Black Cat Bone

We're still having some sporadic performance issues.

I've tracked them down to two optional board features which we've still got enabled.

Firstly there's the marking of the read/unread state of each thread. Currently we track everything in the server itself, storing the last visit time for each user's visit to each thread. As this table is now absolutely huge, looking this up takes some time, and slows the server down when both displaying a list of topics, and topics themselves. If we instead store the same information a user's own browser, it reduces the server load considerably. However one drawback is the fact that you can't move between browsers and keep the same read/unread state.

The other is the tracking of every thread a user has posted to; again this results in another fairly huge table that gets accessed many times whenever a list of topics is generated.

If I disable these, we should see some increase in performance. It may require users of some browsers to delete their cookies for this site.

I've some other performance ideas to try out. I want to run some tests on the main database to attempt to get to the bottom of the problems encountered when deleting posts, but as that will require taking the board down for 30 minutes or more I will have to give adequate warnings before I attempt it.


Another issue is that phpBB 3.0.8 is due to be released soon, perhaps even by the end of the month. This incorporates many fixes, including some relating to performance.

As always, thanks for all your efforts.

Also, as always- will we get the search function back? And will the fixes to phpBB put an end to, or at least reduce, the problems with it?

The search function is back at the moment. However I will probably have to turn it off at some point whilst I investigate things.

I've been through the changelog of the pre-release of the next phpBB update. I've spotted a mention of one major performance tweak, but as some of these log entries are fairly cryptic there's probably some more. Plus these changelogs don't necessarily include every modification to the code. so there could be other undocumented changes.

Damn, I hate having the 'posts read' functionality turned off.

Have the little dots gone that mark your contribution to a thread?

Yes, they have. Unfortunately generating them uses up a lot of server resources, and it's recommended that they're turned off on medium to large sized boards.

I've now upgraded to version 3.0.8, so we're now running code with some performance improvements.

I can still see one cause for concern, though. It still can take a few seconds to open a thread if you click on the unread posts marker. To get around this I will need to re-optimise the main posts table, which will require taking the board down.

Hi Jethro

Has this change/ upgrade deactivated the Black Pearl style then, 'cos mine ain't working no more? If so, will it be back sometime please

Although there was nothing in the documentation, it's possible that some third-party layouts will stop working.

I'll take a look.

If I had a choice of colors, prosilver is not the one I'd choose, my brother.
Just sayin' (as the kids say).

Yes, unfortunately there's a small number of problems with the Black Pearl style. Hopefully I'll get them fixed and the style re-instated over the next few days.

Didn't mean it's a flounce-worthy crime, but did want you to know (in case you don't have access to such data) that at least I appreciate some contrast, if only because it makes for easier reading.