Sorry for the pain, we're working on it!

Downtime, uptime..

from WinCustomize Forums

Sorry guys that the site has been flakey. 

We set up GalCiv2.com to make use of the same database network that WinCustomize has because traditionally, game sites don't get a lot of traffic.  However, the game has done far better than we had anticipated (and we were anticipating it would do pretty well).  This in turn has increased traffic there far beyond what we had spec'd.  Moreover, over this weekend we had a situation that caused Slashdot, Digg, Neowin, Metafilter, and literally over 200 other sites to link to a particular article.

We have new servers on order. One of which is just a total monster. I wish I could have it. Both Raid 1 and Raid 0 on it! SMP 64-bit Dual core. So it should help things.  But in the meantime, we're limping along.  The current infrastructure was not designed to handle two sites of WinCustomize's traffic levels.

Update: The new servers have arrived. Now we just have to configure them, load them up, and get them up.  They're real monsters!

11,998 views 29 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah, it's been flakey ...but when the unexpected happens [the hammering the servers have taken] you've gotta roll with the punches.

It's been tough without our Wincustomize for a while, but things will return to normal soon enough.

Good luck, and lets hope those servers arrive soon!
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You're also on the Register, they say you're a hero! It's also the top link on dailyrotation.com.
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad! in my view, GC-II Dev. Team is responsible for all this trouble. Why did they develop such a 'beautiful' and 'addictive' game. -- (Just kidding) -- I hope things will get satteled very soon ... Again congrats for you and your team mates for developing such un-avoidable game.

Btw, what was the article to which all sites have to link?
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad the inconvienience is worth the end results..

As a customer I have no doubt you all are hard at work to remedy the situation.

As a member of the community I Applaude S.D.'s philosopy of treating the consumer as a valued customer and not like a "potential Criminal". The GalCiv2.com page inquestion deserves all the attention it can get.

just my 2 cents

HG
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Your growth is a good sign of the future. good luck and thanks for haveing sutch a great site and programs that make great graphics explorations possable.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No worries, Brad...there's been times when I couldn't get in at all, or there were sever errors when I did, but I'm a fairly patient guy and just wait a while until things are better. However, when the new servers kick in, it'll be a blessing for all concerned and we're all looking forward to more great things from Stardock....cos you guys totally rock and deserve every success. Congrats on the new servers, but even bigger ones for GalCiv2 exceeding your wildest expectations

A TotalGaming.Net subscription was on the agenda for my wife this week, but finances took a kick in the ribs with some hardware issues, so it had to take a back seat to a working PC.....but hopefully it'll happen in the next month or so.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No problem Brad....just grateful everything is growing at WC/SD.....too many really cool websites have bit the dust from lack of interest & involvement. Keep us posted as to the haps!! 5/STARS!!
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Jafo carefully wipes his prints from the 'Off' button......and steals a few hours of R and R .....

No-one will notice.....[we can blame the Canadians.....]......

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Canadians? Uh oh.....

CerebroJD strolls out of the room quickly
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I was watching some of debacle- especially on digg etc. It looks like you may have made quite a few new fans and sales from it all- I hope so for you guys! I have mixed feelings about the whole piracy issue. I tend to 'preview' some games and things sometimes- I have bought hundreds of DVDs, CDs, and games over the past few years as a result of playtesting them, and quite honestly that is how I ended up buying the ObjectDesktop package myself.
I thought it was so impressive and also here was a company actually listening to and working with its customers- so I took the plunge and bought the whole OD thing. I'm not sure I would have done that without having seen what it was capable of first- but I renewed my subscription a few months ago so you are obviously doing something right!
Can we expect a Demo of GC2 on stardock central any time soon? I'd love to see what the kerfuffle is all about.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We are all a patient group and know there will be problems from time to time because of the growth, popularity and quality of this site. I know you will always bounce back when something does happen.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Question: If Galciv2 is the problem, why not turn off that website? Why does WC and it's paying subscribers have to be shut out?

I ask this becuase game traffic is well temporary at best. A few months from now there will be zero press about the game. The OD/WC subscribers keep paying year after year. I went on GalCiv2.com yesterday and pages were loading briskly, while it appeared that WC was completely shut down. It's like buying a Gym membership and showing up to work out and find they have closed for the day for a private function. As this has been going on since the release of GalCiv2 I have to think that the WC users are being treated as 2nd class Stardock customers.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

 Sir kith ....I think the short-term 'pain' and disruption felt by the Wincustomize.com users will be greatly offset by the success of GalCiv2 and its ensuing financial benefits to the total Stardock 'universe'.  What benefits the most ultimately benefits all.

If, for example this success with the new game leads to new servers, etc then we will all benefit....

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am guessing this is also what has caused the JU shutdown*? Congrats again on the success of the game.

*Not a complaint, just a question.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Keep up the good work guys. While I haven't played GalCivII (I'm not really into space games), I'm extremely happy that it's going over so well, knowing what kind of work you put into the game. Congrats & we'll be patient with you! It's what us good customers do best!
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Question: If Galciv2 is the problem, why not turn off that website? Why does WC and it's paying subscribers have to be shut out?

I ask this becuase game traffic is well temporary at best. A few months from now there will be zero press about the game. The OD/WC subscribers keep paying year after year. I went on GalCiv2.com yesterday and pages were loading briskly, while it appeared that WC was completely shut down. It's like buying a Gym membership and showing up to work out and find they have closed for the day for a private function. As this has been going on since the release of GalCiv2 I have to think that the WC users are being treated as 2nd class Stardock customers.

That's precisely why.  Game traffic is temporary at best. It will get its shot and then return to a lower level.  WinCustomize, by contrast, is going to thrive no matter what.

 

Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow, kicking your own as*, Its good to hear your game is doing well,(not a gamer but the screen shots do look pretty cool) Thanks for letting us know what is going on. Been wondering why Wincustomize kept coming up as a page cannot be displayed. Best of luck with getting everything the way you want it.. DocX
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A simple phrase from my childhood keeps coming to mind:

"Patience Grasshopper!"

Great work on GCII and here's to new severs!
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So Wincustomize was down for a couple of days! So what! As long as the admins are honest about it and explain what happened, it should be OK for everybody.
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

So Wincustomize was down for a couple of days!

More accurately 'hours' than 'days'....

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm glad that I support and use products from all the different "sides" of the business (GUI, Game, productivity).

If one side takes a hit, I just roll to another.
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If, for example this success with the new game leads to new servers, etc then we will all benefit..


Monster servers!!!! I would love to know more about that! (I'm a nerd you see...)

Plus I want to know what the statistics were for the site. Digg, Slashdot and other sites going to ONE ARTICLE??? Slashdot alone can shut down a site, but Digg too?



Lets hope JoeUser and WinCustomize benefit from the new super servers. Since everything is interconnected, I don't see why not.
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You can go here:

https://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741

Click on the referrals and you can see the 500+ sites that linked to just that article. It was crazy.

The main new database server has 6 hard drives in it running both raid 0 and raid 1.  It's an SMP Duo Core 64-bit CPU with I think 10 gigabytes of RAM.