[Foundation-l] Re: Continued concern with performance

[Rich Holton]

--- "Jimmy (JiJimboWales" <jwjwalesiwikiaom> wrote:

> Rich HoHoltonrote:
> > My greatest concern is that there are continuing performance issues
> > with little apparent progress over an extended period. Without
> > hesitation I presume that we have good people volunteering their
> time
> > and working hard to resolve these issues. 
> 
> I think you're overlooking our staggering growth rate, though.  There
> has been enormous progress on a great many fronts, but we continue to
> grow grow grow at an astonishing rate.
> 
> It isn't as if we have steady traffic and the dedevsre working this
> hard and achieving nothing.  It's that we have remarkable progress on
> all fronts and enough growth to make it not seem very impressive if
> you don't recognize what's going on.

There are continuing performance issues without _apparent_ progress
over an extended period. It's not a question of whether the dedevsre
achieving nothing, it a question of whether WiWikipediaWiWikiMediais
able to handle it own growth. Do we have the organization and structure
necessary to be a top 100 site? Can we effectively respond to spurts in
usage, hardware failures, or the loss of key developers? 

I am not bitching about the developers. I've tried to make that clear,
though I may not have always succeeded. We have volunteers who are
making extraordinary efforts, and achieving extraordinary things. But
have we reached a point where that is not enough?

According to Alexa, our traffic rank has dropped significantly over the
past two weeks -- to the point where we are now at a level comparable
to our lolowpointsver Mid November to Mid December.

To look at this as purely a tetechnicalssue is, in my opinion, a huge
mistake. This is a challenge to the entire organization, and
particularly to "the management". That's why I'm bringing this up on
the Foundation mailing list.

If I am missing something here, it's safe to assume that I am not the
only one. There are limited sources of information for the typical
editor: 

* The tech section of VP (on en) still points to this LiLiveJournalage:
hthttp/wwwwwilivejournalom/community/wiwikitech432.hthtml* Error
messages point to: hthttp/wwwwwilivejournalom/community/wiwikitechand
also to:
hthttp/opopenfactseberliosedendex-en.phphtmlitle=WiWikipediatatus,
where I see that JaJamesDayas finally given some response to people's
questioning and complaining. Check out the archive for the first part
of January though:
hthttp/opopenfactseberliosedendex-en.phphtmlitle=WiWikipediatatus/archive2005

As far as I can tell, none of these give an adequate indication of what
the issues are and what progress is being made. I would try to add
something somewhere to point to more up-to-date and reliable
information, but I don't know where to find such information.

> 
> > Sometimes it is necessary for an organization to consider the
> > possibility that internal resources are not sufficient to address
> an
> > immediate need. WiWikipediaas come a long way relying almost
> entirely
> > on volunteer workers. I do not believe this can continue
> indefinitely.
> 
> I would tend to agree with you on this, but we should not expect paid
> work to be a cure-all.  In some well-defined areas, yes.  But in
> general, it is not so clear.
> 

No, there is no panacea. But there are times when a small but focused
action can achieve sisignificantesults.

I very much value what WiWikipedias and stands for. That's exactly why
I'm concerned.

-Rich HoHolton


		
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