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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

website very slow?

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08 Apr 2014 20:05 #1 by Gonefishy (Brian oneill)
Hi guys. Anyone else finding the site snail slow since yesterday? Loading incredibly slowly. All other websites are fine on my tablet but this one has been so slow over last 2 days I've logged off a few times. Hoping it's not just my tablet but since all other sites are fine I'm guessing it's not.... :hammer:

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08 Apr 2014 22:13 #2 by meleftone (Kevin Usher)
Yeah. I'm finding the mobile version very slow to load pages too.

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09 Apr 2014 10:54 - 09 Apr 2014 12:18 #3 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic website very slow?
This would appear to be a server issue, it has been reported though.

John

Edit:
Darragh has done a bit of 'tweaking' and things are so much better now.

As ever:
Many thanks Darragh,

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.
Last edit: 09 Apr 2014 12:18 by JohnH (John).

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18 May 2014 21:25 #4 by jeff (Jeff Scully)
I also find it still very slow, slow to the point where sometimes I just give up and sign out
My brother in law is a computer wizz and works in the computer world serious stuff I'm sure I can squeeze a favour for him to talk to darragh to make it better, what do yeh think jh can we pm and try make it better and the aliment is still off

Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.

A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.

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23 Jun 2014 23:13 #5 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
I am bumping this up as navigating the website is becoming a torture. To the point I am lazy to post and comment on multiples threads. I have a very fast computer and excellent bandwidth and other websites load at lighting speeds.
The is one service provider in Ireland I have used that is a horror, and I am not saying names but i think you may be using them. I know a guy who has a webshop and he was having the same issues, he then changed and it's day and night.
PM me or call me for details.

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24 Jun 2014 08:52 #6 by ipcompto (Ian Compton)
i agree this website is tortuously slow i use it less and less because of it...
cheers
ian

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24 Jun 2014 08:57 #7 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)

i agree this website is tortuously slow i use it less and less because of it...
cheers
ian

No real loss if your not on ian,
On the upside it's not that bad now :)

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 09:25 #8 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)

i agree this website is tortuously slow i use it less and less because of it...
cheers
ian

No real loss if your not on ian,
On the upside it's not that bad now :)


loading the main page => 15 seconds
every click thereafter to open a specific thread or reply on a thread and it's another 15-20 seconds. And now it will be another 20 when i hit SUBMIT.
Something ain't right.

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24 Jun 2014 10:01 #9 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Tbh if this was costing forum members money to be on the site,
Then I would agree totally agree with kicking up about it,
But let's face it
It's not!
This is a free service to anyone who wants learn about fish keeping,
Also a 15 minimum post to sell stuff.
Let's not be to hasty in giving out about how slow it is!

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 10:04 #10 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
For the last two weeks or more I've found it pretty much difficult to get back to the main page. More often than not I end up with just a white screen with an error code on it. It doesn't matter whether I'm using a mobile device or a computer; nor does it matter what ISP I use.

I've also been finding the site slow recently.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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24 Jun 2014 11:58 #11 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)

Tbh if this was costing forum members money to be on the site,
Then I would agree totally agree with kicking up about it,
But let's face it
It's not!
This is a free service to anyone who wants learn about fish keeping,
Also a 15 minimum post to sell stuff.
Let's not be to hasty in giving out about how slow it is!


I beg to differ: I am sure the interest of the forum is to be as popular and frequented as can be (that eventually generates revenue potential through advertising for example). Youtube is free, wikipedia is free and so are zillions of websites where to get info from. But personally I do like the fact that it is local and I get to meet the people in person at some point. This is not about being ungrateful: it's called "constructive criticism" and the goal is better forum for all. I have organised groups and activities as a pure volunteer so I would be the last one to "demand" anything from Darragh, John or anyone involved in the website. The absolute truth is I would contribute a lot more if it wasn't so slow, especially when I sneak on while I have a moment at work.

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24 Jun 2014 12:30 #12 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)

Tbh if this was costing forum members money to be on the site,
Then I would agree totally agree with kicking up about it,
But let's face it
It's not!
This is a free service to anyone who wants learn about fish keeping,
Also a 15 minimum post to sell stuff.
Let's not be to hasty in giving out about how slow it is!


I beg to differ: I am sure the interest of the forum is to be as popular and frequented as can be (that eventually generates revenue potential through advertising for example). Youtube is free, wikipedia is free and so are zillions of websites where to get info from. But personally I do like the fact that it is local and I get to meet the people in person at some point. This is not about being ungrateful: it's called "constructive criticism" and the goal is better forum for all. I have organised groups and activities as a pure volunteer so I would be the last one to "demand" anything from Darragh, John or anyone involved in the website. The absolute truth is I would contribute a lot more if it wasn't so slow, especially when I sneak on while I have a moment at work.

That's your opinion
And your entitled to it,
The FACT is the forum is free from those shitty adds you get on YouTube which is a bonus straight off the bat and it's not here to be popular,
It's here for information
There's an army of unregistered users looking
at quality information from our members!
I'm not being smart,
If you don't log on its no skin off anyone's nose,
The forum costs you and I nothing
I'm sure it costs somebody something even if that something is someone's time!
I think it's a little unfair to be banging on about a service (that's free) that's a little bit slow!

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 12:36 #13 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic website very slow?

"... I am sure the interest of the forum is to be as popular and frequented as can be (that eventually generates revenue potential through advertising for example). .."


Just to clarify a point, Miami, and I'm not having a 'dig' at you or anyone, but it must be made clear that no-one on this Forum gets a penny from it - indeed, all hosting costs are paid for by Darragh from his own pocket. That is how he has expressed that he wants it to be.
Sponsors pay nothing, barring occasionally making a competition or raffle prize available for us to offer (and even these seem to have dried up of late).
As far as advertising goes, can anyone HONESTLY say that they would like to be bombarded by ads? I wouldn't.
Anyway, I hope this clarifies the situation.
The problem has already been reported and will hopefully be sorted out in due course so in the meantime please try to be patient and bear with us.
John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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24 Jun 2014 12:40 #14 by ger310 (Ger .)
Replied by ger310 (Ger .) on topic website very slow?
No disrespect Ciaran but i think your going a little off topic and if it's an arguement your after maybe you should start a new thread about who pays what and so on etc. etc.

Good points made by Miamiheat..........the forum is torture to get on to for a good while now and i know personally i'm logging on less and less now because of it

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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24 Jun 2014 12:54 #15 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Free or not, I don't think there's anything wrong with highlighting technical issues, which as John has pointed out have been passed along. If any of us offer criticism of the forum I genuinely believe it's because we love it and give a fig about its future use. That's quite different from whinging.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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24 Jun 2014 12:55 #16 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
Sorry ger,
I fail to see any good point in banging on about quality of a free service,
You get what you pay for,
(No offense administration)
If you can't log on here then go to YouTube or Wikipedia
See how much conflicting information you can get yourselves there ;)

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 14:10 #17 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)

Sorry ger,
I fail to see any good point in banging on about quality of a free service,
You get what you pay for,
(No offense administration)
If you can't log on here then go to YouTube or Wikipedia
See how much conflicting information you can get yourselves there ;)


My final contribution to this thread:

As I mentioned in the post that created such debate: I have used the services of a hosting company in Ireland that was really bad and drove me nuts on a daily basis. I switched to another and problem fixed (and money saved). Because i did not want to mention names I offered to be contacted by PM. So perhaps there is a tiny chance that this may be the problem in which case I am happy to recommend the name of the hosting company. If the problem is something else then i guess I can't help.
Have a lovely afternoon!
And John, Darragh, THANK YOU for this website: it is great in many ways and I just wish the best for it and your efforts.
Stephane

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24 Jun 2014 15:27 #18 by ipcompto (Ian Compton)
ill give you a 63 litre jewel 600 tank brand new in the box you can stick it up for raffle and use the proceeds for the forum....

How does that sound???
Cheers
Ian

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24 Jun 2014 20:09 #19 by Aroshni (Lydia Olivera)
I have to say the website has been horrible for me lately too, yesterday I could not log into the forum because some error.
I suppose the hosting is experiencing a lot of traffic load due to a lot of connections, mainly guest users...In my opinion the problem seems to be either the bandwidth or the hardware is not enough, so the cheaper solution would be that only registered users are allowed to navigate the forum, something very common.

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24 Jun 2014 20:37 #20 by Jim (Jim Lawlor)
Replied by Jim (Jim Lawlor) on topic website very slow?

ill give you a 63 litre jewel 600 tank brand new in the box you can stick it up for raffle and use the proceeds for the forum....

How does that sound???
Cheers
Ian


Ian's most rational post ever? :whistle:

Its a decent gesture - if a raffle and a few quid would help, I'm in . . . I didn't realise that Darragh bore all the cost on his own and I'm sure even a few €10's or €20's would help.

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24 Jun 2014 21:45 #21 by Gonefishy (Brian oneill)

Free or not, I don't think there's anything wrong with highlighting technical issues, which as John has pointed out have been passed along. If any of us offer criticism of the forum I genuinely believe it's because we love it and give a fig about its future use. That's quite different from whinging.


Fully agree. I started the thread a while back and was certainly not meant as a criticism of anyone. Fact: it is snail slow and has become worse in recent months. I'm not commenting on it being free, at cost or for profit just that it has become off putting in terms of contribution. Those of us that have commented here are all regular contributors, users and fishkeepers that love the site and community it has built. There's nothing wrong with commenting as we just want it to keep improving. Taking your logic Angle, we should just shut up and be happy with what we've got, regardless.....your entitled to your opinion but it looks like your in the minority here on this thread. I don't understand why you have become so defensive on this to be honest. It is an open forum after all....

I'd be more than happy to stick in a 10 or 20 quid to improve this and if Darragh wanted cash to do so I'm guessing many of us wouldn't have any problem in contributing.

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24 Jun 2014 22:18 #22 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
It is an open forum after all....

Your right it is an open forum,
I've been here for a long time and made my fair share of contributions,
I couldn't care less that YOU think I'm a minority,
And as far as being so defensive,
There's a good reason for that,
I've found the site to be fairly slow it's not the first time!
There have been other issues like not receiving pm notifications,
And guess what,
I can't post anything or read pms,
Do I piss and moan about it,
No,
Why?
Because there are people in the background who have days jobs, children, all sorts of stuff going on that we don't take in to consideration on top of what they do here,
So maybe it is a case of be happy with what you get,
I think it's better than moaning that you can't contribute.

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 22:52 #23 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
Free or not, I'm not sure how raising a technical issue constitutes "pissing and moaning". It's just a few people saying they have trouble accessing the site. If you were to follow your logic to its natural conclusion then no one would say anything, nothing would improve and this forum would grind to a halt, with no one contributing; static, stagnated and spent.

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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24 Jun 2014 22:57 #24 by Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
I think this topic has merely raised an issue.The site can be slow and frustrating. In terms of it being free, most fish forum sites online are free and that is the yardstick really.Darragh and John do huge work for this site.Its certainly appreciated. Hopefully as John has said the issues should be gone now hopefully.On a wider issue I find it strange that sponsors contribute nothing yet avail of the advertising and forum posting on this site.The amount of competitions have hardly being worth talking about.Perhaps they could make a contribution towards the site annually.As for those offering help I say well done, we ask for help with fish everyday, perhaps we should do likewise here to help ease the workload on those who put in countless hours.
Gavin

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24 Jun 2014 23:03 #25 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)

Free or not, I'm not sure how raising a technical issue constitutes "pissing and moaning". It's just a few people saying they have trouble accessing the site. If you were to follow your logic to its natural conclusion then no one would say anything, nothing would improve and this forum would grind to a halt, with no one contributing; static, stagnated and spent.

Fair enough lj,
If there's an issue raised the administration gets on to it,
They do what they can as fast as they can,
I think it got blown out of proportion
Especially when one particular member decided to take a pot shot at administration,
And your perception of my logic is way off track,
It's an opinion of yours on my response to people's lack of faith of the forum administration ;)

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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24 Jun 2014 23:08 #26 by Gonefishy (Brian oneill)

It is an open forum after all....

Your right it is an open forum,
I've been here for a long time and made my fair share of contributions,
I couldn't care less that YOU think I'm a minority,
And as far as being so defensive,
There's a good reason for that,
I've found the site to be fairly slow it's not the first time!
There have been other issues like not receiving pm notifications,
And guess what,
I can't post anything or read pms,
Do I piss and moan about it,
No,
Why?
Because there are people in the background who have days jobs, children, all sorts of stuff going on that we don't take in to consideration on top of what they do here,
So maybe it is a case of be happy with what you get,
I think it's better than moaning that you can't contribute.


Who is pissing and moaning? Only person spitting vinegar here is you, no one else. Im stating fact, not opinion. Re-read the thread. I'm done with this thread as your attitude beggars belief. Have a good evening.

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24 Jun 2014 23:12 #27 by anglecichlid (ciaran hogan)
I do love a good debate :)
One down.
Who's next :laugh

Anyone with a aquarium can keep fish,
But it takes real skill to be a fish keeper,


And it's spongeBob,
SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea
BLANCHARDSTOWN

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25 Jun 2014 00:07 #28 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic website very slow?
It has been really gratifying to see so much input, albeit on a non-fish subject, but an awful lot better than the IFK equivalent of 'Buy and Sell' or 'DoneDeal' or 'Adverts.ie' which has become so prevalent again of late.

I think most of the other facets of the discussion have been well discussed but if anyone has more to add please feel free so to do.

I cannot really speak for Darragh, but can only reiterate what he has said in the past and that is that he funds the Forum and is happy for it to continue this way.

So, unless he has a change of heart there will be no need for any further talk of contributions from anyone.

It is disappointing that the Forum Sponsors are reluctant to continue donating prizes for our Monthly Competitions, but - as has often been remarked - times are certainly hard in the business, we know this as evidenced by the amount of them having to close their doors for good. So.they can hardly be held to blame for their reluctance.

This makes Ian Compton's offer of a raffle prize even more outstanding.

The fact remains this, the Forum is slow at the moment, but with patience it is still possible to be able to negotiate it. look at it another way - it is still here and there are only three ways it can go...it can get better (we hope) worse (God forbid) or stay the same as it is now (previous comment applies).

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

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25 Jun 2014 06:51 #29 by Q_Comets (Declan Chambers)
It looks like Darragh has been busy, thanks. Site is pretty much zipping along this morning.

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25 Jun 2014 07:45 #30 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)

It looks like Darragh has been busy, thanks. Site is pretty much zipping along this morning.



this is what he did: :hammer:
yep much faster :cool:

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