preview them, all appears well, but I never receive the file in my email to download to my GPS. I'm also not receiving any emails for caches on my watchlist? It's worked great for years. I don't know? :rolleyes: OOPs I see there is a whole thread on PQ problems of late sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.

 

You are not hijacking anything, this thread is meant to wake GP up on lots of issues. There are some real troubles going on here! To say the pat answer of, "we're working on it", just isn't cutting it and doesn't address the elephant in the room, which is upgrading. Anyone can do the revenue numbers and see this can be done.

 

I'm not one to appease unless it is warranted. I think there is too much of that going on now. If truth be told, I'd bet most who post what a great job GP is doing, really have the same frustrations we do and want change, but they are scared. I do not feel sorry for someone who is in a thankless job, or volunteering, both of which I'm in and do regularly. I do fear a reprisal from GP in my continued straight talk, but I am also counting on the original ethics which founded this wonderful game to rise up again.

 

Again, I think this thread has been placed in a somewhat inactive area out of design, but I have no control over this. It is time we all stand together and thank GP for doing what is right, not to keep appease them out of fear for letting this website continue to head downhill.

Edited by Hobo2
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You are not hijacking anything, this thread is meant to wake GP up on lots of issues. There are some real troubles going on here! To say the pat answer of, "we're working on it", just isn't cutting it and doesn't address the elephant in the room, which is upgrading. Anyone can do the revenue numbers and see this can be done.

 

 

I most certainly agree with you that the current environment continues to become more intolerable by the day.

 

However, I suspect that if we were privy to the revenue numbers, the current environment might make more sense. I don't think geocaching is the cash cow that some suspect it might be. I suspect that Groundspeak has financial troubles and can't support the infrastructure. Based on a thread elsewhere in these forums, there is a presumption that PM's bring in around $3M / year which is not huge. No way of calculating the revenue from TB's/coins although I suspect that has peaked.

 

The biggest concern is the silence. We have no way of knowing what is going on it the background.

 

I think a temporary moratorium on new free memberships might be a help.

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this thread is meant to wake GP up on lots of issues. There are some real troubles going on here!
Yes, Hobo. Again: Groundspeak knows. I'll redirect you to this post from Nate in this same thread which already addresses your concerns.

 

The developers are working very hard to find a solution. Just because a permanent solution has not yet been implemented since Nate posted a few days ago does not mean that we are ignoring the issue. Quite the contrary actually. A lot of attention is being paid to this topic.

 

You do not need to fear a reprisal from Groundspeak for your opinions. You do not need to appease us. You do need to have much more patience and have respect for the people doing work in the background. Thank you.

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I'm not one to appease unless it is warranted. I think there is too much of that going on now. If truth be told, I'd bet most who post what a great job GP is doing, really have the same frustrations we do and want change, but they are scared.
Scared? I think they do a great job and thank them for their work. I don't agree with everything and they know that. I haven't been "fired" yet. It would be great to have a super fast site all the time, but with so many free users I am not surprised that it gets slow on the weekends. I think it is great that they still allow people to use the site for free. I also know that this is a game and not a matter of life or death. It seems to be that way for you. I don't really see the masses as worked up as you are about this frankly. There are hundreds of thousands of people who see this for what it is -- a game.

 

I do not feel sorry for someone who is in a thankless job, or volunteering, both of which I'm in and do regularly. I do fear a reprisal from GP in my continued straight talk, but I am also counting on the original ethics which founded this wonderful game to rise up again.
As I noted above, the original ethics are still there. Despite slowness on the weekends, hundreds of thousands of people still play for free.

 

Again, I think this thread has been placed in a somewhat inactive area out of design, but I have no control over this.
This is far from an inactive area. It is the proper area as well. People post about issues they have (which is what you are doing), and they post about feature requests. You are complaining about web site related issues. Where would you suggest this be move to? It isn't like you were moved to the quiet Luxembourg Forum.

 

It is time we all stand together and thank GP for doing what is right, not to keep appease them out of fear for letting this website continue to head downhill.

I do thank them for sticking to their promise of keeping parts of the site open to all. If you want to see "downhill", go to the Navi site. You want this site to look and operate like that one? I most certainly don't. I see this site as one that is moving forward, not downhill. Sure, we could have no features and throw every penny at hardware. No thanks. At least you have PQ's and slick mapping and many other features. If you want a site like Navi, you got it. No one uses it though. I think that speaks volumes for what the vast majority of users want. They want what this site offers.
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While I have noticed a few slowdowns recently. I haven't seen anything intolerable. For the most part everyhting works well enough.

 

Just trowing more and bigger hardware at issues doesn't always give you the expected results. If I read between the lines correctly - they have found that certain small segments of the code are causing the bulk of the slowdown issues. How, when why and what to change are what they need time to work on.

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... which is upgrading. Anyone can do the revenue numbers and see this can be done.

Don't be so sure it hasn't already been done. The last public statement about the servers that I remember, said there were 2 web servers in a DNS round-robin, among a bunch of other specialized servers. Just now I did some repeated DNS lookups and see 4 different IPs returned for www.geocaching.com. That means they've doubled the number of web servers. But as Nate said earlier in this thread, hardware can only go so far. Code optimizations also have to be done, and that's not so easy.

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I'm not one to appease unless it is warranted. I think there is too much of that going on now. If truth be told, I'd bet most who post what a great job GP is doing, really have the same frustrations we do and want change, but they are scared.
Scared? I think they do a great job and thank them for their work. I don't agree with everything and they know that. I haven't been "fired" yet. It would be great to have a super fast site all the time, but with so many free users I am not surprised that it gets slow on the weekends. I think it is great that they still allow people to use the site for free. I also know that this is a game and not a matter of life or death. It seems to be that way for you. I don't really see the masses as worked up as you are about this frankly. There are hundreds of thousands of people who see this for what it is -- a game.

 

I do not feel sorry for someone who is in a thankless job, or volunteering, both of which I'm in and do regularly. I do fear a reprisal from GP in my continued straight talk, but I am also counting on the original ethics which founded this wonderful game to rise up again.
As I noted above, the original ethics are still there. Despite slowness on the weekends, hundreds of thousands of people still play for free.

 

Again, I think this thread has been placed in a somewhat inactive area out of design, but I have no control over this.
This is far from an inactive area. It is the proper area as well. People post about issues they have (which is what you are doing), and they post about feature requests. You are complaining about web site related issues. Where would you suggest this be move to? It isn't like you were moved to the quiet Luxembourg Forum.

 

It is time we all stand together and thank GP for doing what is right, not to keep appease them out of fear for letting this website continue to head downhill.

I do thank them for sticking to their promise of keeping parts of the site open to all. If you want to see "downhill", go to the Navi site. You want this site to look and operate like that one? I most certainly don't. I see this site as one that is moving forward, not downhill. Sure, we could have no features and throw every penny at hardware. No thanks. At least you have PQ's and slick mapping and many other features. If you want a site like Navi, you got it. No one uses it though. I think that speaks volumes for what the vast majority of users want. They want what this site offers.

 

I just wrote a nice log rebuttal, took me a half hour to write, but I was dropped before I could post it, need I say more?

Edited by Hobo2
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The "Go back one page" button always works. If I ever get a timeout, that works perfectly.

 

Maybe some of your issues are operator error? Maybe your computer? icon_shrug.gif

 

Maybe the back button wont work when you are dropped and have to log in again. Maybe it is not my computer, it might just be a real problem with this website.

 

I will resume tonight when I have more time.

Edited by Hobo2
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Could some of the trouble be with your ISP? I've seen some slowdowns, but nothing that kept me from logging finds, or setting up/running PQ's.

I just had the drop line from the pole to the house replaced on Sunday due to squirrel damage, and speeds seemed to pick up when that was done.

 

I've been a member since 2003, and, although there have been times that site performance has been "iffy" I do know that the staff at Groundspeak has ALWAYS paid attention to the concerns of the users.

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The "Go back one page" button always works. If I ever get a timeout, that works perfectly.

 

Maybe some of your issues are operator error? Maybe your computer? icon_shrug.gif

 

Maybe the back button wont work when you are dropped and have to log in again. Maybe it is not my computer, it might just be a real problem with this website.

 

I will resume tonight when I have more time.

Don't be so quick to dismiss a problem with your PC or the ISP you are using. I used an ISP briefly in 2003 that was almost impossible to do anything with the Geocaching website even though other sites worked great. It turned out they were experimenting with some fancy memory caching server to help speed up requests over the web. Worked great on some sites but not this one as it is so dynamic. I knew it was the ISP because I had access to other ISPs that had the site running smoothly. Tested them side by side.

 

You are describing a level of difficulties that seems well beyond what many of us are seeing.

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The "Go back one page" button always works. If I ever get a timeout, that works perfectly.

 

Maybe some of your issues are operator error? Maybe your computer? icon_shrug.gif

 

Maybe the back button wont work when you are dropped and have to log in again. Maybe it is not my computer, it might just be a real problem with this website.

 

I will resume tonight when I have more time.

Don't be so quick to dismiss a problem with your PC or the ISP you are using. I used an ISP briefly in 2003 that was almost impossible to do anything with the Geocaching website even though other sites worked great. It turned out they were experimenting with some fancy memory caching server to help speed up requests over the web. Worked great on some sites but not this one as it is so dynamic. I knew it was the ISP because I had access to other ISPs that had the site running smoothly. Tested them side by side.

 

You are describing a level of difficulties that seems well beyond what many of us are seeing.

 

In the last 3 hours I have been creating a couple of new listings and viewing/commenting in several forums. In that period, I have seen at least a dozen times where there were significant (> a couple of minutes) delays in getting a response.

 

It would seem that too many people, in too many countries are seeing these problems for it to be an ISP problem.

Edited by Tequila
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The "Go back one page" button always works. If I ever get a timeout, that works perfectly.

 

Maybe some of your issues are operator error? Maybe your computer? icon_shrug.gif

 

Maybe the back button wont work when you are dropped and have to log in again. Maybe it is not my computer, it might just be a real problem with this website.

 

I will resume tonight when I have more time.

Don't be so quick to dismiss a problem with your PC or the ISP you are using. I used an ISP briefly in 2003 that was almost impossible to do anything with the Geocaching website even though other sites worked great. It turned out they were experimenting with some fancy memory caching server to help speed up requests over the web. Worked great on some sites but not this one as it is so dynamic. I knew it was the ISP because I had access to other ISPs that had the site running smoothly. Tested them side by side.

 

You are describing a level of difficulties that seems well beyond what many of us are seeing.

 

In the last 3 hours I have been creating a couple of new listings and viewing/commenting in several forums. In that period, I have seen at least a dozen times where there were significant (> a couple of minutes) delays in getting a response.

 

It would seem that too many people, in too many countries are seeing these problems for it to be an ISP problem.

 

Just goes to show you, they don't believe there is any trouble, or that it is PAST time for an upgrade. It is much easier to place blame elsewhere. It is also easier to try and trip up the poster and deflect the issue. It must be everything else but GP is now the theme! :rolleyes:

Edited by Hobo2
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Actually, if you were "dropped", that does sound like you and not the site. While there may be slow issues, and they have admitted to that, I've been logged into the forums for months on multiple computers. If you are being logged out, I think you have some issues with your own computer. If this were a common problem, I am sure we would be hearing about it.

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The "Go back one page" button always works. If I ever get a timeout, that works perfectly.

 

Maybe some of your issues are operator error? Maybe your computer? icon_shrug.gif

 

Maybe the back button wont work when you are dropped and have to log in again. Maybe it is not my computer, it might just be a real problem with this website.

 

I will resume tonight when I have more time.

Don't be so quick to dismiss a problem with your PC or the ISP you are using. I used an ISP briefly in 2003 that was almost impossible to do anything with the Geocaching website even though other sites worked great. It turned out they were experimenting with some fancy memory caching server to help speed up requests over the web. Worked great on some sites but not this one as it is so dynamic. I knew it was the ISP because I had access to other ISPs that had the site running smoothly. Tested them side by side.

 

You are describing a level of difficulties that seems well beyond what many of us are seeing.

 

In the last 3 hours I have been creating a couple of new listings and viewing/commenting in several forums. In that period, I have seen at least a dozen times where there were significant (> a couple of minutes) delays in getting a response.

 

It would seem that too many people, in too many countries are seeing these problems for it to be an ISP problem.

 

Just goes to show you, they don't believe there is any trouble, or that it is PAST time for an upgrade. It is much easier to place blame elsewhere. It is also easier to try and trip up the poster and deflect the issue. It must be everything else but GP is now the theme! :rolleyes:

 

At the risk of starting a Flame War, Hobo, get up off it. I

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I have to agree that the website's performance has me nervous. The generation of my pocket queries has been very delayed, at least a couple days behind or missed.

 

I can live with the website being bogged down at high peak times, but my caching fun is based on up-to-date queries downloaded into my GPS.

 

Good luck with your website improvements.

 

Bigwheel :):D

Edited by bigwheel
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I haven't had much time to reply to this thread, but I did find time to post a new cache a few days ago. While the reviewer was exceptionally fast... very impressive by the way, and the cache was found withing 30 minuets of being published, which was exciting. Entering the info to send to the reviewer and switching back and forth between editing and viewing the cache page was extremely slow. Saying it is my computer is just an excuse, it is time to own up and stop diverting responsibility. This is clearly a big problem that is not going to go away by insulting my knowledge about computers, or saying we're working on it... we've all heard this before.

PS. This was all done during off peak hours... in the afternoon on a weekday!

Edited by Hobo2
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I've tried to help you myself, yet you won't answer the simple questions I've asked nor will you try the solutions I've offered. I don't have the issues you do, I am on the site every day from multiple computers and multiple locations, and there is no flock of people posting in this topic with the same issues you seem to have.

 

Isn't there some outside remote possibility that it might actually be you and/or your computer? Have you tried anything I've suggested? Will you at least tell the method of internet connection you use (dialup, DSL, Cable, T-1), the operating system (Win 2000, XP, Mac), internet browser you are using and the version of it you are using?

 

If you are not going to offer any additional information besides "it's just slow", then solutions won't just fly out of the air for you.

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I think the website speed has IMPROVED over past norms recently. I log a "mileage tracker" TB in and out from each cache I find, and it used to take the site a little while to go to the TB's page after I posted the find. Now, click, bang done. I'll admit that once in a while, I'll get a page that seems to "lag" a bit while loading, but the instances of that have dropped considerably as of late.

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I've tried to help you myself, yet you won't answer the simple questions I've asked nor will you try the solutions I've offered. I don't have the issues you do, I am on the site every day from multiple computers and multiple locations, and there is no flock of people posting in this topic with the same issues you seem to have.

 

Isn't there some outside remote possibility that it might actually be you and/or your computer? Have you tried anything I've suggested? Will you at least tell the method of internet connection you use (dialup, DSL, Cable, T-1), the operating system (Win 2000, XP, Mac), internet browser you are using and the version of it you are using?

 

If you are not going to offer any additional information besides "it's just slow", then solutions won't just fly out of the air for you.

 

I use cable, Win XP, Firefox 3.0.7 AND I see the slow problem on a regular basis, every day. I have deleted all cookies, cache etc.

 

There does not appear to be any pattern to the delays other than I am almost guaranteed to see it if I do a series of activities over a short period. For example, yesterday, I had to recreate all of my regular Pocket Queries because of the huge volume of new caches being published. I worked on about 20 PQ's, changing placed date ranges, day of the week to run, PQ name, etc. I got about 8 done and suddenly, everything stopped. After 3 or 4 minutes, everything worked fine again for a few minutes. Over the course of 30 minutes there were 2 delays. This was around 0900 EST.

 

I see a similar problem when I am creating a new cache listing and doing a lot of "edit listing". I build my html in another program and copy/paste into the listing. I have never yet completed a new listing without hitting at least one, and usually several, dead stops of a few minutes each.

 

Would you like any other information?

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Yours is a great example of providing good information. Thanks. The site developers can look at your info and problems described and can try to recreate the things you describe. Nice work.

 

I have seen minor problems here and there, but not the overall problem Hobo2 describes. I see things in the same way MickEMT describes. Overall, things have gotten better over the past couple of weeks to me. This past weekend seemed to be a little better even compared to last weekend the weekend before that.

Edited by mtn-man
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One of TPTB (OpinioNate, I think) have indicated they are working very hard on the problem.

 

It can't be easy on a 7/24 operation.

 

Hopefully, if we all provide concrete examples (date, time, activity, etc.) they can narrow it down and find something.

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I've tried to help you myself, yet you won't answer the simple questions I've asked nor will you try the solutions I've offered. I don't have the issues you do, I am on the site every day from multiple computers and multiple locations, and there is no flock of people posting in this topic with the same issues you seem to have.

 

Isn't there some outside remote possibility that it might actually be you and/or your computer? Have you tried anything I've suggested? Will you at least tell the method of internet connection you use (dialup, DSL, Cable, T-1), the operating system (Win 2000, XP, Mac), internet browser you are using and the version of it you are using?

 

If you are not going to offer any additional information besides "it's just slow", then solutions won't just fly out of the air for you.

 

Let me first say, I am not computer savvy, but I am pretty good at it if I do say so myself. That being said, I’m sure I will be shrugged off as inept anyway, as this seems to be the direction you want to take topic in. Again, this slowdown has been going on for a long time, everyone knows this. Plus, it is getting worse, and it isn’t just happening to me, period. So say what you will about me, but the elephant is still standing in the room! I won’t let twisting of this subject to divert attention this time to GP’s obligations ether, this upgrade is over due right now. Moreover, if you don’t feel I have the right to express displeasure in something I’m paying for, if you think I am silly for doing so, this too is also part of the problem, and is directly related to attitude at GP… let me explain.

 

I have not responded to you mostly due to work, and because I do not care to get into your type of discussion. You seem to want to only discuss, “this seems to be a life or death issue for me”, which it is not, and which I took offence to. Plus, you seem to want to go down the road of diversion by saying “isn’t there some remote possibility” remarks, which changes the subject somewhat and implies I am incapable of seeing the obvious, which I see GP as doing with the upgrade, so touché. But I must point out, I may not be as computer savvy as you, but I’m no fool ether, which statements like that imply, hence the fear in others. Which brings me to my misunderstood comment earlier about being scared, I wasn’t meaning staff… I was referring to other members. Members are scared, I feel, to post any complaints about GP because of being judged as inept, or what ever, just as you have done here with me. Saying the things you do, the way you do, is a clever tactic to divert responsibility and scare people off, and it works! We all know this, so most don’t want to stick there necks out as I have done.

 

But you have asked some legitimate questions, so in the name of fair compromise to your argument, that GP isn’t stalling its responsibility for an upgrade to its paying customers (notice the implied judgment), I’ll send you your answers. I run Windows XP with Firefox 3.0.7 as a browser and a DSL connection to do it all with. My cookies are wide open all the time, risky yes, what is causing the trouble, no!

 

No, this subject is not attracting a “flock of people”, I agree. It is not attracting attention because (I feel) of where this subject is located… as I also pointed out earlier. I do understand the technicians need to have it posted here, so they don’t have to go looking for troubles elsewhere. But the fact is this is not where most people look for subject material. I know; you ask for solutions, so here is one if you don’t think my complaint carries any merit. Post a sticky on the regular geocaching topics and have GP ask this one question: “Is anyone unhappy with the speed of GP’s website?” That way the techs can keep up on this discussion thread, plus we just may find out how wide spread, this problem, if any, truly is. Provided you don’t make the posters feel inept while doing so right off the bat.

 

This slowdown only happens here at this website, period. I have no trouble elsewhere. I also belong to other groups, most of which are free and handle much more data with many more members than GP has. They all run just fine, and some do slow down a bit during peak hours, but everyone understands this, as do I, so let’s move on.

 

What I would like to hear is something like, “we are getting a new server 8/1/09!” Let’s get going on an upgrade yesterday, what needs to be done, this is what I’d like to hear! If it takes an increase in dues, or a raffle, or donation type of finding, fine, let’s do it. But be open about it at the same time, let us see totals. If we need to do something about the free users taking up CPU’s (trying to show off, don’t know if this is the right term, but I know I’m close), lets stop talking about it and do something. How about posting a sticky vote as to what to do with what ever is causing the trouble. Everyone would enjoy a change like this I’m sure!

 

Let me also say how wonderful a job the volunteers are doing, this subject is not directed to any of them what so ever. Some people complain about how long it take to get a cache published, without understanding this is done by volunteers who also have lives to live. I do not have one complaint in this area, and have all the patients in the word to wait for publishing. This is strictly aimed at the owner, or owners, no one else. It is time for them to invest in this game and us.

 

I will keep posting my slowdowns here as often as they occur, plus I hope others do too! I will keep doing this until the problem is fixed, or until my subscription is canceled because of my complaint, even though it is hard for me to do so.

 

PS. I have received an email reminding me of the forums edict. I don’t know how to react to this exactly, because I don’t believe I have done anything but insist this trouble be fixed. Am I blunt, yes, have I been insulted, yes, have I been insulting, no, I don’t think so, but if I have I apologize! This email caused some fear, so I am copying and pasting and saving just in case, lol.

Edited by Hobo2
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I really do have to add my $0.02.

As someone who works with computers on a daily basis (Network Specialist, Systems Engineer), I have to agree that at times last week the site was unavailable and at times VERY slow to respond to simple requests. It hasn't been too bad lately however there is an issue with PQ's. While the issue may simply be by design it does get very frustrating when you submit a saved PQ to and nothing happens. I have found that if I want to generate a PQ that I have run within the last week or so, I have to make a copy and submit the copy. I would much rather be able to simply open a saved PQ, select the day and submit.

 

Ok. enough of my soap box. I'll take it to the appropriate topic.

Edited by Zop
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