Just a few suggestions I'd like to see on Afterdawn. Would it be possible to add some sort of notification when you get a PM, Shoutbox message, or Buddy List add? I know I get a weekly message that details on all those, and was wondering if there's a way to get instant updates on those features... I apologize if there is already a way and I just haven't noticed it yet. Thanks for your time...
This (spesifically the PM part) is something we plan to implement, once we figure out a good way to do it. I'd actually like to build a system that doesn't require a page refresh to get the notification, but something that checks the inbox even when you're reading a page. Some weird AJAX thingy, maybe.
Okay, great... Hope you guys can figure it out... I take it that I'm not the only one who has thought of that... That's one of the advantages of writing your own forum software, you go do whatever you want with it... Thank dRD for the info...
Yeah I know... I should edit said above post, but this is alot easier... What about adding Shoutbox messages and Buddy List additions to e-mail notifications? PM is already covered there so I'm sure you can tweak some of the coding to work with those too. Or at least have an idea to work from. Just a thought.
I'd personally not like to get email notifications for shoutbox additions, i don't feel the need to chat in the shoutbox much, i much prefer to just pop in there manually once a day. But if this were to be added i'd hope it would have an opt out tickbox for those that would prefer not to get these notifications..
Definately good news on the instant notification for PM's and such. I like that idea muy muy mucho. I'm with Creaky on the shoutbox notification though.
i am with creeky also and if you want to get or put some on a Buddy List , just ad them to you aim,yahoo msg, or the many other programs that the kids use!
I dont understand how an online button clogs up the server, but a personal messaging system doesnt It doesnt make sense, if every single user on afterdawn is alerted of buddy adds, and all sorts, the database has to make thousands more calculations per second, for example, if I were a computer system i'd be thinking, "who's added who in the last 0.000001 seconds, who's recieved a private message in the last 0.000001 seconds, who do i need to alert in the next 0.000001 seconds, etc..", i do have a point dont i? All the server would have to do for an online button is, "who's online and whos offline", and even i could code it, so, could somebody please explain what the difference between this and the online button? Is its because the online button is an image? I really would like to know the answer to this question, because this is going to be stuck in the back of my mind for the next two days, lol, call it obsession
Say, private messages. They get "updated" only when someone writes one -- and then system inserts that into the database and then sends out a notification to the recipient. So, only one database insert there. Same goes for writing a new message to a discussion thread -- only one "action item", in this case, a database insert, is required. "Selecting" stuff from database is much, muuuuch faster -- so when you view a discussion thread, we select messages from the database for you to view, but as "SELECT" is about gazillion times faster, we can have gazillion more people viewing stuff than writing stuff with our current database system. (We get about 1,500 - 3,000 new messages a day, so its about 2 posts per minute per day). Now, a system that calculates who is online can't rely on recording data when users are logging in, as most of us don't ever log out. Thus, every single page view a user makes on our site would have to update the database for that user, stating "WOOHOO! YO! I'm still here! Actually the last time I was seen was when I loaded a page today at 10:59:32". And as we get about million page impressions per day -- and if _every_ page load has to update that data, it'd mean one million "INSERTs" or "UPDATEs" into the database. And as those operations are "gazillion times" slower than "SELECTs" -- and our system "survives" currently about million - two million selects per day, we'd need to have gazillion times heavier database equipment, just for this feature. Clear enough?-)
point proven, i understand. one more question, if you dont mind me asking, what are the server costs per month, approximately for afterdawn, and does making donations to the site affect that? say, for example, if i were to donate £20 to afterdawn, what would that be put to?
AfterDawn is run by a company, AfterDawn Oy, located in Finland -- and according to Finnish laws, accepting donations by companies or individuals is illegal (only registered charities can do that), so best way to help us is to keep your ad block, etc off and allow our site to show you ads. And of course, to link to our site from your homepage, other forums you visit, etc -- and recommend our site to your friends. Our servers cost thousands per month (pick your preferred currency, applies for GBP, USD and EUR) and we also pay actual salaries to our news writers, etc. So, its a company. Not a big one, not very good business either, but a company that has advertisements as its only source of income
i understand now, so it works a lot like google adsense doesnt it? So, if i were to click one of those links, afterdawn oy gets paid 20p, etc...???????
Not exactly. Most of our ads are "per impression" type (as opposed to "per click"), i.e. every time you load a new page on our site which loads ads, so clicking is not really needed, but allowing ads to load -- and to load as many pages as possible, too -- is most of the time enough. Of course, advertisers look for value for their ads too, so if you see an ad that interests you, visit the advertiser via the ad, so they know that advertising on our site brings them customers, sales, etc. After all, if the advertising doesn't "work" on a particular medium, advertisers will change to another medium.
ok, i get it. if you dont mind me asking, on average how much does afterdawn earn by ads every month? and how much of that is put towards server costs, software, etc...?
