# Concerning the chatbox



## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

this is the situation. 

basically, over the last week or so, we have been having far more traffic than we usually get on a day to day basis. the chatbox is the biggest use of server resources on the site, sowhen we get a ton more guys using the forum, it causes the whole forum to lag. im sure you can understand, this is something we can't afford to have happen. 

thats the reason that we have to switch it off, and we will be forced to every evening until the traffic dies down. less than desirable circumstance i know, but its unaviodable for us at this time.
Galahad says:
and yes, when the forum gets to around 10, 000 members we will have to take it from the site permanently. 

in the meantime, i ask that you understand our problems, and appreciate we're doing our best to try and sort them out. 

there is also the flashchat which you can use in the meantime, which i acutally prefer to that chatbox. click on the live chat icon at the top of the page, it will automatically log you in. from there you can chat to other people, cutstomise the settings etc and generally have a ball. 

thats pretty much it, take note and thanks for reading. if there are anymore concerns wth the chatbox, please direct them to me via PM and do not post threads on the boards themselves. 

cccp.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Elchimpster had a great explanation in another thread.



Elchimpster said:


> Basically, the chatbox is a MASSIVE drain on the server processing resources. It's a cool thing to have when the volume and membership is small, but as the volume and membership of the forums gets larger, so grows the issues with the chatbox. Remember, the chatbox is constantly refreshing the connection for each person connected, like hitting the refresh constantly on your PC (remember to multiply this times the number of active users). Try doing that while trying to also access pages (because the forums are essentially thousands of pages, hundreds being accessed at a time) and you end up with LAG. A rapid influx (like what we've had recently) can shut a site down completely: there just aren't enough pipes in and out of the server for that.
> 
> The honest truth of this is that it's not going to improve in the long run. Heresy Online will continue to grow by the hundreds and as we've seen...thousands. We're not getting any smaller.
> 
> ...


It sucks. We all want the chatbox...but no matter how many of us want it, it;s not going to fix the problem. We're keeping it going as long as we can.


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## Dragonlover (Oct 17, 2007)

In that case I'd make the suggestion of killing the chatbox now, permanently. If it's going to go eventually, it may as well go now before another X thousand people get used to it being there and being able to use it. Plus it then frees up that bandwidth for other stuff that won't be as large a drain once our membership increases.

Dragonlover


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## Riandro (Feb 28, 2008)

i have to agree with dragon there, seeing heresy is already at 6,000 plus members it would be wise to do it sooner than later

just my thoughts 

-Riandro


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## TrentLanthier (Apr 28, 2008)

If its that massive of a drain I agree kill the sucker


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## Alucaris (Mar 31, 2008)

I agree, kill it, no point in waiting for the inevitable


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## Firewolf (Jan 22, 2007)

>> Get it away tae fuck. The chat room was always better. Used to have some proper laughs in there. The shitebox should go.


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## Ancient Tiel' a fier (May 5, 2008)

In fairness since the chat went down many people have just moved to live chat which so many agree is much better. Drop the chatbox and all our members will get used to using live chat which is a better function for the site and its users.


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

the chatbox _will_ stay until the demand for it is gone, or the site can't handle it. it only lagged out because we had 600 guests from warseer, which won;t happen again for a while. yes, the flash chat is a more 'fun' application but we havent actually ever tested it to it's limits so we arent sure how much it can take. for example, if it only takes 20 members in there before it starts lagging, its not better that the chatbox at all.

were currently looking at different versions of both to see if we can get a more suitable version if the need for it arises.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

I don't see that big a problem with getting rid of it. the vast majority of people on the site have MSN or some other messenger service. they could use that


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

The chatbox isn't going.

It's a major draw, gains a lot of attention and is something we have over other sites. We've recently upgraded to a dedicated server - I certainly don't intend to start losing features.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Was the whole lag thing with the old server so?


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## pyroanarchist (Feb 29, 2008)

Yeah Reevan, the chat box is what shut the site down. The chat box was drawing so many resources that the host shut Heresy Online down or we would've crashed the server. Thats actually why we went to the dedicated, or at least the start of the process.



Jezlad said:


> We've recently upgraded to a dedicated server - I certainly don't intend to start losing features.


Quoted for awesomeness. I'm really glad you feel that way Jez.

Is there a setting that would hide the chat box unless you clicked to open it up, but still allow guest's to use it? If so, and you set it this way, then the people who were on the forums but not paying attention to the chat wouldn't have it open and therefore wouldn't be drawing resources so bad. I know it would be a little annoying to have to open it every time you log on, but it would save resources for the people who weren't using it.


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

are you being sarcastic or was the site actually moved because of it?


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## pyroanarchist (Feb 29, 2008)

No sarcasm here. The chat box is what forced the previous host to shut down Heresy because it was pulling too much bandwidth. Once he let Jez back on to turn off the chat box it quit pulling so much bandwidth and was re-opened. Then everyone decided it was a good idea to go to a dedicated server to keep the site growing.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Indeed. We were eating way too much server resources on our old host, due largely to the chatbox, we ended up getting shut down a couple of times because the strain was too much. That's why we made the move.

Right now there's about a hundred people on. If they're all looking at the main page, that's 100 people connecting to the chatbox and 100 people refreshing every couple seconds, even if they're not posting in it, even if they're not *looking* at it.

There's a reason the big boards don't have a chatbox.


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## Cadian81st (Dec 24, 2006)

Riandro said:


> i have to agree with dragon there, seeing heresy is already at 6,000 plus members it would be wise to do it sooner than later
> 
> just my thoughts
> 
> -Riandro


I had no idea we had so many people here. I remember when we were puzzling ways to break 1,000... Pretty awesome IMHO.:mrgreen:


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## pyroanarchist (Feb 29, 2008)

Yeah it is pretty awesome. Our member base here is huge and growing rapidly. There were so many new intro threads yesterday I eventually gave up on trying to say hi to everyone.



Galahad said:


> Right now there's about a hundred people on. If they're all looking at the main page, that's 100 people connecting to the chatbox and 100 people refreshing every couple seconds, even if they're not posting in it, even if they're not *looking* at it.


Thats why I thought if it required a click to drop down the chatbox it might not eat up as much reasources. If it's possible it may help out and take care of some of the strain on the server.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

It's a good idea, and one I suggested to Jez earlier in private. We're working to see if A: It's possible, and B: if it'll help


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## Death 0F Angels (Feb 27, 2008)

down with the chatbox!!!


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## lightmonkey (Apr 1, 2008)

i like the idea of having the chat box not always open. It would seem like the best thing to do really. As i sometimes read it but sometimes don't. But if we can keep it keep it. its what makes us that bit better ^^


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

I think a more noticeable link to the Live Chat would help.


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