Post not showing up. [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Krade

2012-02-06, 11:41 AM

I just posted in my GenCon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230668) and in the Friendly Banter thread list it says I made the last post and when I posted it, but it doesn't display the new number of replies (should be 60) or that there is a third page (since 60 would start the new page). When I clicked on 'last post', it just took me to the top of page 2. I even cleared my cookies to make sure it wasn't just me.

Zherog

2012-02-06, 12:07 PM

Known issue. It'll resolve itself in due course (generally when somebody else posts in the thread).

edit: I had something on-topic to say, so the issue is resolved now.

Krade

2012-02-06, 12:31 PM

I suppose I should have known that, but I don't really post very often anymore. Oh well. Thank you, sir.

Chess435

2012-02-06, 02:42 PM

Also, don't double post just to make the previous one show up. Down that path lies madness and cluttered threads.

Rockphed

2012-02-07, 02:09 AM

Also, don't double post just to make the previous one show up. Down that path lies madness and cluttered threads.

Also rather miffed mods. Seriously, they don't like it when you do that. They like it even less when you double post to get the post to show up and then delete the second post.

Debbie_D

2012-02-07, 02:05 PM

They like it even less when you double post to get the post to show up and then delete the second post.

But sometimes you have to. When youre in a small game group, and you post an action and it doesnt show up...your DM and other players are waiting on you to do something and its not showing that you did.

Zherog

2012-02-07, 02:21 PM

But sometimes you have to. When youre in a small game group, and you post an action and it doesnt show up...your DM and other players are waiting on you to do something and its not showing that you did.

They can click the "Post Reply" button and see your post that way. And then make an on-topic post in reply that will get things corrected and moving again.

Debbie_D

2012-02-07, 02:40 PM

They can click the "Post Reply" button and see your post that way. And then make an on-topic post in reply that will get things corrected and moving again.

Or more likely, they'll see in thread that you still havent posted and just leave it be, waiting for you to post, without checking with the reply button.

Zherog

2012-02-07, 04:36 PM

Well, two things there.

First, the forum (and subscriptions, I believe) will show that there's a new post. Even after you click on the thread and think you read everything, it'll still show as there being unread posts. So that's a clue.

Second, if you make the post and you know it happens, nothing at all prevents you from sending a PM to your DM/GM/whatever-for-the-system and/or fellow players to inform them of the problem, and what they can do to read your post in case they don't already know.

Seriously, the "make a post and then delete it" fix causes problems, and there's no reason at all to need to do it.

Snowbody

2012-02-10, 09:19 AM

First, the forum (and subscriptions, I believe) will show that there's a new post. Even after you click on the thread and think you read everything, it'll still show as there being unread posts. So that's a clue.

Sometimes the forum shows the post, sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes the subscriptions show the new post, sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes the unread post shows up, sometimes it doesn't.

It all depends which parts of this five-part dance actually happened, and which got squished by the server being overloaded.

Second, if you make the post and you know it happens, nothing at all prevents you from sending a PM to your DM/GM/whatever-for-the-system and/or fellow players to inform them of the problem, and what they can do to read your post in case they don't already know.

Really? Sending a PM to five or six people is less work for the server than making one post to the forum?

Zherog

2012-02-10, 10:15 AM

Really? Sending a PM to five or six people is less work for the server than making one post to the forum?

To the best of my understanding, the "please don't double post and delete" request from the admins isn't about avoiding server overload; it's about avoiding screwing up the database.

Seriously. The admins have asked folks not to do this. Why is it so difficult for people to deal with that and find other ways around the problem?

Brother Oni

2012-02-11, 08:13 PM

To the best of my understanding, the "please don't double post and delete" request from the admins isn't about avoiding server overload; it's about avoiding screwing up the database.

Is there anywhere that this is stated? The Forum Rules still say that if you accidentally double post, you can delete the second one under Edit.

Given the recent server hiccups, I've been deleting any accidental multiple posts - should I not be doing this?

Kumori

2012-02-12, 12:58 AM

Deleting an accidental double post is perfectly fine. Double posting intentionally to make a previous post become visible and deleting the second post is not. I'll find a Roland post and edit it in here in a minute.

Edit: Not a Roland post, but Rawhide is just as good:

Also if you do a second post yourself to make it turn up, then delete your second post, it stays without a double-post.

We would prefer if you didn't. When you create, edit or delete a post it writes a small entry into the log (including reason for deletion). Unlike your post, the log entry will never go. Guess who has to filter through these log entries if someone is abusing the server...

Zeb The Troll

2012-02-13, 01:07 PM

They can click the "Post Reply" button and see your post that way. And then make an on-topic post in reply that will get things corrected and moving again.Another viable way to see the post (and be able to quote it, if desired) is to temporarily (or not) change your default number of posts displayed per page to something other than 30.

Douglas

2012-02-13, 03:06 PM

Another viable way to see the post (and be able to quote it, if desired) is to temporarily (or not) change your default number of posts displayed per page to something other than 30.
If the post in question is the first one on page 5, 9, 13, 17, etc. (assuming the default of 30 per page), then it's theoretically possible for this approach to fail too. In that case, it would be the first post on a new page for all available posts-per-page options. Depending on how the page creation code is organized relative to how the error happens, it might even be likely for all page creations to fail at once.

But yes, it's certainly something to try and will definitely get the post to show in the majority of cases.

Zeb The Troll

2012-02-13, 03:42 PM

If the post in question is the first one on page 5, 9, 13, 17, etc. (assuming the default of 30 per page), then it's theoretically possible for this approach to fail too. In that case, it would be the first post on a new page for all available posts-per-page options. Depending on how the page creation code is organized relative to how the error happens, it might even be likely for all page creations to fail at once.

But yes, it's certainly something to try and will definitely get the post to show in the majority of cases.Okay, yeah, if your post is #121 or some iteration of 120n + 1, you could still have issues. In which case the Reply fix still works.

Snowbody

2012-02-14, 05:22 PM

The reply fix doesn't show you what the die rolls in the post were. Still that seems like the best way to do it.

Philistine

2012-02-19, 07:10 PM

Seriously. The admins have asked folks not to do this. Why is it so difficult for people to deal with that and find other ways around the problem?

Perhaps because the "other ways around the problem" don't work reliably either?

Related to the OP: the Trogland Meetup thread is currently showing three different things depending on how you look at it.
- If you open the thread, the last post is #120 from Lord Blace.
- If you look from the FB Forum, it shows the last post by Alarra a little over two hours after that post.
-If you click "Reply," you'll see that there are actually two more posts in the thread, one before Alarra's and one after, that can't be seen any other way.

Zeb The Troll

2012-02-19, 11:56 PM

Perhaps because the "other ways around the problem" don't work reliably either?

Related to the OP: the Trogland Meetup thread is currently showing three different things depending on how you look at it.
- If you open the thread, the last post is #120 from Lord Blace.
- If you look from the FB Forum, it shows the last post by Alarra a little over two hours after that post.
-If you click "Reply," you'll see that there are actually two more posts in the thread, one before Alarra's and one after, that can't be seen any other way.... indicating that the stealth bump isn't a reliable way to get the post to show either. Even more reason to just not do what the admins have specifically asked, repeatedly, not to be done.

Zherog

2012-02-20, 01:38 AM

Perhaps because the "other ways around the problem" don't work reliably either?

<<snip>>

-If you click "Reply," you'll see that there are actually two more posts in the thread, one before Alarra's and one after, that can't be seen any other way.

Which means my suggested method does indeed work - clicking reply shows you the missing posts.

Jimorian

2012-02-21, 07:32 PM

Just another example of the weirdness. in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233153) in Other Webcomics, the number of replies indicated when you view the whole subforum is now permanently 1 less than the actual replies. The discrepancy has survived 5 further replies after the initial error.

One of my posts snuck through a 50X error, so I presume caused a database hiccup. (Before hitting refresh or trying to post again, I opened another tab to see if it actually got through, and it did, appearing in the thread just fine without resorting to hitting "Reply" to see it.)

Viera Champion

2012-02-23, 08:49 AM