General website issues

[J-Mike16]

6 hours ago, TexasStrangers said:

Yesterday (Saturday) it was totally unusable. I couldn't get on it at all which to be honest was not shocking, there were lots of people on it because of all the contests that were going on. This was also a common theme last year on Saturdays during contest season it was barely working at all. 

Its been an issue every marching season since the site was redone back in 2020 or 2021

[bassboneman]

So, we have a bot issue

[JFNDOWBFAN]

10 hours ago, bassboneman said:

So, we have a bot issue

👀 🤖 

[Band Dad 2021]

Something is hammering this site. Bots? Indianabands.com? (Joke)

[Band Dad 2021]

It might be time to put in the tough spam-bot checkers now that the San Antonio events are cranking up! I hate to pick out the busses/bicycles etc, but the site is unusable during the busiest band time. 

[bassboneman]

1 hour ago, Band Dad 2021 said:

Something is hammering this site. Bots? Indianabands.com? (Joke)

No, its just a lot of band people. 6A state is going on (biggest state contest). That's 40 bands + there parents and everyone else who is trying to keep track of it all. 

[Anthony V]

@Clarinot (and maybe @Xenon?) I don't remember it being this bad in previous years. Is there anything we could brainstorm for this? In some threads (I think it was 5A state), people have made mention of being willing to pay a small membership fee if it would help resolve the slowness. Is anything like that reasonably possible? 

[TWHSParent]

There is a donate option for this site. I've been doing that for several years. Perhaps it could be utilized more or more obvious as an option.

[Clarinot]

I don't want to break anything during the busiest time of the season, but in the off season I'm going to do another big upgrade of our site infrastructure to a dedicated server (and yes, it costs more so donations are appreciated!)

[Anthony V]

8 hours ago, TWHSParent said:

There is a donate option for this site. I've been doing that for several years. Perhaps it could be utilized more or more obvious as an option.

 

4 hours ago, Clarinot said:

I don't want to break anything during the busiest time of the season, but in the off season I'm going to do another big upgrade of our site infrastructure to a dedicated server (and yes, it costs more so donations are appreciated!)

Amazing. Thanks!! I second TWHSParent's comment about making the donate option more conspicuous. And maybe a little reference to the server/website quality? I feel like if people are assured at-a-glance that it will go towards server/website efficiency -- and especially if they've tried to be online during the quasi-unusable hours -- they might be more inclined to donate. Just a half-baked thought.

Thanks for all the work you've done this season, Clarinot!

[Clarinot]

Alright, some good news. I moved us over to a private server today, so this should add even more capacity (I guess we'll find out this week!) and between adding cloudflare as well I think that is going to make things a lot more stable. Thanks to everyone for your patience as our little website exploded in popularity!

[Thanos]

I do have a question. I used to get email notifications that I'd previously set up but I know longer get those. How can I fix that on my end?

[lost]

On 11/5/2025 at 4:08 AM, TWHSParent said:

There is a donate option for this site. I've been doing that for several years. Perhaps it could be utilized more or more obvious as an option.

I would certainly love to pitch in. This does need to be boosted to the front.

[Clarinot]

On 11/5/2025 at 6:53 PM, Thanos said:

I do have a question. I used to get email notifications that I'd previously set up but I know longer get those. How can I fix that on my end?

You are not doing anything wrong. The site sends more emails than our web host allows (for anti-spam reasons) so many emails don't make it out. I am working on that now and hope to have it fixed shortly.

[Clarinot]

9 hours ago, lost said:

I would certainly love to pitch in. This does need to be boosted to the front.

Thanks for your support! I will look for some additional ways to highlight the donation option. If anyone reading this thread wants to donate in the meantime, please see https://www.txbands.com/#donate

[Thanos]

2 minutes ago, Clarinot said:

You are not doing anything wrong. The site sends more emails than our web host allows (for anti-spam reasons) so many emails don't make it out. I am working on that now and hope to have it fixed shortly.

Thank you! You all do an incredible job managing this forum! As an outsider from Kentucky, I'm quite impressed by the work done here. Keep it up😄

[gregorydf01]

The site was so much better with what you did last week for the State Competitions and BOA SA!  Thanks Clarinot for all the work to keep this form going!

[Clarinot]

14 hours ago, gregorydf01 said:

The site was so much better with what you did last week for the State Competitions and BOA SA!  Thanks Clarinot for all the work to keep this form going!

I'm glad it is working better!

[Clarinot]

One more update for now, we have moved to a new email provider that should hopefully let all the forums-related emails (topic subscription updates, new member registration, password resets, etc) go out much easier than before. As a one-off, I manually approved any accounts that were stuck in validation limbo, and then turned on email verification again.

[bassboneman]

1 hour ago, Clarinot said:

One more update for now, we have moved to a new email provider that should hopefully let all the forums-related emails (topic subscription updates, new member registration, password resets, etc) go out much easier than before. As a one-off, I manually approved any accounts that were stuck in validation limbo, and then turned on email verification again.

I just got hit with the first email in a hot minute, so it seems to be working. 

[LeanderMomma]

I love this place!  😍🥰🥹

[bassboneman]

8 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

I love this place!  😍🥰🥹

Ermmmm this is a forum for issues 🤣🤣😭😭

[LeanderMomma]

On 11/14/2025 at 4:06 PM, bassboneman said:

Ermmmm this is a forum for issues 🤣🤣😭😭

Yes and they actually get fixed!  Unlike box5. 🤭

[bassboneman]

2 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

Yes and they actually get fixed!  Unlike box5. 🤭

So the fact that you love this website is an issue 😭😂

 

how do we fix that? 

[LeanderMomma]

1 minute ago, bassboneman said:

So the fact that you love this website is an issue 😭😂

 

how do we fix that? 

I’m confused. 😵‍💫