[Foundation-l] Re: Continued concern with performance

Tue Jan 18 05:58:00 UTC 2005

--- Tim Starling <t.starling at physics.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:

> Rich Holton wrote:
> > While it appears that the developers are very busy attempting to 
> > solve the technical issues, there seems to be little actual
> progress.
> >  How long will we allow this situation to continue without
> attempting
> >  solutions of a different sort? A good operational definition of 
> > insanity is "continuing the same actions expecting different 
> > results."
> 
> At this stage, I think we just need more hardware. I think we've
> solved
> the major system administration problems. Software development will
> continue with optimisation work but that's a long term goal even with
> hired help. You could try using the site in off-peak times, it works
> very well then. More hardware is on order.
> 
I have and will continue to use Wikipedia at off-peak hours. Of course,
this is at best a work-around, not a solution.

> > If our developers lack time, resources, or skill needed to resolve
> > the issues, then let us immediately hire a temporary consultant to
> > focus on this problem and resolve it.
> 
> What problem? You don't even understand what the problem is. I've 
> repeatedly given my informed opinion on what is needed, and it
> doesn't 
> involve hiring consultants at a rate of $100/hr. Long term work on 
> optimisation is needed. JamesDay, our database optimisation
> specialist, 
> can give you a list of features as long as your arm that would
> improve 
> performance. I've tried and mostly failed to get people interested in
> 
> writing such things. Hardware is needed, and rapid hardware repair is
> 
> needed.
> 
Thanks for setting me straight on where the problem lies. One of the
real challenges is staying current with what progress has been made. In
my own defense, there is a prominent link at the top of the technical
section of the Village Pump that leads to a Live Journal article
stating emphatically that the problem is not hardware. Apparently this
is out of date. Is there a better way to stay informed that I should
know about?

> More system administrators are needed. My interest is in programming,
> 
> but I end up spending most of my time on Linux system administration,
> 
> because there's nobody else around to do it. Understand that Linux is
> an 
> operating system I had *never even used* before I started on
> Wikipedia. 
> I had to pick it up as I went along. It's a bizarre, flawed, buggy 
> operating system which I only use because I'm forced to.
> 

Knowing your path to becoming a competent system administrator gives me
some hope for myself, as I would have to go through a  learning curve
similar to yours. Of course, even if I and a hundred others were to
begin that learning curve now, it would not solve any immediate
problems.

> Paid system administration help may be an option, but the first
> priority 
> for paid help should be hardware maintenance, since there are no 
> volunteers in that field, and a small amount of time spent will make
> a 
> big difference.
> 
> -- Tim Starling
> 

My greatest concern is that there are continuing performance issues
with little apparent progress over an extended period. Without
hesitation I presume that we have good people volunteering their time
and working hard to resolve these issues. 

Sometimes it is necessary for an organization to consider the
possibility that internal resources are not sufficient to address an
immediate need. Wikipedia has come a long way relying almost entirely
on volunteer workers. I do not believe this can continue indefinitely.

With humble respect,

Rich Holton
(en.Wikipedia:User:Rholton)

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