Problem attempt records deactivated

[admin]

Unfortunately, goproblems.com is suffering as a result of its popularity. The database recording problem attempts has grown so large that my hosting provider, Dreamhost, has complained that I'm using too many resources. For now, I will disable the record of problem attempts. I need to find a long-term solution, which is difficult. I will probably not be able to remember everyone's attempts indefinitely, as is currently the case.

adum

{Posted by admin}

[lolz]

Hi Adum,

That's really a pity!

In my opinion, this was the most important feature of www.goproblems.com. Other features like "See attempt path" for example are far less important. Remembering the number of attempts was nice too, but if it can save space I can live without it: a boolean for 'tried' and 'solved' would be enough.

I have almost exclusively used goproblems.com doing search on 'unsolved' problems and it has been too long now since the last time I could squeeze my brain with an appropriate problem. I am starting too feel the withdrawal symptoms!!!

In any case, I would gladly pay to have this feature back and I am more than willing to help to solve this situation. If you want and if you can provide some information on the current database schema, size, number of users, etc. I (and maybe other people) could try to come up a more efficient way to store the information or to encode it in order to save space.

Anyway, I am really curious to know what is the database size...

Also, if this is something that you would consider I can grant you access to one of my account (free.fr), with currently 10Gb of unused storage (not sure if this applies to the database though, I would have to check). Outsourcing part of the database may result in slow down/unavailability but it would be minor inconvenience compared to the lack of search by problem status.

Please let us know if there is anything that we (as goproblems.com users) can do to help.

{Posted by lolz}

[admin]

thanks for the comments, lolz.

unfortunately, the database schema doesn't have a lot of room for improvement. all information it stores is relevant, and there's no way to improve the space without sacrificing information.

i am going to bring the feature back at some point in the next month or so. what i'm leaning towards doing is making it an advanced feature that only some people will have. i'm thinking of charging people a nominal fee -- that will keep the number of saved attempts relatively low. i'm curious what people think about this idea.

thanks,
adum

{Posted by admin}

[tom111]

Hi adum,

still i'm curious about how big the database is, respectively how much traffic it produces.
for my homepage i run a server almost idle.
i wonder if I could host your database :)

Anyway, the "premium service" is a standard measure for this kind of problem. Have seen this for several free online games.

{Posted by tom111}

[tom111]

Hi adum,

still i'm curious about how big the database is, respectively how much traffic it produces.
for my homepage i run a server almost idle.
i wonder if I could host your database :)

Anyway, the "premium service" is a standard measure for this kind of problem. Have seen this for several free online games.

{Posted by tom111}

[admin]

hey. the table of problem attempts alone was about 1gig, with approx 10 million rows and three indices. there were a lot of queries on it, too -- every time a user sees a problem, for example.

cheers,
adum

{Posted by admin}

[santa c]

perhaps there should be an attempt tree (or a 2nd sgf with the data embedded in hidden tags/visible tags - depending if u want to make a 2nd dl-able version of the archive with attempts) per problem (even if it's without the which-usr-info) instead of regenerating it each time from the user attempts... ^_^* (adum, please checkout the most recent thread at suggestions... ^_^*)

{Posted by santa c}

[WTD]

I was under the impression that only a user's 1st attempt at a problem affected that problem's wins/tries ratio. Recently, however, it seems that repeated attempts (when the problem is left and returned to, or just refreshed) also cause the ratio to change.

As the ratio determines the problem's Difficulty; and as, after the 1st attempt, the user is likely to have used the Navigate Solution; this will lead to distortion of the way problems are categorised.

{Posted by WTD}

[admin]

[quote]
I was under the impression that only a user's 1st attempt at a problem affected that problem's wins/tries ratio. Recently, however, it seems that repeated attempts (when the problem is left and returned to, or just refreshed) also cause the ratio to change.

As the ratio determines the problem's Difficulty; and as, after the 1st attempt, the user is likely to have used the Navigate Solution; this will lead to distortion of the way problems are categorised.
[/quote]

it _should_ be only the first attempt that affects a problem's difficulty. however, right now non-pro accounts don't have attempts saved and thus subsequent attempts will count multiple times.

adum

{Posted by admin}

[Vlad]

Hi,

I don't want to get a paypal account. Is any other
means of payment acceptable?


{Posted by Vlad}