pb Rocks!!

November 6, 2012 4:42 PM

Thanks to pb for the Ajax updates on threads. Otherwise I suspect that the election thread would break Metafilter tonight with reloading. I've already seen a JRun error or two.
posted by OmieWise to Uptime at 4:42 PM (33 comments total)

u gyze r using 'threads'?
posted by carsonb at 4:45 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Election 2016 threads are going to be insane.
posted by grouse at 5:11 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Election 2016 threads are going to be insane.

Oh, good grief, can we please stop talking about the 2016 election?
posted by Zed at 5:15 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

The Election 2014 threads are going to be crazy!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:27 PM on November 6, 2012

I was going to post a MeTa about this, but maybe I should just piggyback on this one. Is there a reason why comments aren't paginated when threads get super long? Like, 500 comments per page or something like that. I'm guessing that has been considered and rejected for whatever reason, but I have been wondering about it since struggling through the Hurricane Sandy and election threads.
posted by apricot at 5:30 PM on November 6, 2012

Yay for pb. I suspect the mods are in for a long night.
posted by arcticseal at 5:34 PM on November 6, 2012

I think that the party line on the pagination thing (which has come up several times before) is that the mods don't want to change a core site behavior for the sake of very occasional giant threads.
posted by Scientist at 5:43 PM on November 6, 2012

Yeah, that's the key nub. It something we're really hesitant to go to, though as with all things we talk out the details a bit anyway and who knows what the future will hold.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:03 PM on November 6, 2012

Thanks, glad the updates are working ok for you. The server is definitely having a bumpy night with the extra traffic.
posted by pb (staff) at 6:15 PM on November 6, 2012

That makes sense. Thanks! I didn't remember seeing it come up before but was sure it must have.
posted by apricot at 6:43 PM on November 6, 2012

The 2160 election threads are going to be fleepzorpzerzzxzx!
posted by item at 6:53 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Almost 3000 comments at 7 pm PDT. Yikes.
posted by deborah at 7:02 PM on November 6, 2012

No new FPPs for 4 hours.
posted by Egg Shen at 7:08 PM on November 6, 2012

Local search is offline.
posted by zarq at 7:33 PM on November 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

That's a temporary measure to ameliorate server load from what I gather, zarq. Also an excuse to use the word "ameliorate", so it all evens out.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 7:34 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Ah! :) ty for the explanation.
posted by zarq at 7:37 PM on November 6, 2012

No new FPPs for 4 hours.

I'm holding off til morning at least.
posted by zarq at 7:38 PM on November 6, 2012

The Election Thread *did* break Metafilter around the time Ohio was called for Obama.
But it came back super quickly.

I hope everyone got their doses of Celebration Scotch for fixing that!
posted by Mezentian at 9:05 PM on November 6, 2012

That thread crashed my browser on my first attempt. 4000 comments? Wasn't the chat enough for you guys?


Yes, we're there!!
posted by infini at 9:55 PM on November 6, 2012

test post please ignore.

-As one admin to another, nice work.
posted by cmfletcher at 10:14 PM on November 6, 2012

/mashes recent activity button and cries.
posted by Artw at 10:16 PM on November 6, 2012

Wow. Recent activity is down? BUT HOW WILL I GO ON???!!?
posted by rtha at 10:21 PM on November 6, 2012

Sorry, we'll have it working again once this wave of traffic subsides.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:25 PM on November 6, 2012

You guys are shoveling coal into the server as fast as you can, aren't you.
posted by rtha at 10:50 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

I had a couple hiccups from the site, but overall up-time was really good. Thanks for all you do, pb.
posted by deborah at 11:12 PM on November 6, 2012 [5 favorites]

Thanks, I appreciate it. All systems are go now.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:28 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

I suspect this has been asked before, but there is a maximum thread size?
I'm struggling to load the 5000+ thread now (which is, well, about 5000 times more than any bloated Gawker, Discus or LiveFyre thingo could handle), but would it go indefinitely until the deadline?
posted by Mezentian at 2:34 AM on November 7, 2012

Whoa the election thread is at 5353 right now. NOBODY TOUCH IT!
posted by Mister_A at 6:13 AM on November 7, 2012

That's a problem for 4 years from now!
posted by Artw at 6:13 AM on November 7, 2012

Yes, many thanks to the mods for all the behind-the-scenes work. It is much appreciated! After one of yesterday's threads on the crazy electricity guy, I had mental images of some sort of Metafilter motor spinning faster and faster until sparks and flames started shooting out as the race was called.
posted by carter at 6:34 AM on November 7, 2012

some sort of Metafilter motor spinning faster and faster until sparks and flames started shooting out as the race was called.

That is not entirely inaccurate.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:34 AM on November 7, 2012 [6 favorites]

Also an excuse to use the word "ameliorate", so it all evens out.

All MeTa threads should have as a requirement the use of the word "ameliorate" somewhere in the actual MeTa post. It might cut down on the the surplus of "why was my FPP deleted" threads.
posted by lampshade at 7:50 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow, I used the word Ameliorate in my god-awful nano yesterday. It has been so long since I last wrote (typed) it I had no idea how to spell it any more.

". The server is definitely having a bumpy night with the extra traffic.
posted by pb

I have this image in my head of a small, beige tower in the corner of your office, all dusty and cobwebbed. Sorta like when you go to your mates house and he has an old linux box 386 under the stairs running his own network, and you play Wolfenstein over the network and its lagging like crazy.
posted by marienbad at 7:41 AM on November 10, 2012