We could lose AccuWeather folks!!!!!

[sgtevmckay]

Hello Rainmeter community
There currently exists the possibility that the AccuWeather feed may be stopped!
Read on for further details!

Over the last week or so, I have had communication from the folks at AccuWeather.
I would have you observe the latest e-mail that I received this morning.
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Thanks for getting back to me. I am out of the office until next week. Can we plan to talk then?

One request I have, can you investigate making less data calls to the AccuWeather servers? The is critical in keeping the feed in place.

Thanks,

Joe Gore

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Now the folks at AccuWeather understand that we just had a major release and that there would be a major increase in traffic to the AccuWeather feed, but this is something more.
Something more than just a lot of folks alll updating their skins and building new ones.
Apparently there are folks that do not have the common courtesy to limit their skins update time.

Am I upset? You had better believe it!

There are some very clear guide lines that were established at the the time I negotiate access to an AccuWeather feed, the following can be referred to:
http://rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=452
http://code.google.com/p/rainmeter/wiki/AccuWeather
There is also a plethora of forum conversation regarding the proper use of AccuWeather feeds.
Now I have seen a lot of you bend over backwards to comply, even when the demands seemed very high From AccuWeather. Quite a few of you even gladly came forward to attempt to comply with every little detail specified from the folks at AccuWeather.
To all of you I say Thank You

Apparently though there are some that do not seem to understand that any abuse of the feed, in this case a request overload, will have our feed summarily discontinued.
Some of you, and I have no idea who you are, are retrieving information from the AccuWeather feed at less than 15 minute intervals, and apparently quite a few are doing so every second.
If you are one of these folks that thinks it is cool to update their weather skin every second:STOP!
If you have built a skin and you have not instituted proper update intervals: STOP Using your skin at his time!
If you are unsure of your update time: post your code here at the forum, and we will help you correct your update times!

There is no reason to update any weather skin any more than once every 20 minutes!

i would have you observe the following statement I made upon completion of AccuWeather negotiated contract to Rainmeter:

Also, the folks at AccuWeather.com are very clear on the following matter.
If there is any abuse of the sites granted, or AccuWeather feels that we are in violation of the agreement, I will be contacted to correct the issue; ONCE!
If I get the warning, I will post it to the forum, and that is it. I am no cop, and I will not go tracking folks all over the internet for being ID10T errors.
After that the site will be shut down, and anyone with an AccuWeather skin will suddenly find themselves with a dead skin.
There will be no second chance.
Therefore I am laying this at the feet of the Rainmeter community to be responsible and careful in their use of their skins.

It is up to you collectively to ensure that we keep this privilege.

HERE IS THE WARNING!

I will attempt to negotiate a solution with AccuWeather, but if the abuse of the site continues, we get what we get.

I want all of you to understand.
Rainmeter has already been banned from one site that I can verify. All this site does is show you your IP Address, but because certain individuals feel it necessary to update their skin every 5 minutes or less, we have been cut off.
Those folks that have mentioned know the site and the conditions that we lost our privileges to access. Rainmeter was summarily cut off.

Apparently the community did not get the message.
Well when the AccuWeather feed gets cut off.
Maybe folks will listen!

Apparently we have about a week to correct the update issue, make the best of your time to help yourselves keep the AccuWeather service going.

If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask.
I am here to serve the Rainmeter community to the best of my ability :ugeek:

[Benjamin Linus]

This is extremely upsetting considering all the ground work and personal time you spent setting the arrangement up.
Let's hope people see sense.

[jsmorley]

Here is what you need to do.

1) Tell AccuWeather that we have changed the code in our 1.1 release which is now in beta, available to all, and will be going to release very shortly. (We should talk to Rainy ASAP about just releasing 1.1 NOW and wait for 1.2 for any additional functionality). The change enforces a 10 minute default on how often a site will be hit.

However, we MUST ensure that the maximum number of folks get 1.1 and get off of 1.0. This is NOT going to happen by word of mouth. So we must...

2) Ask AccuWeather to change the address of the feed. What does this do? It means everyone will be hitting the forums asking why their feed has stopped. We can set up a special "topic" in the forum for these people. There we will tell them the address for the new feed, but tell them that we require that they download and run Rainmeter 1.1 to use it. If need be we could even include the address IN the distribution for 1.1 and that is the only way they can get it.

Changing the URL for the feed is 2 minutes work for AccuWeather, and it would really give us an opportunity to get this problem under control.

Using an "honor" system just isn't going to work. If this was an issue where only "honor" was involved, it might, but this situation requires not only the willingness of the users to cooperate, but assumes they are computer literate and Rainmeter literate enough to know how to use the tool in a way that doesn't hurt everyone.

[redblack]

Lame :[

[karmat]

It's always a couple bad apples...

Most of the weather apps I use are - UpdateRate=3600. Is that okay?

[jsmorley]

It's always a couple bad apples...

Most of the weather apps I use are - UpdateRate=3600. Is that okay?

Yes.. Assuming you have Update= in the [Rainmeter] section set to 1000 that is one hour and is plenty big.

[karmat]

Yes.. Assuming you have Update= in the [Rainmeter] section set to 1000 that is one hour and is plenty big.

Thanks Morley, yeah, the Update is set to 1000.

I can't understand why anybody would need to update so often, unless they're sitting there just looking at their screens and not doing any work or play! What's the point!

[Benjamin Linus]

Great points jsmorley and one's that would work.

Dare i say Accuweather could always employ ip bans server side for those currently abusing the agreement :shock:
When the culprits realise their weather feed has been terminated they will then seek help and we can put them right.

[Chewtoy]

Just so people can change the UpdateRate easily.

If your Update=1000 (if it not defined anything else, this is what it is), then put your UpdateRate=900 AS A MINUMUM!!!
This updates ever 15min. And there is no reason WHAT SO EVER to update more often. AccuWeather updates the page every 15min, so having an UpdateRate=1 is just plain stupid. The info won't change for 15min no matter how much you want it to!

AccuWeather is NOT a live feed. It's a 15min intervall feed.


Also. If you got a skin that don't have an UpdateRate specified, ADD IT! It's not hard at all!
Just add UpdateRate=1000 to the Measure that draws the info, save, and you're all set.

[Samus Aran]

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Author=SamusAranFreak
Update=1000

I just closed my weather skin, and am now asking: Is the above mentioned Update OK?