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Service Unavailable -arghh-
News posted 12th July, 2008 by Rikus  
So folks it looks like the webhost is giving us the boot, the site is draining too much power and we need to go. So me and club have been talking about this and we decided it is time to get a dedicated server for the dc. Now if we would get this that would solve all of our problems and then some but there is a drawback, the price. Club is looking at the best deals right now but when we switch over we are going to totally re-vamp the donations page. Since donations now will be more important then ever to keep the site going on a month to month basis, if you donate it will show which month your donation went to how much is still needed for a particular month and you will be able to donate for future months, your name will also be displayed. This way everyone can keep track when the need is high hopefully we can, -with donations- be a couple of months ahead of the game.

Club has been on holiday but is returning tomorrow to his home so he can het started on this. Until then there is nothing we can do about the really annoying service unavailable sign only to bare with us as -we are- taking action. Since moving to a dedicated server is a big step for us me and club really had to have a good discussion about this. Hopefully with you all and the donations we can keep this site up and running for a long time to come. Clickteam has also decided to help us out with a donation but more on that once the donation page goes up. So folks, we are fixing the issue at hand it is just going to take a little bit longer. OOh and some good news, hopefully a new klikcast will be released tomorrow! I'm just waiting for one more user submission and it will be ready to rock, so as soon as i get that in, it will be on the klikcast page.




Posted by Jason Orme 12th July, 2008

I hope everything goes well, I wouldn't want to be without TDC.
 
Posted by -MacAdaM- 12th July, 2008

Finally, this service unavailable is almost over! But what happens when no - one donates? would TDC get shut down?
 
Posted by Cecilectomy 13th July, 2008

how much do you guys expect a dedicated server to run price wise? i'll be glad to make another donation. there is also the option to set up a linux/windows apache server so the site never goes down indefinitely. that would be an awful shame.
 
Posted by Xhunterko 13th July, 2008

I think now perhaps would be a good idea to re-vamp or redo the TDC Merchandise store. Perhaps some creators might offer some of their better games for sale there with some proceeds going to the site. I'd buy a mug or mouse pad if i wasn't too embarrassed.
 
Posted by Xhunterko 13th July, 2008

Oooh, another idea: Fan/Creator based fiction of TDC Games E*Novella style!
 
Posted by Ricky 13th July, 2008

A news post without a picture? I'd be willing to donate again. I hope this solves all of our problems
 
Posted by MJK 13th July, 2008

I've said it before, but CT should 'buy' this site and host it. It makes perfect sense for them financially, and I can't really see any major drawbacks from TDC's viewpoint either.

To rely on donations by individual users - I think that is a sad situation, even though I appreciate those who donate. But both continuity and reliability should be on a more secure level. If TDC collapses, Clickteam will lose revenue in long term, because this site keeps their best customers active. It's a wonder to me why they wouldn't at least donate a couple of thousands right away.
 
Posted by NeoMonkey 13th July, 2008

If TDC loads too much this server, one way is to delete some old posts!
 
Posted by LIJI 13th July, 2008

@MJK: It's a bit problematic, as Clickteam runs on Apache/Linux and TDC requires IIS/Windows.
They'd have to buy another server only for TDC. So financially, it's not as perfect as you think.
Keep in mind that a GOOD IIS/Windows server is much more expensive than Apache/Linux.
@Neo Monkey: Won't solve anything, it's not a disk space problem I believe.
 
Posted by Marko 13th July, 2008

Hmm, this is gonna be a big step for TDC. My only concern is that even if many people donate for the first few weeks/months(which i imagine is what will happen), 6 months down the line the donations will slow, then 12 months on it will begin to lose serious momentum, then 2 years it may shut altogether. This is even more feasable with the current global economic conditions being as they are.

I would like to know exactly how much this site needs to keep itself running. Then maybe a subscription service may be more suitable - relying on donations will probably mean few people donating big sums periodicly, where as subscriptions would more involve more people paying smaller sums regularly. I know i'll be donating and it would be good to know that everyone is also doing the same, something subscriptions would guarantee.
 
Posted by Klikmaster 13th July, 2008

Hmm, Dedicated Servers are nice to have but are usually £60-£70 per month at the cheapest.

I guess the real options we have are to find another shared server that can handle bigger sites, or for someone to start up their own server for free.
 
Posted by Cecilectomy 13th July, 2008

all the more reason to recode the site.

diskspace may be part of the reason. tons of inactive registered users. tons of old forum threads. tons of broken downloads. tons of old news posts w/comments, that no one can even see anyway, unless you go back through the ?id='s. all of this eats up database space.

im all for helping make this the most efficient site it can be. anything to help out the situation if need be. donating. coding.

btw what is the current host?
 
Posted by -Dark Martin- 13th July, 2008

I would definetly not want this site to close down, so you can expect donations from me whenever they are needed and whenever i can afford it.
 
Posted by Joe.H 13th July, 2008

Wasn't there a suggestion to have your own server, using an old computer

The only major drawback here would be how fast your internet connection for the server was.
 
Posted by LIJI 13th July, 2008

Home internet connection are nothing relative to an average server's speed.
Seeing that TDC is not a tiny 5 visitors site with image-less design made in HTML 2 the speed decrease would be very noticeable. (Read: 56K Deja Vu)
 
Posted by Phredreeke 13th July, 2008

So folks it looks like the webhost is giving us the boot

The webhost is giving YOU the boot? Considering all those Service unavailable messages it should be the other way around...

It's a bit problematic, as Clickteam runs on Apache/Linux and TDC requires IIS/Windows.
They'd have to buy another server only for TDC. So financially, it's not as perfect as you think.
Keep in mind that a GOOD IIS/Windows server is much more expensive than Apache/Linux.

Time for a site recode?
 
Posted by Dr. James MD 13th July, 2008

Sounds like we need a trans-gender meta convertor to conflanctuate ASP to PHP, ooh yes.
 
Posted by Rikus 13th July, 2008

lol i just typed this long reply and i got the service unavailable sign.. darn. What my msg came down to is, we did discuss coding the site in php. While this is going to happen in the future for right now it would need clubs full attention for a certain amount of months. So it is prob going to happen but we need a quicker solution wich a dedicated server will be able to provide. (copying my msg now)
 
Posted by Ski 13th July, 2008

James was that a Dr Who impression?
 
Posted by LIJI 13th July, 2008

I say you should change the "warning bar" text to:
"dont laff @ our host just cuz it can has service unavailables". Feel free to improve the text if you speak Lolcats better than I do.
 
Posted by Andos 13th July, 2008

Have you tried looking at optimizing queries and scripts so it doesn't use as much power?
 
Posted by Rikus 14th July, 2008

test
 
Posted by Clubsoft 14th July, 2008

icles
 
Posted by Rikus 14th July, 2008

Lol
 
Posted by Cecilectomy 14th July, 2008

im for the asp to php conversion. looking at the site it should only tade a few months of dedication to do. the bulk of the site should take maybe a month or two. and im betting club has better things to do with his time so help wouldnt be to far fetched if needed.

and if you set up linux server with apache running on it and have a cable connection to the internet it should run relatively fine.
 
Posted by BeefCake! 14th July, 2008

Yay the click is back!
 
Posted by bigredron 17th July, 2008

rikus check your pms. I sent over details of a cheap web host i found online, might help you out
 


 
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Rikus
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