Our webhost had to shut down our ShopForum today because we were hogging too much of the CPU. We agreed to move to another less used shared server sometime tonight or earlier tomorrow so they have temporarily turned us back on. This is really just a short term solution.
We have reached the point where a dedicated server is the only real fix. The move tonight will allow us to keep the Shop Forum up while we shop for a dedicated server.

best wishes for happy & successful hunting

Wonderful site . . .
 

Bill,

you've had and continue to have and maintain a wonderful site. If there's anything that I can do, please call on me.

Thanks guys!
We have a couple of good candidates for dedicated servers that we are exploring. We'll make a move within the next 30 days. The server we moved to this weekend is ok for the short term but too slow. We need more cpu and RAM than we currently have. We also need to get away from the shared server setup. Our volume has just plain grown too much for that. We really don't want to delete our archives...especially Tech Help. There's just too much good info there.

Might I suggest perhaps keeping only the 6 months current in open discussion? That might alleviate server space.

Kuan

That's a good suggestion. We really don't need to keep an extensive archive of Open Discussion posts. The main thing we need is more CPU and RAM and to have our own server. Disk space is cheap but it takes lots of CPU power to sort through 100,000 posts.

Rather than a band-aid, how about
 

Taking up contributions to contribute towards a new server and a fast line. It's not all that difficult or costly to setup the framework for a web server (you already have the content) nor is it costly for good bandwidth.

Regards,

. . . great idea!
 

Lebenz, great idea!

Since there's 4333 members, how about $5 from each, that would pay the dues for a machine plus ram plus large disk(s) space plus any network fees to keep it up.

Where do we send it? Something by CC would be great!

Outgrowing server
 

I like your idea Lebenz, we take a lot out & should be prepared to put something back.
I am not in favour of deleting old archives unless they are carefully editted-I have too much to learn:D. Also with new members continually joining there will be,inevitably,FAQs in each Forum & constant repetition of answers & racking of brains & memories.
I appreciate the task for our Boss Moderator in trying to cope with the problem(The price of success:D) but can only feel that careful analysis & abridgement of the material, without losing the gist is the answer.
There is a great amount of trivia in the forums that, retrospectively, could be deleted, some of which builds friendliness of course but we all have to tidy up our paperwork at times.

Purhaps Bill needs to setup a PayPal account for public donations. :)

Upgrading a server shouldn't be that expensive if they do the work themselves, and seeing that they are Mechanically inclined....j/k bill

Maybe just a infusion of memory is all that is needed? I know you guys are very busy with it being Summer and all, then the DC issue, and let us not forget your Shop in progress!

Bill, is there anything the members can do for you?

I'd be happy to contribute via PayPal to a fund to help keep the forum humming smoothly. I'm in favor of keeping all the archives, there is a tremendous amount of knowledge there. By reading this forum, I learned (among many other things) to replace the OVP relay in my 300E for under $30, which the local MB dealer could not diagnose for $250. The money I've saved by having access to this forum has to be in the thousands of dollars! I've got to put in a quick plug for FastLane and PartsShop as well. Great prices, superb service and lightning fast delivery!

Please set up the fund, I'm looking forward to contributing!

PayPal
 

I'd be all for paying a fee to use this site if that will help get some faster equipment. It sounds like you have an upgrade in the works. If enough people contributed to an equipment fund could we "supercharge" the equipment?

I can't handle the slow response that currently has developed, but I love the content of MercedesShop. Let me know if you are considering the pay for speed option.

Bob I.

I saw a site with the PayPal donations yesterday. That really works well. We'll investigate it more closely. For now, we are trying to fund the site via PartsShop and FastLane.

We have selected our new server and we are in the process of getting it configured. We plan to make the move over a weekend to minimize disruption. It is unlikely the move will be this weekend...most likely next (July 27-29).

Another vote for sharing the cost of upgrading.

Even though the new server is up and running well, I'd still support funding the site. Perhaps a membership option of sponsor, senior sponsor, as appropriate in addition to jr member, member, sr member.

As an aside I was surprised and disappointed at how few of the frequent posters responded to this or other posts made on the topic. I will stop my commentary at this point