new thread
By now, all of you are seeing the new web server for the Hyperboard. I want to now point out some of its new features:
1. The site now has a chat room. Over the years lots of users have asked for one, but the old server did not have the capacity for a chat room. There is a link to the chat room at the top of the board's main page, and right above that link you can see a list of who is in the chat room if it is not empty. Definitely drop in if you see one of your friends is there! If you log into the chat room and include your e-mail address, your photo will appear in the chat room if you belong to the users' directory. This will help others recognize who you are.
2. You can now upload photos without shrinking them to a small file size first. If your photo is bigger than 600x450, the server will proportionately shrink it automatically to fit in that size for you, so it will not be too big for people's screens. If you upload a large photo, expect to wait awhile for confirmation. Remember that if you're like most web users you have a slower outgoing speed than you have for content coming in.
3. For linked photos, we now accept the [img]URL[/img] format as well as the usual HTML (angle brackets) format. In general we do not accept the square-bracket codes, but so many users were using the one for images that we've programmed in that one exception.
4. The new server should be much faster. It is located with an outfit in California that has top-notch equipment and very high bandwidth connections to the Internet backbone in several North American and European hubs. Those of you with high speed net connections should notice a difference!
5. Because the server is in California, all times shown are now Pacific.
Bill
(Victor's programming assistant)
I have noticed the board is faster and working better.
thanks to you and victor(and every one else who works on this)
for the work you all put in here
wow - got download rates of 100 - 150 kbytes/sec (of max. 6 mbit here) ... (before: laming 30-50 kbytes/sec - loadtimes like a "aeon time" *hehe* - only jokin' :)
congratz to server upgrade ... (btw: if u remember -> will spend u 100-200 us$ if i reach belt length *gg*)
may i ask u how your server is firewalled ? (hw/sw/... ?)
what os is that server running ? (i think of course a linux distro but which one ...)
how do u protect it against spammers / trolls / simply said: stupipd people ? (manually or automatically)
(i also want to make a open http or ftp server so i am very interested)
only ask cos i see so few trolls / stupid people / spammers here - it wonders me if you do that manually or if your server does that automatically ... (if auto - what software do u use ?)
btw: i have great respect from your programming skills, bill - this forum is very good work !!
greez,
ALH
Three times or more faster! Great to hear that! (Especially since I was the one who suggested Victor go with this company. [grin] ) It's located here in California, but it has its own high-speed lines that tie into major Internet backbone hubs in several Midwestern, Eastern, and European cities.
Protection from human problems is achieved with a mixture of software I wrote and the dedicated work of your moderation crew who use that software. Victor's attitude has been that, if the community is worth protecting, members will volunteer to do that protecting, and they have. My aim with the software has been to make that task as easy for them as possible.
Thanks! A lot of chat rooms depend on Java or other software that some users just don't run. I designed this one to run on plain HTML, with logic handled with Perl scripts on the server. That way, everyone should be able to use it. I even had a WebTV user tell me it that works for him, and that it's the first chat room he's ever been able to use. I really don't like to create web pages that some people can't use, and making people download "plugins" or other software is to my eye really rude.
We also wanted to show the users' photos and links to their web pages, and no standard chat room packages do that. When you write your own code, it will do what you want. [grin]
Bill
This is my opportunity to commend the hard work of the moderators. Believe me, were it not for them, the site would be bombarded with all sorts of all the above. It didn't always used to be that way, but it got to a point where moderation was a must. The hard work of the moderators blends well with the wisdom an programming expertise given freely by Bill. It's a team effort. Go team!
Well done, lads, well done. You have many thanks for this.
.
Awesome! what great idea. a chatroom. Thnx, i will check it out now for sure.
That will save alot of time and is very practical. I upload pics by photobucket so it doesn't really help me.
That is good. This will stop alot of confusion amongst everyone. It is another option to choose from.
SPEED! BANDWITH! Incredible man! thankyou
cool
Thankyou Victor, Bill and all the other mods. Everyone appreciates the effort and work you put into this amazing board. Cheers guys.
First off, thankyou for your efforts that you put into this site to make it the great place it is. We are very grateful for your work that constantly improves this site and maintains it.
Apart from the voluntering of mods how do you fund everything? I know that you have a donation form but i would not think this would be enough to pay for all the server and running costs considering you guys keep this site advertisement free. I guess Victor pays out of his own pocket to keep it going.
I should definately try and make a donation one day.
Mentioning a bit of the site's history is perhaps in order. Victor and I both got into the Internet when it was seen as a hobby by geeks. There were no "Yahoo groups" or other commercial outfits who did stuff for you - if you wanted to create a web community you had to do it on your personal web site. That is what Victor did. He put the Hyperboard on his personal web site. And that is where it remains to this day.
We are both engineers. During 1999 Victor needed some major changes done to the site and he was very busy at work while I was not. So I made the changes for him. One of the changes was to provide for moderation. And we recruited moderators. I've been adding new features here and there, ever since. When it comes to adding new features, if it looks like the users would really like a new feature, we try to add it. Sometimes its additional cost has persuaded us not to.
From 1999 onward, the site has been a group effort, with many of us contributing our time (our labor). Victor has continued to pay the bills, which run about $25 a month. He takes contributions, but they never have amounted to as much as the site costs.
Please do! You summed up the situation as it exists, nicely.
We could move the site to some commercial outfit and it would cost us nothing, but we'd look at their ads, the site would be slow as molasses, and it would not have all the features that we've gotten awfully accustomed to. No site has the software we've developed that does a darned good job at deciding what posts might need to be moderated and what ones are unlikely to need it. That software enables the board to run open and without requiring user registration, while still keeping almost all spam and such out. Victor wants the board to remain as open to users as possible while keeping posts appropriate, and no commercial site comes close to the performance of what we've worked out over the years. We are thus likely to leave the board as it is, and it will always have a cost. Victor appreciates donations, big or small. And all are welcome, whether they donate or not.
Bill
I cannot find that URL to make contributions; I know I had it at one time!
Would it be useful to have a top-level link on MLHH, so folks would know contributions are gratefully accepted? And how to make them?
Or is Victor still working out the most cost-efficient way of doing this?
I understand you click the box at the top of the board's main page that says "click to pay". If that doesn't do the trick, let us know!
Bill
Ummm. Because of filtering (such as Zonealarm), it might be useful to add a "Contribute" link on the main page. I *know* I can (and have, inflate chest proudly), but others may not even *see* what presents as an ad!
As commented by several others, I have to pass along my kudos to Victor, Bill and the moderatore for such a smoothly running site, especially with such a lack of spam/BS. I belong to a number of other lists on Yahoo and such, and have yet to see one of them that doesn't catch major spam action without registering the users. Very impressive.
Jim
Thanks to you all for your positive and supportive comments! Hearing such is what motivates us to keep on doing what we do.
The importance of the moderation crew in keeping the board running smoothly cannot be overstated. Far beyond "many hands making light the work", this group of frequent users brings to the board reason, fairness, a variety of viewpoints, and concern that all find the board a safe and supportive place, all at a level of quality that far exceeds what any one man could provide.
Bill
