Does anyone else have this problem at BCTS?

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When I check in at BCTS WITHOUT logging in, I am always missing a few blogs and stories that I can only see if I am logged in.
For instance right now, as I AM logged in, I can see Gamma Trials; Working Relations -6; & Homecoming Princess-Princess Found 12; AND I can see a blog PCOS. But if I log out, they disappear and the last story I can see is Easy As Falling Off A Bike 762.

If I log in and out, they come and go.
Two hours ago, the Rube Goldberg Isn't dead Blog, and Angharad's story were not there unless I logged in.

This is nothing new. I've been seeing this for over a year, which is why you may see me log in and out real fast, if you are the type who watches who is logged in and who is not.

For you geeks, I am on a Dell Inspirion laptop running XP-Media Center, and the latest Firefox 3.5.3.
but I have also seen this on my desktop running XP Pro & Firefox 3.0.11

The delay between posting and my seeing it when not logged in seems to vary from 1-3+ hours.

Please, do not tell me to get a MAC, or to run Linux. Those are non-starters as far as I am concerned.

Holly

Comments

yep

kristina l s's picture

If I am not logged in the time lag seems to anything from an hour or so to nearly three. Comments and anything else added in that time just aint there until you log in. Come back some time later they will be, but of course....

Kristina

It's just majik

I know, you were really looking for a smart assed comment.

Khadija

that's normal

amyzing's picture

BCTS is set up to do updates more often to users who are logged in than to those who are not (or who do not have accounts).

This is one of the things that Erin had to implement as usage rose. You could think of it as a "commitment bonus", perhaps; that's more or less accurate, since Erin (and Bob?) decided to ensure that users who had logins would be able to have more than random visitors.

Amy!

Caching and Loading Times

erin's picture

People who are not logged in are seeing a cached version of the site. The cache is refreshed every half hour or so. People who are logged in are seeing the site live. This is to save loading times for everyone, if you're logged in, you can also turn most of the ads off on your |My Account| page.

The stories displayed on the main page are cached on a half hour schedule, the side bars are cached on a flexible schedule that varies up to an hour.

If you are seeing a two or three hour lag, it's possible that your ISP or browser are serving a stale page. Use the refresh key with shift or control to force a load of the current cache page.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

well...

kristina l s's picture

... I am a long way away, so I cut the pigeons some slack. Besides I'm only not logged usually for a minute or two when I first peek in. But.. is it the little refresh curly arrow, plus shift/or control.. or just the curly refresh arrow? Just curious.

Kristina

Plus shift, usually

erin's picture

Some browsers, it's plus control.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Look at the Server Time Right Above the Login boxes

Just after you've brought BCTS up when you're not logged in look at the server time. The difference between the current USA west coast time (24 hour clock) and the server time displayed is the current delay.

It resets to the 'cached' version as soon as I log off

So it is not cached on my machine, obviously.

I have tried various methods of refresh, including Shift/Refresh to no avail. The delay, as Kristina LS also noted, is variable but always at least one to three hours.

It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born

Holly

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Holly

That's right

erin's picture

The caching is done on the server. But if you're getting stuff that's older than about an hour, it's likely your ISP is also caching some page. And yes, if you log out, you will again be served the cached pages.

The very simple solution to the caching is to log in. At any time we have 3 to 20 times as many non-logged-in visitors as logged-in members. This system really does save a lot of wear and tear on the system and a lot of slow loading for everyone.

And the stories are only cached on a 30 minute cycle, it's just the list of blogs and comments on the side that are cached for longer. If you want to see if there are blogs that are not showing up on the front page on the side, click the more button at the bottom of the section where the blogs are listed on the left. Same for comments, there's a more button at the bottom of the list. Those pages are cached only on thirty minute cycles, not the hour-plus cycle for the sidebars on the front page.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

In or out, on or off, apples and oranges

It is my understanding the Erin has a new program that relates to ones chronological age, the older you are the less intrusive to log in. It makes it so your mind is not over wrought with all of the new things right away and thus it saves the elderly from heart attacks or passing out to do massive mind overload.
lets face it sister some of us are not spring chickens any more.
LMAO

Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow

Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.

Another Odd Twitch

I just experienced something strange. I was signed in and tried to download a blog entry from the left hand column entitled "I hate being told what to do". I then got an access denied message saying that I had to log in to be able to read the entry. OK, I checked and found that I was still logged in, so on a whim, I logged out and tried again. Bingo, I was given the blog and all comments to read. Then, when I tried to log in again, I got another access denied, this time to the log in page. I had to close my browser and re open it and select Big Closet, but the blog was no longer listed. I was able to log in again, but I presume that the entry was pulled. I can't explain what happened, maybe you can. Thanks.
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