Downloads System

[kiwimodeller]

Thanks for that Eddie, even a dummy like me should be able to sort out most of what we are looking at. Take your time with the rest of them, we are not going to rush in to downloading all of them tonight and we will allow you to have some sort of life outside Paddleducks! Cheers, Ian.

[bogstandard]

Very sorry Eddie, but I totally disagree with everything you are doing with the downloads system.

It is as bad as the sleeze government we have now, back door taxes.

If you had come straight out and asked for a donation to keep things running, then fair enough.

Please delete any downloads I have in your system, and cancel my membership.


John

[derekwarner_decoy]

Well PD's.....from memory .. I was privileged to be in the first ten members of the original PD group via PJ from Canada all those years ago

The two singular contact highlights of my membership here have been talking with not only by web mail & PM,,,,,,,, but also the Christmas call from OZ to UK to Sandy Campbell from ACS and John Moore  as we know as 'bogstandard'.....

With the latter...... bogstandard's good wife Maralyn answered the telephone.......& said.....'its some bloke from Australia'....so bogstandard & I talked for ten minutes about nothing much....but it was great to talk with the person

I will not attempt to enter any debate here ...suffice to say if John Moore does relinquish his PD membership ....I will not suffer as I can still maintain my relationship with John..........however it is the balance of PD members & newer members that will miss out on the postings & knowledge sharing that bogstandard has freely offered over the years .......regards ....Derek

[Stuart Badger]

I'm sitting here typing this on an idyllic Greek island where I can't even buy a piece of dowel. Everything I need for my modelling comes via visiting friends or the mail. All EXCEPT my contact with other modellers and the ability to share ideas, stories, experiences and of course the models of the ships we love. This contact comes via this site and model ship world.

Recently MSW went down for a week. The reason was that they ran out of bandwidth. The reason for the bandwidth problem was that the site became a victim of its own success and that multiple dowloads spelt the death knell for the site being on a shared server. The site now has a dedicated server at VAST expense and all members are being urged to contribute.

Eddy's solution to the download problem will prevent this happening - and will not affect the regular contributors like bogstandard. Can I urge John not to leave - there's a bloke 1500 miles away who loves reading your posts, as I do ALL the PDs posts.

Eddy's doing this for ALL of us, not for a select few. Eddy gives his time, money and dedication to keep this site going, the least we can do is support him in any way we are able to.

I left this site in a personal huff (not that I am suggesting this is the case with John's viewpoint) several years ago - I missed it and was poorer for not being a member. Please stay John we need you!

All the best

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

Very sorry Eddie, but I totally disagree with everything you are doing with the downloads system.

It is as bad as the sleeze government we have now, back door taxes.

If you had come straight out and asked for a donation to keep things running, then fair enough.

Please delete any downloads I have in your system, and cancel my membership.


John

I'm extremely sorry you feel that way John, but perhaps I should clarify one thing.... It's not back door taxes, and we certainly don't need any more money for the site this year, but the problem is primarily bandwidth - We are limited to 100Gb of data transfer per month, and we are getting very close to exceeding that on a regular basis!

if that happens then Paddleducks will go offline - So we need to reduce the amount of data being transfered, or move to a dedicated server.... I for one could not afford that sort of cost, and to be honest it's unlikely that donations would ever get anywhere near to paying for it!

The download credit system simply means that the people who are only out to grab files will go elsewhere, and those that have a genuine interest won't object to the very small charge being made. We've tried every other solution we can think of to this problem in the past, and none of them work, so we're stuck between a rock and a hard place as we will never satisfy everyone.

I hope you'll reconsider, but if I haven't heard from you by thursday evening I will delete your account and your files as requested.

Regards
Eddy

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi John & Eddy,
Being at the other end of the world (viewing both sides from a distance so to speak), and never having met or spoken to either of you, I think I can safely say that I can see both sides of the dilemma.
Now I have come to have the utmost respect for both of you, John for your engineering skills and perseverance, Eddy for your efforts with this forum and perseverance also.
It would leave a huge void in my life if either of you where to ‘disappear’, and leave a lot of people world wide, similarly disappointed.
John, please reconsider your decision, and Eddy, would what John has done with the download of his book, help in the download dilemma.
By this I mean, if in the download section there was a link to an alternative web-site (or as in Johns case Rapid-share), where the file could then be downloaded. And no, I’m not advocating that Eddy should go get a dedicated download site at added expense. What if those who have their own web-site and have items, plans, articles etc in the download section where to offer the download from their own site, and paddle ducks members could then access these through the download pages via clicking on the thumbnail. I know there are bugs to be sorted and there are plusses and minuses with this but at least it’s some form of constructive thought which may offer some sort of solution for us all. So fellow Paddle duckers turn your fertile thinking caps to this and maybe give us your thoughts re this suggestion and improvements on.
I also think that the data base should continue, with copies of any downloads being offered, safely stored on Paddle ducks as well.
Just my tuppence worth
Keep paddling and stay happy

kiwi

[Stuart Badger]

Good thinking Kiwi. Another idea strikes me - although I feel it needs some work. If some of our members were willing to hold one or more download archives on their machines, would it be possible for a member wishing a download to email the holder and have it sent to them? Those willing to hold the files could have their email address hidden until the download request. This would ensure that only those who REALLY wanted the file would apply, and would reduce the data transfer on the site to a simple request.

The database could be maintained at paddleducks as the 'master Archive' and although there would be a slight delay in obtaining the download it would still be a lot quicker than waiting for the NMM to respond!

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, much appreciated...

However, I'm afraid I must point out that neither file hosting sites or storing files on your own computer to send via email would work.

The file hosting sites don't normally allow for a remote link to directly access the file, the request would simply be denied. They also clear unused files on a regular basis (generally once a week or once a month), so unless you checked it constantly, the file will often get deleted - if it is you need to re-upload it, and then the link that was posted on Paddleducks would be out of date, so it's a vicious circle. It would quickly degenerate into a series of useless links.

Storing files on your own computer to be sent via an email request again sounds great until you look at the practicalities - The majority of ISP's (Internet Service Providers) only give small email boxes of around 5Mb or less to their accounts. So how do you send a 10Mb, 50Mb, 100Mb or more file? The answer is that you can't, at least not by email. And even if you were one of the lucky ones with a large email allowance, the chances are that the person who had requested the file would only have a small email inbox - So you happily send a 50Mb file, only to find it's rejected by the receiving email server.

Sadly they are the realities....

I hope no-one will take offence at my remarks, I'm simply trying to explain the pitfalls, nothing more....

Regards
Eddy

[Stuart Badger]

Ah! I had forgotten the problem of email file size Eddy - sorry to waste every body's time. Still it was a thought!

Stuart

[Eddy Matthews]

Your certainly not wasting everybodies time Stuart!! I'm more than happy to listen to any and all suggestions, you never know, someone somewhere might just hit on the ideal solution? But unless they share their ideas we'll never know will we?

I've spent the last 6 months or more trying to find a way round the problem, and I've pulled out the last little bit of hair I had left trying to find the solution, all to no avail....

Eddy

[Misterbee]

Come On Aussie, Come On!

For less than cost of 2 imported model boat magazines, your donation will meet the Downloads Stystem tariff. A small amount asked to keep such a vast tank of information readily available, not only for downloads, but the valuable hints and methods passed on to us novice constructors in the general forums.

My subscription has been gladly submitted.

Misterbee
Western Australia

[Barry]

Just to say I like the way you've changed the look of the downloads area.

[anders]

Hi from a "newbie",
I will introduce myself at the proper place but I have an improvement to propose. It is ok if you limit the downloads to people who have shown an interest not only in the downloads.
However it would have been helpful to give an explanantion of the rules for newbies or a pointer to say "Go read the forum" in the registration message. If you did so but I didn't read it please accept my apologies.
Anyway now I know 
Anders

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks Anders, I appreciate the comments and I will take a look at adding it into the registration process....

As a new user you have 50 free credits to download some files - Then you can either buy more if needed, or upload something that is useful to our members. Uploads get credits - At a MUCH LARGER rate than the amount of credits that are charged for a download. For example, a 100Kb file would cost 6 credits to download, but you'd gain 60 credits for a 100Kb upload.

The only things to watch are that any uploads are not duplicate files that we already have, they aren't copyrighted material, and they aren't pure junk - Any of the above would simply be deleted and you'd lose the credits gained. If anyone insists on uploading rubbish just to gain credits, they will quickly find themselves banned!

I hope that helps to clarify things?

Regards
Eddy

[Eddy Matthews]

I've been working on the Downloads Manager that handles all the files we have online.... As most of you know, our main problem has always been one of exceeding our monthly bandwidth allowance because some members insist on downloading everything in sight!!

To put a stop to those that were only here to grab and grab, we enabled a credit system which entailed paying for the files you wanted based on their size - All new members were given 50 credits free so they could grab one or two odds and ends.... That worked well and our bandwidth fell to less than 10% of what it had previously been running at.

Those that have been members of Paddleducks for some time will know we have always resisted charging users for anything, and it took more than 8 years before we even accepted voluntary "Donations" to help with the site costs! Many, many thanks to those that have made a donation btw! And sadly, whilst charging for files did stop those that were only here to abuse things, it also meant that our genuine members were being charged because of the actions of a minority - Not a situation I liked!

So, to the point of this posting.....  I've now modified the code so that credits are no longer charged, and instead, normal members will be limited to a maximum of 5 downloads per day. Those that have made a donation, and been given "Subscriber" status, will be able to download whatever they wish and won't be subject to the 5 file limit.

Hopefully that will keep things under control AND allow free access at the same time.....

Finally, two points to bear in mind...... First, the code changes I've made may have bugs, so if something doesn't work as expected tell me! I can't fix it if I don't know there's a problem! And secondly, we obviously reserve the right to re-enable the credit system if this new setup doesn't work for any reason - We MUST keep control of the bandwidth we use or the whole Paddleducks website will go offline.

Regards
Eddy