Conserving Bandwith through Deletion?

[Disney Duster]

A few weeks ago I made a new topic in General Discussion, but then deleted it because I felt it was unnecessary. Then it got me to thinking, and now I'd finally like to ask a few questions about posts. I searched a little bit for similar threads, and couldn't find anything that had to do with these particuliar questions. I did find this thread: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... t=bandwith, but I read the first few posts and they didn't answer my questions.

First of all, does deleting posts save bandwith?

What happens to the oldest threads? Every time a new thread is created, is the oldest existing thread automatically deleted?

And finally I'd like to ask, in general, how to help save bandwith. I once made a lot of posts with pictures in them, and later deleted the pictures when the thread was old and I thought no one else would post in it anymore. Does that kind of thing save bandwith? Would deleting all of my posts in that thread be even better? I'd just like to know what kind of things save bandwith on this site.

Now, since we're on the topic of bandwith, I'll say that as soon as someone answers these questions, if this topic has been brought up before and someone with the authority deems this thread unnecessary, by all means that someone can delete it.

I'd now like to ask a question unrelated to this topic of saving bandwith, but I don't want to make a whole new post for it, so I'll ask it here.

How do you put a URL in a post without posting the whole address. For instance, say I wanted people to click on a hyper-link that was just the words "Click here", but it would take them to http://www.Disney.com? Okay, and now posting this made me think of yet another question. How do you type out an entire URL without making it a hyper-link, as it automatically did for Disney.com. Or can it not be done? Would I have to take out the http:// part?

[Luke]

Bandwidth involves the transfer of data. In the case of UD, the data is moved from our server to the various computers that are surfing it. With that in mind, deleting old posts really doesn't have a tremendous effect on bandwidth. Deleting several entire threads would have an effect on the amount of disk space being used for the forum and its database, but unless they were still being accessed in large numbers, they don't have a large effect on things overall. Keep in mind, that about 2 million pages are loaded on UD each month. Deleting individual posts in a thread is not going to make a big difference.

No threads are automatically deleted. I have gone through periods, where some pruning was done, all manually and mostly just through multi-round Polls & Games threads. It's mostly done to keep things orderly and the database size down.

To link to an address, you can do the following:

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.disney.com]Click here[/url]

Hope that answered your questions!

[Disney Duster]

That certainly did. Thank you very much, Luke!

[blackcauldron85]

I should've searched for this thread before deleting threads, but I didn't...I searched for threads that I started that had 0 replies, and deleted all but 2...maybe I freed up a teensy-tiny bit of bandwidth...

I have a question about pictures, though, that Mike sort of asked but didn't get an answer to- what about pictures? I think that, in general, we're supposed to upload pictures to a picture-hosting site, like Photobucket or TinyPic, right? Many times I do that, but sometimes I will just use " " around a link- does that use a lot more bandwidth than posting a Photobucket or TinyPic image link? And will going back and deleting pictures free up enough bandwidth to make it worthwhile? I know that threads like the CD & DVD purchase threads use a heck of a lot of pictures, and not all the pictures are uploaded from Photobucket or TinyPic- if many people deleted pictures in those threads (just writing the names of the CDs and DVDs and deleting the pictures), would that free up a lot of bandwidth? Or should we not worry about it? Is UD's bandwidth large enough right now that we really don't have to make any changes to how we post?

[PeterPanfan]

One thing that could help:

When quoting picture posts, delete the IMG tags, so it's just the link.

[littlefuzzy]

I have a question about pictures, though, that Mike sort of asked but didn't get an answer to- what about pictures? I think that, in general, we're supposed to upload pictures to a picture-hosting site, like Photobucket or TinyPic, right? Many times I do that, but sometimes I will just use " " around a link- does that use a lot more bandwidth than posting a Photobucket or TinyPic image link? And will going back and deleting pictures free up enough bandwidth to make it worthwhile? I know that threads like the CD & DVD purchase threads use a heck of a lot of pictures, and not all the pictures are uploaded from Photobucket or TinyPic- if many people deleted pictures in those threads (just writing the names of the CDs and DVDs and deleting the pictures), would that free up a lot of bandwidth? Or should we not worry about it? Is UD's bandwidth large enough right now that we really don't have to make any changes to how we post?

I would think that as long as the images aren't from UD, they aren't going to use any bandwidth from this site. Although, beware of hotlinking images that you didn't upload, because some sites get mean about you using their bandwidth, and can cause the images to change to porn/nasty stuff.

[blackcauldron85]

I thought that the worse that would happen would be that the picture just wouldn't show up anymore...I don't want any nasty pictures on UD due to my laziness...thanks for letting me know!

Maybe that's another reason to go back and erase old pictures?

[Luke]

It's definitely not worth the effort of deleting pictures from posts. We've actually been doing pretty well with bandwidth lately. I appreciate the thoughtfulness though.