The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Sorry, but getting hard to be polite about it anymore. Is there some reason why this slow/crashing forum can't be fixed? I appreciate what you do to keep this forum up, David, but it's really getting to be unusable at times. I apologize for the SHOUTING... but really, would appreciate at least a response to the issue, if not an actual fix. It's extremely frustrating to bang out a long response to try to help someone only to have the forum freeze & timeout and lose everything.

Thank you,

Jerry V.

I use a lot of copy/paste before I hit the post button.
Or wright your response out in "word" or even in your mail provider in drafts _ then copy/paste it out of there.

A person shouldn't have to do that, but on an unstable forum like this, it becomes necessary.

I was having trouble earlier.edisonplsyer.

The Forum seems to run very smooth for a bit and then hiccup offline.

This is the first time I've been able to log in all day. When I tried logging in earlier there were 714 users online. Now there are 134 users online.

Every time the page has been sluggish, there were well over 500 users displayed in the statistics. The only times I've been able to log in have been when there have been under about 200 to 300 users.

If there was a way to install an automatic captcha or sensor that would check for bots and block them when this site is called up, that might solve the problem.

It might suck but also maybe a system where when you type in the website address you just see a log in/sign up screen and can't read or post to the forum before logging in or signing up.

There is nothing wrong with the forum that substantial donations might not fix.

As MordEth/David has said:

MordEth wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 8:38 pm
... I operate this site as a net loss.
....

Regards,
David

MordEth wrote: Wed Aug 06, 2025 12:14 am
...

I have PayPal, Venmo, CashApp and the ability to take transfers via Zelle; should anyone wish to use any of these to donate, I’d be happy to that info via PM, or if someone would prefer my address to send a check, that could be arranged as well.
...

Regards,
David

My understanding is that MordEth runs the site for someone else, who for some reason unknown to me is not able to do it himself.

The forum software platform everything runs on is ancient. It could use an update.

Domain registration, security certificates, web site hosting, etc all cost money.

Web site hosting (available bandwidth, storage capacity, etc) could be upgraded. Web site security (improving performance by warding off baddies) could be upgraded. The fourm software platform could be upgraded. All these things cost both money .... and TIME ... and in this case MordEth's time.

And already, MordEthi's being Marshall Matt Dillion to the forum's Dodge City consumes David's time, and I somehow doubt that there are any Festus/Chester, Miss Kitty, Doc characters to help him.

Personally, I would like to express my thanks to MordEth/David for his efforts.

And I repeat: there is nothing wrong with the forum that substantial donations might not fix.

MordEth wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 8:38 pm
... I operate this site as a net loss.
....

Regards,
David

Of course one does feel sympathy for David but the fact is he has repeatedly ignored offers of help from experts, especially a few years ago, over the tragic loss of 12 years of missing attachments.

I believe there were also offers to help run the site from dedicated phonograph enthusiasts who have an interest in the hobby and IT knowledge. David has little or no interest in the hobby.

Rather than see David loose time and money (no one should have to do that) why not pass it over to someone else?

So you make your bed you have to lie in it.

Personally, I can only speak to/of the 3, not yet 4, years I have been a member.

Today another forum that I frequent posted this:

"The Issue: High Bot Traffic

Our server has experienced a large influx of bot traffic from specific countries. While a few of the bots may have legitimate uses, most are unknown and untrustworthy. In short, they are using our resources for no apparent benefit to either our server, or our members and human visitors.

We were seeing as high as fivefold the number of visitors (who are not logged-in members) we usually see on the forum. This has the possibility of slowing down the server, and forum/site access for everyone. If you have experienced slowdowns in recent weeks, this is the reason why.

...

Bot traffic has increase dramatically across the Internet, with a handful of countries seeing a substantial uptick in activity."

I wouldn't be surprised if the explanation for recent problems on the TMF lies here.