Just my two cents, I don't think the fault with search lies in the code. Search was working for a long time and then it stopped working. Since there isn't much active development going on with the site, it doesn't seem likely that a code change was responsible. Instead it seems more likely that something elsewhere in the system broke down, eg. a stuck query, something in scheduler not running anymore, max table size exceeded somewhere. Those are just total stabs in the dark, but you get the idea. It's possible the ultimate fix will be a code change, but I'm not sure just spelunking around the code base looking for errors is going to be that helpful. I think it will take a broader view of the entire system and its parts and how they fit together and what could go wrong with those connections to find the problem.
Personally, I would start by looking at search and queires it generates. I'd try running a few manually to see if that gets the same result as the web code displays. Then I'd take a look at the database tables the queries hit and try to understand how they are populated and why they might not be getting the right data anymore.
But again, I don't know anything about Drupal or how OGA is setup so that's just my naive guess at what would be a sensible approach.
I really like how you've taken the extra resolution (vs 16x16 or 32x32) and used it to make finer detail but not necessarily more detail.
Friday, September 23, 2016 - 04:20
yuck. Let's not get lost in a game of 'where does all the patreon money go?'
I think it's sufficient to leave it at the funding is enough to keep the site up and running but not enough to pay for any active web development on it.
I am actually ok with the site going forward without active feature development. We can all dream of a million ways the site could be improved or new fizwidgets that could be added, but the reality is, the site as it is terrific. Maybe not perfect, maybe not up to all the latest fashions in web programming, but it certainly works well enough, otherwise it wouldn't see the traffic and continuous stream of submissions that it does.
However, I am very concerned that search is broken and has been broken for such a long time. There are a lot of things that can break and stay broken with the site, but search is not one of them.
I am not familar with PHP or Drupal, but I am a pretty seasoned developer and a quick study and more than happy to volunteer my time towards finding and fixing the search problem. Admins may private message me if they feel I could be of help in this capacity.
If there is anyone else from the community who has experience with PHP and Drupal and would like to volunteer their time towards fixing the search issue it'd be great to hear from them.
In the short term, I think it would very, very nice to post something to main page about the search issue.
Something along the lines of:
Search Issues
There is currently an issue with the search indexing on OGA which is preventing works newer than February 2016 from appearing in the search results. The problem is being investigated, however there is currently no ETA for getting it fixed. As a workaround, a 'Title' search option has been added to the search pages. This searches submissions by title only but side steps the indexing issue which is thwarting the main search feature and will return results newer than February 2016.
Thursday, September 22, 2016 - 06:40
@dannorder: Yeah I see what you are saying, does seem like defaulting to a 'sort by date, desc' would make sense, especially if you are coming from the 'latest art' page.
I'll second MoonStar's suggestion. I don't know that it needs a slider or anything too fancy, just adding another row would be great.
The problem MoonStar describes is real and we've actually had an issue in recent memory where a problematic user was dumping submissions onto the site crowding out new work by other artists.
Well here he is quickie palette swapped to the NES palette variant used by surt's OGA stuff.
Of course, he probably still technically exceeds the colors per sprite limits, but technically there were ways around that. :)
If I get more time, I'll drop him down to 16x16 also. Should be doable by taking a pixel or two from his body and maybe one from his hat.
Do we think search is a cpu issue, or were you two just talking generally?
No hope of getting a post to the main page explaining the search issue?
Super cute! I love it!! Especially the hands in the down walk cycle, they show such determination!!
Awesome!!
Just my two cents, I don't think the fault with search lies in the code. Search was working for a long time and then it stopped working. Since there isn't much active development going on with the site, it doesn't seem likely that a code change was responsible. Instead it seems more likely that something elsewhere in the system broke down, eg. a stuck query, something in scheduler not running anymore, max table size exceeded somewhere. Those are just total stabs in the dark, but you get the idea. It's possible the ultimate fix will be a code change, but I'm not sure just spelunking around the code base looking for errors is going to be that helpful. I think it will take a broader view of the entire system and its parts and how they fit together and what could go wrong with those connections to find the problem.
Personally, I would start by looking at search and queires it generates. I'd try running a few manually to see if that gets the same result as the web code displays. Then I'd take a look at the database tables the queries hit and try to understand how they are populated and why they might not be getting the right data anymore.
But again, I don't know anything about Drupal or how OGA is setup so that's just my naive guess at what would be a sensible approach.
Thanks!! These are all great changes!!
Beautiful!
I really like how you've taken the extra resolution (vs 16x16 or 32x32) and used it to make finer detail but not necessarily more detail.
yuck. Let's not get lost in a game of 'where does all the patreon money go?'
I think it's sufficient to leave it at the funding is enough to keep the site up and running but not enough to pay for any active web development on it.
I am actually ok with the site going forward without active feature development. We can all dream of a million ways the site could be improved or new fizwidgets that could be added, but the reality is, the site as it is terrific. Maybe not perfect, maybe not up to all the latest fashions in web programming, but it certainly works well enough, otherwise it wouldn't see the traffic and continuous stream of submissions that it does.
However, I am very concerned that search is broken and has been broken for such a long time. There are a lot of things that can break and stay broken with the site, but search is not one of them.
I am not familar with PHP or Drupal, but I am a pretty seasoned developer and a quick study and more than happy to volunteer my time towards finding and fixing the search problem. Admins may private message me if they feel I could be of help in this capacity.
If there is anyone else from the community who has experience with PHP and Drupal and would like to volunteer their time towards fixing the search issue it'd be great to hear from them.
In the short term, I think it would very, very nice to post something to main page about the search issue.
Something along the lines of:
Search Issues
There is currently an issue with the search indexing on OGA which is preventing works newer than February 2016 from appearing in the search results. The problem is being investigated, however there is currently no ETA for getting it fixed. As a workaround, a 'Title' search option has been added to the search pages. This searches submissions by title only but side steps the indexing issue which is thwarting the main search feature and will return results newer than February 2016.
@dannorder: Yeah I see what you are saying, does seem like defaulting to a 'sort by date, desc' would make sense, especially if you are coming from the 'latest art' page.
I'll second MoonStar's suggestion. I don't know that it needs a slider or anything too fancy, just adding another row would be great.
The problem MoonStar describes is real and we've actually had an issue in recent memory where a problematic user was dumping submissions onto the site crowding out new work by other artists.
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