Repeated Internal Server Errors Upon Reply/Quote - 6-22-2018

[tallbm]

I just got back on since last night.

However that's one of the things that was happening to me:
If I managed to make a reply, it wouldn't show up in the recent list.
But then if I got logged out it would show up.
Log-in----Gone again.
Log Out --There is is again.

Bear

Hmmm, seems like maybe a session plus caching issue.

Translation:
When you log in something called a "session" is created and information is stored in it.

Caching is where the site will store commonly hit information and have it stored in memory (instead of deep down in the system) so that when another request for the information occurs, the info is already there and can be served up super fast without involving the deeper parts of the system.

When you are not logged you have no session info (usually) so your visit is more like a clean slate.
When you DO login well your previous session info may be hanging around and making things look/feel like they were in the past rather than in the present. Hence not seeing new things.

Somehow old user session information and new request caching information seem to be out of whack :)

This is just a guess since I don't have any supporting evidence but maybe a system guy will read this and look in those areas of performance :D

 

[Bearcarver]

Hmmm, seems like maybe a session plus caching issue.

Translation:
When you log in something called a "session" is created and information is stored in it.

Caching is where the site will store commonly hit information and have it stored in memory (instead of deep down in the system) so that when another request for the information occurs, the info is already there and can be served up super fast without involving the deeper parts of the system.

When you are not logged you have no session info (usually) so your visit is more like a clean slate.
When you DO login well your previous session info may be hanging around and making things look/feel like they were in the past rather than in the present. Hence not seeing new things.

Somehow old user session information and new request caching information seem to be out of whack :)

This is just a guess since I don't have any supporting evidence but maybe a system guy will read this and look in those areas of performance :D

LOL---Believe it or not---That makes sense to me, and I'm shocked that it does!!!

Thanks,
Bear

 

[JckDanls 07]

OK.. Here's what I'm experiencing now...

When I open the home page I am not logged in, and can't log in (log in popup doesn't pop up)
When on the home page if I arrow over "forums" and click on "recent post" from the drop down menu it takes me to the "recent" page (still as a guest)..
when I click on "recent" (from the tool bar) as a guest, the "New Post" page opens and I am logged in then (without logging in).. but it is the "new post" page instead of the "recent" page .. this is why none of the previous read or reply'd to threads aren't showing up "as read" (meaning the little dot gone) ...

Then when on the "New Post" page (signed in)... If I click on the home page, it takes me there.. but as a guest again ...

 

[dr k]

No email notifications again for a few days. When they do come in they are old news. Maybe a day or two late after I've already logged in and read them so they are no longer new. When I get these now obsolete email notifications and go to the thread from the email notification I've spent double time on a thread I've already read.
-Kurt

 

[noboundaries]

The only issue I seem to be having now after switching to Chrome is where my posts show up. They don't appear in Recent or New Posts, only under "Your Activity."

 

[Bearcarver]

Seems like after reading all the posts of the problems everyone is having, I'm craving a Batch of "Scrambled Eggs".

I'll try not to scramble them as much as everything here is scrambled. I'm Hungry!!!

Later Guys,

Bear

 

[tallbm]

Hmmm I'm wondering if the load balancing is out of whack.

I am positive that this website is likely hosted/run by a number of machines.
Every time a user clicks something on the website that request/click will be sent to one of the machines that hosts/runs the website and that machine will look at session information (if it has it) and then direct the user to place where they clicked.

It seems that the user session information is either not being saved on all machines that run the website OR the load balancing mechanisms are failing to send that user's request/click back to the SAME machine that has the user session info.

Example:
If website Machine A has my user session info on it and then I click on "Recent" and the request is directed to website Machine B, my user session info doesn't live on website Machine B so things go crazy for me like log outs, stale history, etc.
What is likely suppose to happen is that once my session info is created on website Machine A, all of my clicks/requests should then be directed to website Machine A via the load balancing mechanism instead of website Machine B or C. This is called "Sticky Session" functionality.

The alternative is called "Replicated Session" which means my session info is created and maintained on all website Machine A, B, and C no matter what.

Again just a guess since I have no real evidence other than what we are all seeing :)

 

[SmokinAl]

I hope someone is working on this!
It's getting very frustrating!
BTW I have tried IE, Chrome, Firefox, & Edge & the problem is the same.
But someone figured out if you click on Smokingmeatforums.com at the top left, you will go there & be logged in.

Al

 

[tallbm]

I hope it goes get better soon guys. I'm just glad I'm not experiencing the log off issue other than the 1 time. I hope all the issues start fixing up soon.

 

[TulsaJeff]

This issue has been reported.. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[tallbm]

This issue has been reported.. I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks Jeff.

If you need any more information or testing done just let me know. I deal with this kind of stuff for a living so I can probably give accurate and useful details if needed :)

 

[noboundaries]

Now I'm having the same log-out issues with Chrome on my laptop I was having with IE. When I change pages I get logged out and can't log back in. I have to close the session, open a new one, use my Favorites link to SMF, and that's good for one look. Good thing the smilies aren't back. There were a few in there I would have used for the first time.

 

[Bearcarver]

The Smilies wouldn't be smiling.

Actually mine is working pretty good today, except I still can't edit my Step by Step Index page.

I use a Mac, with Safari.

Bear

 

[noboundaries]

Update: I have to log back in as described above. The only section I can visit without getting logged-out is "Your Activity" under Forums. If I click "Recent" or "New Posts,' ba-bye.

The log-in button isn't working for me. When I press the log-in button, my information pops up, but nothing happens when I press the button to actually log-in. I have to close the session as described in my last post.

 

[dward51]

Well, now the forum refuses to keep me logged in (on top of all the other issues). I hate to say this, but I seem to be spending less and less time here due to the bugs. It's just getting old. Sigh....

I miss the old forum (there I said it).

 

[idahopz]

Don't give up just yet - delete your cookies for this site and you should be good to go.

The cookies are likely:

• smokingmeatforums.com
• www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[johnmeyer]

Deleting cookies doesn't help. I think a lot of the workarounds posted are probably bogus. I say this because what I've found is that, as I click around trying to figure out how to get the login dialog to come up, sometimes I am suddenly logged on, without having had to do anything. Therefore, I suspect that when someone does something and then they are able to log in, their logical assumption is that it must have been that thing they just did. But, it may just be a happy coincidence, without any causal connection.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I feel your pain and am having the same issues on my end. We have some very smart people working on this and hopefully it will be resolved soon.

One of the issues we had when we first got ready to move over to the new server is that the database was in really bad shape.. so bad that we worried we would lose a ton of data. Well they went through it line by line, table by table and somehow got it all figured out and imported in without losing anything.

Once we got onto the the new server, we were without secure SSL.. that is what makes the lock show up in the URL bar letting you know that the site is secure. They just got that fixed a few nights ago along with several other issues and that is when a few of these other issues started popping up.

All of these new issues have been reported and they are working on them.. I feel confident that it will be resolved very soon.

I have given them the link to this thread as well so anything you feel is important and want to include here is fine and may be helpful as this is being sorted out.

I appreciate everyone's patience!

 

[johnmeyer]

FWIW, I have verified that adding "www" to the beginning of the URL does not help (in fact, the browser immediately strips the "www" and displays the URL without it). Also, deleting cookies does not help. The cookie deletion is sometimes a fix for things like this, when the cookie gets corrupted, but it doesn't seem to do anything for this problem.

 

[sultan]

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