Forum Slow Again

[RhB Michael]

It's taking up to minutes to reply to a post. This started a couple of days ago, but I thought it would have been fixed by now. I usually get the error: "Too many requests", whith a blank white screen. Sometimes I only get an on-site error that says "Oops, there was a problem. It might be in the error console" or something very close to that statement.

This isn't the only site owned by VerticalScope that is having problems. Their infrastructure is starting to suck. Gobbling up websites left and right that their servers cannot handle.

Two other sites they own that I visit are also doing this same thing, while three other sites I visit have had no problems...so far.

Yes, the browser cache has been cleared. It is cleared every time the browser is closed.

 

[RhB Michael]

Now getting this error with white blank page: "An unexpected database error occurred. Please try again later."

Glad I'm not paying money for this.

 

[santafewillie]

Been the same here for a couple of days.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Same here. Very slow.

 

[Rubicon]

Mostly slow, occasionally normal. About 1 in 4 log in is normal.

 

[GarrettHale]

It's taking up to minutes to reply to a post. This started a couple of days ago, but I thought it would have been fixed by now. I usually get the error: "Too many requests", whith a blank white screen. Sometimes I only get an on-site error that says "Oops, there was a problem. It might be in the error console" or something very close to that statement.

This isn't the only site owned by VerticalScope that is having problems. Their infrastructure is starting to suck. Gobbling up websites left and right that their servers cannot handle.

Two other sites they own that I visit are also doing this same thing, while three other sites I visit have had no problems...so far.

Yes, the browser cache has been cleared. It is cleared every time the browser is closed.

I have seen the same thing on a couple of VerticalScope forums lately.

The “Too many requests” message especially makes it sound like something on the server side rather than a browser or cache problem. If several of their sites are doing it at the same time, I would guess they are either having capacity issues or something in the shared infrastructure is struggling.

Clearing the cache probably will not make much difference in that case.

Hopefully they get it sorted soon because waiting minutes just to submit a reply gets old very quickly.

 

[Iron Horseman]

I have seen the same thing on a couple of VerticalScope forums lately.

The “Too many requests” message especially makes it sound like something on the server side rather than a browser or cache problem. If several of their sites are doing it at the same time, I would guess they are either having capacity issues or something in the shared infrastructure is struggling.

Clearing the cache probably will not make much difference in that case.

Hopefully they get it sorted soon because waiting minutes just to submit a reply gets old very quickly.

Yup, and again. For the most part I'd stopped "checking in" because it was taking too long.

 

[bob]

"This site isn't owned by VerticalScope"

There, fixed it for you. It's owned by one guy, with a limited budget, fighting thousands of spammers. I also have a day job since this place has never turned a profit yet.

Today alone, over 10,000 hits from spammers were rejected. Many more got through. It's impossible to stop them without stopping legit users.

 

[bob]

OK, I just made a change and added the human verification challenge.
Yes, it's slightly annoying.
Yes, the place is now running like it's on rocket fuel.

 

[Kusojiji]

Yay! That's awesome! Just an easy click to get it, no problem-o!

Thanks!!

 

[bob]

Yay! That's awesome! Just an easy click to get it, no problem-o!

Thanks!!

Yes, and the place is flying. I'll click to get that.

 

[bob]

I've also put in a second system, which I won't go into details on.
It provides an initial layer of bot protection. Today it stopped 25K hits.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Definite improvement. Don't think it has ever been faster.

 

[bob]

The initial human verification app worked well for about a day, but then it was met with a DDOS attack. That is a "Dedicated Denial of Service" attack where they simply overwhelm the forum.
Given that problem, I went with the industry standard, Cloudflare. Can't keep that one as secret as they tell you who they are on the challenge screen.
However, they're really good at what they do, and so far the results are impressive.
Have the spammers given up? No, not at all! But Cloudflare denies many of them access before they even get here, reducing server load, and the rest are subject to scrutiny. Let's hope this method works long term.

 

[santafewillie]

Bob - I would like to thank you for all of your efforts.

 

[shortwrench]

Bob - I would like to thank you for all of your efforts.

I as well.

 

[flyboy2610]

I belong to 2 other forums, one vehicle related and one for scale models, and they are having the same issues. Waiting a few seconds for 'verification' is no big deal.
If I knew who was doing it I'd send Luigi over to "persuade" him to change his ways. Luigi don't put up with stuff like that.

 

[Kusojiji]

What triggers the reverification requirement? Normally it’s inactivity, but does typing count as in activity if not clicking on something else on the page? Just wondering since I tend to write and paste pictures a lot and don’t want to lose that if I have to refresh the page.

 

[TLOC]

BOB thank you! I’m fine with the verification but really happy that you continue to keep the forum going

 

[santafewillie]

What triggers the reverification requirement? Normally it’s inactivity, but does typing count as in activity if not clicking on something else on the page? Just wondering since I tend to write and paste pictures a lot and don’t want to lose that if I have to refresh the page.

I found that re-loading the page when I start works well for me. If I have paused long enough, I copy the entire response and reload, then paste the page and continue. I haven't posted pictures since the re-verification process was introduced, but I would likely copy and reload prior to posting them. We'll figure it out!
Extremely happy that Bob applied whatever magic to get it close to normal again. Thanks again.