Questions about how the site works and site management

jadetrucker43 said:If a thread actually brings something to the table, they aren't just gonna nuked it. It’s more likely they just merged everything into one big mess.

Jessica Nelson4 covered the rest of the bases pretty well. 🙂

For real. I had a thread running for months that got wiped out in a heartbeat. I wouldn't complain if it wasn't such a freak occurrence, but hey, I get it—a moderator can't keep tabs on every single thing posted.
Probably true... honestly, I’d probably delete some of those political threads where everyone acts like certain pundits are geniuses.

And yeah, Jessica Nelson4 definitely stepped up when it mattered.

By the way, if anyone here is actually curious about the inner workings of this incredibly intricate and sophisticated software—vBulletin—which powers sites like Reddit and serves as the gold standard for forum architecture, you can head over to https://www.vbulletin.com/admindemo.php. From there, you can set up your own demo forum for a 24-hour period, giving you a chance to really dig into the various tools and settings available to moderators and administrators alike.

Out of all the boards out there, this one actually looks the best from a technical standpoint. It’s clean, intuitive, has a certain "vibe," and it’s genuinely more functional than most. But the moderators? They have way too much power, and their rulebook feels like it was pulled straight from some authoritarian playbook.
I honestly wonder why they get away with being so untouchable. They just tweak things whenever they feel like it instead of following actual logic, which I'm pretty sure is why so many people ended up ditching this place for good.

I notice several users here are using 60x60 avatars.
Why am I restricted to 50x50 instead?
My previous avatar was 60x60...
Has there been a change to the site settings regarding allowed avatar dimensions? 🤷

Alexander Kern42 said:I noticed some users have avatars that are 60x60 pixels.
I guess I can't upload anything larger than 50x50; why is that?

It's because you aren't a moderator anymore.

Dammit 🤣

It’s pointless to me. I think this needs some revision; we aren't living 2000 years ago where everyone is stuck using monitors with 800x600 or 1024x768 resolutions 🤷

The size should be bumped up to at least 60x60 for regular users and 75x75 for moderators—maybe even 75x75 or 100x100—without ruining the forum's layout or usability. It would make people happy.

Go whisper that to the big boss 🙂 😁

Quick question for the moderator;

-I’m likely going to switch internet service providers soon, so I was wondering if that necessitates updating my registration here—specifically, if I need to link a new email address—and honestly, how much of a headache would it actually be if I just decided to scrap this and start over with a brand-new account under the new address?

Timothy Evans2 said:A quick question for the moderators:

-I'm likely switching internet service providers soon, so I was wondering if I need to update my registration here with a new email address, and how much of a headache it actually is if I just decide to start a brand new account with the new one?

You don't strictly have to change your email, though it’s definitely a good idea. Heaven forbid you ever lose track of your password; if you go to click that "forgot password" link, the reset will be sent to whatever address you have on file, and if that's an old account you can no longer access, you'll be locked out. Of course, this only applies if you originally signed up using an email address provided directly by your ISP. If you used a personal account—like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo—that stays yours regardless of which provider you use for your connection. You could certainly just create a whole new user profile, but honestly, it's much easier (it really only takes about 30 seconds) to just head into your settings and update the email address there; then, depending on how this forum is configured, you might just need to check your new inbox to confirm the change.

My friendly little tip for you: try to set up a dedicated address through a service like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo that isn't tied to your specific internet provider, and use that for all your forum registrations and online accounts moving forward. 😁

Look, if you’re planning on switching up your email address, just get it done while you still have access to your current one—it'll save you a massive headache later. 👍

jadetrucker43 said:Tu If you’re planning on switching over to a new email address, I’d really suggest getting that sorted while you still have full access to your current account; it makes everything so much smoother when you can verify things on the fly without any headaches. 👍

I’m glad you included that link; I realized after clicking it that the email address listed there is one I haven't touched in years, so it was a helpful heads-up. 🙂

Joshua Ramos14 said:Look, you don't strictly have to change your email, but if you value your sanity, you really should. God forbid you forget your password and then try to hit that recovery button, only to realize the reset link is being sent to an inbox you haven't been able to access for years. Of course, that only becomes a nightmare if you used the specific email address handed to you by your ISP. If you're using a private account—something like Gmail, Outlook, or Google—that stays yours regardless of who provides your internet service. You could always just start from scratch with a brand new user profile, but honestly, it’s much easier to just spend thirty seconds in your settings updating the email address, and then (assuming this forum is set up that way) check your new inbox to confirm the change.

My unsolicited advice? Just set up a dedicated address through Gmail, Outlook, or Google—something completely independent of your internet provider—and use that whenever you're signing up for forums and stuff. 😁

Thanks a million for the help... But let me ask you one more thing. Is it actually possible for a second person to join this forum using that same email address, say, from the same computer?
And if I have two different links sitting in my old email account, does the logic still hold true once I switch over to the new address?

Reddit is easily the most sluggish site in the entire country, if not the whole damn hemisphere.

Seriously, every single other page I visit—even some random niche forums—loads way faster than Reddit does.

Timothy Evans2 said:So, can someone else join this site using the same email address—basically from the same computer—is that actually doable?
And if there were two different links attached to my old email, would opening a new one still work the same way...?

You can't register two different accounts using the exact same email address. It just doesn't work that way.

Jacob Chase42 said:Reddit is easily the slowest forum in the country, if not quite globally.

Every other site, every single subreddit, loads way faster than this place.

Do those other sites actually have this many threads, posts, and active users, though? 🤦

Jacob Chase42 said:Reddit is easily the slowest forum in the country, if not anywhere else.

Every other site I visit, even most niche forums, seems to load way faster than Reddit.

I can't really say I agree, because everything seems to open up quite quickly on my end. I'll admit that I occasionally run into an error where I have to hit refresh, but overall, things tend to launch pretty fast for me. I actually just ran some quick pings against Google, CNN, and even the local news sites, and everything is hovering right around the same speed. Even when I have several tabs open including this one, I don't really feel any significant lag.🤷

I'm not quite sure where else to turn, so I'll try my luck here. Has there been some sort of update regarding signature formatting rules lately?
It seems I'm being blocked from using any BB Code at all.

Signature Permissions
Allow Basic BB Code No
Allow Color BB Code No
Allow Size BB Code No
Allow Font BB Code No
Allow Alignment BB Code No
Allow List BB Code No
Allow Link BB Code Yes
Allow HTML No
Allow Image BB Code No
Allow Code BB Code No
Allow PHP BB Code No
Allow HTML BB Code No
Allow Quote BB Code No
Allow Smilies No
Can Upload Images for Signature No
Can Upload Animated GIF for Signature No

Does anyone know what's going on?

jadetrucker43 said:You can't link two different accounts to the same email address.

So, tell me—do all those other big-shot forums actually deal with this massive amount of threads, posts, and active users? 🤦

I mean, seriously, if you guys in tech—whoever is running the show—know that the site is getting slammed, why haven't you fixed it yet?

For years now, people have been whining about slow loading times and those annoying 503 errors. Look, regular users didn't go out and demand that this forum be built in the first place, and neither did I. So, honestly? It's on the owner to beef up the server capacity, which seems to be...

Jacob Chase42 said:If you guys work in IT or whatever field you're in, and you know that Reddit is getting hit with traffic, why don't you just fix it?

For years now, people have been complaining about slow loading times and those pesky 503 errors. Regular users didn't ask for this site to be founded, and I certainly didn't either. At the end of the day, it falls on the founder to scale up the server capacity, which seems to be an issue here...

There is one specific thing called a "prune," where they clear out old content starting from a date they decide. However, that means all those posts are gone forever, and it would probably wipe out everyone's post counts too—though I'm not entirely sure if there's a way to keep the post counts the same even after a massive prune occurs.

I imagine you see the downside of that approach, since posts and threads just vanish into thin air. Another option would be for them to upgrade their hosting plan, though considering how much traffic this place gets, I suspect they are already paying for a massive enterprise-grade package that costs a fortune (unless, of course, they have a major sponsor covering the bill).

Personally, I'm sitting here on a router using a pretty weak wireless signal right now, so I occasionally run into 503 errors that I just resolve by hitting F5. When I'm back home on my own router, or whenever I can find a spot with a stronger signal, I rarely have any trouble accessing the forum at all. ☕

Honestly, I really wouldn't want anyone messing with my hard-earned posts—I mean, I practically bled for those. Thanks for clearing that up, though; if that's how it is, then whatever. Guess I just have to sit tight and deal with it...

rowdyhawk27 said:I'm honestly not sure where else to go with this, but did they actually change the rules about how we set up our signatures?

Man, it hasn't even been a full year since they last messed with that...

I mean, this Reddit site is definitely running on a massive Mainframe, which probably runs up a bill of several thousand bucks every single month.
But honestly, I’m pretty sure—actually, I'm fairly certain—that the ad revenue probably covers like 80% of those costs, maybe even the whole damn thing if they play their cards right.
I don't really know exactly when they started seeing actual profit, but I think I read somewhere that they've been in the black since maybe 2006.