I'VE GOT A HUGE IDEA!!

Selski · January 24, 2006, 15:35:47

Hello Fellow Fellows and Girls

I've had an idea.

When you first log on to the Forums, you can see to the left hand bottom side of your screen that the most ever users online was 95 on 26 January 2005.

I would like to set out to beat that. What do you think? Are we all up for it?

Well, I propose the date and time of:

Saturday, 28th January 2006.

Timing to be confirmed.

Can we agree a time when *most* members will be logged on/lurking.

I haven't a clue cause I'm from a really small island...

Sarah

PS All those interested - please respond - the more responses, the more chance we'll have of beating last year's record.

Heather B. · January 24, 2006, 16:17:06

Oh my gosh, I was just thinking about this earlier today, wondering if we could ever beat 95!

I'm definitely in!

Hm, I generally check in several times a day... especially on weekends! I think any time would work for me, but I know we've got members all around the globe. I'm Central time, 5 hours behind Greenwich.

I hope we can make it work!

cainam_nazier · January 25, 2006, 04:44:45

I would do it. I am at -6 or -7 off of Greenwich time. However I also usually check this at night while I am at work. 11pm 7am.

Grigori · January 25, 2006, 05:09:28

Not to rain on anyones parade but that number tends to be helped out by poorly designed search spiders and spambots searching multiple threads at the same time. It is of course certainly possible to beat that number with actual members online BUT I suspect a more realistic number for a forum this size would be in the 30's or 40's :confused:

baodur · January 25, 2006, 05:18:05

I' m in but my time is GMT+1

Tombo · January 25, 2006, 06:08:36

I'm in I'm +1 Greenwich time

Eloquence · January 25, 2006, 09:48:19

Ill try to be in! Im GMT+11 at the moment (daylight savings). I think im at a party that night... but drunk or not drunk, ill try when I get home

paker7 · January 25, 2006, 13:18:57

Hi Selski

I'm sure your intentions are good - you are a moderator after all , but this looks like a potential disaster - dos attacks are organized this way.

If astralpulse server is fast enough, everything will be ok.

Nay · January 25, 2006, 13:29:49

Heheh..I'll give it a shot, if I remember!

Kazbadan · January 25, 2006, 14:32:03

My GMT is 0. Its better to agree a time. At night i will be on party and will not be sleeping on my home, so...only during the day i can do it.

Covelo · January 25, 2006, 16:15:03

This might be cheating, but what if we all just stayed logged in and left our computers on that day?

Then we could at least know how many active users there are lurking these days.

Another thought I just had was to see if we can beat the highest number of posts in one day... What do you think? :scratchy: :Iagree:

Selski · January 25, 2006, 16:25:55

Quote from: CoveloThis might be cheating, but what if we all just stayed logged in and left our computers on that day? Then we could at least know how many active users there are lurking these days.

Hi Covelo

You've probably got the best idea there - stay logged on.

But if it's open to attacks, then I don't want to be held responsible!! :gone:

I don't know the first thing about dos attacks, so if others think it wouldn't be a good idea, then I'll happily concede.

Otherwise, let's stay logged on for the day and see what happens!

Highest number of posts in one day - hmmm, that'll be fun too. Let's get Saturday out of the way first...

Sarah

dingo · January 25, 2006, 16:38:10

Quote from: CoveloThis might be cheating, but what if we all just stayed logged in and left our computers on that day? Then we could at least know how many active users there are lurking these days.

Unfortunately the forum figures out how many users there are logged in by how many different users have requested a page in the last five minutes (requested a page means clicking a link or refreshing a page). So unless you wanted to sit there refreshing your browser every five minutes I don't think it'd work.

And I think paker7 meant that having 100's of users on at once would be a huge strain on the server's bandwidth. DoS (denial of service) attack are maliciously arranged in a similar way, when hundreds or thousands of computers request pages from the same server all at once, which leads to reduced speed, denial of service to legitimate users, and possible breakdown, lol.

Covelo · January 26, 2006, 00:34:15

Quote from: dingo
Quote from: CoveloThis might be cheating, but what if we all just stayed logged in and left our computers on that day? Then we could at least know how many active users there are lurking these days.
Unfortunately the forum figures out how many users there are logged in by how many different users have requested a page in the last five minutes (requested a page means clicking a link or refreshing a page). So unless you wanted to sit there refreshing your browser every five minutes I don't think it'd work.

And I think paker7 meant that having 100's of users on at once would be a huge strain on the server's bandwidth. DoS (denial of service) attack are maliciously arranged in a similar way, when hundreds or thousands of computers request pages from the same server all at once, which leads to reduced speed, denial of service to legitimate users, and possible breakdown, lol.

Who is doing the attacking which you speak of?... And how do you know about the 5-minute thing?

Selski · January 26, 2006, 05:06:25

Maybe this is turning into a REALLY BAD idea...

Perhaps we'll call the whole thing off - however I'll be logging in on Saturday at lots of different intervals - just to see what's going on.

Sarah

Grigori · January 26, 2006, 07:04:13

Quote from: SelskiMaybe this is turning into a REALLY BAD idea...

Perhaps we'll call the whole thing off - however I'll be logging in on Saturday at lots of different intervals - just to see what's going on.

Sarah

Hehe

nah it's not a bad idea ... it was really kind of nice

I doubt if there is any serious danger of an "accidental" DoS here

in addition to a large number of coordinated users those users also need to make numerous automated large bandwidth requests at the same time ... so this place should be safe.

However if the goal is simply to increase the "number" the easiest way is to dial through a few different proxy servers at the same time and block your cookies. In five minutes I'd expect one person could appear as atleast 20 guestsif not more so you'd only need 5 people or so helping you out

Of course you could just have Adrian login into phpMyAdmin and change the number manually

Eloquence · January 26, 2006, 08:56:24

Quote from: Grigori
Quote from: SelskiMaybe this is turning into a REALLY BAD idea...

Perhaps we'll call the whole thing off - however I'll be logging in on Saturday at lots of different intervals - just to see what's going on.

Sarah
Hehe nah it's not a bad idea ... it was really kind of nice I doubt if there is any serious danger of an "accidental" DoS here in addition to a large number of coordinated users those users also need to make numerous automated large bandwidth requests at the same time ... so this place should be safe.

However if the goal is simply to increase the "number" the easiest way is to dial through a few different proxy servers at the same time and block your cookies. In five minutes I'd expect one person could appear as atleast 20 guestsif not more so you'd only need 5 people or so helping you out

Of course you could just have Adrian login into phpMyAdmin and change the number manually

Im shocked!!!
It just wouldnt be the same of the most users ever online stat was changed manually! You have to earn it! By coordinating people to be online at one time or otherwise!

dingo · January 26, 2006, 11:47:43

Quote from: CoveloWho is doing the attacking which you speak of?... And how do you know about the 5-minute thing?

No ones doing the attacking. I meant everyone simultaneously logging on at once would have similar effects to an organised DoS. The five minute thing is mentioned at the bottom of the index page just under where it says who's logged on.

QuoteThis data is based on users active over the past five minutes

Grigori · January 27, 2006, 04:32:58

Quote from: EloquenceIm shocked!!!
It just wouldnt be the same of the most users ever online stat was changed manually! You have to earn it! By coordinating people to be online at one time or otherwise!

Hehe

sorry didn't mean to offend anyone

my original point was that the number is already likely inaccurate from search spiders canvasing the forum with multiple querries.

Of course another option would be to set the timer to somethng more than 5 minutes. The timing portion of the script is in admin/index.php ... it's generally set to 300 seconds (5 min) but you can make it anything you want

Kazbadan · January 27, 2006, 18:35:49

at least we could try the most posts in one day

CFTraveler · January 27, 2006, 21:31:33

Quote from: KazbadanWhy are you reading this?

Because.

Nay · January 28, 2006, 09:39:35

Hey, I'm here...where is everybody?

Mustardseed · January 28, 2006, 10:54:11

we are over here.....................

Nay · January 28, 2006, 11:00:08

Well, get over here!.... :whipU:

Nay :wave:

Selski · January 28, 2006, 12:27:50

Hey there!

12 online right now - only another 84 to go... :multiblob:

Sarah

News:

I'VE GOT A HUGE IDEA!!

Nay

CFTraveler

Nay

Nay