# Is it worth slowing down EnWorld for the XP system?



## frankthedm (Jan 10, 2012)

Is it worth slowing down EnWorld for the XP system? 







mach1.9pants said:


> Just a tick in the box, a big *BZ* to ENW for how the site is keeping up with the announcement of 5E (or whatever it is going to be called).
> 
> I lapsed my subscription previously cos the site was so slow to be unusable, now (even under the pressure of the announcement) it is still good.





Umbran said:


> XP have been temporarily disabled while the site traffic is very high, as they were notably slowing things down.





Morrus said:


> We're coping.... just.  Had to turn craploads of stuff off.  It'll die down by tomorrow, I expect.





Morrus said:


> Links don't slow the server down.  Database queries do.  It'll be back in a day or so.



So is the XP system worth it to You? Should the speed go back down for the features due to be turned back on?


----------



## Viktyr Gehrig (Jan 10, 2012)

I'm just glad to see that it isn't just me-- I thought I'd done something wrong and had my XP privileges revoked.


----------



## Relique du Madde (Jan 10, 2012)

Yes.  Xp please.


----------



## StreamOfTheSky (Jan 10, 2012)

Speed!

I hated xp when I thought it had zero impact on site speed, this just makes it even more clear on how much it needs to go!


----------



## IronWolf (Jan 10, 2012)

I was not a fan of the XP system when it was first released, but I have come to enjoy it and I think many others do.

As for the speed comment, I am skeptical that any significant speed decrease has been traced back to the XP system. The site has been running quite well when the blogs were disabled. That seems to be the biggest culprit for some of the site speed issues about a month ago or so. Things seemed to be quite snappy even with the XP system on prior to the 5e announcement.


----------



## Ahnehnois (Jan 10, 2012)

You can always give XP later.

For me, the boards were impossible to access for a while, and then turned usable when XP when kaput. I'd say it's worth it.


----------



## Relique du Madde (Jan 10, 2012)

Ahnehnois said:


> You can always give XP later.
> 
> For me, the boards were impossible to access for a while, and then turned usable when XP when kaput. I'd say it's worth it.




Thing is the turned off a bunch of stuff.  From what I noticeds they turned off:


Blogs.
Friend Lists.
Awarding XP (xp comments still appear).


----------



## Lanefan (Jan 10, 2012)

Relique du Madde said:


> From what I noticeds they turned off:
> 
> 
> Blogs.
> ...



If it comes down to a choice I'd prefer to see Friend Lists go away before XP.  Blogs I have no opinion on, having never read any here.

Lanefan


----------



## jonesy (Jan 10, 2012)

I haven't noticed any slowdowns, so I'd prefer the exp system. Mostly for the ability to leave comments, kudos, or general agreement on other peoples posts.


----------



## Nagol (Jan 10, 2012)

Never been a fan of the system; keep it off as long as you need.


----------



## Dice4Hire (Jan 10, 2012)

I like the xp system quite a bit and use it a lot (Mostly for Gary)

It is also about my only claim to fame on this board!!!


----------



## Mustrum_Ridcully (Jan 10, 2012)

I've got 3 XP thingies that I still have to read! Argh! I want it back.

But I can totally get if it we don't have it for now. The "Next-Iteration" topic will slow down a little eventually.


----------



## frankthedm (Jan 10, 2012)

IronWolf said:


> As for the speed comment, I am skeptical that any significant speed decrease has been traced back to the XP system.



Umbran stated this was the case and he was quoted in the first post of this thread.







			
				Umbran said:
			
		

> XP have been temporarily disabled while the site traffic is very high, as they were notably slowing things down.


----------



## Morrus (Jan 10, 2012)

The site went down several times yesterday, so I shut off a whole load of things which were not absolutely necessary to the function of reading about the 5E news.  We had over 4000 users online at one point.

To those who didn't notice any slowdown - all I can say is that you were damn lucky!

XP will be back shortly, once traffic has died back down to normal levels.


----------



## IronWolf (Jan 10, 2012)

frankthedm said:


> Umbran stated this was the case and he was quoted in the first post of this thread.




Yep. I read that. And I read that Morrus shutdown a whole swarm of things. I am skeptical that XP had that significant of an impact by itself, especially under normal operating situations. 

And example of something being shutoff and seeing immediate performance improvements are the blogs. When those went off the site speed increased tremendously and that was under normal traffic conditions, not a major release news day.

And while I would rather not see XP turned off, I totally support the site staff's decision to do so on the day of a major news release. I thought the site performed remarkably well for the amount of traffic it must have been receiving.


----------



## Morrus (Jan 10, 2012)

IronWolf said:


> Yep. I read that. And I read that Morrus shutdown a whole swarm of things. I am skeptical that XP had that significant of an impact by itself, especially under normal operating situations.




It wasn't normal operating situations.  There were 4000 users online.  The site was going down every few minutes at one point.


[MENTION=52905]darjr[/MENTION] tells me it was causing some kind of logjam/pileup in the database.  I don't understand the specifics.


It worked.  I don't know what to tell you.  The site stayed up the rest of the day.


----------



## IronWolf (Jan 10, 2012)

Morrus said:


> It wasn't normal operating situations.  There were 4000 users online.  The site was going down every few minutes at one point.
> 
> It worked.  I don't know what to tell you.  The site stayed up the rest of the day.




Oh, I think you misunderstood me. I totally get turning them off for yesterday and even the next few days. It was the right thing to do under the significant increase in traffic. I was saying, that in day to day action I doubt XP is adding that much overhead.


----------



## StreamOfTheSky (Jan 10, 2012)

I understand that more than just xp was taken off, and wish the poll reflected that.  However...

I have not had my experience (hey, pun!) using this site affected in the slightest bit since everything that got shut off, whatever it all may be.  I clearly wasn't using and/or liking ANY of it, and the site's been zipping along faster than I can recall for at least the past half year or more, all while holding this increased traffic.  That's amazing!  Please never turn them back on!

Oh well, looks like the only way that will happen is if the site's traffic remains high indefinitely.  Which would be awesome for the obvious reasons, aside from the forced pared down fuctionality I so have enjoyed.


----------



## TerraDave (Jan 10, 2012)

I am making posts to comp for not having XP...its a vicious cycle, really.


----------



## Swedish Chef (Jan 10, 2012)

I like the XP system. I also noticed an increase in the speed after the blogs feature was turned off. 

However, having the XP system take a vacation for a week or so seems reasonable to me.


----------



## xigbar (Jan 10, 2012)

I look forward to the day where I can once again receive recognition for my half-baked ideas.


----------



## Qik (Jan 10, 2012)

Personally, I enjoy the XP system.  However, no minor perk is worth returning to the speeds that we were experiencing a few months ago, which made the site barely functional, and led some to contemplate leaving or actually do so.  So, in a vacuum, I'd have to prioritize site functionality over the minor, though admittedly enjoyable, perk of the XP system.

That said, I'm glad to know it'll be coming back online.  I would miss it.


----------



## Relique du Madde (Jan 10, 2012)

IronWolf said:


> Yep. I read that. And I read that Morrus shutdown a whole swarm of things. I am skeptical that XP had that significant of an impact by itself, especially under normal operating situations.
> 
> And example of something being shutoff and seeing immediate performance improvements are the blogs. When those went off the site speed increased tremendously and that was under normal traffic conditions, not a major release news day.
> 
> And while I would rather not see XP turned off, I totally support the site staff's decision to do so on the day of a major news release. I thought the site performed remarkably well for the amount of traffic it must have been receiving.




Actually it does add up.  For example lets see how many xp querries happen each time one user looking at this thread.

1 querry per post to see if it had xp placed on it.
1 query to see who placed xp on it, and what was said if their was an exp comment.
1 querry per post to see if the poster has xp turned on.
1 querry to per post to see the poster's xp amount and xp level.

Times this by 4000 members and remember these queries also happen when you view the profiles, blogs, etc.


----------



## darjr (Jan 10, 2012)

It's complicated.

The blogs were getting trounced by spam traffic, mostly failed attempts to spam, but not all. I think the XP system is fine, under lower load, but under the high traffic numbers it just didn't do so well. And it dragged everything else down with it.

I do think that the xp system performance could be improved with out a lot of brain surgery.


----------



## LightPhoenix (Jan 11, 2012)

The XP system can't be used if the site itself is not usable.


----------



## Roland55 (Jan 11, 2012)

I guess I'm slightly humbled to admit I like the XP system.

Of course, turn it off whenever you need to and for as long as you need to.

After all, "the Board's the thing!"

Still ... I was just about to XP Gary ...


----------



## IronWolf (Jan 11, 2012)

darjr said:


> The blogs were getting trounced by spam traffic, mostly failed attempts to spam, but not all. I think the XP system is fine, under lower load, but under the high traffic numbers it just didn't do so well. And it dragged everything else down with it.
> 
> I do think that the xp system performance could be improved with out a lot of brain surgery.




Thanks for the work darjr! I don't miss the blogs at all, especially given how fast the site has been since they were disabled. And I totally understand why XP was disabled. The site did well yesterday!


----------



## Relique du Madde (Jan 11, 2012)

Personally, I never really used the blogs that much.  Considering how the wiki was killed, I'm not sure I would use them ever again (just in case).


----------



## jbear (Jan 11, 2012)

I like the xp system.

1) Its an nice way to welcome new members
2) Its a nice/quick way to adress a particular post in a long thread. I don't even know how to mulitquote, so its prefect for non-savvy folk like myself.
3) Its a nice way to give some virtual thanks to someone for a particular contribution/help they have offered you
4) Its a nice way to show someone you appreciate their thoughtful of insightful comment.

I like it. I'd miss it alot.


----------



## jonesy (Jan 11, 2012)

jbear said:


> I like the xp system.
> 
> 1) Its an nice way to welcome new members
> 2) Its a nice/quick way to adress a particular post in a long thread. I don't even know how to mulitquote, so its prefect for non-savvy folk like myself.
> ...



I'd give you exp for that post, but, you know. 

Edit: and there we go.


----------



## darjr (Jan 11, 2012)

don't thank me. I identified only some of the hard to find bottle necks and described symptoms, Morrus did all the rest.


----------



## Lwaxy (Jan 11, 2012)

There was no speed increase for me without the XP system. While I don't generally care one way or the other, I would prefer it active.

Added: Seems it works again.


----------



## Morrus (Jan 11, 2012)

Lwaxy said:


> There was no speed increase for me without the XP system. While I don't generally care one way or the other, I would prefer it active.
> 
> Added: Seems it works again.




If you were on the site on Monday you benefitted from an infinite-times speed increase, given that the site was offline when XP was running!


----------



## drothgery (Jan 11, 2012)

Lwaxy said:


> There was no speed increase for me without the XP system. While I don't generally care one way or the other, I would prefer it active.
> 
> Added: Seems it works again.



Eh. It was slower today than most of yesterday for me. And I never cared that much about the XP system.


----------



## xigbar (Jan 12, 2012)

Huzzah! I may once again seek approval from random strangers on the internet!


----------



## jonesy (Jan 12, 2012)

xigbar said:


> Huzzah! I may once again seek approval from random strangers on the internet!



Umm.. what's a non-random stranger?


----------



## xigbar (Jan 12, 2012)

jonesy said:


> Umm.. what's a non-random stranger?




Those guys from Hostel?


----------



## frankthedm (Jan 30, 2012)

Over 20 seconds to follow the link from this topic.


----------



## Viking Bastard (Feb 8, 2012)

jonesy said:


> Umm.. what's a non-random stranger?




It's a facebook thing.


----------

