Why is this forum down so often?

Elektronauts Elektronauts Feedback
#1

I am probably speaking to the void, but I wonder why Elektron wouldn’t invest in a good server (or cloud), so that Discourse doesn’t return all those 5xx HTTP errors so often? :frowning:

And no, it’s not only happening due to the recent speculations around Digitakt discontinuation in that one thread. I’ve been noticing it since day one.

I might be underestimating the size, resources, or the priorities of the company, but is this forum really unimportant to Elektron? It looks like a perfect place for brand and customer loyalty building to me.

I am confused.

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#2

It’s unfortunately not as simple as that, this site is super high traffic, beyond registered users. I’m not sure where to pull the exact statistics but on even “medium traffic” volume sites there are usually something like 150 visitors for every registered user, so imagine that the 3600 active users over the last 7 days was actually over 500k worth of site traffic (could even be double that), so in addition to all the likes we give, posts we make, and backend process it’s really quite a lot.

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I don’t have hard numbers for non-registered guests but going by sites where you can see that data and then drawing a reasonable conclusion since this forum comes up like first any time someone googles “elektron (blank)”, and also since elektron lists this site in your account as a resource it all paints a picture.

You can actually see the registered site statistics data by clicking on the 3 lines next to your avatar and going to “about”. It’s just a numbers thing, I mean I’m sure they could pay for a super corporate elite server which would cost a lot of money but whenever the shit hits the fan, I just assume that unregistered site traffic and habitual user traffic are in a state of heavy overlap.

I mean do I like site errors? No, but do I use the site for free and get a lot out of it? Yes. Not disagreeing with your assessment but just recognizing the iceberg that sunk the titanic was a lot bigger under the water than what they saw on the surface.

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#3

Indeed.
The number of pages viewed can simply double on a speculation day. When a new machine is out, it’s a frenzy.

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#4

Thanks for elaborating.
I also did some napkin math based on those public stats and it was that napkin math that lead me to creating this topic :slight_smile:

I work in tech and build high scale products. I don’t claim to be a know-it-all, but also it’s not like I have no idea what I am talking about.

And the thing is, the technology this forum runs on (Discourse, written in Ruby, most likely using MySQL) can handle this napkin-calculated traffic on a single mediocre server. A dedicated server that would cause no problems (32GB+ RAM) costs less than 100 EUR per month. Even if they can’t afford to have an engineer servicing that, a similarly powerful cloud solution costs around 100 EUR.
It’s exactly that that is surprising to me. It doesn’t cost much for a company to run it in a way that could handle the traffic. But writing all of this now, I realize that it’s most likely not about the money. Engineers are expensive in Sweden, and Elektron most likely can’t afford a dedicated one for their website and this forum.
I don’t know. It’s weird either way. I bought a couple of Elektron devices exactly because of this forum. And I assume a lot of other people did, too. It’s a marketing machine that sells without any effort from Elektron’s side other than running the server.

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#5

I’d say we’re a fairly upbeat bunch.

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#6

…since my very first ot purchase in 2014, i’m a registered user…on almost daily bases, i spent a little time out here…

and the total amount of a too busy/to many requests/unavailable error browser messages i got were around ten times…that’s pretty solid, i’d say…

and the whole backend tech is prety decent in comparison to other forums i’ve seen…in fact, most advanced in direct comparison to logic user for example…
but maybe i can’ tell for sure anymore, since this is the last music forum i’m surfing since years by now…and given the fact, it’s not managed by the brand but private folks…well, reeeeespect…

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#7

I totally understand and I agree, I think it’s more about manpower. I looked into it recently and I believe elektron employs less than 50 people, at least according to public stats. I believe that includes sweden and the US. In that regard, the company is still pretty small and according to the wikipedia page after the release of the monomachine they parted with their investors so they’re a privately owned company.

I’m not saying they’re broke, or that I have all the answers by any means, I just think that they operate on a smaller scale than we give them credit for. Which is good and bad, good because it means they’ve done quite well for what they’re powered by and bad because sometimes the expectations (not yours, just generally) outweigh their current gross potential.

They may still grow, but I’d be hesitant to say “I’d like to see changes in this company” because for better or for worse, they seem to provide something unique, and I would be afraid of the consequences of a merger or a push towards soft synths.

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#8

It should be easy to code

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#9

I think I like smaller shops and what they are able to achieve. It’s a very different game than a company that would rely on big investors or big debt to release their next thing.

But yes, the other side is that their core business is not running forums. So I’m really grateful to whoever is running this, even with the glitches … I think I even kinda love them in a weird way.

Cause where am I to post my memes if this forum wasn’t here?

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#10

If you look at the actual site stats, it tells you a lot. Other than the moderators, it also lists site admins etc. and wouldn’t you know it? one of the elektronauts site admins is the one responsible for coding / creating the sy chip sid machine in the recent analog rytm update.

I’m both impressed by this, but also reminded that their staff seems to be spread pretty thin and they can only employ so many devs and still be able to handle their backend business.

It’s no wonder that updates come when they’re ready and not at timed intervals. For me that’s ok, because it’s still great to get a freebie every now and then, and I still enjoy the machines I’ve purchased or I wouldn’t have spent the money in the first place.

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#11

Maybe you had bad luck for your timezone overlapping with maintenance times or aligned with highest requests. I don’t remember having issues here in central Europe

#12

Western Europe here, very rarely see downtime unless there’s an update or product release imminent or recent.

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#13

Because OT MK3 is coming

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#14

Yeah, maybe it’s the time zone or time of day. I have noticed some problems when I’m using the forum, but when I’m not using the forum, no problems.

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#15

The site is not “really down”, it is only accessible to the Elektron super elite club

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#16

You are!

There is a lot more energy devoted towards this community than most instrument manufacturer forums, but this is primarily volunteer time. I doubt there is anything approaching a full time person keeping this operational.

That said it’s not down very much for me.

Phbbbppppt

Armchair hardware engineers, armchair site reliability :slight_smile:

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#17

What a lyric

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#18

I’m working on my screamo game…

#19

I think it’s down so often because it gets tired of our shit

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#20

“Threads you’re tired of”
“Octatrack mkiii?”
“Ok so when the Octatrack iii comes out will I make good music with OTmkiv?”

Discourse forum gets tired of

1 Like