GrabCAD Community User Group

It has been especially bad the last month or so.

Agree!

Whatever end users may merely presume attributes to unknown properties of a server lend nothing either to identifying or solving the underlying faults.

Obviously, the system is often suffering difficulties keeping pace with its workload. But that can be attributable to potential throughput bottlenecks; limitations of the software platform; irregularities or deficiencies in the site software; server and software configuration; available hardware resources; improper reliance upon those resources; and so forth. In other words, for outsiders, however much of the blame may fall wherever it may is a guessing game.

Legitimately trouble-shooting performance issues is a specialty. Fixing them as best they can be fixed within a given budget is another. Writing the software so it will automatically upscale from the advent of the site is another yet. In other words still then, the only good advice possible, not only identifies all the responsible elements with certainty; it proves either exactly why sufficient resources aren't meeting desirable performance requirements; or it proves exactly what resources and further provisions would support the necessary performance requirements.

When it comes to solving additional issues such as massive downloads and uploads, successfully sustaining overhead may entail relatively complex technical issues. Although there has recently been an undeniable prevalence of undesirable irregularities, I still have regularly seen very impressive upload and download throughput that I certainly would not expect to infer that the platform is so substandard.

Site messages regularly indicate that GC administrators are aware of the performance issues. Whether they truly understand how to rectify the responsible faults is another matter. If they have a handle on resolving the causes, perhaps it might be a good idea for them to open a channel where they apprise us whatever may be wrong, and whatever they may be doing or planning to do about it.

To support the prospective overhead of this many users is not necessarily trivial. Yes, there are good models to follow. But there are many inferior models, and only one ideal. When a site design takes that first risk of dedicating code to the latest greatest new platform, too often the error can only be partially rectified by rewriting the entire site along the lines of a better model. That may be a huge job. And reliance upon the subsequent platform and model combination may also soon expose new, potentially unforeseen weaknesses for the specialized reliance. Real solution for the consequences we experience then, is instead a quest to look far into the future for some magic present combination of ideals which are proven to support foreseen quantities of throughput of exactly the kinds a site is ultimately required to deliver. There are far more bad entrapments than there are "good ideas" to follow.

But any combination of presumed faults doesn't mean the site is hosted on a basement server. Neither would the fact the server is hosted in a basement mean the performance the site requires is impossible.

You seem to have experience in this field Mike. Would you be interested in working with me to create a competing website to GrabCAD?

It sounds more like Mike just made a lot of noise without really saying anything. A lot of endless bloviating.

Hi. We are aware of the performance and downtime problems for the last few months, and our teams are already have been working on it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

FYI: grabcad.com is hosted on Amazon Web Services cloud. This info is public and one can easily find out where a website is hosted. The problem is not related to where it is hosted.

About the budget: operating grabcad.com costs 6 digits $ per year, without making much money.

Thank you much, Yasin. Much appreciated.

Also then, we should express our appreciation for the efforts expended at such marginal prospective return. Actually, imho, that makes the site a relatively heroic effort.

That would be possible. But I'm not sure it would be advisable, for the information that Yasin has just posted would indicate steep costs for little prospective reward. In other words, nothing less than deep pockets may expect to prevail in little more than breaking even. Yet I have produced a site with the virtual equivalent of all these features; and I would assume that Yasin would also be capable of solo completion of such a site. So why don't you ask Yasin? There are also varieties of prebuilt, customizable modules which provide similar functionality. So it is possible that these paths enable near term completion of a competitor. Further probabilities exist that sufficient services are hosted on the state-of-the-art servers which Yasin has just answered, host this site. But what for?

In any case, any venture which is to succeed, will have tangible plans. That's a far cry from alleging the server was sunk in a toilet, or the developers were educated at Republican Party Headquarters.

I believe the server is located in an old trailer in some filthy coner of an abandoned parking lot...

Just one problem with ignorance, Bob, is that it will fail to realize that the post projected the near term answer from staff... which indicates that the assumptions of the post were true; and the allegations to which the post replied are not.

Perhaps a grunt would have better pleased both the manners, intellect, and principles for which you were instead happy to allow the allegation to stand. Which really means you don't really care much, whatever would prove useful to understand.

Bloviating was the appropriate word. I stand by my assessment.

While you seem to know what you are talking about, you could say the same thing in one tenth the space.

Except Bob clearly understood my post to be tongue in cheek while at the same time addressing a serious issue, where you decided to write a novel about it...We get it, you're smart. So are we. However, your obtuse use of contemporary English to write several paragraphs about a subject that could've been adequately covered and understood in a few sentences comes off as bloviating. Ergo, his comment about you making a lot of noise without saying anything.

My appeal to help me work on a competitor was sincere. I have a vision and a plan. I need help with execution. If that is something you'd seriously consider, instead of lightly blowing it off based on what Yasin says, then PM me. Otherwise I will take it that you're not interested.

If you weren't short on words, Bob, you would have highlighted the points you presume to be redundant, that maybe you might be clued in on why they paint the picture we should understand.

Dubious insults are bloviation.

I've produced sites like this all by my lonesome. But claiming a vision is no more encouraging than posting the site is hosted in a basement.

If you have a worthy vision, it justifies the many paragraphs that would be required to distinguish it. And I wouldn't complain about your English, because nothing less could satisfy the standards I would require of that vision, if it were, in my opinion, to justify the efforts and risks of engaging in it.

I would further point out that I can't imagine how any means or point of your basement server stunt ought to impress a person that your vision could be a credible one.

This reminds me of Blaise Pascal (source) :)

> I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.

Well, sure. The most pressing chore of writing is to reduce complications to simplicity. But that isn't what the original or ensuing allegations accomplish.

Dubious insults are not bloviation. Look up the term. Your 8 paragraph post is literally the definition of the term:

to speak or write verbosely and windily

Listen, you're new here. The members that have been around here longer than a decade are rightly frustrated at the current state of this site because we actually remember "the good old days".

I haven't found a single post you've written to be helpful by any means. In fact, the only one that I agree with is what appears to be your first post "WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SPAM?" In which you state, "Like life itself, forums are only polluted by spam. Either clear it from the entire realm, or watch me disappear."

They aren't going to "clear it from the entire realm" because they would've done it already if they could. There is no engagement from any staff (which is likely non-existent at this point) except Yasin. So please. Go back to publishing your bearing models and leave us disgruntled veteran users to our banter, or make good on your promise to disappear. The spam is, so far, here to stay.

Let's be clear then.

The reason you objected to my original bloviation, was that it far too kindly hoped to far too gently bash your preposterous lies that this site is hosted in a basement; that you can confidently say that this website is either terribly laggy, down, or repeatedly drops connection packets; that there isn't any room in Stratasys' budget to keep the lights on for GC; and that all the purposes of this site "get" is some 20 year old server in a dark basement somewhere.

You have the audacity to pretend you're up to good, by regularly and most overtly dissing the site, its owners, its admins. You have the audacity nonetheless to parade yourself as having a better, competing vision... and you even have the audacity to shop this site for people to "help you" erect its competitor.

Alright, I could have just said you're totally full of it. And you are. But that doesn't make much sense to me, when the only way the lay person can know how full of it you are, is to basically state the areas of endeavor you ought to ascend to before you start firing your water pistol everywhere.

I originally posted to you in other words, because your posts are such preposterous distractions; because they're so far from the truth; and because I already left this "group," merely hoping to avoid them. I soon found out I had to return, against those reservations.

You even have the audacity to pretend afterward that your post was tongue in cheek. You even have the audacity to assert there isn't one good thing I've done here.

But all I see from you is preposterous irritation.

You have no idea why these pages may be suffering the difficulties they are. Neither do you have the slightest idea how to properly encourage or assist the people here to fix what is wrong. Though you purport to remember good old days, you haven't the slightest idea even whether the present deterioration is an inevitable fault of the limitations of the former code, you praise the former consequences of.

You pretend some kind of totalitarian concept of a veteran, means your preposterously overt complaints better deserve to be here. But the usual and far more respectful thing to do is lodge your perpetual complaints privately. You might think your lack of manners, ethic, and respect makes you some kind of champion.

But all I see is negative distraction.

Please continue. With each exhaustive paragraph, you demonstrate your ignorance on the topic and my personal demeanor more and more. You've been here for a wink in this site's existence. You have no idea the number of times I've reached out for assistance, reported bad actors, offered feedback, proposed ideas, and overall genuinely acted in good faith before resorting to overt criticism and cynicism.

The arrogance on display in asserting character traits upon me is hysterical. You are absolutely free to disagree with my methods, but expect resistance every step of the way when you come in here and talk down to the rest of us like we're lowly peasants.

Steven’s original comment about this site being hosted on a basement server was so over the top it could only be construed as tongue-in-cheek. Anybody that fails to see it that was has completely lost touch with reality.

Your post to Steven regarding your experience in coding websites was great example of bloviation. So much so that even you seemed to realize it was over the top and have since deleted it. I’m sure you know, if you have the web experience you claim, that relatively short comments in a forum like this are the norm. A complete college level thesis on your web development experience all in one comment could only be defined as bloviation.

My original comment was succinct, in context, and valid. Yet for some reason it seemed to be over your grade level of comprehension.

Is it even possible for you to respond with a succinct comment? I challenge you.

Sure looks and feels like a basement server :)

Hi. We had a maintenance work trying to fix recent problems. It should be all good now.

Please let us know if you see any other problems.