12 replies to this topic

[DeRealDeano]

Even though this is a small tip comparing to what the rest of you guys have mentioned I still think it’s a key part of a successful board.

Never take your board offline unless it is absolutely necessary. Those few moments its offline can have a big impact on your board.

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Along these lines... do not FREQUENTLY turn your board offline. If you are doing maintenance, in which turning the board offline is necessary, then keep it offline until you know you are done. Turning them offline, then back online, then offline again because you found something else, etc is frustrating for your memberbase, and can have a larger negative impact then just keeping it offline for a prolonged period of time.

And, on that note, always notify your members first before turning the board offline for anything longer than 15-30 minutes, and schedule a time to do so. That way they simply know that the site won't be available within that timeframe and will be less frustrated about that fact.

[Breadfan]

I turn it offline only when I'm doing board/app upgrades. I don't want someone posting and adding stuff to database while it's being updated. Call me paranoid but I like to be on the safe side. That and when doing backups..but in both cases I do it in late morning hours when most of my member base is sleeping so they may not even be aware board is offline.

[PKIDelirium]

I only turn my board offline when I'm upgrading it or taking a backup, and I always do that pretty late at night when there's usually little to no traffic.

[.Brian]

I would say turning your board offline before an upgrade is a wise move. Or, else they might get error messages which they would question if your site is dependable or not.

[Cyrem]

I'd like to add that the acceptable frenquency of taking your board offline can depend also on your userbase. If you operate a business on your board, it's best to keep this to a minimum. However on smaller/tight-knit communities, it probably isn't such a big deal.

When I do have my forum offline, I have a shoutbox on the offline page. That way, I or members can still communicate with eachother.

[SubStrider]

Good idea about shoutbox. We generally point the users to our facebook page. We usually have large downtimes ranging in days when we are doing a bigger migration/upgrade. Soon we will be moving our servers and I intend to keep the downtime negligible. Then there is this impending 3.3 upgrade.

[Marcher Technologies]

I'd like to add that the acceptable frenquency of taking your board offline can depend also on your userbase. If you operate a business on your board, it's best to keep this to a minimum. However on smaller/tight-knit communities, it probably isn't such a big deal.

When I do have my forum offline, I have a shoutbox on the offline page. That way, I or members can still communicate with eachother.

That seems quite unwise, especially in regards to database backups... my 2 cents, allowing database interaction during such a period seems unwise.

[PKIDelirium]

This is my offline page:

[Cyrem]

That seems quite unwise, especially in regards to database backups... my 2 cents, allowing database interaction during such a period seems unwise.

The shoutbox is hosted elseware, it doesn't connect to the database at all.

[Zizzla_JA]

I only turn my board offline when I'm upgrading it or taking a backup, and I always do that pretty late at night when there's usually little to no traffic.

I only turn my board offline when I'm upgrading it or taking a backup, and I always do that pretty late at night when there's usually little to no traffic.

Can i ask why you take it of line when you are doing a backup? can,t you just take backup from cpanel

[PKIDelirium]

I take backups from cPanel/phpMyAdmin, yes, but I take the board offline first so nothing gets added to the database during the backup.

[Zizzla_JA]

Ok i have never thought of doing that. how many times do you take a full back up