Downtime update
UPDATE: Okay. It's up. Let's see if it stays up. I'll blog about various changes soon. You'll notice some missing recommendations. The site will go down at 3am EST.
I've got good news to report on the database front. I've made something of a break-through. On the nastiest queries—for example, determining what 20 users share the most books with you and how many they share—it now performs 500 times faster than before. You probably won't see that sort of increase, but it will be noticeable. If you have more than 1,000 books, visiting your profile will become fun again, not an invitation to wait. And the changes will allow LibraryThing to grow far beyond its current 1,498,000 books.
Although theoretically simple, the changes need to be made dozens of places. And tested. I'm behind on the sleep department, so I may not be able to finish it this evening. It will almost certainly be up by 5pm tomorrow, spiffier than ever. Within an hour or so I expect LibraryThing will surpass both 1.5 million books and 2 million tags.
Thanks to everyone who send letters of sympathy, encouragement and offers of assistance. Incidentally, I love the idea for the down page to sport a falllen pile repair-themed books.
PS: Is it just lack of sleep that makes the phrase downtime update seem linguistically funny?
I've got good news to report on the database front. I've made something of a break-through. On the nastiest queries—for example, determining what 20 users share the most books with you and how many they share—it now performs 500 times faster than before. You probably won't see that sort of increase, but it will be noticeable. If you have more than 1,000 books, visiting your profile will become fun again, not an invitation to wait. And the changes will allow LibraryThing to grow far beyond its current 1,498,000 books.
Although theoretically simple, the changes need to be made dozens of places. And tested. I'm behind on the sleep department, so I may not be able to finish it this evening. It will almost certainly be up by 5pm tomorrow, spiffier than ever. Within an hour or so I expect LibraryThing will surpass both 1.5 million books and 2 million tags.
Thanks to everyone who send letters of sympathy, encouragement and offers of assistance. Incidentally, I love the idea for the down page to sport a falllen pile repair-themed books.
PS: Is it just lack of sleep that makes the phrase downtime update seem linguistically funny?
posted by Tim at 8:57 PM
26 Comments:
Great job, Tim! I'm so happy to hear LT will be back up by tomorrow evening. I need to add more books. This is a great site and we all appreciate the work you put into it. Now go get some sleep!
Oh... downtime update? Little funny. You're very sleepy. :)
Brilliant Tim, thanks ever so much! Go and get some sleep, and I'm looking forward to playing with the All Improved librarything.com!
Geez, get some rest. I've been checking all day to see if LT was back.
And Downtime update IS funny!
Get some much needed sleep and keep it up! The site is great, and I can't wait to add more books in tomorrow!
Hey Tim, hang in there! I miss LT when it's not available, but I'm sure we can all learn enough patience to let you sleep now and again! Thanks again for all your hard work on this great site.
Cheers,
Chris
Hey, I have just joined Library Thing and I already love it... continue to keep up the good work!
That folks here would find "downtime update" funny is just one of the things I love about this site.
Get some sleep. ;-)
First, this thing rocks... thanks for all the hard work.
Second, I thought I was the first to think of the fallen pile of books!
Peace.
I love the site. And it's comforting to be able to read an update telling us that the Thing is down for a constructive reason. Thansk again!
Get back to work, you bum!
No, it's not just lack of sleep, that actually has to be one of the most humourous phrases I've read. I actually sat at my screen for a minute repeating the words to myself and snickering.
"Downtime update. DOWNtime UPdate. DownTIME upDATE."
...on second thought, maybe it is the lack of sleep.
Yay. And I thought of changing the pile of books in the first place, plus the fix-it theme! Although admittedly, not the fallen-over-pile bit. Still... partial score.
{preen}
Now go to sleep. Get to know your duvet better. DOWNtime! Geddit? Yarf!
Good luck with the changes. Looking forward to seeing LT online again soon. Am an addict with a fresh pile of books!
Even the best sites have scaling troubles early on, as growth outpaces their ability to serve the growth. This too shall pass...and then happen again, and then pass again. :)
I've got the anime 'sweatdrop' going, because it all went down as I was uploading my reasonably large book collection from D.L., and it's never been up for me to see if it got through... D'oh!
...and 'downtime update' *is* funny, but it's often only when we're sleep-deprive that we notice such absurditites... ;)
Thank you, Tim!
I returned from my vacation Stateside, all eager to enter a bunch of new books - and was quite dismayed to see you're having technical difficulties. But I'm exceedingly happy that you're working through them and will have LT up and running shortly. Thanks for all your work and forgoing of sleep, Tim - we greatly appreciate it!!!
Take your time and do it right. BUT HURRY!
I've just had a very good night' sleep.... "downtime update" IS funny. (Words are a plaything to most booklovers.)
Good morning, Tim...thanks for the update!
With all due respect to oakesspalding - he's got sibling license that none of the rest of us feel. :) Hope you get plenty of rest: we're too much in love with LibraryThing to go anywhere.
At the risk of extreme redundancy - I'm not only among all those keeping an eye out and glad to hear of the progress - but also the majority who find downtime update amusing, even when they're awake!
Tim, thanks so much for all your hard work on this excellent site.
Downtime Update IS funny-- and I just woke up! :-)For some reason, "Downtime Update" is as funny to me as "Lapsang Souchong".
I think I need some more coffee.
Anyway...good things come to those who wait. I'm content to wait for the good things on the way for Library Thing. (But yes, I am also eagerly awaiting the return of the Thing and eager to add the pile of books crowded around my computer).
Thanks for all the hard work. Thanks for keeping us all updated on what's going on, too.
And get some sleep. :-)
Hooray! Something to do on my homework breaks!
Get some sleep sir. Things will make much more sense after a nap. ;)
A friend told me about library thing like a week ago. Just wanted to say thank you and... you're my hero. ;)
Good grief, here it is 10:30 p.m. in Europe and I still can't see my catalogue. I think I'll get some sleep!
it's still down. Any idea as to why?
not up for me :(
Well, it's informed me that it's informed Tim about the fatal error it encountered when it tried to display my catalog or add a title, so I'm not worried. Tim can fix it, he's our man, Tim can't fix it....okay, wait...I wasn't a cheerleader, so I don't know where that came from! :-)
Seriously, I'll check back a bit later. It may just be overloaded by everyone trying to get their fix of The Thing at the same time!
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