About our current high traffic, reduced functionality, and server upgrades

[Skinner]

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we have experienced an extremely large increase in traffic to our website. In order to accommodate this traffic, we have been forced to turn off certain functionality. While this is inconvenient, it has helped insure that our visitors do not experience unnecessarily long response times while browsing our website. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.

A number of people have contacted us about the possibility of holding a fundraiser or providing some other assistance so Democratic Underground may upgrade our web servers to better handle unexpected traffic spikes like this one. We are touched by your generosity, and we appreciate the offers of help, but we would like all of you to know that we do not need additional support at this time.

Approximately one month before the Hurricane, the administrators of Democratic Underground had already begun working with our ISP in order to implement server upgrades. We discussed a number of upgrades, but the most important are the following: We are going to add a fifth web server, and we are going to double the number of processors on our database server from two to four. Had these upgrades been in place when the Hurricane hit, we believe we would have been able to handle the additional traffic.

Of course, we had no way of knowing that our country would experience a disaster of this magnitude, and we did not know that we would need the upgrades quite so soon. I regret that we were not prepared ahead of time, but in our defense I will say that we are not the President of the United States, and no lives were lost due to our lack of readiness.

The Hurricane and the massive increase in traffic to DU that it precipitated have made these server upgrades a much higher priority. We continue to work with our ISP in order to implement these upgrades. At this point we do not know exactly what the timeline will be, but we are doing what we can in order to get them done as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for your understanding.

Skinner
DU Admin

[smartvoter]

1. Cool! Thanks for the update. nt

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. "and no lives were lost due to our lack of readiness"

you guys are great! Thanks for the hard work! keep it up!

:yourock: :bounce: :party: :toast:

[napi21]

3. Thanks Skinner. It helps to know you folks are working on it.

In a way, this is a good thing! It means a lot more people know DU is here! I hope a lot of those new visitiors like what they see and decidde to stay!

[MADem]

69. Yeah, if you guys were running FEMA, NOLA would be in far better shape! nt

[SoCalDem]

4. Yes.. There will be plenty of time to assess responsibility..

Now is not the time... move on.... Now's not the time to play the Blame Game :evilgrin:..


:P

[meganmonkey]

5. No need for regret - you guys do such a fantastic job

I hope you know how much this website means to so many of us!

:loveya:

[karlrschneider]

6. Thanks for the info. We all know you guys are doin' a fantastic job.

It's hard work. :evilgrin:

[merbex]

7. I totally understand and I appreciate the update

Thanks for all you and the mods do at DU

[silverweb]

8. Thanks, Skinner!

DU Admin has been doing a wonderful job and providing a great service. I know for sure I'd go completely crazy without DU and appreciate you more than I can say.

:yourock:

[Spazito]

9. Thank you Skinner!

Thank you guys for creating a forum that has allowed the data collection and research skills of so many people that will be enormously helpful in the dissemination of the bush administration's complete failure in this national disaster.

[redqueen]

10. Thanks, Skinner.

You guys do a fantastic job... keep up the great work!

:yourock:

[ComerPerro]

11. "My Posts" is working. Who cares if nothing else does

As long as I have "My Posts", I am happy.

God, that sounds so self-absorbed.

[Skinner]

12. I understand.

"My Posts" is extremely useful. It's really difficult to follow discussions without it.

[ComerPerro]

16. I'm sure thats why you brought it back up

In fact, if it weren't for that feature, I may not have even seen your reply.

[WilliamPitt]

23. Best feature you guys have added to date

Period.

Thanks, Skinner. Keep on keeping on.

[TahitiNut]

42. Amen, Skinner. Is there a way to rebuild 'My Posts' links ...

... during slack time?? I can fully understand why the overheads of building the idices and individual access to the index needs to be Level-3'd ... but it sure would be nice if the links for posts made during a Level-3 could be harvested and added to the index database. As it is, we "lose our memory" of those posts. As a long-time former programmer (systems and databases), I can appreciate the possible difficuties. It'd sure be nice to have a rebuild, though.

It'd be even NICER for moderators and Admins ... if you know what I mean. ;-)

[nonconformist]

66. I'm right there with you. "My Posts" rocks my world.

Lost without it.

Yes, I realize how awfully sad that sounds.

[atommom]

13. Thanks, Skinner! It means a lot to all of us.

And I love the way you slammed *.

I regret that we were not prepared ahead of time, but in our defense I will say that we are not the President of the United States, and no lives were lost due to our lack of readiness.

:rofl: :loveya:

[Historic NY]

14. We fully understand.........the storm got the bee's buzzing here.

lots of pissed off people posting........

[xultar]

15. Where's the HIGH Traffic plan? Did you request help?

I don't recall any forms completed from your adminstrators.

We've been here starving for features for over a week. Can't you air drop a feature or two?

I feel like a refugee troll going to other boards to access features.

[FormerRepublican]

20. LOL!

And I must admit that I'm so freaking addicted to DU that I might DIE if I don't get my daily dose!

Shame on you for calling us 'refugee' trolls - we're Americans, one and all (unlike that OTHER party, and I don't use that kind of language so I'm not going to describe them)!

:rofl:

Thank you, DU, for keeping us all sane in a very trying time for America!!

[cedahlia]

24. Leave Skinner ALONE!

What about EarlG and Elad??? They didn't do crap!! What about the Mods of all the subforums?? I didn't see them doing anything about the high traffic problem. Leave Skinner alone!! Stop playing the BLAME GAME!!

You know, it's really the fault of all the thousands of DUers, who insist on using this site. They should have just left DU before the Hurricane hit. They knew it was coming! They just didn't want to get up off their asses and leave, so it serves them right that the servers can't handle the traffic and they don't get all the features they're used to! Lazy bastards!
;-)

p.s. Skinner really is THE MAN!!! :loveya: And also: EarlG, Elad, and all the DU mods who've been working their butts off, as usual. You guys (and DU ) are the best. This place keeps me sane. THANKS GUYS!!! :yourock:

[xultar]

30. I heard he was turning fundraiser volunteer efforts away.

I WON'T STAND FOR IT!

[SaveAmerica]

46. Don't forget, Skinner was ON VACATION when this all hit the fan!!

Looking for pictures of him with guitars, cake, and McCain...

[Beaverhausen]

53. Well, if DUers evacuated like they were told to do none of this...

...would have happened.

[Pithy Cherub]

54. LOL! EarlG had every opportunity to sign the anarchy waiver

and asked for 24 hours to think about it... :rofl:

[Roland99]

71. This place cracks me up!

[bleever]

70. As long as Skinner promises to investigate himself, I'm good.

Skinner, EarlG, Elad, and all DU mods:

:yourock:

[Patsy Stone]

73. Couldn't we all stand to investigate ourselves?

I mean, really... Have you looked into yourself recently? :hi:


And the Mods do ROCK! Thanks, Skinner, et. al.

[nonconformist]

65. Now is NOT the time to play the BLAME GAME

:evilgrin:

[Spike from MN]

17. Skinner will be opening an investigation to look into

what went right and what went wrong with the upgrade. They want to solve the problem. That's what they do. They're problem solvers.
This is no time for finger-pointing. Please stop playing the blame game so they can focus on the task at hand. ;)

Thanks Skinner! You're doing a great job!

[phusion]

18. Actually, I'm an IT guy

and Skinner hired me for community relations instead of actually doing my job of upgrading servers.

:)

Thanks, Skinner!

[Spike from MN]

22. I certainly hope you had other qualifications such as

running an Arabian Horse Association or something similar. Or were you and Skinner roommates in college? That would qualify too. ;)

[xultar]

34. He didn't run the horsey club. He braided their tails I saw his resume.

[Spike from MN]

39. In that case he's over-qualified. He should resign and take

his rightful place as the director of FEMA. Rumor has it there may be an opening soon.

[xultar]

32. Not hiring the right people for the right job. DU Honey Pot!

[xultar]

31. How can he investiagte his own failures. We need an independent

investigation.

[Spike from MN]

37. I'm sure Skinner would be happy to appoint a fair and impartial

committee comprised of a few of his closest friends that just happened to make a healthy profit from the upgrade. Now stop pointing fingers and playing the blame game. Let Skinner get back to the important task of doling out the maintenance contracts to the aforementioned committee members. ;)

[xultar]

43. Buhwawawa! Brilliant!

[hunter]

19. Damn, that's hot.

:evilgrin:

[DarkTirade]

21. Save your donation money...

For the hurricane victims for now. :)

[bigbrother05]

25. While we might not have had four course meals

and stayed in three star hotel suites, but our basic sustenance was taken care of and we were safe from the storm.

Thanks!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. I think most of us understood

The DU Admin and Mods did an excellent job keeping things running as smooth as possible.


P.S. I was only kidding in my lounge post when I said you should have had an evacuation plan for GD and used the 200 buses to move us to another server. :hide:

[no name no slogan]

27. Skinner, you guys ROCK!!!!

And don't think we don't appreciate it, either!

And be sure to buy EarlG a round on us, for the fantastic work he did this past weekend.

:thumbsup:

[jokerman93]

28. HATS OFF!

Thanks for the update Skinner. It's even possible that some lives have been saved because of D.U. One never knows!

Hats off to all the folks at DU who've worked hard to make our site a major hub for the Democratic/progressive/resistance movements.

[Catherine Vincent]

29. Thank you for what you are doing for us, Skinner and company!

And if FEMA gets in the way of the server upgrades, let me know.:-)

[all.of.me]

33. hahahahaha thanks for maintaining a sense of humor!

"Of course, we had no way of knowing that our country would experience a disaster of this magnitude, and we did not know that we would need the upgrades quite so soon. I regret that we were not prepared ahead of time, but in our defense I will say that we are not the President of the United States, and no lives were lost due to our lack of readiness."

and thanks for this informative site. i love to tell people that this is where i get my news from, because i always have info that they don't have and that they may never get.

and finally, yes, 'my posts' is my favorite part!

thanks, you guys!

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Skinner you RULE! We're ready for our

next activism action. Been keeping track of stuff for ya here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

[miss_kitty]

36. Thanks

Does this mean GD will get its own server and quit messing up the Lounge?
:P

[txaslftist]

38. Thanks for all you do, Skinner.

:yourock:
:toast:

[wryter2000]

40. We're hanging in

I've been okay without all the bells and whistles. What's important was that I could come here for information.

[patdem]

41. Thanks, Skinner...the only thing worse than DefCom 3 is NO DU

You folks are so very well prepared for overload, I think you need to advise FEMA. The way you deal with over load is so much better than other forums who simply cannot be reached.

:yourock:

[kimchi]

44. Thanks for all you do, Skinner.

I wouldn't be nearly as informed, or frankly, sane, if DU did not exist--it performs a much needed networking service in the progressive cause. We have a *large* group of "thoughful, committed individuals"...and we ARE making a difference!

In other words, Skinner, EarlG, Elad, and mods--you rock! :headbang:

[Renew Deal]

45. Sounds good!

I have been here long enough to understand why you are going to Level 4. I was looking at the Alexa report for DU yesterday. You have been as busy as the end of election season. Everything seems to be holding up much better than it did then, so congrats. Keep up the good work.

:yourock:

[Jersey Devil]

47. What about the Nooblin supply? Will it hold out

Generally, I throw in 2 scoops of Nooblin for every server depending on traffic, 3 scoops if the Finnegan Pin hasn't been rebuilt within 6 months.

[Twist_U_Up]

48. Welcome Back !!

EarlG was awesome

[Don Claybrook]

49. You're blame-gaming the President, Skinner

So please keep up the great work!

[mogster]

50. Thanks Skinner - I hope you had a nice holiday

As opposed to Bush, YOU deserved it! :D

I think the board has managed fine, and the level system is a very interesting way of dealing with huge load.

Kudos :toast:

[Moderator]

51. kick

:kick:

[cynatnite]

52. Hire me, Skinner...I'm perfect cause I have no qualifications at all

I'm a housewife and when I was in college, I was fired for being a bad waitress. I think that right there should put me at the top of the list ;)

[Beaverhausen]

55. GEEZ- we are back to level 3!

[cynatnite]

56. Who are we gonna blame it on?

:rofl:

I understand it happens with high traffic, but I can't help it now.

[Beaverhausen]

57. Now is not the time to play the blame game

but I think it's the mods fault. If they had only asked the admins for help before this happened...

[jmowreader]

67. Let's blame it on Bush

If Bush wasn't such an incredible twit, he wouldn't be fueling the rage that's clogging up the DU servers now.

[LiberalAmerican]

58. Skinnie, you're doing a heck of a job. eom

[HEAVYHEART]

59. You said

"I regret that we were not prepared ahead of time, but in our defense I will say that we are not the President of the United States, and no lives were lost due to our lack of readiness."

Skinner, I love that!!!!!

[Lisa]

60. this is one of the funniest threads I've read this week

And the laugh was sure welcome! As was, of course, the tireless efforts of Skinner and the DU team, to keep things running and everybody informed.

Michael Brown could use a few pointers from you guys!

[DinahMoeHum]

61. Hey, don't worry about it, we understand.

Tempers and traffic have gone real high the past several days.

:kick:

[Melissa G]

62. Thanks for all you do Skinner!

[Talismom]

63. I can't believe you're thanking us! Thank you for all this blog does that

helps preserve my sanity in these terrible times!

[donheld]

64. Thanks Skinner

You all are doing a wonderful job.

[pberq]

68. Thank you, Skinner

I know I have been spending more time on DU than normal lately. What a great resource!

[OhioChick]

72. Thank You

for the great job that all of you do.

[eleny]

74. Great news!

[Stinky The Clown]

75. DU, you're great! .... "we do not need additional support at this time"

I'm DAMNED impressed! Imagine that ... my measley donation, along with all the others during the fundraising drives is DU's income. And when faced with offers of more, DU refuses, saying they have enough.

There can be NO doubt what side of the political spectrum DU's admins are on! None at all.

Skinner ... you and your compatriots are the best. I am honored to be a member here.

[Warren Stupidity]

76. So that's great, but I have a question.

Like freeways: the more you build the more they get used. So perhaps somebody else has already covered this or perhaps I don't have a clue what I am talking about, but don't you need to have spare capacity (network and servers) for the spikes? Stuff that doesn't get used until an administrative decision is made to put it online to cover an crisis?

[Skinner]

77. Indeed, we do need to have spare capacity.

It is our hope that these upgrades will give us the spare capacity we need for the next spike.