Growing Pains

Success brings its own problems. When I started this web site in '96 or '97 there wasn't much to it, just a few files and sound effects for download, maybe an occasional editorial (see for yourself). In the last year I've added this blog and a message board. Both features have proved much more popular than I ever expected, taxing my puny little server, and the programs I chose to use, beyond their capabilities. To say nothing of my capabilities. I upgraded the blog to Movable Type and that's been a great improvement. Now the message boards and the server itself seem to be spinning down the great disposal of life. Mike Chandler of Annex.com, a regular around here, has offered me server space on a fresh new Dell box with such nice bells and whistles as PHP and MySQL. I think I'll probably take him up on it. And I'm looking at alternative message board solutions. With access to MySQL I can try some databased programs that should be more responsive and better able to handle the heavy traffic that the Town Square has developed. One of the possibilities is InfoPop's UBBThreads. It's being used by some pretty big sites (including Ms. Magazine and Playboy - strange bedfellows). Ars Technica also uses it. If you're a heavy user of the Leoville message boards I'd appreciate your feedback on UBB, and I'd like to hear about any other programs you think I should consider. Moving the server and adopting new software is a major undertaking, and I only want to do this once, so any advice or input you can give me before I begin is much appreciated. Just add them to the comments here on the blog, if you would. I promise to make this as seamless as possible for you all!