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Jason..I went back to your site..there werent any popups!..its been about a year or so since i visited it i think..so i will retract my popup comment..it looked very nice too by the way..altho im still a HB kinda girl..I'll give credit where credit is due.. [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/kiss.gif[/img]
I like God's way of putting it. HAIL TO CAPTAIN CAVEMAN!!!!!!
Well here is my .02 so lets start with each of his complaints.
1. Crashes - Hostboard has NOT crashed in many many months. Our last outage was a DNS issue. I can show you the log files that Hostboard was up and running with no problems. In fact none of the recent outages in the last 2 years I beleieve had anything to do with my equipment but rather service provider related. This is well beyond my control although the last few months I did move to another provider who seems to be much more reliable not ot mention gives us more bandwidth. My DNS is not hosted with the same company althoug it will be soon. Hostboard runs on redundent hardware. If something goes down redundency takes over.
2. wise ass posters - Can't help ya there outside of I provided a banning ability for your board.
3. NO help in the admin area - I have to disagree here as the entire staff is always posting and replying. I see 6 admin replies to your post intrying to explain what flood control is and why it is there. Heck admin made a reply 6 minutes after your initial post!!!
4. flood control - Has been in effect well before I even took over the helm. It has never been changed or altered or even mentioned prior to your post. So why all of a sudden is it a problem?
So here is my take on things. Holiday season so I am sure the staff has been a little less diligent in keeping up with requests. But after an entire year of being there don't they deserve some sort of break? There is absolutly NO WAY I can complaign either as they do it on their own as it is not a paid position. Everyone does it becuase they want to and for no other reason. Your post was made 4 days prior to your departure during a holiday season. You never gave us time to come up with a solution much less talk about a solution that would make everyone happy. You just rant and raved how bad Hostboard is without giving us a chance to properly address the issue. Absolutle worst case would have been laxing the flood control to 30 or 45 seconds as a temporary fix until a vailable solution could be had.
The only posative out of this is I see a new MCP option being developed that allows mods to set their own flood control.
And what for? Becuase Hostboard is mine. Hostboard does not turn a profit for me. In fact Hostboard costs me thousands of dollars per year to run and maintain much less develop new features. Why? Becuase Hostboard is mine. I want it to be the very best I can make it. Go find someone who is more dedicated then me or the current administration. All hours of the night, hoidays, weekends we are always poping in to make sure things are running and replies are done. Heck even if I go on vacation I take a laptop with me just to make sure Hostboard continues and I have someone on standby in case of a hardware issue so they can rectify it. You think running a site like this is simple or painless? We all make sacrafices in one way or another.
What I hate is people that go rant and rave about this that and the other thing without giving us the time to discuss alternatives and giving me the time to figure out how I AM GOING TO PAY FOR IT Until recently I was unemployed for over a year. Did Hostboard stop or did we stop developing it? Nope...
And Wizard Hostboard is not a business. It does not even make enough money to declare to the IRS. It cost me more to decalre it a business and since I could not declare income why bother.
People are selfish and want want want but when it comes time to pay or even donate something no one seems to give .02 When was the last time you clicked on banner trying to help support a system that has given you a place to come to for free?
There is only 1 user that I can say, actualy paid to have a particular feature coded and brought as an option to the system. It was not necessary but very much welcomed none the less as we were able expedite the code and I think we our developers (Jordo in particular) did it in under a weeks time.
And CYA your a programmer? What language/script? Ever think about donating some time or at a reduced rate to help out?
Sorry to see you go and too bad you never gave us the time to dicuss your concerns and let us work out a viable solutoin
Good luck in your future endevours...
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">It's good to know you won't be closed minded, and are open to suggestions.Quote:
Originally posted by Steven:
Yes, Hostboard is treated as a business in that respect as I am providing a service that people have come to trust and rely on. I was jsut defining the level at which Hostboard is technicaly declared at. As for being obligated, I am only as obligated as I want to be. If I decided to close shop at midnight tonight, then so be it. Poof it would all vanish. But obviously I am comited to Hostboard and have been since day one and the system is not going anywhere, other then growing and continueing to be developed. Otherwise I would not be here and a new owner would be found.
Unfortunatly I am not a programmer otherwise Hostboard would be very different in that I could do all that I wanted. Because of this I rely on a few developers. My background is that of a network engineer specializing in hardware, operating systems and data center management.
Anyways, support is always the hardest to acomplish as besides the admin board we also use e-mail which is where most of the support effort goes as that is the most active.
If you think we can do things differently please speak up as I am always willing to listen and try improve on what we already have [img]smile.gif[/img]
Views and opinions are good and I would hope everyone has different ones and shares them as we all can learn from one another and improve on the solid foundation Hostboard was built upon.
Here are a couple of my suggestions.
1. find some people who have been with Hostboards for a while, and know the ins, and outs of Hostboard, and make them mod's of the support forum.
The more people you have that can offer support the better, as I remember waiting a while before an answer was givin in regards to my support question.
So I would try to get people that visit on a regular basis that will be willing to do support around the clock. So in shifts.
Find someone thats here all the time in the morning, and someone thats here all the time in the afternoon, and evening, and night.
these will be volonteer people to so you won't have to pay them.
That way you will have some one around all hours.
2. Have them make a list of problems that arise that they can't help with, and make those prioroty problems, With the extra mods helping out you will then have extra time to spend with the priority problems
3. Make people feel that their problems are being looked into without making them feel like they are causing you a problem for asking you to fix it.
I have run into this problem several times, not just on this system.
these are a few, and there just suggestions.
FIRST LET ME SAY THANK YOU TO HOSTBOARD FOR BEING HERE. I REALLY DO HAVE LOT OF FUN POSTING TOPICS AND REPLYS AT ALL THE BOARDS AND GETTING NEW FRIENDS. BLAZEY HAS BEEN A GREAT TO ME , SO HAS DEMON AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO I KNOW. IAM TELLING PEOPLE HERE IN LAS VEGAS ABOUT HOSTBOARD AND SOME OF THEM HAVE VISITED BUT NOT REGISTERED YET AND LIKE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN SO FAR. AGAIN THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE HOSTBOARD.
pete
<font color="#7880AF" size="1">[ December 27, 2003 01:09 PM: Message edited by: peteTR25 ]</font>
Steven(since your here and will see this) I would offer my time if need be. Just let me know if there is anything i can do to help HB out(my wife loves it here and if i help maybe i will get something from her for my time!! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )For real mate I have 4 years of various comp degree's with my main focus's being on networking,system admin,security,internet programming(java,xhtml,java script,php,asp..ect)
Along with lots more other things that come in handy. At any rate if I can be of assistance just let me know.. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">Well said.Quote:
Originally posted by Wynter:
Steven(since your here and will see this) I would offer my time if need be. Just let me know if there is anything i can do to help HB out(my wife loves it here and if i help maybe i will get something from her for my time!! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )For real mate I have 4 years of various comp degree's with my main focus's being on networking,system admin,security,internet programming(java,xhtml,java script,php,asp..ect)
Along with lots more other things that come in handy. At any rate if I can be of assistance just let me know.. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
See people love to help out, especially if they get something in return.....A'hem. [img]eek.gif[/img]
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">the admin boards are open to the public. if anyoneQuote:
Originally posted by -=Wizard=-:
Here are a couple of my suggestions.
1. find some people who have been with Hostboards for a while, and know the ins, and outs of Hostboard, and make them mod's of the support forum.
The more people you have that can offer support the better, as I remember waiting a while before an answer was givin in regards to my support question.
has suggestions or ideas that may help, it is
certainly encouraged.
the bigger problem is getting people to COME to
the admin board. there are many regulars that
visit the admin board that offer support.
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">i'm always here.Quote:
Originally posted by -=Wizard=-:
So I would try to get people that visit on a regular basis that will be willing to do support around the clock. So in shifts.
Find someone thats here all the time in the morning, and someone thats here all the time in the afternoon, and evening, and night.
these will be volonteer people to so you won't have to pay them.
That way you will have some one around all hours.
in fact, i'm here so much its strange when i am
not here. in addition, i visit loads of boards
that do not post their problems on the admin board
(probably because they don't know they can) and
i help them as well. i don't know alot of solutions
to technical problems... but i know alot of
answers to typical common problems and i do my
best to help out. anyone is ALWAYS welcome to
contact me via PM or, more than likely, if its
posted, i'll see it.
there are loads of times that i may find a problem
with something a person can't figure out and i
will contact steven on my own time....
i work for <s>free</s> the love of hostboard.[/b][/quote]
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">problems are always put on a list and are oftenQuote:
Originally posted by -=Wizard=-:
2. Have them make a list of problems that arise that they can't help with, and make those prioroty problems, With the extra mods helping out you will then have extra time to spend with the priority problems
checked and worked on according to priority.
these are not always posted about immediately,
but they are posted about in accordance to
demand and interest.
<font size="4" face="Tempus Sans ITC, Verdana, Arial">i've never.... EVER encountered a post thatQuote:
Originally posted by -=Wizard=-:
3. Make people feel that their problems are being looked into without making them feel like they are causing you a problem for asking you to fix it.
I have run into this problem several times, not just on this system.
these are a few, and there just suggestions.
suggests that a users issues are causing unnecessary
stress to the admin.
in as far as admin to user contact, steven posts
everytime he is on hostboard. he spends more time
in the admin board than anywhere else on HB.
in speaking for myself, there have been times
that i have contacted users for help concerning
a problem i cannot figure out. there has also
been times when i have contacted individuals
via PM about problems they have been experiencing.
alot of people know they can contact me outside
of hostboard if they are having problems. its
the main reason my messenger list is so long....
and people DO take advantage of that... and i
want them to. they know that i am always on and
i will do my best to find a solution... or talk
to someone that could help.
the recent DNS issue is no fault of hostboard.
the subsequent brash posts that happened after
the DNS outtage flamed the admin because 'they
weren't doing something right'.
as posted on the admin board... steven was right
on top of the issue MINUTES after it happened...
but his attempt to contact the DNS people went
ignored for days... thus causing HB to be down
for so long.
half the people that blamed admin for that outtage
probably never visited the admin board for that
information.
the point is... there are loads of pressure put
on admin for snappy performance... and even more
admin blasting when its not done fast enough.
for all that is publicly done by admin.. rest
assured there is 110 times as much going on
behind the scenes. ironically, the same is true
with the negativity of users.
cya left because HB didn't meet his needs. fair
enough. but its not necessarily chalked up to
the blame of admin.
blazey's post said a mouthfull... its precisely
what i would have said.
Terms of Establishing A Complaint About Hostboard
Article 79:
Item 6:
Paragraph 19:
If TJ is happy you're happy.
And I'm happy, so shut up already!
as the elected King of AW i declare this matter closed... CYA decided to leave..thats a persons right to do so... some will agree with the decision others will not... some will be okay with how it happened others will not... either way life will go on as it always does... certainly we all have bigger issues than flood control and what free message board services should be... its the holiday season and in the grand scheme of things NONE of this matters....get over it... find something else to bitch about or talk about...this is such a waste...