What IS it with Gather's Servers, Anyway? 3 Hours Trying to Publish An Article

You are not alone. Sometimes it takes forever to just post a comment. then I will go back and the comment isn't there. Argggghhhhh!!!

Kathryn, guess what happened. I tried to send an email to Canada. It kept coming back--unheard of. Do you know what was wrong? The details explained there was a BAD URL in my email by .us. MS stole my americanactionintl.com domain by offering me free hosting anf free transfer of the domain. Well, the thing did not work and now my domain didn't have a home, so I purchased americanactioninternational.us to get even and save my web site. HOWEVER, and how interesting, I did not know Canada cannot accept .us URLs. Explain this one please. Is this a glitch?

I think this topic has been beaten to death. Gather is certainly aware of it. If you truly want more information on this, or to submit a complaint, then I would recommend contacting Gather support. Also, remember that Gather is a free service.

K - It also took me awhile to do things yesterday -- to publish my article, upload some photos for it, comment on other articles. But in Gather's defense, all websites need scheduled maintenance. Every website will be down at some point for maintenance...so please don't be angry with Gather! Sometimes I can't even get my e-mail on Google or Northeastern e-mail due to maintenance. Next, time, just be patient :-)

Just because it is free does not mean it should be inferior. Google is free, Yahoo is free. Gather like others probably makes mone from advertisers. Yes all networks need maintenance but civilized people do itin the middle of the night or the very early morning. I think Katherine is right; too much traffic overwhelms the servers. There are ways around this if Gather is to servive. The suggestion to call Gather Support will only get you a canned resposne. .

You know, this is getting ridiculous. Yesterday they were down for hours, and now I have 80-something unread emails..... I don't want people to start quitting (is that an oxymoron?) but I can see the frustration growing. It really should not be this difficult.

I would further suggest publishing this article to the 'Building a Better Gather' group. Perhaps you will then receive a comment from Gather management on this issue.

This is a big issue with Gather and I've been told it's number one priority, but requires some fundamental changes and upgrades which, I understand, they're working very hard on. Obviously, it's in Gather's best interest to fix the performance issues. I believe it is the classic case of growth at the cost of function. Sorry this happened!

"Also, remember that Gather is a free service." bull.
Kevin, what is free here (or so very nearly so as to be moot) is the CONTENT that is WHAT ALLOWS GATHER TO EXIST
AT ALL and as one of those providing fodder for this thing I think it's appropriate to bitch any damn where we please..

In fact I'd say that unless the situation is resolved it would be appropriate for the high posters ALL to post a short article a DAY asking why this system isn't being fixed...
Every Day, anywhere they bloody well pleased..

What say you Kathryn????

Lloyd

Lloyd, I think there is an Anger Management group here on Gather you might want to check out. It would be listed in the index under Health and Healthy Living.... ;-)

I agree with Liz. Write all content offline and then copy and paste. I seldom have trouble publishing, but do have a LOT of trouble staying signed in. If I copy and paste as soon as I sign in, I seldom have any problems, but Gather automatically signs me out a trillion (well that's exaggerating) times a day.

I agree that Gather needs to work out any technical issues, if nothing else, for the sake of their advertisers. These folks are really the one's who are funding Gather, and they expect that their marketing communications are reaching the people they intend to, as often as they intend.

As for us, let's face it. Gather might be created to facilitate the kinds of things we like to do (and I believe that's Tom's vision), but we ain't paying the bills. When push comes to shove, Gather will have to make decisions that balance the needs of the folks paying the bills against the needs of the users.

When those two things are in conflict, you will see a dramatic change in Gather's functionality or in it's user base.

kathryn - i published an article yest (the 24 hrs one) and it got lost. i had to start again...groan. i write offline and copy paste it in. but uploading all those photos takes time, and then sliding them in takes time too, aligning them....drat! sorry!!

Linda, that has happened to me, too. It is most frustrating. Sometimes, the problem is with too much traffic on the servers; I've seen that happen often in the middle of the day...But this was early, 6 a.m., and there shouldn't have been a problem...

Susan, I've not heard of the .us domain, but I'm not that familiar with the NEW group of doman names. I think that any email address that is valid will go through. I think it is a technical problem with the email address not being correct.

Arielle, Gather was down yesterday, as a matter of fact, as they are on a regular basis for site maintenance...A number of people have trouble with this issue, (and which Gather is aware)...

John, that is true - that Gather is free doesn't relieve it of responsibility to be good. Good does not mean error-free; but I do know that a number of people also experience this. I also know that Gather is aware of this problem and is working on it...

Kevin, see my reply to John.

Nancy, it IS ridiculous. I do hope Gather upgrades or purchases new servers to accommodate the increase in traffic. I've noticed incredible problems with traffic flow...And, this is not the first time...Usually, I write in Word, so I always have a backup...But this problem was merely in the uploading of images, which is done directly on the publishing tool....

Building a Better Gather - good idea...

Nope you're not alone. I get that too! The owners need to look into the problem.

Ed, yes, I believe, too, it is a case of growth versus function...I'm sure they're working on it, but since problems with traffic flow happen regularly, I hope they are well-equipped to handle the increase that occurs, geometrically, on a regular basis..

Liz, it IS life on the Internet, but it is Gather's problem if its servers aren't up to par vis a vis its regular increase in membership and the traffic which that increase causes. I do know Gather is working on this problem, and I hope Gather can see to it that its technical fix on this will correct the traffic increases that occur on a regular basis...

I do write EVERYTHING in Word. This problem occured in the publishing tool, because I was uploading images...I've uploaded them many times before without problem.

I type all my comments directly. I type 70 wpm or more. Going off line would be counterproductive. Gather's servers are just slow sometimes...

Lloyd, it IS frustrating, and I'm sure for Gather, too. But I really don't quite understand what seems to be taking the time - this problem has been going on for a number of weeks already - is it a question of purchasing more servers, or upgrading the ones they have...Or, is it a question of identifying exactly HOW to implement the technical fix - i.e., what kind of code to write....I do hope they get it resolved quickly. I do know Gather is aware of this...

Mary, I do write everything offline in Word. This existed in the publishing tool solely, during uploading of images...I've uploaded images many times without a problem, but each image was taking several minutes, and then...poof !!!

Eric, we aren't paying the bills, but Gather was given either $6 million or $7 million back in January in venture capital...I do think they have the money to make this happen any time they want....Yes, the user base is very important, as ARE Gather...

Jessie, I was copy/pasting my photos in from the area on the right, where I had originally uploaded them in. I didn't slide them in. The pasting of the photo into the article itself was instantaneous...What took long was the uploading., which I've done many times before and nothing got lost...

Got your message about Picasa. I'll get it and see if everything works better. Thanks !!!

Deborah, thanks for your comment. It IS so frustrating for Gather writers, and even though Gather is looking into this, this problem has occured and has been written about for several weeks, already...I do know it is a high priority, but the solution seems slow in the implementation and we are wondering why...

That's certainly a way of boosting your Gather points. Comment on each and every single comment you've received for your own article. Top scheme!

Gather addicts galore, I hail you! :-)

JC R., we all comment on our own articles. Sometimes I comment on several at once, sometimes not...One of the disadvantages of ocmmenting on several at once, is that the intended authors do not always get to see what you've written when they log into their email, so they never even know you've responded....

Commenting upon one's own articles generates next to no points, if any at all. Certainly the 16 comments I've wrtten did not generate one point. Nobody would actually try to get points by commenting on their own articles.

JC R-

Kathryn especially loves to comment on her own stuff, but it's users like Johnny 5000 who actually get into trouble from it from the Gather management. It's kind of a crazy place here.

Rekkanize!

Kathryn, I find it a little strange that you published this article at all. You frequently mention your close relationship with Gather staff, so it seems you would have just shot them an email or a phone call instead of writing this article. Then, in your comments to others, you indicate that you indeed are in the know about all things Gather. Do you want sympathy from us because you spent three hours trying to post an article when the site was obviously not functioning properly? I don't undertand the purpose of this article.

Kathryn,
I've been experiencing an almost stand-still situation for the last two days. The problems are pretty big. I've been having a very hard time viewing articles, so I've not been able to comment very much.
This is a touchy issue. While I agree with Kevin that Gather knows about these problems, I also agree that their silence on the problems is a matter of concern.
The last article I posted looked strange after it was up. I was able to correct some issues by editing it, but it still does not look quite right. I publish off line and simply paste to the article publishing block, so nothing has changed on my end.
We could borrow a few lines from Stephen Stills "For What it's Worth"
to describe the situation:

" There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear "

" There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong "

" A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side "

I believe it was stated several times by Gather management, including Tom Gerace, that the issue is not due to a lack of adequate capacity planning, or server capabilities, but with a 'back-end' process creating a bottle neck. These issues can be a bit more difficult to track down and resolve.

Doesn't the text of this "article" belong in an email message to support@gather.com instead of making the problem that it is complaining about worse?

Kathryn, I have the same problems. Gather site is so slow and user-unfriendly and they seem slow to improve it. But guess what, you and I and many others are still sticking around here :-(.

I don't understand why there is such a big push to get new Gather members when the system obviously isn't up to serving the ones who are already here.

Bravo for posting this publicly. I see others have said "you shouldn't have done that". But posting this complaint publicly and fostering group discussion is the best bet. I was so appalled with the performance yesterday. There seems to be some core architectural problems with this site. Also many of the "features" do not seem to add value to the core usage of the site and should be reconsidered. One of the most obvious ways to speed a dynamically built web page is to reduce the number of hits to different indices. Is every piece of data on the page really worth its cost in performance hit? I'd be beating on the product management executive to show me a cost/value proposition and justify the hit to performance.

As an aside, I know for a fact that Tom and crew have the resume of an experienced web architect/executive who has written code to handle hundreds of millions of daily requests :-)

Gremlins, blame the gremlins.

Sandy, you must have me confused with someone else...My relationship with Gather is the same as that which Gather has with every other member: I am but one of thousands, no more, no less. The only staff members I met were at Beryl's reading last month here in Boston...I never said I had a close relationship with Gather staff; this is simply incorrect. I never stated I had any relationship at all...

George, thanks for the song - I could hear it in my head - and thanks for sharing your experience....It IS very common...

Kevin, the problem is definitely a bottleneck, and I'm sure Gather is working on it...Difficult to fix, yes, and as Rich Sadowsky points out in his comment, Gather seems to be close to a solution...Good news for everybody...

Yep, Helen, we are still here. Rich Sadowsky mentions in his comment that Tom has the resume of a super web architect who has written code that can handle hundreds of millions of daily requests. Truly, GREAT news.

Betty, perhaps Gather is close to a solution... I hope so...Rich Sadowsky mentions that Tom and crew are in possession of a resume of someone who has written code that can handle hundreds of millions of daily requests. Perhaps, the solution is close at hand...

Rich, your comment was the best news I heard all day, ANYWHERE in the world....Truly great news that Tom and crew are in possession of a resume of someone who has written code that can handle hundreds of miillions of daily requests...

Leah, yep, you're right, it's always the gremlins. They're cute, but very troublesome...

"Gather seems to be close to a solution"

Kathryn, where does Rich state this? I have reviewed his comment several times, and I certainly can't see anything that even remotely comes close to this. He has indicated that Gather has a resume from someone. That's all. Do you even know what the problem is? Is this person even going to be hired? Is this person even NEEDED to fix the problem?

...and why haven't you published this to the 'Building a Better Gather' group? Otherwise, all you are doing is exacerbating the difficulty of this issue.

Kevin, you misread me. I NEVER stated that Rich said Gather is close to a solution; the mere fact that Tom and crew have key resumes such as the one Rich mentions means they are closer to a solution...

Why? How do you draw that conclusion? On what are you basing this assumption upon? Do you KNOW that Gather needs more people to fix the problem? Will more resumes, or people, bring them closer to a solution? How do you know this?

Kathryn, all I am pointing out here is that you are implying something that may not be accurate. You are also inferring that the Gather staff are not skilled or experienced enough to deal with the application they have built, or that they are somehow 'lacking' and in need of outside assistance to work through some performance issues. Without first-hand knowledge of this, by you, your statements are, at best, irresponsible.

It was a slightly tougue in cheek reference. I talked to Gather about a job there. They decided to go with more of a coder then an architect/executive. I am extremely puzzled by this since the core of the problem is so clearly architectural in nature. Nothing beats 10 years of trial by fire on the web. You learn how to beat back product management when they propose features that will grind your site to a halt. So my point was that Gather has talked to me and presumably others with experience building sites handling hundreds of millions of requests, but seem to be taking it on their own to fix this. I am so very interested in helping them with this. I just about stalked them to get an answer out of them after three interviews. I think the concept of this site is fantastic and it has promise, but performance is clearly killing it. I hope to be able to help someday.

To Kevin's point, I only met two top people in engineering and they were both awesome and seemed to have a good grasp on the issues. But sometimes, in fact most often, the issue is not the coding or design skill, it is the political skill at managing the feature set and working truly cross functionally to make it win-win all around. All I can say is the things I see happening are detrimental to the performance, not improving it. I obviously can't see the source code on the server, but watching the pages build their output I can surmise many things. In fact, I am known for having a great knack of reverse engineering by seeing the site only. Gather never asked me to sign a non-discloser, which I found odd, but I will give them professional courtesy and not discuss anything we discussed, other then I interviewed for a job there. There was high mutual interest and I believe there still is. They just felt the job they were filling wasn't a match for me. I can respect that (I wish I hadn't wasted a month waiting).

But I feel totally free to discuss what is obvious by plain observation without any inside knowledge. What I have observed is lots of downtime for upgrades, increased instability, and degrading performance. Perhaps commitments to investors on certain features were a top priority. That is always a tough balancing act! My experience sitting in board meetings of web startups for 10 years is you must spell out the implications of the board's priorities. For example, if they wanted points live and subscribers up, they should understand how that will impact the experience that each user has unless certain core technologies are addressed first. It sucks to tell them that, because it is like admitting you failed to build it right. But do you want to try to explain later why the users went away? I don't know anything about the company or board priorities. If I were on exec staff and had Tom's ear I would discuss the pros and cons of adding membership while core dsign flaws remain in place. It is harder to fix the more densly populated the databases get. Marketing, engineering, CEO and customer service should sit down and have a big offsite powwow, without the board, align around a plan, and sell it to the board. Maybe that has happened. They seemed like very smart folks (even though I had only 15 minutes with Tom and would have liked an hour).

Kathryn, I think you wrote about an issue that we are all having, but untill I read this I thought I was the only one having a problem , because I have very slow dial up. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one. Thanks for sharing your experience. I don't understand why people are being so harsh to the article, you saw a problem and wanted to write about how you felt about it, I don't see anything wrong with that!

Rich, you have tremendous knowledge and skill and were able to use all of that here to elucidate some questions that people have or may have about why the performance degrades, what impact the number of users may potentially have on performance, and what are the potential implications for Gather management, and what can be done about that. I appreciate your input very much, as it was a real eye opener to me, and, I'm certain, was also to many other Gatherers, as well...All we can do is hope for the best. Thank you for all of your skilled insight into the performance issue, Rich.

Cassandra, I don't see anything wrong with it, either. In a forum like this, people like to voice their opinions. I think a lot of people who read this, and a lot of people DO read this article even though they may not comment, also feel as you do - that they were wondering WHY the performance is slow... From my experience in newspapers, and it is also true in advertising or market research, of all the people who respond, to something in a newspaper, for example, like writing a letter to the editor, there are MANY more who felt similarly but did not write...

I found all the above comments interesting - they indicate that Gather DOES have a BIG functionality problem, and it's just not my incompetence at programming and the like.

I now do all my writing off line in MS Word because the Gather publishing process is so sub-standard (e.g. compared to Blog Spot and Blog Explosion) AND because articles can suddenly just disappear into the ether when I press 'Publish' (it happened as late as yesterday). Indeed, I don't know when I hit 'Post" for this comment if it will actually be posted; and if I were to add a second comment, I know I've first got to refresh this page. I shudder to think what is going to happen if this site's membership drive attracts large numbers of new users - will everything just stuff up?

Magi

NIcola, I've used blogspot, too - that's where my blogs were, and where I store some stuff...nobody ever commented there, except for spam...it is real difficult to do what Gather is trying to do...the membership keeps growing exponentially, it is as if it grows by some 10,000 a month, or 2,500 a week, or 400 a day...Just guessing, by the numbers Tom has given us...

I got a blog at blospot. I get comments there too. It depends on how much you comment on other blogs! I got a great circle of blogger friends.

Coming back, it too took me a lot of time to publish an article here!

Gautami, I just used blogspot to post my blogs...Yep, some days are slow here...

Gautami, I did get comments from people I knew. Then, I deleted that blog; a year ago I returned to blogspot and republished the articles in new blogs; I wasn't interested in a commuinty, at that time...

I had the same probllem yesterday putting up my new noir poem, Katherine, They say that A NEW GATHER IS ON THE WAY. All they did was clean out all my sent messages. Go figure. I am glad Gather is a free service, and I do check out the ads.

John, I saw your comment and immediately checked my sent messags. Yep, they're gone. Must have been an accident; they would not have done this deliberately. Still, it is an unfortunate thing to have happened, as I do need my sent messages from time to time. A good reminder to me to bcc myself if I think I might need the sent message. I, too, am awaiting some updates on various things, especially: ratings.