Webmaster Tips & Tricks - The Webmaster’s Blog

I am already known to be quite a lazy person when it comes to upgrade my scripts. Due to some serious spam issues and after I realized that the 2.0.21 phpBB version is less likely to receive it, I made it a priority for today to upgrade one of my phpBB forums: Talking About Movies.

As usually my forum is heavily modded so no chance for me to do the upgrade in the “normal” way. This meant code changes. They took 30 minutes I think but I had no issues at all. The code changes from 2.0.19 to 2.0.20 … some easy to follow code changes (as all the very well explained phpBB mods, this one was easy to follow and implement).

After making the code changes (and also having the old files backed up… because you never know) I was able to download phpBB 2.0.20, create a install folder in the forums’ root and copy the update_to_latest.php file that would upgrade my SQL tables too. Of course: BACK UP the database prior to any changes.

All went well. Tomorrow I should upgrade to the latest and install some nice “anti-spam” hacks I found on phpBB’s Official Site.

Stumbleupon is one of the new “tricks” many webmasters use in order to get some more traffic to their sites. Similar to Digg, but more simple. The main idea is that you install a toolbar for the browser and when you see a site you like you hit the “I like it button.”

For a new site to be “stumbled upon” this means hundreds of visits in the first minutes and then .. silence. Some visits from time to time from people who referred it and that’s kinda all.

Still many use it and they make “deals”: “I vote for your site, you vote for mine” in order to tame this beast and make the traffic high for more than just hours. As in Digg’s case the visits (if too many) can really bring down a server, so this measure shouldn’t be used by people will small bandwidth account.

Now: why do I say I have something against it? Am I crazy? Am I just an outcast who likes to be against this new way?

First of all let me tell you that I USED IT! I was curious to see how it works and yes: for 1 hour I had hundreds of visits (over 100 people online at the same time) and other things that made me “proud”. But the problem is that once the effect was gone I was back to my normal traffic.

1. An artifficial increase

Stumbleupon is sort of a TrafficSwarm, but a bit different. What makes it similar to it in my eyes is the same “artifficial” way of working, and the same useless traffic is brings. I had many visits from it, but NONE turned into a member. And I am afraid to say that I don’t think there are too many returning visitors either.

Most of the people there are to promote their own sites and they move fast to the new link they see. I DID the same thing. I wasn’t interested in joining anything .. just seeing what others have and then close it. I got bored of Stumbleupon fast and disabled the toolbar.

2. Good to “heal some broken hearts”

It can be pretty frustrating to see 150 visitors each day on a new site. We have all been there and we all struggle with these numbers each day. I can understand why some people use StumbleUpon: sure it feels good to have your daily visitors number in just 1 hour. But as soon as the “heat” goes off you’re back to your small numbers.

More frustrated,  but at least you knew how it is to be “successful”. If success lies in these numbers, then go for it. Submit another page of the site (you can do this too) and see again many visitors and then the empty site again.

For a developer who’s not into such “cheap thrills” StumbleUpon is not the way. I have admitted I used this once. I agree: you feel nice, but then I was again with my normal traffic. If you’re working as you should on your site, update it frequently with good info and develop each day then TRAFFIC WILL INCREASE! Not 10 times over-night perhaps, but a constant increase.

You’ll have people to stumble upon your site (in the real meaning, with a link in a signature, a directory link a referral) and your good information might make them come back and even bring in their friends.

3. Possible server issues .. and maybe Adsense problems

If you’re not on an “hefty” hosting account, try not to use this too much. The increased number of visits might make your site use too many resources and get a suspended account. Something like the “digg effect” many people talk about.

Another roumor (never was able to see if it’s true or not) .. a huge amount of visits when you have little normally might make the good people from Adsense suspicious. I heard that it’s not safe to have huge traffic fluctuations. If you use StumbleUpon on a page with Adsense ads you might get some issues. If your page has 10 visits on a normal day and you get to 600 with StumbleUpon this might trigger some questions. Again .. I never had a confirmation of this, but I wouldn’t play with my account anyway.

Overall StumbleUpon is a nice project. I wished I came with this idea, but .. I am not an innovator. Still I am a webmaster who tries to increase traffic each day. I do this by posting in forums, even with this blog. But, even if I would like even more visits, I stick to the traditional ways. If my traffic grows each day bit by bit then I am pleased. I can controll my advertising campaigns better, I can know what works and what not.

PS: Illegal use?

Just got another idea: if I elect a site to promote my creations on or just buy it … don’t you think that it would be quite a problem to pay for the service or site a huge sum (the “inflated” stats would show me it’s “successful”) and then realise that these 1500 visits a day are 1400 from stumbleupon and only 100 real visits?

Did anyone get into this problem? I’m sure I’d be careful in the future when dealing with any site and make sure I ask them HOW much of their traffic is REALLY traffic and how much of it it’s just the nice StumbleUpon trick?

This can be placed on the “how stupid can I be” series …

I have read on Invisionize some info about a list of addresses and IPs to be banned. I had some email addresses banned, but I thought I might place some more already known spammer addresses and clean my forums better. This measure would affect Martial Art Forums and Dojo - The Romanian MA Forum.

I was very pleased to paste a HUGE list of IPs and email addresses. I then closed the browser and went to another site in my network.

Big mistake. I didn’t check the results ASAP and noticed only after few hours that I have banned my IP. Judging from some emails I got it looks like I banned more members (not all though).

I was able to restore the previous IP list (no IPs) and everything was OK. I posted a “mea culpa” message in both forums and realized that no matter how experienced I think I am I still can make some VERY stupid things.

My conclusion:

1. try not to be so fast with IP bans

2. check the forums as soon as you made such a change. Saves you from some more embaressment.

I wasn’t bored, but I don’t think I could have found a better way to spend my time anyway

Few days ago I chatted with a fellow forum admin about the possibility to merge our two forums. www.WomenOnlyForums.com would get some new members and content and we’d grow together from now on.

Everything seemed to be OK. I told her I would start tweaking something, look for topics that already mention this and in few days we might make the switch. She was fast enough to give me a first dabatase dump for me to work on.

I have to thank Lord for the brains he gave me (this time at least) and the inspired thought of setting a test forum. I was almost on the verge of working on the main forums and then realized it’s too serious to toy around with.

So my first night meant creating the 2 databases and importing the data. Creating the test forum was a good idea in the end … I was able to see that the main database backup was working and I could also see the results when trying the merge.

The second day meant looking for the merge script and tweaking it. And the first set of some ugly errors. I read the info I could many times and tried to adjust. At the end of the second working day I had the feeling that maybe .. I won’t make it. I also knew then that we have 2 different databases (mine heavily modded with so many supplementary tables and columns) and the other one with its share of modifications too. While I tried to sleep I made is as a plan to compare the 2 databases and try to make them more compatible.

The next 2 days meant more work into solving the errors. I had them all. And looked for some explanations and ways out while also learning some more about phpmyadmin and database structure. It was even more clear to me: I won’t make it. I have re-imported the databases so many times I was just sick of it. I wanted to quit tens of times, but I knew that I would make a fool of myself in front of my fellow admin who was willing to trust her forums and members to me.

It was Saturday in the morning. I woke up determined to finish it that day (I promised to do so days ago and few hours ago I asked the other admin to close the board entirely since I won’t need a second database dump. I just wasn’t able to go through it all again with a new database that needed re-importing of the columns that weren’t there in the first place. Her forum was closed for more than 1 day already and I was ashamed to tell her “Well, I wasn’t able to make it, do whatever you like with it.”

I went shopping (looks like it’s a good way for a woman to ease her mind ) and came home some hours after this. I opened phpmyadmin again and let the script make the merges and give errors until I spotted ALL the missing columns. I wrote all the code to insert them, emptied the databases again and did it all over again. I would go farther each time and have other new errors. After another set of errors I was able FOR THE FIRST TIME to have a flawless merge.

It was about the time I would close my main forum, announce my members of the downtime we’ll experience and then work on the merge on the official forum. I sent a mass email telling my girls we’ll have a surprise prepared and the forums would be down for few hours. I then backed up the main database once again, changed the info on the merge script and re-imported the data on the second database (teh one to be placed in my forums).

And … Error. Forgot to add a column and I had an error again. After I calmed myself down I re-dropped all the tables in both databases, re-imported them, imported the list of changes in the SQL option and hit the merge script again. IT WORKED. I screamed for joy and went to see my big forum. Took me some hours to make it all OK, move topics, re-open the forums, welcome the new people … but the main thing was that I did it. I merged two forums and proved to myself once again that I CAN DO IT.

And since this is the “romance” style story, here is the tutorial I made about this.