Bots and massive loading times... Signs of the end?

[theJointedOne]

Well here we are a good amount of time has passed since the transition to this so-called update.

I warned many people repeatedly about the rampant invasion of bot members on this new site. I'm really wondering why that happened? What the hell is going on?

Can we go back to the old version? Can we actually go back and make this website what it used to be? Or is everyone just giving up and living with the way it is now because that's the way it is and no one wants to try to change it? You can tell I'm pretty passionate about this place, but the problems and hiccups I have been experiencing as a user have prevented me from attempting to login let alone navigate here. I used to login multiple times per day now maybe once a week I'll pop on to see what's up.

Honestly is it a money issue? Because I'm sure myself along with a few others could definitely put together some funds to keep this thing afloat and maybe actually start sailing again instead of halfway slowly sinking like a Titanic. I mean we shouldn't have to deal with daily spam attacks in the forms and subforms by bots that are easily preventable. We had basically zero kinds of problems like this on the old website, sure some people might have popped on to try to advertise their website or their products but it wasn't automated robot systems constantly generating easily identifiable robot usernames and then automatically posting in different forms. And then don't even get me started on the chat room, they pretty much fucked us over on that part. Seriously the chat is so whack and lame it used to be a place I would talk to friends daily and be a highlight of my morning checking in with everyone, now I'm lucky if I can even load the damn chat, without it having some sort of hiccup plus the interface is extremely ugly and non-user-friendly. It's basically made for a mobile phone, that's what this whole damn change did was make the website attempt to be more mobile-friendly, when in reality I think it failed at that and then drove away tons of people because the lack of foresight on whoever decided to pick this version of the upgrade. I really don't understand because there are tons of forum websites that operate extremely smoothly, for example the vaporizer website fuc$ combustion has a extremely smooth and easy to use user interface that is quick and smooth and easy, and I am certain they have limited amount of funds available, their usership is much lower than ours. That's just one of a dozen of other weed forums I can think of that are now much more preferable to this one in terms of ease of use.

So what are our options here? Honestly I want to help change this back to what it used to be not try to move forward with this shit. There comes a point in time when sometimes you got to swallow your pride and say well that didn't work, this is one of those times.

Whoever was in charge of this whole transition, good on you for trying but you got to man up and say well I fucked up we fucked up we picked the wrong system we picked the wrong design we really screwed up the chat room we're driving away members and allowing bots to take over, what are we going to do about it?

One of my most favorite things to do every year is start a thread on icmag about a grow. Now I can't even load the damn page, it's extremely confusing trying to load pictures, the entire website interface is hard to navigate and hard to see clearly with all the white crappy mobile friendly shit going on. So unfortunately until there are more changes I don't think I'll be doing a thread this year and I know for a fact there are multiple other outdoor growers who feel the same way as I.

So what is the plan? What are we going to do about this? I would love to help but I have zero knowledge of coding or programming or website design etc. I do have the funds to donate towards a better system if that's possible, but I would need the guarantee that we paid someone properly to set something up that was really professional, clean, safe and somewhere where we would want to go. Remember back in the days when Icmag was the place to be? Just look down at most users at one point and you'll see that time period for the website, we need to get back to that and how we do it seems pretty simple to me. I don't think I am wrong, I think that all we need to do is hire the right people to make it happen so we can have a clean smooth fast operating website that's extremely easy to use doesn't always have to be geared towards the mobile user and brings back the chat room that we all loved so dearly. All right well this rant is over I just wanted to get this out because someone needed to say it. I'll check back in in a few days maybe they'll be some ideas for changes otherwise catch y'all on the flip side

 

[CosmicGiggle]

Signs of the end? I don't think so, gotta keep faith and hang in, just give it more time!

 

[Cvh]

I'm used to the new website already. Just a few minor bugs that Atuk promised me he's going to fix if he has the time.

 

[Bud Green]

theJointedOne is spot on with his assessment of the new icmag...

I'm up in the hills and back in the woods in the U.S., and a great internet signal is not available where i live, at any price.

I get on from a desktop PC... Icmag used to be one of the very fastest loading webpages I ever visited... It was fast and reliable...Not anymore...

It's not just the matter of having to COMPLETELY re-learn how to navigate my way around...

The new site is completely different in finding your way around...Now you have to click thru 3 pages to get where you want to go, not to mention ALL the damn scrolling needed now..

And look at this... I didn't change the text from bold to regular text...The new icmag did that all by itself...

I've been here a little less than 8 years .. and I've enjoyed it... not so much anymore...

The only reason I haven't just left is only because I've gotten to know some very excellent other people here....

But the new site isn't making it easy to wanna stick around...

..

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

I say go back to the old site.

 

[bibi40]

I never see the site ( and the site never saw it anymore ) , with so much members and invited , and with no much new " material " , so certainly a lot of bots !!!
not good ...

 

[woolybear]

Site loads fine, no bots for me.

 

[Gaussamer]

And bots are a new problem how?

 

[theJointedOne]

And bots are a new problem how?

We've not had them like this before now. As soon as the site updated we starting getting new members signing up at a rate that wasn't correlating with the usual flow of new members to the site. As i investigated further, i found most of the so called new "members" were auto-generated by some sort of bot/scam program. Just the names alone were easy to identify as fake.

This is a scenario that wasn't happening before the site update.

 

[CosmicGiggle]

We've not had them like this before now. As soon as the site updated we starting getting new members signing up at a rate that wasn't correlating with the usual flow of new members to the site. As i investigated further, i found most of the so called new "members" were auto-generated by some sort of bot/scam program. Just the names alone were easy to identify as fake.

This is a scenario that wasn't happening before the site update.

This is true, I noticed it too, but also noticed the increase began in late Dec., Jan. and Feb. and started accelerating in March. Could be a lot of newbies due to legalization in the USA, also a lot of former members are returning to growing.

Could also be new, younger members addicted to cell phones and welcoming the new, friendlier format as you noted.

 

[Gaussamer]

We've not had them like this before now. As soon as the site updated we starting getting new members signing up at a rate that wasn't correlating with the usual flow of new members to the site. As i investigated further, i found most of the so called new "members" were auto-generated by some sort of bot/scam program. Just the names alone were easy to identify as fake.

This is a scenario that wasn't happening before the site update.

I didn't know that, interesting. This is a media platform and we're freight training right into the commercialization of weed, like CG said that might be a big part of it

 

[Amynamous]

Reminds me of when Microsoft switched from WindowsXP to Windows8.

 

[Tudo]

We've not had them like this before now. As soon as the site updated we starting getting new members signing up at a rate that wasn't correlating with the usual flow of new members to the site. As i investigated further, i found most of the so called new "members" were auto-generated by some sort of bot/scam program. Just the names alone were easy to identify as fake.

This is a scenario that wasn't happening before the site update.

What is the purpose of these "bots"? Is it spam, is it something more dangerous where they capture information we don't want them to capture?
I'd still like to know more about these "bots" and new sign ups, what does all that mean and is it intrusive to all of our emails etc? Thanks for letting this old guy say a few words , in between Star Trek Beyond

 

[CosmicGiggle]

What is the purpose of these "bots"? Is it spam......

Bots are planted and then lay in wait for the right time in the future when they 'bump' an old thread and a 'newbie' bot jumps in with the spam, it's usually pretty obvious what's going on, just another game, free advertising!

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

bots? - something that we have been dealing with for 18 years or so - most days we get some bot spammer making a half-arsed attempt to advertize something that most of our members wouldn't ever want - and its just a simple matter of banning and deleting - so long as members keep an eye out for them and 'Flag' the spamming post - we usually get to it - and take care of it within minutes -

- so all this palava about 'bots' - is more than slightly exaggerated -

 

[GMT]

You know we love what you've built here Gypsy, but you must be disappointed by how long its taking to get the place upgraded. The absence of a delete your account, the inability to delete photos in posts, the lack of album functionality, are all big problems. The new ability to call a member into a thread without having to pm them is nice though, I do like that @ function. I also like the new chat room, because now its not flash based, I can access it on my android phone. Can't say I've noticed more bots, but I suppose I wouldn't, that's something that keeps mods busy rather than members. I have seen a decline in activity though, even though the upgrade guys say its busier. That's a bit confusing.

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

- Yeah - there are a few things that could be improved - augmented - or changed - and the album functionality is one of them - I do hope that whatever issues there are - can be sorted out soon - from what I can make of it - some members like the new upgrade - and others not - most understand that a forum site is generally a work in progress - this big change has been difficult for me too - but like I've said before - it had to be done -

 

[Switcher56]

What is the purpose of these "bots"? Is it spam, is it something more dangerous where they capture information we don't want them to capture?
I'd still like to know more about these "bots" and new sign ups, what does all that mean and is it intrusive to all of our emails etc? Thanks for letting this old guy say a few words , in between Star Trek Beyond

Normally they simply spam the shit out of the site.

 

[LouDog420]

Gypsy, can we get a progress thread that at least shows what they intend to fix and how far along that are? I think that would solve a lot of issues, as I'm sure many members feel abandoned (site updated, and really no major changes since then despite all the feedback)...

Right now, we get ignored or hear this and that is being worked on, but myself personally, I haven't seen any progress for weeks. Many changes seem simple like they should take a day or two at most, but no progress... We were going to get a last page button and better page navigation, that seems like a really simple fix, but alas, nothing for weeks... If it was me, I'd have the programmer working double time to fix your forum before members really start leaving in droves, and I think it's getting closer every day we see no progress or fixes implemented as frustration builds.

My suggestion, start a thread like "feature requests" where you or ATUK have the main post. Then update that original post with fixes that are being implemented and the progress (future update, in progress, almost finished, fully implemented, etc). I think the biggest issue for members is not knowing if/when these things will be fixed and leading members to believe our favorite lost features from the old site are gone forever... The difficulty it takes to navigate the site compared to the old one, click and scroll, click and scroll, whereas before it was just a single click is a huge problem. My IC, rep system and comments, thread lists ordered by latest post/activity, page navigation, last page button, fixed galleries, visible subforums, etc all need work imo and some of those seem like one hour to one day fixes...

This process would be much less painless if we had better communication and input into how to improve the site to its former glory, imo. It also provides some sort of accountability from the programmers.

Good vibes, hope you can get this fixed and back to the IC we all love to frequent

 

[Maple_Flail]

Gypsy, can we get a progress thread that at least shows what they intend to fix and how far along that are? I think that would solve a lot of issues, as I'm sure many members feel abandoned (site updated, and really no major changes since then despite all the feedback)...

Right now, we get ignored or hear this and that is being worked on, but myself personally, I haven't seen any progress for weeks. Many changes seem simple like they should take a day or two at most, but no progress... We were going to get a last page button and better page navigation, that seems like a really simple fix, but alas, nothing for weeks... If it was me, I'd have the programmer working double time to fix your forum before members really start leaving in droves, and I think it's getting closer every day we see no progress or fixes implemented as frustration builds.

I can only partially agree with this, no major changes.. yes.

However, there have been many obvious changes to the general smoothness and QoL of the day to day activity. If you are giving the new update a solid college try of a chance then you would notice this. I can't remember the last time i got gateway error.. Chat isn't causing anywhere near as many "working..." lock ups.

also, the text saved caching has become almost Top notch, Its like THEY know we are stoners and get distracted.


That being said, yes I agree this update doesn't have the same flow as the old site. however it is easy to see they are working on fixing what sorta doesn't work before introducing "new"/OLD functionality (even though it is old functionality, we are on an entirely different{or modernized} forum architecture.. some things get lost in translation and take time to re express properly )

I do have quite the long list of features I'd like back, however harping away like a broken record saying all the same things everyone else is saying doesn't help it just clogs channels.
I'd rather spend that time getting used to the new functions and contributing to the ongoing threads i follow. yes it s a few more clicks all the time, but i use my hands on a daily basis these actions are menial compared to what one does in their garden..

I personally have not noticed more bots, although i follow a narrow segment of sub forums so i'm less likely to see it enmass. If they do pop up the flag function is pretty easy. just as it was.