Server caching issues

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Hi everyone,

As some of you must have noticed, the site was down for a couple of days. It occurred following an issue where people were seeing pages showing them logged as other members. What was happening was actually that they were seeing cached pages that had been previously viewed by someone else. The reason this happened is that our hosting provider implemented a feature (without warning, of course) that basically broke all dynamic content on the server. Because it was so sudden it took us a while to switch servers and get things sorted out. Things should be back to normal now and performances should also be better than they used to.

Please report any anomaly you encounter in this thread, although keep in mind some things may be due to the local cache on your browser. We recommend that you empty your browser cache and delete your cookies to be sure there's no problem.
 
Aazealh said:
Hi everyone,

As some of you must have noticed, the site was down for a couple of days. It occurred following an issue where people were seeing pages showing them logged as other members. What was happening was actually that they were seeing cached pages that had been previously viewed by someone else. The reason this happened is that our hosting provider implemented a feature (without warning, of course) that basically broke all dynamic content on the server. Because it was so sudden it took us a while to switch servers and get things sorted out. Things should be back to normal now and performances should also be better than they used to.

Please report any anomaly you encounter in this thread, although keep in mind some things may be due to the local cache on your browser. We recommend that you empty your browser cache and delete your cookies to be sure there's no problem.

Yeah, I just logged in the other day, the site started to go crazy... then I was logged as you. :ganishka:

The Berserk avatars are not available anymore in the option.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Yep, we all starting seeing cached pages meant for other users because the server didn't discriminate. That's why we took the site down for maintenance while we tried to get our host to clean up their mess. Needless to say they were about as unhelpful as possible, which is why things took so long. This hasn't been the best weekend of our lives, let me tell you. But a podcast about episode 349 will still be available later today! :slan:
 
Aazealh said:
Yep, we all starting seeing cached pages meant for other users because the server didn't discriminate. That's why we took the site down for maintenance while we tried to get our host to clean up their mess. Needless to say they were about as unhelpful as possible, which is why things took so long. This hasn't been the best weekend of our lives, let me tell you. But a podcast about episode 349 will still be available later today! :slan:

Great... yes, I imagine that it must have been a pain in the ass to fix all that. But at least now it's done. :guts:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
SKnet is in its 17th year, but this was a record for server downtime. Aaz and I worked since Friday evening on this, and it was only in the wee hours of Monday that we had the site up and running.

Like Aaz said, the problem happened out of nowhere, and the solution was not immediately evident. Our old host did not help support us with the problem until after it was too late. Before even identifying the problem, tech support wanted to charge money for a package to check for suspected malware (there was none). They wouldn't budge until I asked some specific questions (i.e. I had done enough research to know the magic words). Tech support ended a call with me calling me "chief" sarcastically, and at one point, they mistook me for another client and were giving me information on how I could submit a death certificate in order to take control of my site. With the exception of 1 person (out of 6 that I spoke with), customer service with Bluehost has been a joke. I can't recommend them.

On the bright side, in the midst of all that, we successfully took time off to record a podcast! And I think not having the forum up for 2 days made us more excited than normal to talk about Berserk.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Well I'm glad you guys were able to sort things out. Too bad it took a lot of your time and it sucks that customer service was bad.

Thank you very much for busting your ass all week-end. I appreciate if for sure. I like spending time here even if I don't post that much. :guts:

(no spell check available, just saying in case, since I'm in the right thread :serpico:)
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
jackson_hurley said:
(no spell check available, just saying in case, since I'm in the right thread :serpico:)

Thanks for the info. I checked and it's disabled at present because the library for it isn't installed. I'll see if we can remedy it, but otherwise you're going to have to learn to spell by yourself. :casca:

EDIT: Sorry, after checking, it's not going to happen!
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Aazealh said:
Thanks for the info. I checked and it's disabled at present because the library for it isn't installed. I'll see if we can remedy it, but otherwise you're going to have to learn to spell by yourself. :casca:

Back to the basic I go! :iva:
 
I just want to take the opportunity to thank you guys for all the work you put into keeping this community up and running. The forum wasn't down for that long and nevertheless it felt like a part of me was missing. Also, I know from similar experiences how hard it is to sort these things out, so kudos for getting things up and running again.
 
Sounds like you guys had a miserable time with your host. I'm glad to see the site is back up and you got the issues sorted out, but sorry they gave you such a hard time.

Walter said:
Tech support ended a call with me calling me "chief" sarcastically

That might have set me off if I had been on the phone with them for awhile. :mozgus:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
RaffoBaffo said:

You poor bastard. :guts:

I got to be Nightcrawler, WALTER, and some rando I can't even find now. It was funny, because I was replying to Nightcrawler in a couple of threads, my posts weren't showing up, and I'm sort of clicking around at work trying to sort it out and edit posts when I see Hello Nightcrawler, you have _ messages in the corner and think, "Oh fuck, did I somehow accidentally admin my way into Nightcrawler's account!? I didn't I could do this! This is so unethical!" So after trying to read his PMs I immediately logged out. Log back in, I'm me again, things are still fucked, and when I try to PM Aaz and Wally it says Hello Walter, you have _ messages and I'm just like :magni:

So, I tried logging in and out again and it was the same thing, I was able to PM them via the "PM this user" option in their profiles, at about the same time you were sharing your adventures on a page of mine. When Wally confirmed he was aware of it I was out. Then the first thing I did when the site was back up was delete my inbox & outbox, no offense. :slan:
 
Glad you’re back! :guts: I never experienced anything except super slow response time. Things are definitely moving fast now! Sorry all that hassle made for a rough weekend.
 
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