Announcements Usenet Feeds Turned Off

[Kevin]

Well, after another weekend of fighting MySQL issues I have turned off the Usenet groups & gateway. Nearly every time we have issues with the server it can be traced back to the Usenet postings.

Over the years we have done our best to offer a free Usenet gateway to our community members. The server hardware has been updated several times, we have hd server admin experts come in to tweak as much as possible, we monitor the server loads and have tweaked vBulletin as much as can be done using the stock code. We have fought a good fight.

... and it was not enough.

There are solutions out there that could help with the problem. Upgrading to a bigger & better server. Modifying the vBulletin code. Hiring a different round of experts. Those are exactly the things that some of the biggest vB sites do.

But we can not. We are a community site staffed by volunteers with no budget for such things.

So, for now at least, I am leaving the Usenet forums turned off. If you were following the Usenet groups, a free alternative would be Google Groups.


If there is enough interest, the gateway may be brought back in the future.



Kevin

 

[Kevin]

Still battling some MySQL issues. This time while trying to purge the old Usenet posts.

 

[Kevin]

Picture if you will....

It is 5:00 AM in a sleepy little village somewhere in the North-Eastern United States. A man sits silently staring at a computer screen, the light from which pierces the otherwise dark room. By his side is his faithful companion, a dog whom he calls Fuzzy. The tranquility of the twilight in suburbia is broken by an anguished, guttural scream coming from the man of "MySQLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!" while he raises his fist at the virtual heavens.




Welcome, my friends, to another night in.... the Cool Sci-Fi Zone.