Subsonic popularity

FlyingMouse · Post by **FlyingMouse** » Jun Wed 18, 2008 10:46 am

Multiple request streams, each with its own queue?

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jun Wed 18, 2008 3:07 pm

I've thought about this. I know a few people won't like this one. I think longer point regeneration could help. If regeneration times were say 48 to 72 hours, it would give more people a shot at getting a request in.
This would also encourage people to post. The more points you have, the less a longer regeneration time would hinder you requesting ability. Don't get me wrong with the amount of points I have right now this wouldn't effect me much. But, then again, I rarely request during weekday prime time.
I'm just a little sad that we're limited to an hour of request! With the points I now have, I was going to take over the request stream for a whole day and be the "KING of SUBSONIC!" (said in my best Cagne)

Now that I'm back from my delusion, I feel the long regeneration times would help.

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Jun Wed 18, 2008 9:16 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:I've thought about this. I know a few people won't like this one. I think longer point regeneration could help. If regeneration times were say 48 to 72 hours, it would give more people a shot at getting a request in.

That's not a bad idea (says another person with a lot of points.. who also doesn't request during the weekday rush ... my opinion probably doesn't count here

). I still think it'd help, though, considering with the current set up the same people could, in theory, request at the same time every day. Might help some people who start work later in the day or what have you.

danimal3114u · Post by **danimal3114u** » Jun Thu 19, 2008 10:01 am

FlyingMouse wrote:Multiple request streams, each with its own queue?

Along these same lines, I was thinknig that maybe we could do a request stream for WDW, DLR, and Combination. It would split the requests up about three different ways, but the split would still make logical sense so people wouldn't get too confused. I imagine that doing something along these lines would be pretty complicated though, so I'm not sure how practical it could be.

Post by **subsonic** » Jun Fri 20, 2008 11:25 am

The chances of us adding more request streams is low. At least with the current setup.

We are aware of the problem and are continually discussing solutions. It's tough work with the amount of resources we have and our availability.

packwingfn · Post by **packwingfn** » Jun Sat 21, 2008 10:31 pm

I'm not sure if I would like the multiple request streams anyways especially with the dividing of the tracks between DLR,WDW,DL because even though I only request WDW Tracks (because I've never been to Disneyland), I still like hearing the variety of tracks played throughout the day without having the need to switch streams.

Guy · Post by **Guy** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 2:44 am

rdeacon wrote:I think when we fixed the issue of members requesting large blocks of tracks, we created another issue. Its seems we broke the darn of requests, and now flooded the listener valley.

Rich

This problem was bound to happen and will continue to get worse so long as points are redeemed. All the while people are getting their points back daily the value of the tracks is going down. It's like a country's bank continuing to produce currency daily and flooding the market with it - the value of the money decreases.

Limiting the amount of points a person can use at one time (or over a time span) would help, but in my view so long as the threshold is higher than the longer track so that they still get played.

I think that the ideal solution (although probably expensive) is the two-request-channels one proposed above. That way people could divide their time/listening/requesting over the two. Actually, thinking about it would it be any more expensive to divide the 100 96K slots into two 50-slot request streems? This should reduce the requesting time by half and allow greater listener choir. Just a thought!

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 6:35 am

Ever thought of significantly limiting membership points to new users? Perhaps grandfather everyone registerd currently and requiring significant (and thoughtful) posts on the messagae board before awarding points for new users would solve the "problem". Just an idea!

Post by **Len90** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 12:35 pm

Okay, here is an idea that might make a few people mad at me. The points are redeemed currently and regenerate fully in 24 hours. So my idea is to have most of the points regenerate with some being lost as a sort of fee you pay to subsonic for playing your track. In the end this will encourage more posting on the forums... something that we can all enjoy and a shorter queue. For example, you lose 10% of the points needed to redeem a certain track. So if the track Spectromagic full parade is requested at 856 points. You can have only 771 points regenerate. I know it sounds cruel, but with 9 posts on the forums (90 points) you will have made up the difference and have 5 more points in your account.

Jacca also makes a great point with limiting the number of points you get at registration. I think a lot of people just register and use those points over and over. If you were to knock down the number of points on a new account and award these points to post milestones in the forums, it might help also.

kcarts · Post by **kcarts** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 3:57 pm

Such is the price of popularity. Limiting the amount of request time seems to be the most reasonable solution.

jbvenn · Post by **jbvenn** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 5:10 pm

I like Jacca's idea of lengthening the regen time. As it is, I rarely request tracks 2 days in a row, because it is so difficult to get into the queue during my prime listening time. I really don't mind not being able to request every day; there is usually something playing that I like and on the rare occasions when I don't like the current track, I can always switch to another stream.

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Jun Sun 22, 2008 7:54 pm

I think the site runs fine, they've already made it to where we can only request an hour, I've seen more variations in people that are able to request. I usually just enjoy what's played during the week and make my requests later in the evening or on the weekends. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though.

Keep up the great work, this site is the best!!!

Post by **rdeacon** » Jun Mon 23, 2008 8:55 am

A lot of interesting ideas...thanks for all your feedback.

Now let me share my 2 cents

I don't know if having a long queue is an issue. Yes it maybe inconvenient that you can't listen to the request exactly when you want to, but it's just a result of the popularity of the site. For me there becomes an issue when you can't ever get your request in, or the request is dominated by the same individuals. I'm not sure either is happening. I am going to watch the request streams this week and chart them. This way we have some data on how long the queue is, who is requesting, and how many tracks each member is requesting. This way we are not guessing about the status and type of request queue.

I will say that we do not want to create any policy that penalize one group over another. This is why we implemented the 1hr rule the last time, as it was equal among all user classes. Any future change would also have to be equally weighted. I think we also don't want to push the forum posting for points issue. I think in the beginning that was fine, but now the forums seem to sustain themselves, and points for posts leads to abuse issues. We have talked about a flat point system for all users, among with other ideas. Right now we will just watch and see, and work on one idea that might free up some request slots.

Thanks for ideas and keep them coming

Rich