Using Wrongplanet Efficiently... Website issues, etc.

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I think that some people are complaining about the website being swamped. I think that there are some ways to work around this or help with the bandwidth issues. The below are some suggestions:

Recovering "lost" messages

Some said that they lose long posts they have written when they try to post them, and then they get the website busy page. When this happens, I use the "back" button on my web browser and get the unposted message I had written or edited. I can even back up several pages and get a message I was editing earlier in the day.

Reducing bandwidth of your messages

"Bandwidth" is a word used to describe how much capacity a data channel has. Like any kind of pipe, only so much data can flow through a data channel at once. In the case of computer information, that data is encoded in bits, for example one character of ASCII text takes up about 32 bits. The more text your message contains, the more bandwidth your message takes as you post it. As someone who posts long messages, I'm going to make the effort to post smaller ones.

(1) When I have a lot to say, I'll try to use bullets and lists instead of long messages
(2) When I quote someone's post, I'll make an extra effort to quote only the few words I'm responding to
(3) Support WP by donating something, even a small, affordable amount of money
(4) I don't think that embedded images download from the WP server, but from where their link points to, so I'll try to use more pictures and fewer thousand words.

Support WP... but how?

Also, perhaps Alex had to put the server on a lower-bandwidth service option? There are falling ad revenues all over the place, and maybe he's not making enough with the ads to keep the server on a higher-bandwidth option.

I have a suggestion for WP. I just went looking for how to donate to support WP and can't find it. That should be an easy link that appears on the "My Account" page! So how exactly does one donate to WP?

Some good thoughts.

If you're going to post pictures, though, can you make sure they're not too big? Some of us are on phone lines and pics can take a long time to download. Sometimes I don't even realize they're part of the post, unless I happen to scroll back up again by accident.

Also, sometimes people's pics are too wide. (Sometimes links are, too.)

It's funny, I thought donate buttons were all over the place and now that I look I don't see any. Oh, wait, there's a "Support Wrong Planet Awareness!" link up top. That's it.

When I make a long post, I usually copy it before posting, and then i check to see if it posted before i do it again if I think it didn't post.

Actually, the CPU load is usually to limiting factor in most websites, not the bandwidth(which posts play a very small part in). In order the reduce CPU load, you have to reduce the amount of script being executed and the amount of queries the database executes. I could probably donate my vBulletin license, if wrong planet is willing to switch to vBulletin.

i am with you on the back-button ephemerella.

I'd never noticed that "Support WP Awareness" button before. Thanks for pointing it out, Anemone.

I'd been wondering whether the shop was the place to do it, by buying one of the items.

I've just made a donation!

What does it mean by "supporting WP awareness" though? Is that the same thing as the site?

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Thanks! I just made a donation to WP. I'll try to donate regularly since it helps me so much.

Also, I know a lot of people aren't working, so I hope that by donating, I can help WP stay available with good bandwidth.

Hope Morgana and others don't log off permanently due to temporary glitches!