Some Thoughts on HyperScale's Forum Format and Speed Issues

by Brett Green

Considering the large amount of Forum space that has recently been occupied by discussion about our Forum provider and slow-loading pages, I just wanted to put down some general thoughts about these and some related issues.

HyperScale’s Forums are run on third-party servers owned by a company called Network 54, using their software.

The software is highly configurable to permit different layout, appearance, colours etc. The way the Forum is laid out at the moment is not a function of the age of the software. This is the way that I want it.

Configuration parameters include the option of having new postings jump to the top of Page 1; or for a chronological appearance.

Once again, the reason the Forum is organised chronologically is that I like it that way.

In my opinion, the chronological layout offers a more conversational tone to the Forums. I do not like the “squeaky wheel” effect of having new posts on an old thread instantly jumping to the top.

I love new technology and I am certainly not afraid of change, but I am firmly of the opinion that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The layout and format of HyperScale’s Forums has barely changed in 12 years but I honestly don’t see a reason, in terms of the user interface, to change it.

Statistics back me up here. Despite many, many new modelling Forums, our visitor and page view stats remain consistent, and have actually increased on a number of Forums.

Similarly, we seem to get roughly the same number of posts demanding change as pleading for the current layout to remain.

Under these circumstances, I do not plan to change the way the Forum looks or works.

As to the more recent problem of slow-loading Forum pages, I have referred this to Network 54. They have not answered at this stage.

Those with long memories may recall a number of times when Network 54 has been similarly slow. They have always come good in the past.

Also, the problem seems to be either geographically or chronologically localised. I did notice that pages were loading slowly some weeks ago, but the problem went away after 24 hours. I myself haven’t experienced it at all since that time .

Now, this may well be because I am located in Australia, and I am not online during undoubtedly the busiest time of HyperScale’s Forums day – the US lunch hour. Of course, with the different time zones, this is spread over a period of some hours.

However, I note that there are postings from American visitors saying that they have not experienced the problems either.

Changing the provider for HyperScale’s Forums or, worse, bringing it in-house, is not a trivial matter.

For a start, 12 years of HyperScale history will be lost.

Also, although I do sympathise that some people actively dislike the current Forum layout, I strongly believe that it is a key element to the character and dynamic of our Community. Network 54 is a bit quirky. The layout is a bit different to the vast majority of Forums out there. This is not an accident.

I fear that HyperScale’s Forums under a cookie-cutter EZ-Board style format would just be one of thousands of identical DIY boards, and would lose much of its unique character.

Finally, a large amount of time and effort would be involved in setting up a new set of Forums. Time is a scarse resource for me at the moment, and this would be a job that I could not delegate.

I will let everyone know when I get a response from Network 54 on the issue of slow page loading.

Thanks and bye for now,

Brett