The more and more frequent outages and freezes and double postings are getting to be a bit much again.

Many members are complaining about the same technical issues:

Groannnnn......

What is the mayor going to do about the daily interruptions/freezes/phantom posts? It is really getting tiresome.

I can see the last post on the menu page for a thread, but I know there are two or three posts that are not showing up on that page.

I repost an item in a thread and I get a message it is a duplicate post, yet it takes hours for the post to show up or the main menu page to update itself.

Has the site once again outgrown its server, or what is going on?

I thought with the Macworld thing, this was to be a problem of the past.

Not so, it is back and worse than ever. It makes some ongoing threads a nightmare to manage (three word story) for example as no one can tell what really was the last post to add their three words to it.

So many questions and no answers?

I remember a few years ago that the TV programs would get interrupted (off air) due to satellite problems. Somehow I don't think this is the problem here.

The mayor has never issued any explanations - not to my knowledge anyways.

Mr. Mayor, can you please apprise us members why this is happening? :(

Just downloaded the new version of Firefox 3.5 browser and all these troubles have disappeared. It would seem that Safari 4 is creating the issues, not ehMac.

At least it appears that way to me. :)

I'm a new member so I can't speak to these problems. However, i have caught some phantom posts.

For reference, I'm typing on a Lenovo Thinkpad using firefox 3.0.11

Just downloaded the new version of Firefox 3.5 browser and all these troubles have disappeared. It would seem that Safari 4 is creating the issues, not ehMac.

At least it appears that way to me. :)

Happened to me the other day at work on my WinXP / Dell with Firefox. Dunno, I think it's some kind of database issue.

^^^
I have major troubles between about 3pm and 4:30pm - and sometimes posts never do make it if I send them in the afternoon, the spinners just keeps going around and around.

It's not a browser problem - I've tried a bunch of them, same results, even on different machines, with different operating systems...

it could just be your internet connection gets smashed with traffic during those times. I notice daily when I get the most traffic... I try avoiding the net during that time.

it could just be your internet connection gets smashed with traffic during those times. I notice daily when I get the most traffic... I try avoiding the net during that time.

I don't have that problem on dial-up. Add to that the HotSpot I sometimes use is quiet in the afternoons, especially with the University out, and that it happens at my friend's place, when running right off of his server, which has large bandwidth. It also happens at my girlfriend's place, which is DSL, and at school.

I thought it could be a browser issue, but I have tested it on a variety of systems at a variety of places, from Linux boxes to OSX and Windoze, and browsers from Exploder to Safari to Camino to FireFox.

EhMac is just barfing in the afternoons bad - but sometimes it likes to delay postings by fifteen minutes or half an hour, even at quiet times like early morning or late night...

I noticed it earlier when I replied to another post. I thought I hit the wrong button but when I went back and hit reply again it said there was already an identical post by me and it showed me as making the last reply but the reply wasn't there.

Mr. Mayor sir, don't you think we deserve the courtesy to know why this is happening?

Your reply ASAP please? :)

Until then i will stay away from this forum from 3 pm to 5 pm because it is a pain in the butt.

I've experienced the same thing over the last few weeks, where, I post, it shows in the listing screen, but not in the actual thread. Perhaps it's server side caching? It's happened to me on various operating systems (OS X, XP, Vista) with multiple browsers (Safari, Firefox, IE) at various locations (home, office, cottage).

Hey guys, if you're getting some issues, for goodness sake, send me a PM or an email. :)

I noticed the "Last Post" not being in sync with the thread on Saturday and started investigating but didn't know the issue was so wide-spread. Yesterday I noticed the post delay issue, but like SINC, I tried FireFox and it worked so I was thinking that it was a Safari 4 issue maybe and that perhaps the Safari update yesterday might have fixed it.

Anyways, I have alerted tech about the issue and we will look into it. Don't think its the server as we are running on some pretty serious hardware.

Will keep you posted. In the meantime, if you get any issues again, please post here with as much detail as possible. Time of problem, detailed description, which browser using.

Thanks very much for your help and my apologies for the technical issues.

Can anyone let me know when they started started seeing the errors described in this thread?

Is anyone getting issues today?

Can anyone let me know when they started started seeing the errors described in this thread?

Is anyone getting issues today?

I first noticed it around June 23/24.

Can anyone let me know when they started started seeing the errors described in this thread?

Is anyone getting issues today?

Sinc started a thread (http://www.ehmac.ca/everything-else-eh/77273-whats-wrong-ehmac.html) about it on June 15.

I would say around late June. Originally I thought it was the HotSpot getting overloaded, but their SysOp said that their traffic has been lower than it has been because the University is out. But then I started noticing the problem at home, and then, last week, I noticed it at my girlfriend's place. It always seems to be a problem in the afternoon, like between 3:30 to 4:30 or so when it is at it's worst...

Since EvanPitts mentioned it... I think for some of us the problem may be related to HotSpot Shield. For example - if I forget to connect with HSS, I usually have no problem connecting and posting. However... if I connect to HSS and visit ehMac, I am 100% reliable while connected. BUT if I disconnect HSS and try to use ehMac after having used HSS previously (in that launch of Safari), I can usually load the page, but not reply to posts... it's like HSS is "locked" into my system or something.

I"ve been noticing problems for a couple of weeks. Mainly posts not showing up on a thread for several hours.

Right now the 3 word thread in Everything Else seems to be wonky for me. I posted something an hour ago and it hasn't shown up yet.

Something I posted to Photos is there immediately so it kind of feels like corruption with some threads. Probably the ones with lots of posts or long posts??

I usually use Safari and depending on which Mac I am on it will be 3 or 4. Last issue happened with 4.

K

^^^
My posting above was actually posted at 3:23pm EDT - but the screen just kept doing nothing, spinner going like crazy, the tab said Loading, and at the bottom it just said waiting for --- ehmac.ca ... I let it go like that for probably ten minutes, and the post never did appear - until I checked at at 9:40pm this evening. Prior to that, I posted at about 2pm, with no problems at all. Both times it was with the same rig: connection through WiFi, iBook and FireFox. Yesterday it was the same thing, I posted and it just said loading, but I did it at my girlfriend's place, connection via DSL, Windoze box running Exploder 8, with no problem in the evening or the morning.

I don't use HotSpot Shield - since I usually use the iBook that I use for hackish kinds of work, though I should mention that I did have trouble twice in the past two weeks when I attempted to post stuff at my girlfriend's office, which is connected via leased line, Windoze box running Netscape - though it worked a little later when I attempted to post just before 5pm - although the post did show up later stamped 6:30pm, though I didn't check until after 8pm...

Here is yet another classic example of what continues to happen. In the first screen shot, the last post in this thread "Racist attack in Courtney, BC" is by DS at 12:47 a.m.

The second shot clearly shows that MazterCBlazter posted to the thread at 2:07 a.m. on the menu page.

It is currently 4:40 a.m., nearly four hours later, and MB's post still does not show up in the thread. I am using Firefox 3.5.

The third shot clearly shows that even though I have visited the thread, it remains in bold face type as if I had not, so that too is "stuck".

Hey guys, if you're getting some issues, for goodness sake, send me a PM or an email. :)



I PM'ed you on June 9 about it as it had been happening for a few days by then.

It seems to be one of those intermittent problems that can happen at any time of the day - but I will agree that mid afternoon seems to be a common time slot for the shenanigans.

And (just checking my last post)...it seems to be happening right now in THIS thread! :eek:
(and posting this just bumped it)

Memo
To: Democratic People's Republic of Korea Intelligence and Computer Services
From: Dear Leader
Subject: Your Top Five Cyberwarfare & Denial of Service Attack Priorities for June to September 2009 (Inclusive)
__________________________________________________ ____


U.S. White House
All of the ROK (puppets!)
U.S. Treasury Department
ehMac
Martha Stewart's website

I PM'ed you on June 9 about it as it had been happening for a few days by then.

It seems to be one of those intermittent problems that can happen at any time of the day - but I will agree that mid afternoon seems to be a common time slot for the shenanigans.

:o I see that and remember that now KC4. Thank you. I remember at the time looking at that, but couldn't duplicate the problem. My apologies, I should of followed up more thoroughly.

Be that as it may, it is nice to know the problem is being worked on. Thanks for that ehMax.

^^^
Everything was working fine until I tried to post at 3:22pm - so who knows when this message, created at 3:22pm, will actually be posted, or consigned to the null device...

ehMax Post test.

^^^
Everything was working fine until I tried to post at 3:22pm - so who knows when this message, created at 3:22pm, will actually be posted, or consigned to the null device...

Strange problem. I noticed just before my test post, that the main pages "Last Post" information was showing SINC's post, and not showing EvanPitts post.

However, when I just posted my "test" post, it updated the information right away.

Strange.

We are going to run some maintenance scripts very early on Saturday morning the rebuilds some of the "Last Post" information and others. There may be a brief outage period but should not be long. Hopefully, that addresses this strange, intermittent issue.

I can see Dr. G's post in the Shang on the menu page at 5:40, but when I go there at 5:54 the last post is from Dreambird at 2:27 nearly three hours difference.

Did Saturday morning's attempt make no difference?

Keep plugging away, you will find the problem soon. :D

For the record, the same conditions exist this morning as I can see a post in the menu, but not in the thread again in the Three Word Story thread.

Same thing in the Racist Attack thread.

Forum is worse than ever this morning. Slow, missing posts, delayed posts. It makes coming here very frustrating.

BUMP to try and force stuck thread AGAIN.

Well, well, it worked.

I can see Dr. G's post in the Shang on the menu page at 5:40, but when I go there at 5:54 the last post is from Dreambird at 2:27 nearly three hours difference.

Did Saturday morning's attempt make no difference?

Keep plugging away, you will find the problem soon. :D

:( We are still looking into the problem.

In the meaning, the post above is great. In order to help solve the problem, please keep posting as much detail as possible. Which thread, what time, what browser you're using etc...

Again, sorry for the hassles.

EhMac failed to even load this morning, between about 9:30 to 11, when I was using my iBook at the HotSpot. It didn't matter which browser, it just would sit there loading EhMac.ca forever. The HotSpot wasn't a problem, as it loaded any other site I wanted with no problems.

Later on, at 12:15 or so, when I was using my iMac, it would load the first page, but would not scan for New Posts, or load the messages for the past 24 Hours. Again, it didn't matter which browser (Safari, FireFox, Camino, Exploder, and Opera) I used. But just after 1pm, it started working.

I noticed that a few messages that I attempted to post on Saturday never did see the light of day. They were posted around 1:30 pm on Saturday on a Windoze box running Exploder 8...

Just finished posting two post to "Pet Corner" the count number indicates that the posts are there and I show up as the last post but Digital_Gary remains the last visible post despite my two posts. Very strange indeed!

They are showing now. Really weird!

You want weird?

Safari 4.0.2 is my usual browser. I can surf anywhere on the web - except ehMac. The server just times out. IF I'm lucky enough to get a page to load, it won't let me post new threads or replies to threads.

Curious, I opened up the latest Opera. EhMac loads faster 'n' I can spit. Posting this reply using Opera. Went back to Safari while composing it, still can't get EhMac to load.

Weird.

Wow, Miss Gulch's post hidden from 3 this afternoon. Too much work navigating the forum these days...

The above posted at 8:44, the following at 8:45 today in the three word story thread:

bump

*sigh*

The frustration level is becoming unbearable now. Maybe a time to do an archive and install? :D

Any improvements? :o

Have you tried doing a reset in Safari?

Sometimes I get a gmail error, it times out and only a reset will help. I lose cookies and stuff but at least it's a fix. You can do a partial reset, and gradually see if it helps.

You want weird?

Safari 4.0.2 is my usual browser. I can surf anywhere on the web - except ehMac. The server just times out. IF I'm lucky enough to get a page to load, it won't let me post new threads or replies to threads.

Curious, I opened up the latest Opera. EhMac loads faster 'n' I can spit. Posting this reply using Opera. Went back to Safari while composing it, still can't get EhMac to load.

Weird.

The problems seem to follow a time pattern. Yesterday I was checking the Forums, and everything was fine. I posted at 3:14pm, no problems. My next three attempts went down in flames, those posts being posted between 3:15-3:20pm. I let the system just do it's thing, and the three tabs just continued to say Loading until 4:08pm - when they finally completed whatever they were doing. Only one of three messages actually posted, though another one showed up by this morning.

I have not been able to get a New Post or Today's Post list between 3:20-4:08pm for the past two days. These functions worked properly prior to 3:00pm, and though they work after 4:08pm, it is really sluggish until the evening, on those times that I look at Forums in the evening.

I do not think it is browser related - I use a number of machines running a number of browsers, running off of a number of different ISPs. It doesn't seem to matter if I am using old Exploder on an iMac doing dial-up, or FireFox or Safari on an iBook doing the HotSpot (which is on a fiber optic backbone), or new Exploder on a Windoze box doing DSL, or even using FireFox on a FreeBSD server box on co-axial. No other site seems to be afflicted, and speeds are not being throttled to any extent, nor does there seem to be any traffic impediments. It really does seem to be something on the front end of EhMac's server, maybe even some kind of denial of service attack - simply because the worst of it strikes at the same time (3:20pm on my clock), and ends at about 4:08pm; and has been like that for probably the past two weeks, as I have been keeping track.

Sometimes posting is sluggish, but not like the long term delays that have been occuring in the time indicated.

I have but one simple question. Will this ever be fixed or are we stuck with the poor performance since the Macworld change in servers?

HowEver, yes, did a reset... cache cleanouts, Permissions repairs... pretty much everything short of a full reinstall. But I'm quite sure that this is a problem with my ISP....

I haven't had a problem over the past week because I haven't been on in the afternoon. Today I am on in the afternoon, and it is the same old thing. No problems posting until around 3:20pm - now it is just in a perpetual "loading" sequence. I bet it will post the message just after 4pm...

Just saw the same issues. I bet there's some sort of maintenance routine running in the PM instead of the AM. 2 posts in a row just sat at the reload. If I stopped them manually and went back to the forum they did show up, on the second page reload. Something funky going on for sure.

edit:

P.S. same thing happened with this post.

Just saw the same issues. I bet there's some sort of maintenance routine running in the PM instead of the AM. 2 posts in a row just sat at the reload. If I stopped them manually and went back to the forum they did show up, on the second page reload. Something funky going on for sure.

edit:

P.S. same thing happened with this post.

This happens with each and every post I make for days now. A full 30 second lag time before they show up using Firefox or as above, they show up on the reload. Definitely something screwed up on ehMac.