Why is the Forum server so slow?

I decided the other day to consider MODx for a new project. It looked pretty good, seeming more suitable (in terms of flexibility) for a dev-minded person than WP. I dpwnloaded it and am having a look.

BUT: it is a pretty negative experience to see the Forum server taking 20-30 seconds to load a page. And it has been like that all of yesterday, and still the same today. When I press the "start new post" button below I'm expecting a loooong wait.

Is this normal?

As the site load appears to be "a few posts a day", and I assume it's running MODx, it worries me that a) it could even be that bad and b) that no-one has fixed it.

It sure gives a bad impression to a newcomer.

I do not know why the forum was so slow. It' is not normally very slow. I'll have the team take a look at it.

Jay

unfortunately it is very slow. It takes at least 20-30 seconds to load. The same with creating and posting a new post. It must put people off. I havent been on the modx forums for a while, and I havent done any Modx projects of late but I always have a fondness for the Modx principles and the project - but the painfully slow load times of the forums must scare alot of people off.

Can't say I have any issues with the speed personally.

Quote from: dan_arclight at Jul 31, 2018, 09:45 PM

unfortunately it is very slow. It takes at least 20-30 seconds to load. The same with creating and posting a new post. It must put people off. I havent been on the modx forums for a while, and I havent done any Modx projects of late but I always have a fondness for the Modx principles and the project - but the painfully slow load times of the forums must scare alot of people off.

I love MODx and the MODX cloud and the MODx support - but if that forum isn't the slowest forum ever! Even the WP forum is better built & faster and wordpress is... how should I put delicately - as horrible as stepping on LEGO.

I think the MODx folks didn't think there will be a lot of people when they made the forums and they were suddenly popular. But it is time for a refresh.

@OP, MODX is very fast. I have made a lot of websites on it and I can attest as long as you don't go horribly wrong like write PHP snippets that query the DB all the time without a cache and add 100 images of flickering butterflies, you will have extremely fast websites.

I hear whisperings on Slack that the Forum software is on its last leg and is about to be very soon swapped ... maybe Discourse or some other uber modern platform.

I personally don't mind this forum. I hope the new one will do well. Maybe core users will move back from Slack and become more active again.

I don't know what will happen but it will not be a native solution. It might not even be a proper forum, which would be a big mistake IMHO.

Who knows they might just use Vanilla.

I do feel there is an opportunity here. There is value in a collection of useful information. And I don't feel a solution like Discourse is a long term solution, you better hope you can port some of that useful info 5 years down the road, and good luck doing it.

The problem is Modx LLC is a software company, not a support company, not support in this sense. They do one thing well.

This forum is an example, today a properly optimized forum with good monetization can bring in decent revenue if it gets hits.

It gets hits if it delivers the useful info people need, by triggering Google properly, which Modx itself does fairly well.

But this forum never did that, I am as likely to get a post from 6 years ago as I am from last year when I search, or a decade ago. It might be missing some of the data to send to google...it really is an old piece of software by now.

If there isn't a collection of the timely info people need, then its...not going to work, long term. Simply not going to survive the long run.

'Getting started' checklists, basics of users, hell even a *comprehensive and updated* upgrade process flowchart. Those docs are the lifeblood of a system and a community.

I think a forum should not be owned or controlled by Modx LLC, they just don't have the time. It should however be controlled by strong community members.

Sorry if I am asking too much. I guess I would say, look at any software company's training documents, there should equally be similar documents for Revo.

Its like saving no grain for an emergency, you get to eat more now.

@nuan88 interesting points.

Here is one that got me ...

I think a forum should not be owned or controlled by MODX LLC, they just don't have the time. It should however be controlled by strong community members.

I think the LLC should own and oversee the Forum (with proper distance of course - because familiarity breeds and nurtures contempt). And yes, they should involve /encourage the so-called strong/frequent community members.

IMNSHO, the LLC leaving the official MODX Slack community to be started/owned by a community member, was a huge mistake (more on that later). Helm, my friends, take the helm.

Its just not in the cards, if it happens at all it will be well-separated from the LLC.

They can't do everything, full stop. Its quite proven

The Forum is quite fast for me. The only exception is when I ask for unread replies to my posts. That often takes 30 seconds or more. maybe it queries for all my posts, then loops through them looking for ones I haven't seen. Since I generally look at the subject of all new posts, the only time I need to ask for unread replies is when the forum occasionally logs me off and forgets where I left off.