Aye, that is why I would suggest that it appears JUST when Decal is FIRST started, not constantly updated. When you launch, it goes out, looks for the byte, if it finds it, it does the lookup and displays that message, if it doesn't get it (ie server is down) it displays message 00 (for example).


Anyway, just throwing out that suggestion. They most likely already thought of something like that anyway. Just thought it might help with the endless PMs, IMs, Posts about what the status of Decal is.

agnari: I think you misunderstood what I meant in that post...


in general, bandwidth isn't a huge issue. Its not really even an issue when you have 10K users all spamming the update button.. but it is useless and a waste. I'd prefer people save their time and our bandwidth by not continually pressing update until they see the memloc version change. Rather, wait until there is a post or something made.


As for Arch_Magi's suggestion.. while it is a nice idea, that means someone actually has to write the code to display the news item, and then keep the news page that it feeds from updated. *shrug* not saying it won't happen, but I think there are currently other higher priority items that need to be taken care of first.

Thanks for the update and your efforts, Decal Gods.

Yes a for the hard work !

 

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a_m's idea is sound. He even provided a great way to get around the bandwidth problem. I don't care how many people use Decal and how often they click "Refresh" - it's a single byte.


Some simple math...because I'm horrible at math...


Let's say there are 10000 decal users (well above what I truly think there are).

Most people don't click "Update" every day, but let's say they do. 10000 bytes a day * 30 days in a month = 30K bytes.

Patch days are killers. Let's average it to 10 update clicks per user on patch day...some will be more.. some less.... (10 * 1) * 10000 = 100K


Total b/w usage = 130K per month.


So, what, about 2-3 jpg files total bandwidth per month? I don't think you'd have a problem finding a host that would allow you well under 1 megs worth of bandwidth per month. You could multiply my numbers by 100 and still find a free hosting provider. Hell, you could even point them to an apache server running at someone's home and never even *start* to affect their bandwidth. A round robin list would be ideal.

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As an aside, I don't think anyone would bemoan the decal devs. They're awesome. If for nothing else of providing me with an easy way to buff.


A_M provided a *suggestion*. And a good one, too.

I agree it's a good idea, and closely ties in with some other ideas we've discussed (like when starting Decal, checking if newer memlocs are available and automatically getting them, or notifying the user to get them). As Drakier mentioned, the primary slowdown on that right now is higher priority issues (can you say performant graphics?) Once you create a 'logon' contact to the Decal server for news, etc. it opens up the door to all KINDS of possibilities. News, automatic updates and even blacklists to keep chazcon out of Decal.


NOW let the flames begin

arch magi's idea isn't a bad one, but here's something to consider:


in general, the decal dev team does not do a good job of providing status updates. what I mean by this is, you don't hear very much from them until the update is ready, and an announcement is made. so while there's no problem in distributing the information (when an announcement is made, the news travels fast), the problem is that the information is not updated frequently enough.


changing the way in which these updates are published doesn't really do anything to solve the basic problem, which is that the decal devs do not do a good job of providing frequent, timely, status updates. they would much rather work on fixing decal than take any time out to post an update.


this is not a problem that's easy (for us) to fix. we're good at what we're good at, and not good at what we're bad at.


-ken

I agree, and that is why I made the suggestion.


Sure it would take a little thought, mainly for the messages, and a little coding, both in the client to display those messages, and in a little "bit setter", but once it's done, than anyone of the Devs with the proper access tot he "server" could run the program, which would basically have a drop down list showing the list of messages, select one, then hit a button that says "set", and viola, all the people who run Decal from that point on will see the message.


That way they don't have to post a status update on vnboards (on about 1 or 20 different boards), their board, etc. No need for an explanation, for the message would speak for itself.


Whatever. I know Decal is down, but I've already answered 2 IMs and 3 PMs and posted several times on Harvestgain for people asking if Decal was up yet. Sure it isn't my job, but I like to help people. I'm just making the suggestion on how it could be done to make a centralized way of keeping everyone up to date with minimal effort for future releases. This way, you do it once, and it covers every update from now until the end of Decal. Doesn't matter if you have a vnboards account, know that this board exists, or even know the address of the Decal forums page (and you'd be suprised how many people don't).


Heck, even just putting the http: address of the official forums page in the plugin might help.

And apathetic about everything else...


The Agent is going through some rather ugly changes at the moment. I suspect Agent 3.0 will be a completely rewritten application from the current agent, anyway. Anyway, there are still some problems with the update, we suspect some message changes. The memlocs work, but plugins are still broken -- so we will not be releasing them until we figure out what the rest of the problems are.

 

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What has worked for our allegiance is simple ... partly because I monitor this board, the MT board, and others regularly. If our allegiance bot is up and running, everyone knows Decal is up and ready for them to use. If he's offline, they know Decal is down. Now that may be overly simplistic, but it has worked for almost 3 years now (since I've been personally running the bot at the mansion).


Another thing would be for allegiance monarchs to keep an eye here and the Decal forums - and post on MOTD or as an allegiance announcement what is going on. Last night before I logged, I let them know what had been posted here - and that Decal MIGHT need rewriting. They were satisfied with that information, and went back to "wait" mode.


Arch, you have a super idea, but IMO these guys work their tails off to get Decal up as quickly as they can. Why not spread the above idea around on servers and see if that helps with the problem. A little bit of time on the monarch's (or allegiance officer if the monarch cannot) part would help an allegiance be aware and help with some of the "is decal up yet" posts. It does not take long, but sure seems to put people's minds at ease knowing someone has some information to share.

 

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