Chris:

This has been an ongoing complaint for over 6 months.

I seem to recall that FEMA took less heat - and their delays were only measured in days.

"TPM staff has indicated they expect to have installed more server capacity by mid-month."

This sounds suspiciously like the retail mantra I was taught when doing customer service: "Your should be resolved in 7-10 days.

Maybe recommended. ;)

I'd be tempted to ask you to compare the complete and utter failure of this site to accommodate the entirely predictable level of traffic during a historic election season with the government's failed response to Katrina in 2005 during the annual hurricane season

So far as I know, TPM hasn't killed anyone.

And just what were you doing in a Warsaw Pact country during the Cold War anyway? Shopping at an empty store?

Hmmmm.

Those dissatisfied, of course, have the option of changing the channel.

I haven't found there to be a real serious problem. All of my comments and posts have appeared, though in many cases, especially during the mid-day peak period, it has taken a couple of minutes.

If those posting multiple times, those posting total BS, those posting unsolicited campaign advice, those posting breaking news that was posted hours previously wither here at TPM or the other sites most of us regularly visit,and those who post those insufferably long, meandering posts weren't posting here things would be a lot different. Additionally, if the serial book posters would set up their own blogs, things would be quite different.

Most of what is posted, in my opinion, is not worth reading.

Maybe BlownGasket could go elsehwere? It's not as if we are clammoring to hear the latest foul-mood diatribe.

You should ask for your money back!

You don't go into general election with server you'd like to have, you use server you have. It's all metaphor. The Cafe got couple of stars and went down under awful load of its popularity. Chef started drinking, plied by waiters with booze, she got drunk her apron caught on fire.

Be sure to tune in to my radio discussion of superiority of prepositions to articles.

To prove my point, I have decided to write without articles for few days. So bring your own to my blog. Have good day.

I'm tired of these failed policies of the past. New server NOW!

Hey all,

As before, really sorry. Obviously this is really crappy, and we're working as quickly as we can to fix it.

Frankly, we didn't expect Sarah Palin. She, combined with convention and fall energy, has really kicked the community here and our audience in general into high gear. We're experiencing unprecedented traffic.

It's totally fair to criticize, but know that we're doing our best and had already scheduled a massive server upgrade to start to make sure we'd be ok for the fall campaign.

Thanks for your patience.

Part of the Obama meltdown.

I found the problem.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UQPUzwdX51o/SMhBiRPZuiI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/ALKo_j6rne0/s1600-h/lipstickpigmccain.jpg

Geez.

Dumb Post!

gasket,

You might find this Feb. 7 comment by Josh Marshall of interest, explaining to Tom Wright the reasoning behind the software change

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/02/more-mall-than-coffee-house.php#comment-2591511

but I prefer what is a bit down from that on that thread---Ellen's reply to Josh's comment, and his reply to her; it actually makes me laugh:

For me, it's the "front paging" of the immigrant blogspotters who are dumping their formerly unread logorrhea at the new Cafe which is offputting. Would that more might take a lesson from Matthew Hammond.

Perhaps, if promotion to the front page required a certain number of recommendations or the votes of "trusted readers," there would be less complaining.

Posted by Ellen
February 7, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink

as the recommending system kicks in I think this will largely resolve itself.

Posted by Josh Marshall
February 7, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink

I pretty much dropped the TPM habit a year or so ago because the technology made it a waste of time to do anything more than read the front page. Checked back today and it's the same damn thing only worse than ever.

Andrew Golis was doing pretty much the same promises back then, too. I don't buy the conspiracy theories or the money theories, but there are obviously people making decisions here who are still struggling to master the IBM selectric typewriter, or maybe even stuck their toe into BBSes once or twice.

As any random browser click will show, this site uses, and insists on keeping on using, the worst website software on the planet. All I want to know from Andrew is WHY??? I'll check back in a year or two if I get nostalgic for the 19th Century.

I think Artappraiser's onto it, though. TPMCafe is low priority and proof of it is that Josh rarely posts here and doesn't even respond to highly recommended comments directed at him or at what he's written on the main page.

There's also been a lot less attention paid to recruiting the featured posters. There's a bunch of earnest college kids posting almost non-partisan articles that seem somehow related to the old Warren Reports and then really sporadic contributions from people like Clemons, Hundt and Taplin. MJ really pulls his weight, as does Gitlin but where did everybody go? It's too early to tell but I hope that Bernard Avishai's recent prolific posting won't stop after he's done promoting his book here.

More, better featured liberal posters please. Right now if Rosenberg or Gitlin decide to take a vacation we're in trouble.

Myself, I am in forgiving mode here. I know that it's hard to fix all these problems once they have already started. What makes it hard is you have to keep the site going while fixing at the same time. It would be easy if you could shut the site down and tinker with everything.

As for the someone up above who seemed to think they could start something else, lotsa luck, earnestly. There is soooooo much more to doing something like this than just having nice technology. I appreciate Josh and company's reporting and muckraking. I'm sure the problems will be resolved someday.

(PS. I am going to publish this once and only once. because, even though I am a newbie, it didn't take me very FUCKING long to figure out what to do. Hence, less pain and complaining.)

To Gasket... I know we rarely agree, but this time, you nailed my frustration -- and that, I think, of most of us.

Dijamo -- your comment made me laugh so hard, I nearly fell off my chair!

To the TPM staff... a little reminder: you get your page views -- and hence advertising revenue -- from us little people. You added a feature, ostensibly because it seemed like good business to make a spot for us to post our opinions. You thought we'd read your stuff, click over to our blogs and post away. You thought you'd get more page views and clicks when we commented on each others stuff. You thought you'd keep readership high, because there would be plenty of return visits. That would boost you in search engines and the higher you show there, the more traffic you generate. In short, you need us.

It's been a few years since I managed a corporate website, but one of things I learned quickly is that you better be able to manage your servers on the fly, and that unhappy users can mean the death of your site.

Server errors like this would have been expected years ago, but there really is no excuse today. If your hosting company cannot accommodate your traffic, it's time to find another host.

TPM used to be a fun place to post, trolls and all, fights and bickering and all. But this foolishness with server errors, multiple posts, missing posts and comments has taken all the fun out of this site. The proposed changes don't look all that innovative and are a long time coming. I don't understand why you've applied one interface for posting in one area (what you use), and a different one here (what we use).

I get the feeling you guys (and gals) are re-inventing the wheel instead of just buying a new one. Maybe it's time you found a venture partner to infuse some cash and improve the site.

Those dissatisfied, of course, have the option of changing the channel.

I haven't found there to be a real serious problem. All of my comments and posts have appeared, though in many cases, especially during the mid-day peak period, it has taken a couple of minutes.

If those posting multiple times, those posting total BS, those posting unsolicited campaign advice, those posting breaking news that was posted hours previously wither here at TPM or the other sites most of us regularly visit,and those who post those insufferably long, meandering posts weren't posting here things would be a lot different. Additionally, if the serial book posters would set up their own blogs, things would be quite different.

Most of what is posted, in my opinion, is not worth reading.

Posted by Chris Brown

For what little it's worth, I find the notion that 'there is no real problem here' to be offensive.

I posted something a couple of days ago. It went right through and I was hoping that all the trouble I'd had was gone. I went about my real world business and checked back a few hours later to see if I had any comments or recs. (I generally get at least a few comments on anything I post, and a few recs... every once in a while, I get enough recs to become a 'recommended post' for a day or so, which is always cool.)

I was a little surprised to discover that I had no comments yet, and no recs. Then I checked the sidebar, and could not find my post anywhere. Yet there it was, on my blog. But...

A few other people had posted after me, and all of them had posted over and over and over again. When three or four people post after you, usually you still stay in the sidebar for most of a day... but when three or four people post the same thing four or five or eight or nine times each, it drives the sidebar down relentlessly, and you pretty quickly drop off.

I cannot tell you how discouraging this is to me.

None of us are getting paid for this. ALL of us are doing it for, basically, attention. (That's nothing to be ashamed off, it's a basic human need.) When the servers are disfunctional to the point where multiple errors are driving fresh posts off the sidebar into oblivion within a few hours of being posted, well... that's a pretty significant problem.

Still, it's pretty obvious that I must fall into at least one, and probably more than one, of the categories Mr. Brown has nothing but contempt and disdain for, so, I guess I will take my talents, such as they are, elsewhere.

You have become a blog community of whiners and yet you're all still here screaming "I want my TPM!" from the roof of the cafe.

Now, WHICH ONE OF YOU BASTARDS SNAGGED MY KLONOPIN! I will track you down like a pack of Alaskan wolves! Thanks.

PLEASE try this site out and let me know what you think!

I WELCOME your post at a Brand New site

http://www.tmcpac.com/forum

I'm still working on it so let me know what YOU think it needs.

PLEASE check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks O¿O

The multiple posts are not deliberate. One gets an Error message. One goes back to where one was. Post is stilll there in the message box. Press submit again. Error message. Etc.

Wow, my first Unity thread.

Woot!

For the whiners (I believe from the Great State of Maine-DKos):

You always You never You should You must You shouldn't You mustn't. Why can't you Why don’t you Why aren't you Why didn’t you How could you? You suck You blow You lie You have no idea. You ignoramus You jerk You Ass You partisan hack. You're lying You're cheating You're distorting You're asking for it. You're out of your mind You’re out of your league You’re out of your tree You're out of your gourd. You’re off your rocker You're off your meds You're off the reservation. You're wrong You're stupid You're ignorant You're mental You're full of shit. You're an automaton You're a bomb-thrower You’re a water carrier You're a Kool Aid drinker You're a hack You're a loser You're a prick. You've got blinders on You've got no sense You've got spittle on your chin You've got your head up your ass. You disgust me You repulse me You disappoint me You make me want to puke. You’re talking in circles You're talking in riddles You’re talking in gibberish You're talking trash You're talking like a two year old. You can go to hell You can kiss my ass You can leave You can take your shit to another blog. I'm warning you I'm telling you I'm advising you I'm this close to troll-rating you. I'm sick of your crap I'm sick of your attitude I'm sick of your comments I'm sick of your emails I'm sick of your purity. Mine's better, smarter, faster, more organized, more effective and more experienced than yours, whatever it is. I say so I know so I was there I heard it from the horse's mouth I saw it on the internet I found it on Wikipedia I have a friend who took a class I got it from Fox News I read a press release from my congressman. Knock it off Cut it out Get a clue Do your homework. Clearly you don’t  understand Clearly you don’t listen Clearly you don’t get it Clearly you haven’t tried it Clearly you weren't old enough at the time Clearly you're out of touch Clearly you're running around with the wrong crowd Clearly you want us to lose. One more word One more peep One more comment One more outburst One more syllable and you'll regret it. Don’t give me that attitude Don’t play that card Don’t change the subject Don't act so surprised Don’t be so stupid. Go to hell Go pound sand Go back to your mommy Go screw yourself Go to Little Green Footballs. I'm sick of you I loathe you I hope you get what's coming to you, crybaby.