Upcoming Log Limit Enforcement

When I say limit, I am referring to time limit, there will be no number limit on the amount of logs you can upload. This is just a friendly warning that I will soon be enforcing the log limit policy that I outlined in my Welcome Back post back in July. The size of the database is getting to the point where if I don't begin to enforce this policy, it will cause degradation to the quality of service provided.  This is the way it will work:

• Any logs that contain boss fights will be moved to an inactive archive database. They will be inaccessible at this time and will be used only for overall stats on the statistics pages. I may allow limited access to them at a later date.
• Any logs that are ranked will not be removed. This includes archived rankings which can go back up to 60 days.
• If you are a member of the site, your logs will stay on the website for a maximum of 180 days since its last viewing unless it contains boss fights. This means, if you upload your combat log, look at it once, and then never look at it again for 180 days, it will be deleted on the 181st day. If you look at your combat log on day 179, it resets this counter.
• If you are uploading a combat log to the website as an anonymous user, your logs will stay on the website for a maximum of 60 days since its last viewing unless it contains boss fights. Same rules as above apply.

This policy will ensure the website can continue to function quickly and efficiently as well as reducing costs.  The numbers above are not set in stone and may change from time to time, but I will attempt to be as transparent as I can about the process.

As an FYI, I ran a test of this system to see what the results looked like.  As a result of running this system for the very first time, the following numbers were observed:

• Anonymous logs to be deleted: 23176
• Member logs to be deleted: 296

By the numbers above, you can see that very few member logs will be affected by this new policy relative to the total number of logs in the database (there are a lot). There are quite a few anonymous logs that will be deleted upon activation of this new policy. A large majority of both numbers will be moved into the inactive archive database vice being permanently deleted.

I will turn this system on in approximately one week to give everyone ample time to make sure none of your important, can't-be-deleted logs fall into the deletion state. I will need to bring the site down for approximately four hours to run this system for the first time as well as conduct database maintenance after it has completed. This maintenance is currently scheduled for Monday, 14 Jan 2013 4AM PT/7AM ET/1PM CET/9PM AET.

After I have run the system for the first time, it will be setup to run automatically every few days. The site will only need to be brought down for the first run, and subsequent runs will be transparent to the user.

Thanks,

James

P.S. I should have a new desktop application update ready by this weekend. I took a little time off for the holidays, but have quite a bit of new work to show everyone!

TL;DR: New log time limit policy: 180 days since last view for members; 60 days for anonymous; boss fight logs will be moved to inactive database, not accessible, only used for overall statistics numbers; ranked logs will not be removed. Scheduled maintenance: Monday, 14 Jan 2013 4AM PT/7AM ET/1PM CET/9PM AET. Maintenance length approx 4 hours.