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deathtongue
Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 165 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Can you give us a complete list of upgrades with their cost in points? _________________
Goal: 5* Hard
FOP [X]
PP(LL) [X]
OFTR [X]
6 [3.6]
TH [4.0] |
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JCirri
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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If I could do that, then they would already be listed on the store page. I still don't know exactly what I'll be adding yet.
One thing I've noticed is that the userstats page (that's responsible for generating the dynamic signature images) is receiving a huge amount of load now from all the places people have linked their images. To reduce this load I may make the images available as an upgrade rather than to everyone freely. _________________
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SkepticalMario
Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 310 Location: Minneapolis, MN
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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That's a good idea. _________________
My GH1 achievements:
Hard: 11M, 47 6-stars
Expert: 11M, 47 5-stars
Bark at the Zoo |
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silencer
Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 93 Location: Orlando, FL
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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To save bandwidth, why not offer a very simple black & white image for the signature stats? Surely you could display the same info at a fraction of the file size.. drop to grayscale & only show what's necessary.. the stats. _________________
I am the silencing machine.
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JCirri
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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The issue isn't really the bandwidth required to transfer the image (it's only ~28kb in color).
The load on the server is being caused by the massive number of requests querying the database to retrieve the statistics to put in the images. _________________
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silencer
Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 93 Location: Orlando, FL
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:36 am Post subject: |
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Gotcha.. couldn't you cache stat images daily instead of having them be updated on the fly? Seems like that would save a bunch of querying and having daily updates would be fast enough for signatures.. _________________
I am the silencing machine.
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JCirri
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:56 am Post subject: |
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I have thought about caching the images before. The problem with that is the dynamic nature of the stats. The shown statistics would not be accurate at all times if I store copies of the images. Even if I were to update a user's image each time he/she submits a score, the ranking would not be accurate as it depends on others' score as well. The solution to this would be to update all affected images each time a score is submitted, but this seems to be worse than the current implementation.
I could have some process to automatically update all images at certain time intervals, but I prefer to keep them 100% accurate at all times if I can. _________________
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blind51de
Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 58
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:13 am Post subject: |
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What do you need donations for? Most of this site is text. This isn't exactly 4chan. _________________
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JCirri
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:37 am Post subject: |
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blind51de wrote: | What do you need donations for? Most of this site is text. This isn't exactly 4chan. |
The site is a very dynamic and database-intensive system. I've devoted months of time (during a very busy school semester) designing, implementing and maintaining this system to be a reliable, fun and secure place for all of us to compete.
But more importantly, the site is not running online for free.
The server and bandwidth costs to run scorehero are averaging $140 per month (and have been increasing each month as more traffic is generated). My father's company was previously covering payment for the last 2 years (before scorehero existed) ever since I've managed the server. Last month they have cutoff payment since the cost is going up and the server is no longer generating income for them, so it's up to me to keep it going on my own now.
I'm hoping in the Fall when I start doctorate school I'll receive the assistantship I applied for (which would be $10k/year and free tuition). But right now I have very little money and no job, so I'm just looking for some help to get through the Summer.
If just half of the active users on the site donate a single dollar, then combined with the donations I've already received, the server/hosting costs would be covered for the rest of the Summer. I don't think that's asking that much. _________________
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Ivy
Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 4
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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Well, crap.
At the very least can we have some sort of official banner that we can still advertise Score Hero with and then just link to our Browse Scores page? _________________
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deathtongue
Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 165 Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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At first I was annoyed that my dynamic ranking signature was taken away, but after reading this thread I think having it as an account upgrade is a fine idea. It should reduce the load on the website significantly, especially now that there are so many registered members. I'm guessing that most people are only casual scorehero users anyway, and don't really need the dynamic stats signature. I also thought 20 points was a little steep at first, but I guess it's just another way to keep this privelege out of the hands of all but the dedicated members, and keep the load on the server low.
I consider having my ranking banner as a reward for the numerous cutoff score contributions I have made over the past few months, a service I was more than happy to provide. Thanks for the recognition! Keep up the good work on the website guys! _________________
Goal: 5* Hard
FOP [X]
PP(LL) [X]
OFTR [X]
6 [3.6]
TH [4.0] |
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Matt
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 3780 Location: Bethel, Vermont
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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JCirri wrote: | The site is a very dynamic and database-intensive system. I've devoted months of time (during a very busy school semester) designing, implementing and maintaining this system to be a reliable, fun and secure place for all of us to compete. |
I can vouche for all of this. I have watched the site grow since it's infancy, and JC has put quite the effort into all of this. |
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Genga
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 2474 Location: Glasgow, Scotland
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JCirri
Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 4576
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:37 am Post subject: |
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I appreciate everyone's support.
My intention was not to take away your privileges to the dynamic images but, as deathtongue mentioned, to offer it as a reward to dedicated members and lessen the server load so that the site navigates faster for everyone (I'm sure you've noticed the increased performance over the last few days). _________________
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Genga
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 2474 Location: Glasgow, Scotland
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