Traffic overload?

[Skip Talbot]

Noticed the server was down for awhile tonight with the following error:
"The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression."

Also, saw this in the stats on the main page when it was back up:
"Most users ever online was 11,547, Today at 09:19 PM."

Discovery's Storm Chaser's site hotlink over to Stormtrack or something?

 

[Wes Carter]

Noticed the server was down for awhile tonight with the following error:
"The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression."

Also, saw this in the stats on the main page when it was back up:
"Most users ever online was 11,547, Today at 09:19 PM."

Discovery's Storm Chaser's site hotlink over to Stormtrack or something?

LOL, I posted a similar thread at the same time. Moderators, please remove the thread I started or just turn it over to the Department of Redundancy Department.

Was Stormtrack mentioned on the Storm Chasers TV show or something? With those kinds of hits, Stormtrack will probably move up in the Google search results. Tim Marshall just might sell enough videos from his banner ad to retire on.

I guess we will see a 'surge' in the number of new members very soon.

 

[Jason Foster]

Funny this came on the heals of Collura's post about the server being slow the other day. Wonder if the server is hiccuping in lieu of a possible failure. But I don't thing that is what it was......

Was Stormtrack mentioned on the Storm Chasers TV show or something? With those kinds of hits, Stormtrack will probably move up in the Google search results. Tim Marshall just might sell enough videos from his banner ad to retire on.

Yeah sorta...I think what you saw was when the show started....the post the note about Matt Hughes. Google his name with the term storm chaser...you'll have the answer right there.

Another example. Jon Davies original Blog about Matt. 2 comments to the blog right after in May. Twenty-nine (and counting) tonight alone were added.

Shows you the power of TV, search engines and more.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Yeah sorta...I think what you saw was when the show started....the post the note about Matt Hughes. Google his name with the term storm chaser...you'll have the answer right there.

I think this could be the culprit. That thread currently has 82,136 views; I certainly imagine this was much, much, much lower yesterday at this time.

EDIT: Only 45 minutes later, we're at ~89,000 views. The 7,000 views in 45 minutes, I imagine, must have to do with people landing here from a Google search for Matt.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

One thing that I think is a little scary is, even now, there are 790 people viewing the Matt Hughes thread. The number of applications for membership in the next day or two could be staggering if that's any indication.

 

[Jason Foster]

If it was the discovery show...there will be future spikes as well with Reruns!

One thing that I think is a little scary is, even now, there are 790 people viewing the Matt Hughes thread. The number of applications for membership in the next day or two could be staggering if that's any indication.

This is a perfect time with the $5 fee will help turn people away. Do we still have the fee in place though.....I better do a search on that.

I did just IM a Kris Harmon who just joined and was in the chat, but he was interested in lightning and asked about a place to introduce himself.

I am curious as to HOW MANY new applications we get. Hopefully TimV will share some with us....for fun.

 

[Jacob Ferden]

If it was the discovery show...there will be future spikes as well with Reruns!

I don't know that there's any "if" about it at this point, there were over 11,000 people on here right after the show. Absolutely shocking.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I think Tony plugged ST during the Yazoo City episode. I know heard him mention ST by name sometime this season, but I'm not completely sure of the episode.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

This may explain things a bit: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X&date=2010-11-4

Lot's of people have been curious apparently on how he died. Too bad nobody used the captive audience to speak about it and maybe try and help some people. I think it was a huge loss there.

 

[Paul Stofer]

Thats terrible, the fact he died is what matters. It doesn't matter how. It's still a tragic loss..

 

[Tim Vasquez]

It does appear that the access problems Thursday night were due to that storm chaser program, as the moderators and others have pointed out. I got notice of the server problems when I was going to bed and was going to do a reboot first thing in the morning, but the issue cleared out on its own, which points to more of a traffic issue than hung processes.

This is a perfect time with the $5 fee will help turn people away. Do we still have the fee in place though.....I better do a search on that.

Yes, a "$5 for life" membership fee is currently in place for newcomers. So far it appears to be a pretty effective means of making sure only serious enthusiasts come on board. For the 48-hour period following Thursday's broadcast, there was not an spike in completed memberships at all, so I'm pretty happy with how it's working.

Tim