I'm running Firefox btw, but ever since we've started having all these ads on the site, my brower doesn't run the site right. It stops the website from loading...except of course for the DAMN AD!!!!@ Doesn't happen all the time... so I hit refresh, refresh, refresh, refresh until it finally does!! Does this happen to anyone else?

What do you mean by "new" ads? There hasn't been any changes to the ad system for sometime (months), if I recall. You then state that this problem has been around ever since "all these ads on the site" - which dates back even longer (like before your registration of your account).

We are aware of a database load issue, which is planned to be resolved this week. But that doesn't sound like anything to do with the issue you describe. This issue would result in the Connection Reset errors we've been having.

Having to refresh your screen to get the content to fully load is sometimes a result of packet loss, either local to you or between us and your provider.

I have no such issue with FireFox, in fact, FireFox is a frequent "fix" for those using IE and have problems with slow loading of any given page.

It is possible that whenever this issue happens, it's a specific ad? If so, let us know.

its happening to me too as well as a few other people i know are having the same problem..

i honestly think that if we were to delete all threads prior to 2005 this site would be SO MUCH faster and we would still retain all of the information from posts..

ive been to many sites that had alot of advertisements but none of them were as slow as this site because of the thread issue.. NONE of them had threads from even 2004.. i have seen threads from 2001 on this site..

btw, i have broadband internet that performs at 54mbps. it is not my connection.

just food for thought..

Sorry, but I don't think we're going to purge the database of old content (threads/posts). You may feel differently, but there are plenty of users who find the old content useful and still applies to questions and issues to this day. Some even believe that old content is more useful and accurate than some of the content today.

To repeat myself, we are upgrading the database server this week, which if it were an issue, would help with any database load issues due to amount of content (thread) we have.

However, the issue being described here does not sound like a database load issue, atleast not to me. It sounds like a common issue some have with IE - which when those users gave FireFox a try, found the issue to be no longer existent.

I could be wrong, but I don't think this is a database load issue symptom, as much as it is a possible software issue on the user's end. Some people, such as myself, are on this site multiple times per day and don't experience the issues being reported here. We are not given priority service from the server.

i agree the old information is useful, but you mean to tell me, are the last 5 years really gonna make that much more difference than the last 9 years?

technically speaking, when a user searches for something and it brings up a post from 9 years ago.. that search result is not due to it being the only thread useful, its because it was the first thread to come up on the search..

say if i were to search for something like a "how do i wire my radio" type thread and it brings up a thread from 9 years ago.. are you trying to tell me that the radio thread has NEVER been brought up in the past few years????????????

JUST because the search feature shows results for a thread from 9 years ago, DOES NOT mean that THAT thread does not exist in threads after 2005...

Sorry, but this isn't going to be debated. I'm sure I speak for several senior users here that there is no desire to have the old content deleted. It may be "archived", at some point, though.

In the advanced search section, you can limit the period of search results. No need to delete the content for X amount years or older. If you don't want to see old posts in your search, simply hide the content if you don't desire to see it. You can also sort order it by date if you want to see the older posts, last. That makes a more sensible solution.