Diminishing Post Counts

[Murphy Siding]

     In the same way,  I'll never understand the need to change forum software.  If it works fine, and there's no monetary incentive to do so, why would any company spend the money on a forum software upgrade?

[BaltACD]

Murphy Siding

BaltACD

What really gets me - all the correct data is in our profiles?  Is it that difficult to make a database call to that data, display it, increment it after a post and store the incremented value back in the database.  I thought that got taught in Programming 101.

    I don't think it's the technical aspects that are the problem.   I believe it's the priority of the issue that's causing the problem.

     To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart; 

"It doesn't take much to see that the problems of a group of posters on a free website message board doesn't add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world of for-profit magzine publishing." ........ or something like that 

 

And along the lines of 'for-profit'; why do otherwise smart organizations believe, when they do offer forums, that they have to invent their own software to do it - when there are already a number of correctly operating stock products on the market.

I participate in a number of forums on a variety of subjects - each of the organizations that tried to reinvent 'the wheel' has failed for a variety of reasons, some where square, some had flat spots, some had failing bearings, some had tires that came of the wheel - Organizations that are much larger than Kalmbach, whom I suspect invested even greater amounts of money into their attempts - FAILED, when there are stock products that would have done the job.

I understand human nature of reinventing a product line to improve it - but smart inventors and businessmen understand when their 'new & improved' is not measuring up to the old standard and take actions either to bring it up to the expected level or revert to the old product while they reinvent the new one.  Think 'New Coke' and the old standby which then came to be known as 'Coke Classic'.

 

[Semper Vaporo]

BaltACD

What really gets me - all the correct data is in our profiles?  Is it that difficult to make a database call to that data, display it, increment it after a post and store the incremented value back in the database.  I thought that got taught in Programming 101.

 

You'd think so, wouldn't you.  But I find that with this distributed processing called a "network", duplicates of things get stored in different computers, being duplicated for expedience sake, and the duplicates get out of sync because of reboots and restores done in individual processing centers where the duplicates are, and they are never sync'd again, but just receive count updates to add to the duplicate instead of receiving a specific value to replace the duplicate.

 

I have a few videos on YouTube and I have been tracking the view counts for several years and there have been times when the counts went backwards in some of the reports where I can get the counts.  There several ways to see the count on any video;

It is on the page where you can watch the video,

and on my private profile page there are two ways to view my list of videos,

then there is also the "Analytics" section and I have differing counts in different lists there.

("Analytics" used to be called "Insite" and when it was changed the counts went backward for several of my videos). 

And there is no one particular way of viewing the counts that is always higher for all the videos... One method will show some counts from 1 to 50 below another method, but may have one or two videos at a higher count (by 1 to 50) than that same other method. 

There are times when there will be a message displayed stating that the counts are being delayed for some reason (that never makes any sense!) but that they will catch up and not to worry as no counts have been lost...

But if they are not "lost"... Then just WHERE ARE THEY such that I can't see the true count? 

 

And if you sum the counts in any of the lists, the sum does not match any of the lists that show total counts on my channel!  It cannot even add the counts it displays to get the same sum it displays!

 

I'm was a programmer for nearly 40 years (retired now, but I still dabble in it for "fun") and I worked hard all those years at not letting this sort of thing happen, but I think today's "Computers 101" teaches 'do what is expedient for yourself and let someone else worry about if it is right or will work for the long term'.

 

 

To compound things, today's operating systems have routines that try to keep malware from upsetting the apple cart by watching things and periodically resetting things if it sees something happen that might have been unwanted...

 

I have a program I wrote way back in WIndows 3.0 that has worked in all versions up to Windows 7 (have not been able to try it on Windows 8) It is a simple (HA! been "enhanced" to death!) "Alarm Clock" where the user can set any number of alarms to occur on any repeat basis (by minutes, hours, Days, Weeks, or Months) and can be "snoozed" any number of minutes, display a user entered message for what the alarm is about and play any sound file as the alert sound.  (I use it to remind me a week in advance for birthdays, aniversarys, appointments and other events (trash day, payday, bills due, etc.).  As such, it stores a lot of data for each alarm (about 20 parameters each!) in the Windows Registry AND a duplicate in a seperate file. 

 

I did the duplicate file writing recently because I have noted that sometimes an alarm I had set, seen occur, and deleted, will repeat the next day when I boot the computer up!  I DELETED IT, how'd it come back?  I have set a new alarm and later I remember setting it, but it failed to occur.  Where'd it go? 

 

Something in Winders is resetting the Registry back to what it was before I deleted or created an alarm... It also seems to know about the separate file and resets it, too!  I am now working on a method of writing the data someplace else to see if I can detect when the "reset" occurs so I can try to find what is really doing it and find a way to make it leave my program's data alone!

 

So the different post counts here are just one more, um... STUPID in the world of computers that I bet no one will ever really understand.  The best that I think CAN happen is someone will create a new database entry that will try to find all the other counts and take the highest one to display, but that will require work that is not in the budget so don't hold yer breath about it.

 

 

[Murphy Siding]

BaltACD

What really gets me - all the correct data is in our profiles?  Is it that difficult to make a database call to that data, display it, increment it after a post and store the incremented value back in the database.  I thought that got taught in Programming 101.

    I don't think it's the technical aspects that are the problem.   I believe it's the priority of the issue that's causing the problem.

     To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart; 

"It doesn't take much to see that the problems of a group of posters on a free website message board doesn't add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world of for-profit magzine publishing." ........ or something like that 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

richhotrain

And, in the future, spell my name correctly.  If you address your questions to Abbey, you will only manage to get a response from Broadway Lion.  Him responds to anything and everything.  

No offense to Broadway Lion but that's hilarious!!

[BaltACD]

What really gets me - all the correct data is in our profiles?  Is it that difficult to make a database call to that data, display it, increment it after a post and store the incremented value back in the database.  I thought that got taught in Programming 101.

[richhotrain]

Murphy Siding

     Dear Abbey-

      All my friends are losing their post counts, but mine keep increasing.  I mean, just yesterday,  I had 8213 posts.  Today,  I have 8218, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.  I've even tried giving them away, but to no avail.  How can I get my post count to go down like my friends' post counts.  I feel like an outcast.  What can I do?

-a loyal reader

Dear Loyal Reader,

The fastest way to do this is to change your screen name.  That way, you can start all over at zero.  Another way to do it is to get your posts moderated. That won't decrease the post count but it will slow down the increase.  A third way is to be patient.  Sooner or later, you will lose post count like the rest of us.

And, in the future, spell my name correctly.  If you address your questions to Abbey, you will only manage to get a response from Broadway Lion.  Him responds to anything and everything.  

Abby

[Murphy Siding]

     Dear Abbey-

      All my friends are losing their post counts, but mine keep increasing.  I mean, just yesterday,  I had 8213 posts.  Today,  I have 8218, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.  I've even tried giving them away, but to no avail.  How can I get my post count to go down like my friends' post counts.  I feel like an outcast.  What can I do?

-a loyal reader

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Deggesty

I, too, have red stars, Indicating that I am an end (ultimate) contributor, but I have made less than half as many contributions as other end contributors have. So, what does "ultimate" mean?

For me (when mine was showing all red stars and twenty thousand plus posts) it might mean I better shut my trap and let somebody else talk for a while.

[richhotrain]

It means we talk too much.  

Rich

[Deggesty]

I, too, have red stars, Indicating that I am an end (ultimate) contributor, but I have made less than half as many contributions as other end contributors have. So, what does "ultimate" mean?

[Norm48327]

adrianspeeder

blownout cylinder

I am one, Jeff is as well, same as Dan(CNW6000)

I see.  Other boards I belong to make the mods more visible with a different logo or such. 

Adrianspeeder

The aviation board I participate in has administrator's names in red, moderator's in blue, and general members in black. Don't know if this software is capable of that or not.

[spokyone]

Murphy Siding

     In the spirit of the season, could I suggest that my post count be split up, and distributed to those unfortunates among us, who are suffering from low post counts this time of year.

That idea has come up in Washington.

One, two, three, four, five. Yep I have 5 stars.

[zugmann]

our moderators are ninjas.

[adrianspeeder]

blownout cylinder

I am one, Jeff is as well, same as Dan(CNW6000)

I see.  Other boards I belong to make the mods more visible with a different logo or such. 

Adrianspeeder

[zugmann]

Murphy Siding

     In the spirit of the season, could I suggest that my post count be split up, and distributed to those unfortunates among us, who are suffering from low post counts this time of year.

Ask your doctor about Low-P syndrome. Ask your doctor if you are healthy enough for high post counts.  Seek medical help if your post count stays high for over 4 hours. 

[Murphy Siding]

     In the spirit of the season, could I suggest that my post count be split up, and distributed to those unfortunates among us, who are suffering from low post counts this time of year.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

richhotrain

Thank you, sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

Hardly a gentleman but we won't go into that here.

[richhotrain]

jeffrey-wimberly

richhotrain

Jeff, how do you know that?  Are you seeing something that we can't see?

You can see it. You just have to know where to look. Click on your stars. You'll a large bold face number under search results. Scroll down a little and you'll see  'Forums        (###)'. That (###) number is your count.

Well, I'll be darned.  I never knew that.  It pays to ask.

So, a software fix will restore an accurate number.

Thank you, sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

Or, at least one of those two.  

Rich

[jeffrey-wimberly]

richhotrain

Jeff, how do you know that?  Are you seeing something that we can't see?

You can see it. You just have to know where to look. Click on your stars. You'll a large bold face number under search results. Scroll down a little and you'll see  'Forums        (###)'. That (###) number is your count.

[vsmith]

So that explains why I went from over 10K posts to a measley 9700, I thought I had been demoted 

[Firelock76]

So THAT'S what those blue stars under my "nom-de-plume" are for!  I thought someone was under the mistaken impression I had four kids in the Service.

[BaltACD]

Those with near normal counts and stars just haven't been visited by the fickle byte of fate yet!

[richhotrain]

jeffrey-wimberly

Murphy Siding

     I'm still holding at 8206 posts, and 5 red stars.  Naturally,  I presume it's just the forum Gods  messing with those of you unfortunate enough to not be of Norweigan ancestry. 

You should be showing 8,258.

Jeff, how do you know that?  Are you seeing something that we can't see?

Rich

[jeffrey-wimberly]

SALfan

Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but my post count is still what it should be (I think), and AFAIK there are no Norwegians in my family tree.

You look to be short by only four. No Norwegians in my family tree either but there's a big bunch of Cherokee's.

[Anonymous]

blownout cylinder

adrianspeeder

Who are all the mods nowadays anyway?

My post count must have been sunk 300 nautical miles southeast of the coast of New Foundland.

Adrianspeeder

I am one, Jeff is as well, same as Dan(CNW6000)

Not to forget this poor soul - I am still around!

[SALfan]

erikem

Murphy Siding

     I'm still holding at 8206 posts, and 5 red stars.  Naturally,  I presume it's just the forum Gods  messing with those of you unfortunate enough to not be of Norweigan ancestry. 

You may be on to something there - my post count is pretty close to what I would expect and my grandmother was from Norway.

- Erik

Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but my post count is still what it should be (I think), and AFAIK there are no Norwegians in my family tree.  My family has been in southeast Georgia since +/-1850, but before that it's anybody's guess.  My personal guess is we originally came from the Land of Stubborn, because we could teach mules some stuff about being stubborn.

[erikem]

Murphy Siding

     I'm still holding at 8206 posts, and 5 red stars.  Naturally,  I presume it's just the forum Gods  messing with those of you unfortunate enough to not be of Norweigan ancestry. 

You may be on to something there - my post count is pretty close to what I would expect and my grandmother was from Norway.

- Erik

[blownout cylinder]

zugmann

I think we need a sticky for the current moderators.  Or give them super-special moderator stars or something.

mmmmm....these stars look sherrify enough as is....

[zugmann]

I think we need a sticky for the current moderators.  Or give them super-special moderator stars or something.