105 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

 

I also find The Mini Forum times out and has become almost impossible to read or post anything in recent weeks, so I would assume the daily post count has dropped off significantly if the problem is widespread amongst other forum members.

 

That thought crossed my mind, so I posted a tempting title about Marcos with dull content, and in 2 days, over 700 people have hit it.

 

Sadly, no one has come up with a dull reply.

 

 

However are the 700 hits by real people or the 'Bots' that are often mentioned as the cause of internet problems on forums and websites?

Edited by mab01uk, 21 September 2025 - 03:11 PM.

[DeadSquare]

 

 

I also find The Mini Forum times out and has become almost impossible to read or post anything in recent weeks, so I would assume the daily post count has dropped off significantly if the problem is widespread amongst other forum members.

 

That thought crossed my mind, so I posted a tempting title about Marcos with dull content, and in 2 days, over 700 people have hit it.

 

Sadly, no one has come up with a dull reply.

 

 

However are the 700 hits by real people or the 'Bots' that are often mentioned as the cause of internet problems on forums and websites?

 

If our site is full of Bots, constantly checking on posts, it's a quite likely reason why it would seem to be so busy, as to overwhelm the member's searches.

 

Does anyone know how to filter Bots ?

[PoolGuy]

Wasn’t this mentioned on the first page of this thread? It’s something to do with the Amazon bots skimming information?

[weeally]

Would like to say thanks to the guys who are trying to fix the issues we are getting.

But wow. What an issue. I have just purchased another mini and was looking forward to posting up the journey of the rebuild but it is so hard to get onto the site.

[DeadSquare]

I don't think that this would be happening, if Mr. Gates had a Classic Mini.

[mab01uk]

 

 

 

I also find The Mini Forum times out and has become almost impossible to read or post anything in recent weeks, so I would assume the daily post count has dropped off significantly if the problem is widespread amongst other forum members.

 

That thought crossed my mind, so I posted a tempting title about Marcos with dull content, and in 2 days, over 700 people have hit it.

 

Sadly, no one has come up with a dull reply.

 

 

However are the 700 hits by real people or the 'Bots' that are often mentioned as the cause of internet problems on forums and websites?

 

If our site is full of Bots, constantly checking on posts, it's a quite likely reason why it would seem to be so busy, as to overwhelm the member's searches.

 

Does anyone know how to filter Bots ?

 

 

I'm no expert in this kind of thing but the Mk1 Forum was also badly affected by similar slow downs recently which seems to have now been fixed.

 

A quote below from a quick Google search about the AI Bots gathering data from websites and forums.....which is what some say are responsible :-

"Bot crawlers causing sluggish website performance? These advanced AI-powered bots traverse the internet, indexing data from content-rich websites. Abundant with resources and valuable information, websites serve as prime targets for these bots. Seeking to enhance their learning algorithms, LLMs’ (Large Language Model) relentless crawling can gobble up your server’s resources and bandwidth, resulting in delayed load times and frustrated visitors."

 

So maybe the bots are busy stealing all the TMF years of useful Mini data posted to answer any Mini questions put to AI? The long term effect of this is the original websites lose their visitor traffic and eventually close down, especially if funded by advertising, leaving 'Google' AI, etc to dominate the market without any competition? However some of the AI answers given to Mini related questions are pretty inaccurate with info about BMW MINIs often mixed up with Classic Mini info to further confuse and mis-inform those who don't know better....

Edited by mab01uk, 23 September 2025 - 08:53 AM.

[sonikk4]

Guys and girls, we are trying (thats the royal we as in Deathrow) to deal with this and ask for everyone to be patient.

 

Yes i know its annoying and the thing with these damned bots and whatever else is having a go its not a straight fwd or quick fix. The thing is whoever is the instigator behind all of this does not give a monkeys about how it affects forums etc as long as they get their kick or kickback. You only have to look at recent events and what is happening with several UK Airports.

[weeally]

Just a comment. Which im sure has been thought of already.

There is a website I use for torrents and you cannot see any contents unless you become a member. Could this help with decreasing 'guests' skimming the forum for information.

[weeally]

Just a comment. Which im sure has been thought of already.

There is a website I use for torrents and you cannot see any contents unless you become a member. Could this help with decreasing 'guests' skimming the forum for information.

[cooperd70]

Sonikk4

Maybe someone should put up a non-removalable/no reply post on the home page....one of those locked threads with regard to the issues and it's known and being worked on.

I say this as I think that there will be some members who aren't aware of the issue and that it's in hand and may get put off from posting/visiting the forum. I think I saw a post the other day that a reply from the OP suggested nobody could be bothered to reply.

Guys and girls, we are trying (thats the royal we as in Deathrow) to deal with this and ask for everyone to be patient.

Yes i know its annoying and the thing with these damned bots and whatever else is having a go its not a straight fwd or quick fix. The thing is whoever is the instigator behind all of this does not give a monkeys about how it affects forums etc as long as they get their kick or kickback. You only have to look at recent events and what is happening with several UK Airports.

[sledgehammer]

Forum is running sluggish -

can someone pull the choke out & check the air filter is clean ,

Maybe clean the points ,

But seriously , thanks to the smarter folk on here who keep it running ,

Redex would fix it , in a jiffy , with a gallon of 4 star .  ;o) 

 

EDIT ... now as I wrote this above , it appears fine .

 

Edited by sledgehammer, 23 September 2025 - 09:35 AM.

[sonikk4]

Sonikk4

Maybe someone should put up a non-removalable/no reply post on the home page....one of those locked threads with regard to the issues and it's known and being worked on.

I say this as I think that there will be some members who aren't aware of the issue and that it's in hand and may get put off from posting/visiting the forum. I think I saw a post the other day that a reply from the OP suggested nobody could be bothered to reply.
 

Guys and girls, we are trying (thats the royal we as in Deathrow) to deal with this and ask for everyone to be patient.

Yes i know its annoying and the thing with these damned bots and whatever else is having a go its not a straight fwd or quick fix. The thing is whoever is the instigator behind all of this does not give a monkeys about how it affects forums etc as long as they get their kick or kickback. You only have to look at recent events and what is happening with several UK Airports.

 

 

I can pin a post, so i have placed a Update on the Header for the "Forum, Feedback And Questions"

[WanaGo]

Provided anyone can even get on the forum to read a pinned post. Almost every attempt I make, it times out. I get on, read one page, go to page 2 and it times out.

Replying, can try 5 times before it sends. Will be interesting to see if this one sends.

 

This problem has been going on for many months, and its gotten worse in the last few weeks, but its been going on a long time now.

 

We have a forum for work, not the same type as this, its a vBulletin one, and there are ways to block bots, limit the frequency of posts by a single person, even make it so you have to sign in to even browse the forum. Lots of options, and many make it a little annoying to use, but for the sake of getting the forum working again reliably, some harder measures need to be done and then they can be eased off in time.

Is this a hosted form, like a cloud forum, or is this privately hosed? 

Surely who ever makes this forum, can assist...

 

Google Mini questions, and this forum typically has the answer, but you cant get on to read the answers.

Its a mega resource, and its hard to see it failing like it is

[sonikk4]

Provided anyone can even get on the forum to read a pinned post. Almost every attempt I make, it times out. I get on, read one page, go to page 2 and it times out.

Replying, can try 5 times before it sends. Will be interesting to see if this one sends.

 

This problem has been going on for many months, and its gotten worse in the last few weeks, but its been going on a long time now.

 

We have a forum for work, not the same type as this, its a vBulletin one, and there are ways to block bots, limit the frequency of posts by a single person, even make it so you have to sign in to even browse the forum. Lots of options, and many make it a little annoying to use, but for the sake of getting the forum working again reliably, some harder measures need to be done and then they can be eased off in time.

Is this a hosted form, like a cloud forum, or is this privately hosed? 

Surely who ever makes this forum, can assist...

 

Google Mini questions, and this forum typically has the answer, but you cant get on to read the answers.

Its a mega resource, and its hard to see it failing like it is

 

I understand where you are coming from and our IT guru Deathrow is looking into various means of dealing with what is happening.

 

HOWEVER and i cannot reitterate this enough, we all do this as volunteers and most of us work fulltime. so with that in mind please be patient, we are not ignoring what is going on and it frustrates us as much as you if not more so. I have been discussing with the forum owner what is going on so hopefully with that and whatever Deathrow can do we shall get some sort of positive outcome as soon as possible.

 

The forum has been taken offline before to deal with a major issue and it may well come to this again, hopefully not. If that is the case then we will need to possibly look at FB again as a temporary measure BUT there will be restrictions on there as last time it was abused and not what TMF is all about.

[Gaz66]

Whoop whoop, got straight on three times today 👍