What the heck is with the site?
 

Today I've been having a lot of trouble getting posts to come up--I get the page background but nothing else. And I can't access my own posts. Is anyone else having this problem or is it just another IE update?

Underhill, this has been happening to me for days. I get the page background, but no posts. I usually can get them if I close all my windows and start again, but what a pain.

there have been maybe 8 or 10 threads on various forums about the problems. It is actually working a teensy bit better tonight. But there have been all sorts of gremlins and glitches.

This has been going on for weeks. Sometime I have to wait a couple of minutes for the posts to come up.

It's the database design. I could explain it to you, but some beer mug would start taking potshots at me for showing off.

LOL...it's ok. explain it to us.

i'm no expert but it's been screwed up for weeks off & on

Notice that it's the construction of the index in the left-hand column that takes forever, not displaying an individual thread.

The server script searches the file that contains the thread headers for all the forums in a sequential fashion, scanning for the forum or member or search string wanted. It's like looking for an encyclopedia article in a book whose topics aren't in alphabetical order.

But once it finds the index item for a thread, it has the exact location and can therefore retrieve an individual thread very quickly. That's why that operation is so fast.

But when several people have all requested an index build, the system trips over itself constantly, and the efficiency of each search is compromised.

The solution is to keep the indexes in a linked list rather than a sequential file. This is a type of data organization wherein each file record contains a "pointer" to the next record in the related series. For example, thread 345 points to thread 397 points to 428 and so on, which saves the process time required to go through all the records that don't meet the criteria being scanned for.

At American Airlines, I worked in the group responsible for wringing every last millisecond of performance out of the Sabre processor. We could access any PNR (passenger itinerary) in about 1/10 of a second. If the PNR had been accessed recently, it took hundredths or thousandths of a second.

Hello Underhill, our editor Katie wrote to me and said that the glitches were due to the fact that Fodor's is upgrading the website which they hope to have completed by fall. Not a technical explaination as Robes gave of course. I sure hope the problems do not continue on until fall. Everyone has had problems but it seems from all the various threads started lately Fodorite's have had different problems which is strange. Anyway Underhill just know it is not your computer. Actually today I personally haven't had any problems with Fodor's website but obviously you have. And I know that Robes knows what he is talking about but I don't, lol. Oh to have that type of technical experience.

Robespierre - very impressive. What makes a thread lose its indexing and why doesn't it get re-indexed when it's topped? Do only new threads get indexed?

I have not chimed in about access troubles, but reading the threads on this topic it occurs to me that Fodors should worry about what I done .. just go away when the site does not work. I have had the troubles mentioned in various threads .. only background shows .. have to sign-in over and over .. for I do not remember how long, certainly over the summer.

For me, I return, lol!

For a new visitor .. those are the viewers, or rather, trying to become viewers who are much more important, and not people you want to lose before getting them addicted to Fodors :-)

Not trying to say that it happens everyday, mind you, just that I have had these experiences regularly enough but did not mention it at any time.

Robespierre - you're not serious are you? I mean about linked lists being the way to speed up building the list in the left hand column?

I thought linked lists went out of fashion about 20 years ago with the ubiquity of RDMS. Why not just maintain the required indexes real time? date/major heading. User/date.

Everything works perfectly on my Mac, Robbes. :-)

Yesterday when I requested "Europe" threads, the first 50 posts were about Barcelona - from 1997 to 2000. I waited about 10 mins, then it worked OK. Very frustrating.

When I click on my name, it take forever or never, and usually I end up closing the browser & starting over again.

Earlier in the week I spent about 20 mins responding to a thread. When I hit "post" it asked me to log in (which I should not have had to do), then it lost my reply.

Pretty sloppy design & stress testing, if you ask me. I have been posting less because I don't have time to "copy" my posts in case Fodors looses it, log off/on the browser, go do some chores between selecting a "country" and then getting the threads displayed, etc. We just got back from a 6 week vacation in Europe, and this did not happen before we left.

Stu Dudley

<i>Author: afterall
Date: 08/17/2008, 06:48 am

Robespierre - you're not serious are you? I mean about linked lists being the way to speed up building the list in the left hand column?</i>

That's precisely my point. Linked lists eliminate the &quot;building&quot; altogether. Even with RDBMS, it is necessary to scan the index.

If Sabre ran on SQL, it would collapse in a heap within seconds.

Same problems for me as Stu, it is very frustating to write a response and them have them ask you to register and loose the post!

I thought it was my computer acting up when the left side didn't show up, I blame the comperter for everything, I'll have to apologize.

Right-o above about new posters getting discouraged. No other travel forum I post on has the same technical problems, like Fodor's does over the past few weeks or longer. People who are not already hooked, possibly wouldn't stick around.

I've been having this problem for weeks. You get the frame of the pages but none of the content. I don;t know if it's because they're attaching too many interactive ads that delay other content loading or what.

But it happens on both my Mac at home and PCs elsewhere - and with different browsers (IE, Safari or Firefox - latest versions of each).

I don't get any interactive ads, and the index column still bogs down. There's a bottleneck in the database software which is aggravated by the number of users trying to access it simultaneously. I'm sure the Fodor's team knows what to look for.

&gt;&gt;There's a bottleneck in the database software which is aggravated by the number of users trying to access it simultaneously. I'm sure the Fodor's team knows what to look for.&gt;&gt;

Isn't &quot;stress testing&quot; SOP????

Stu Dudley

Well, yeah. But it's always more convenient to let the users do it rather than designing test scripts and conditions and data collection and analysis and...

We can only hope that they know what to look for and how to fix it.

&gt;&gt;But it's always more convenient to let the users do it rather than designing test scripts&gt;&gt;

If I used that explanation when I was MIS manager, I would have had a very short career.

Stu Dudley

If your posts are not re-indexing, place the cursor on the frame and refresh the screen. This is a temp shortcut while awaiting for the upgrade.

That was said with tongue in cheek, Stu. Don't get your panties in a bunch.

What's strange is some forums seem &quot;stronger&quot; than others. I can usually get Europe and US to load up quickly. It's Latin America, Lounge, Smart Tips, that are the slowest for me.

&gt;&gt;That was said with tongue in cheek, Stu&gt;&gt;

Yep - I know that.

Stu Dudley

Refreshing the screen does not bring up the posts.

Yes it does...I have done it dozens of times. Refreshing the topics frame (not the screen; you did get that, right?) refreshes the topics frames.

Not for me, alas. Still blank space first thing this morning, but now I can get the posts index about every third try.

Sometimes the index frame refreshes instantaneously, sometimes it takes minutes (or never).

I wonder if the server's cache needs tweaking.