h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Of course. Who wouldn't? Are we asking HOW?

If you would like to tell us how well or how badly the BBCi messageboards are running today, then please type your comments here...Wednesday 06th p.m. the boards were extremely slow often coming to a complete stop- I gave-up after forty five minutes or so.
It seems to be the same today Thursday 07.

I agree - bbci is slow as hell - I have been trying to read Clapham Charlies last post on QQ and gave up after it failed to down load having tried for 15 minutes.

'Questions, questions' board is closed half an hour after opening time. Open for reading only.

If you would like to tell us how well or how badly the BBCi messageboards are running today, then please type your comments here...

Turned 10:00 and QQ board still closed for all except reading.

(8 Aug 10:16)
Thanks Doc, I was just about to post that one myself! I wanted to reply to Carl's survey earlier.

If you're interested, there's some interesting technical excuses in the "pre-mod" thread on the Technical Terrors board. Apparently they're waiting for parts.

Dear BBci Monitor,

have just been on QQ and MC(-H!) that was, and though I can now read threads in acceptable time, I am unable to post 'live' - paranoid person that I can be I wonder if it is just that I have been most vocal about the appalling service we have been receiving for months - or whether it is because the service is still..........appalling?

...either way, they need to pull socks up pronto - everyone's gone off to the Oldie...and I'm too set in my ways to go there for long!

(Mon 11 Aug 09:05)

Hi CG,

I'm trying to fathom whether the boards are indeed better this morning. Were they still in pre-mod over the weekend?

Icy

(Mon 11 Aug 09:50)

Message at top of boards this morning:

"We have recently resolved a number of issues affecting performance of the message boards and are expecting to see some improvement in the speed and reliability of most boards over the next few days. We hope to have all boards operating as normal during opening hours from early next week, and will provide further updates when necessary. We’d like to thank all our users for their patience, and we hope you'll continue to enjoy posting here."


Interesting use of the word "continue"...

Frozen out - cannot connect to any board.

(Tue 12 Aug 11:30)
Message on Virtual Soapbox board...

Good service Jessica W - HOST - 2330th post - 11 Aug 2003 17:02
The boards should no longer be in pre-moderation which means our service to you, our posters, should get better.
I hope your conversation are made easier and more enjoyable.

All the best [reply] [Complain about this post]

(Tue 12 Aug 12:20)
Great Debate boards are OK, but R4 boards are still in pre-mod.

If you would like to tell us how well or how badly the BBCi messageboards are running today, then please type your comments here...Yes, just a minor quibble..but the BBC have stolen my name and will not give it back. My name is Gregori K. on the CIY boards and I would be very pleased if it could be returned to me because I have stolen someone elses name and now he doesn't know who he is either...sorry Max Stuart but you have been taken over by BBC 'Replicants' even Arnie won't stop us now!!

QQ is totally phukt. No reply button. Devious method doesn't work. New question listed but can't be accessed. Recent posts missing. Doh!

(Wed 13 Aug 12:15)
Yes I'd just noticed that. Looks like they're slipping back into the problems of two weeks ago. I've seen reports of missing threads, a problem which the BBC assured us had been fixed.

Well I'm in holiday demob mood today. Hope it sorts itself out by September.

Icy

It is now September! On the first of September I couldn't post at all. I could get as far as Preview but then kept getting a BBC "Internal Server Error" page telling me to contact the webmaster. That of course was futile (though I did it twice anyway). It also kept claiming on new windows I tried that I wasn't logged in but showed me the reply buttons and not the complain about this post buttons. The next couple of days the reply buttons kept being missing on and off but the complain buttons were there. Fortunately (if refresh doesn't get a working server) it is possible to change the "amod" in the URL code into "reply" and reply anyway.

Yes, I saw many of these things. I would guess that they intentionally left pre-mod activated on a number of boards throughout August while they monitored the performance on the new servers. Of course, when you remove pre-mod the boards will become more popular and the load will increase. I hope they factored this in. Pre-mod was removed on the evening of 1st September for the remainder of the boards.

I have seen occasional hang-ups and internal server errors, usually around lunchtime. The phenomenon of the disappearing reply buttons pre-dates the upgrade, and R4 QQ regulars were using the workaround you mention.

I have also seen occasional disappearing messages, and errors in the "number of replies" figure.

The sequential posting number seems to be incrementing correctly now (not that this matters to anyone).

I am concerned that the Members boards have disappeared. The Technical Terrors board in particular was a very good place to get answers from the technical teams.

The biggest issues now are 1) persuading the communities to return from their proboards sites, although this will happen in time if the boards remain stable, and 2) the out-of-hours postings ban.

Cheers, Icy

Cannot connect to messageboards site.

Cannot connect to messageboards site.