Tips for using the new forum

[DrWhat]

Sometimes John I cannot access the site at all. This happens about once a week.

[mickegg]

I'm also finding the site is unreachable for a lot of the time (Webpage unobtainable...timeout in browser)

Regards

Mick

[evgwheel]

Is the site only NOT available when Scott is doing maintenance or are there other reasons? Alexa quotes this site to be 98% slower than other sites. However if I would run it, it wouldn’t exist (too much money and time). So thank you Scott for all the effort you put in

[Fletcher]

It's coin operated - put some more money in slot & it will speed up - see paypal donate button below ;)

[rlortie]

I too have had problems with slow loading and server time outs. I also noted that my "Outlook mail box was getting slow and become belligerent. It would give me the header to a received post but would not open it.

I ran an MSN update including IP server "quick connect" and a program called "Quick Care" a virus scanner and blocker. To do this I was obligated to dump my virus blocker known as "AVG"

I have retained Firefox as my home browser. My mail and Besslerwheel downloads are now back up to speed. I would say three times as fast as previous. Click and wham I am there.

I do not know if the AVG program that I dumped had any effect on this but something sure did.

Ralph

[scott]

Sorry for the bandwidth issues. Now that Feb 5 is over things should be back to normal. The Ron Paul campaign depended on this site for all of its Colorado and most of its California "Get Out the Vote" initiatives. Most of that traffic should have died down by now. But don't worry, the campaign is still going strong.
Part I
Part II
Part III


And yes Fletch is right. If I could just get something like 1 dollar per active member per month I could afford to host the site on a much better machine with much better bandwidth than we have now.

I am loathe to charge a fee though. What are my options?

-Scott

[evgwheel]

Scott wrote

I am loathe to charge a fee though. What are my options?

Use advertisers. (energy companies) they probably monitor this site anyway. Life on the internet is like that! An advertisers cheap solution.
If you would take a vote, I think most guest/members would say it is part of the web survival.

[scott]

I've considered ads many times but always come up against it. For one thing I doubt we actually get enough traffic here to pay for a better hosting solution anyway. Plus I just dislike the idea on moral and aesthetic grounds.

Over the years, in general, piggybacking the site off of my dsl connection has seemed to work well enough I think.

Have the people who noticed major slow downs leading up to Feb 5 noticed an improvement since then? If so I will call it an isolated event.

I'm still open to the idea of a subscription model however. E.g. $1 per month to access Community Buzz and the Album feature. Just a thought.

Thanks,
Scott

[jim_mich]

There has been a big site speed improvement in the last few days.

[Stewart]

I have also noticed a speed improvement today, so hopefully things are back to normal now. Thanks Scott.

Stewart

[scott]

Thanks guys, that is what I hoped and suspected. There were hundreds of people in Colorado and California using the features I built on the site to canvass their precincts.

But back to the question of a subscription model. What do you all think about the $1 a month idea to access Community Buzz and Albums? It would sure help to offset my costs.

Thanks,
Scott

P.S. A few people over the years have given generous contributions and I appreciate it very much. I don't mean to discount them. But they are few and far between!

[evgwheel]

Problem is not everyone has a credit card to use Paypall, If you could set up a bank transfer, or any other way of payment, available to many, things should improve.
And yes the site is a lot faster now.

bessler, wheel, gravity, motor, engine, perpetual, motion, orffyreus, power, overunity, free, energy, gravitation, gravitational, mechanical, science, history, skeptic, alternative, force, field, johann, besslerwheel, besslerwheel.com, gravity, besslers wheel, bessler's wheel
Scott as it is a long time ago since I used Meta tags (on every page) and uploaded to search engines and made my website friendly to web robots for more traffic. Just to be on the first page of most search engines. Also adding links to relevant website and visa-versa, improved traffic. Of memory Meta tags as in free, energy, used to be different than ,free energy, so I used all three. (That is acceptable and not spamming)
Don’t get me wrong, your website is absolutely fantastic and I couldn’t come close to setting something like your site up (now a days), but with 500 plus hits per day, you site should be worth at least 3 cents per clickable link, not bad if you take that over a month (members just have to follow up to help you out and click on the link now and then) It probably beats selling T-shirts or pens!

[rmd3]

I hate ugly ads all over the place. I would gladly squeeze the $1/month if it keeps the ads out. :)

(EDIT: I donated. I feel cleansed of all guilt due to not contributing. ...it's not much, but maybe two years and a month's worth of community buzz access.)

[rlortie]

Scott,

My donation of like value that I promised in time for the holidays was delayed due to unexpected financial affairs, the check will be in the snail mail postmarked 02/12/08. Sorry for the delay and I hope others will join in. I do not want to see adds popping up either.

Ralph

[LustInBlack]

For the sake of god, no ads here..

Hell, I even contributed..