Some of my forums are not showing correctly, so I checked the error log and found this:
March 7, 20145:45 pm | spaErrWarning | 20 | php
file: /simple-press/admin/panel-forums/support/spa-forums-save.php
line: 919
function: parse_str
Warning | parse_str(): Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini.
Guess this is the problem..Can you give me the proper code to increase the number of forums?
Gosh you must have a lot of forums. Do beware that things may start to slow down a bit if there are a really big number.
The value you need to change is – as the message states – in your php.ini file. This will be on your server and to increase it you may need to refer the question to your host and ask them to do it for you.
Yea I do have a lot of forums, about 1100 
My host increased the value of forums to 2000 and the forums that did not show before, they now shows. But!
For some reason, all the Sub-Forums (15) from the top forum has been ripped out and spread all over the forum randomly. When I now click on the “Order Groups And Forums” button, the square just keeps on loading, not getting anywhere. However, if I then click on “Manage Groups And Forums” (which loads perfectly) and wait 1min., then suddenly “Order Groups And Forums” shows, in a messed up order and with missing forums.
I do not have any other errors in my error log. Could the problem be related to the one in this thread perhaps? https://simple-press.com/support-forum/sp5-general-topics/order-groups-and-forums-not-loading/page-2/
it could be… the old forum ordering logic had some issues and messed up some configurations and was a general pain to use… in our last version, we updated the forum ordering to a drag and drop type interface… we tried to handle some messed up orderings, but unfortunately, since the release have come across some more that are not handled properly… we have beefed up the error handling in the ordering in the next release… unfortunately, its not due until around april 12 when wp 3.9 releases since they have made numerous changes that have locked us into that release…
until that release, you can correct the ordering in your db with phpmyadmin… if you are not comfortable with that tool, going to speak for Andy here since he has done this for one or two other users, but if you can export you sfforums table and attach to a pm to yellow swordfish with a list of the desired forum order, he can fix it up for you… I dont know Andy’s schedule, so this may take him a couple days..
The new release made me able to access “Order Groups And Forums” once again and I can almost move all the forums as I please.
As described in #3, all the Sub-Forums (15) from my top forum had been spread randomly in a different group and this is sadly still the case. I am unable to move these and there are no errors in the error log.
I will send an email to Andy with the sfforums and the desired forum order. But I really hope you can figure out what is causing this, as I will be using this tool quite a lot.
Basically your problem is 1100 forums! Let’s be honest – with the average forum that we see probably consisting of something between 8 and 18 an implementation trying to handle 1100 is not good news. Just making it possible for your web server to handle all of those post variables is a problem in itself. And this has nothing to do with WordPress or Simple:Press – this is just standard limitations on server resources.
Other reports we are getting from the odd user who also had a problem with the previous ordering are telling us that all the problems are now resolved. At least so far. This is the first to suggest there are remaining issues but I really do think the issue here is that in reality things are just probably stopping processing die to the sheer bulk.
I can take a look at repairing those particular forum pointers although not sure when as yet. However – I have no ideas what is in the MS Word document you sent to me. I do not use Word and do not seem to have anything installed here that can open it. The SQL dump is good bit for that number of forums I am going to need the sfgroup table as well as it would take me far too long to sit here recreating all the groups one at a time.
I get what you are saying, it is indeed a lot of forums. But I am not looking for just an “average forum” and as far as I know, Mr. Papa has pointed out several times in other threads that the number of forums shouldn’t matter…If upgrading the web server or whatever would solve this problem, I would do it straight away.
Really love Simple:Press, but this is sadly a killer and it’s such a shame! I will send you the sfgroup table, but setting up the forum in the desired order for me just ain’t gonna do it in the end, as I might be adding more and for sure will have to move some
But you still seem to remain under the notion that this is a Simple:Press restriction or problem. It isn’t. It is a resource problem. You quite possibly need more php RAM allocated. You have already had to up the post vars allowed once and will probably need to do so again. You may also need to allow for a larger time-out value than is commonly set. To name just three issues associated with a vast updating of data.
By the way – did you notice that on the ‘Manage Groups and Forums’ panel you can also order the forums within a specific Group?
I see…Umm yea, the Order Groups and Forums function is pretty easy to use
Well, I have been experimenting a bit. Tried to delete the affected forum and the sub-forums, and then created them again. That solved the problem, I can now move all forums as I please and new forums will not automatically end up in another group.
But I’m facing another problem. When creating a new forum, all sub-forums will be messed up in “Order Groups and Forums”. Would you still suggest to increase the php RAM and change the time-out value with this info, or do you have other suggestions?
Can you explain what you mean by: ‘When creating a new forum, all sub-forums will be messed up…’
How are they ‘messed up’?
What I meant by this is that all sub-forums will show in a totally different order in “Order Groups and Forums”, if I create a new forum.
I do not understand. How do sub-forums move because you created a new main forum? Is this using the order forums panel from within the main manage groups and forums admin panel? Which you relay ought to use to try and cut down on the volume of information being created and passed.
Exactly. How is it possible for sub-forums to move because I create a new forum? To illustrate I will now be sending you some screenshots on email.
That is almost certainly because the data is corrupted which was the very reason for creating the ordering tool in the first place.
I ask you again – have you tried using the ordering form within the manage panel so that you work on a single group at a time? It does mean far less data being transported with less likelihood of time-outs or post variable violations.