Something weird is happening

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk I would suggest, however, if you want to continue making "Remember Me" optional rather than mandatory, you should stress test it and make sure that it is working in a reasonable way for people who persist in keeping "Remember Me" unchecked.

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I'm an ex mod (note the "Emeritus" title above my avatar) and have no ability to make any change to the forum software. My questions and comments regarding this issue are for entertainment value only.

[Bestwifeever]

I think I have always had to click the remember me box every time I cleared cookies and emptied the cache. I don't think that choice is a recent development and it is not unique to this website. I did get returned to the guest status momentarily a couple of days ago after logging in on another computer, but it quickly went back to logged in status.

I have not had the problem with posts showing on the portal list but not within a thread as quickly. I have opened a thread and found the portal had not updated itself to show the actual last post--I.e., the portal lagged the thread, which seems like the opposite of what karluk is reporting? But going back to the portal page, it then does show the last post to a thread. So it seems to me to be a cross posting issue in this case.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo I'm not seeing any delays. A problem with your IP?

Couldn't possibly be the IP. The IP, no matter which one it is, says it is the fastest one out there!

[MichaelB]

I've always noticed some delays in threads. Polls, for example, don't load for a couple of minutes, so we see a thread announcing a poll but no poll. Sometimes a post takes a minute to load and people, assuming it got lost, post again. I once prepared a post and was using the "preview" function to see it but decided not to post, but it was still seen by others for a minute or two, and one quoted it in his post.

Having spent my adult working life in the murky world of IT I know that software is like a teenage child. It has an attitude and likes to do random stuff just to bother the rest of us, so I don't give it a second thought.

[karluk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Having spent my adult working life in the murky world of IT I know that software is like a teenage child. It has an attitude and likes to do random stuff just to bother the rest of us, so I don't give it a second thought.

Hmm, having spent my adult working life in IT, I know that computers do exactly what they are programmed to do, neither more nor less. We have here a clear, reproducible bug that nobody on the site seems willing to investigate. Very well, if it's not worth anybody else's time, then it's not worth my time either. I was hoping to give back to the site by helping to fix what is most likely a problem introduced by some software changes about a week ago, but it's not to be. We'll have to live with it, because software is "like a teenage child" with an attitude.

[MichaelB]

It might be the first signs of Skynet.

I wouldn't say "not worth anybody else's time". The point has been made, the forum owners and technical crew are aware. Not much else to do, let them run with it.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB It might be the first signs of Skynet. I wouldn't say "not worth anybody else's time". The point has been made, the forum owners and technical crew are aware. Not much else to do, let them run with it.

I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better with helpful people giving advice from the back seat

[karluk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better with helpful people giving advice from the back seat

I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better if they have helpful customers who are willing to work with them to document the kinds of problems they are having.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better if they have helpful customers who are willing to work with them to document the kinds of problems they are having.

+1

[Bestwifeever]

This forum (and other programs/websites) runs a little differently on each of my three windows computers (XP, windows 7, windows 8), my ipad, and my android phone. Throw in the different browsers and it's like Forest Gump's box of chocolates.

[Janet H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better if they have helpful customers who are willing to work with them to document the kinds of problems they are having.

I agree. The suggestion regarding the remember me box is a good one. We recently moved to a new server and it's likely that you may have one of several things going on... You may have some old pages or images cached, you may have a corrupted cookie or be purging cookies at page changes (courtesy of your browser settings).

We use cookies to keep you logged in at page changes. Clicking the remember me box sets that cookie. When you are finished with your browsing session even if you don;t log out, the server will sever the connection after a a few minutes of inactivity. When you return it will reconnect.

You can try these things:

Delete your temp internet files
Reboot your device
Click the remember me box when you log back in

If you still have trouble please let me know what browser and version you are using and some details about your security protocols are.

[karluk]

I am using both Firefox and Safari on an imac. The symptoms I'm seeing are similar, and possibly identical, on both browsers.

Here are some screen shots of a typical post with a lengthy lag time before it becomes visible. I start out on the portal screen, logged in without the "Remember Me" option, and see that Sarah in SC has just made a new post in the "Schwab offices" thread.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pcc1a21avy...2013.37.41.png

Eager to read Sarah's post, I click on the thread and see that the most recent visible post is from mpeirce, not Sarah.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qzb5xi8en...2013.37.59.png

I continue to click on the thread for the next several minutes, repeatedly seeing the same screen with mpeirce's post as the last post in the thread. Finally my persistence is rewarded. Sarah's post finally becomes visible.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4y1433ixrq...2013.41.58.png

The difference in time stamps between the first screen shot and the last is 13.37.41 (portal screen showing Sarah has posted) and 13.41.58 (Sarah's post finally visible in the thread). That's over a four minute delay.

I suppose that this odd behavior might originate at the ER.org site, but my guess is that it's more likely a page refresh issue on my computer. The symptoms are consistent with my imac repeatedly showing me a cached version of the thread without Sarah's post, followed four minutes later by a page that has finally been refreshed from the server so I can read Sarah's post.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk I am using both Firefox and Safari on an imac. The symptoms I'm seeing are similar, and possibly identical, on both browsers.

I am also using Safari and Firefox on an iMac and for me the website is running the way it did prior to the upgrade. I don't see any lag.

[karluk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd I am also using Safari and Firefox on an iMac and the website is running on it the way it did before the upgrade.

Are you using the "Remember Me" option when logging in? I haven't observed any problems when logged in using "Remember Me". It's just when I don't select that option that obvious problems start happening. If you want everyone to start using "Remember Me", so be it. I can certainly get used to clicking on this option every time I log in. But I don't really see the point of continuing to allow people to deselect "Remember Me" when all they get is a web application with so many problems as to be almost unusable.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk Are you using the "Remember Me" option when logging in? I haven't observed any problems when logged in using "Remember Me". It's just when I don't select that option that obvious problems start happening. If you want everyone to start using "Remember Me", so be it. I can certainly get used to clicking on this option every time I log in. But I don't really see the point of continuing to allow people to deselect "Remember Me" when all they get is a web application with so many problems as to be almost unusable.

Yes, I use the "Remember Me" option. Always had. I see no good reason not to.

[karluk]

I strongly prefer not using "Remember Me", at least if we could get back to the way it worked before the problems started happening last week. It timed out idle sessions instead of retaining connections as long as the browser window is open. But with all the problems introduced last week, it is no longer worth the hassle.

[arky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd Yes, I use the "Remember Me" option. Always had. I see no good reason not to.

I have never checked the "Remember Me" box and never had a problem staying logged in until the last several days(not sure exactly how many days). Believe your users, something changed recently. I have not changed computers, browser(Safari) or settings in my browser. For sure, it is a minor annoyance to check the box, but still, something changed on the forum end.

[bUU]

Quote:

Originally Posted by karluk I worked in IT all my life and I know that IT folks trouble-shoot much better if they have helpful customers who are willing to work with them to document the kinds of problems they are having.

I have worked in or with IT all my working life and know that I hope to retire early so I no longer have to deal with how maddening is nature is.

People keep asking me whether I plan to go to seminary once I retire. Maybe it's time to start taking such suggestions more seriously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arky I have never checked the "Remember Me" box and never had a problem staying logged in until the last several days(not sure exactly how many days). Believe your users, something changed recently. I have not changed computers, browser(Safari) or settings in my browser. For sure, it is a minor annoyance to check the box, but still, something changed on the forum end.

+1