140 is Twenty in base something-or-other

April 3, 2004 2:29 AM

Question: if new user signups were limited to twenty new users a day, why did we end up with 140 new members in the span of a two-day period? Could this account for the excess strain on the server today?
[I thought about just sending Matt an e-mail but thought some others might be interested in the response.]
posted by The God Complex to MetaFilter-related at 2:29 AM (67 comments total)

For anyone who doesn't want to manually search it out themselves, here is the first and here is the last.
posted by The God Complex at 2:39 AM on April 3, 2004

Yep. I counted 22 for April 1^st, and 133 for April 2^nd. (I wanted to look at everyone's names.)

I wondered if A) the server got hit so hard that whatever code was supposed to increment the counter, didn't do so correctly; or, B) people got in via the direct URL to the sign-up form and not the new member page.

Either way, though, I was disappointed to realize that had things gone according to plan, I shouldn't have made it in yesterday. I thought it was too easy.

I also noticed while looking through the names, a fair number of we newbies have already posted comments.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:58 AM on April 3, 2004

I just clicked on the New User thingy ma-bob and it said,

"Membership is again closed

While MetaFilter goes through another bout of growing pains, it's time to regroup and reprogram to better handle the crowds. During that time all new user signups are closed. "

Matt must have seen the problem.

(Note that this was different than it saying "Signups are closed today due to all slots being filled.")
posted by ajpresto at 3:19 AM on April 3, 2004

Well, he did say in the other thread that he was shutting it down. Not, IIRC, because too many people got in; but because the server was hammered too hard. As TGC guesses, those two things may be related.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 3:39 AM on April 3, 2004

Also, those unwilling to wait out the twenty-a-day limit could make a donation, and get membership then and there.

I think.
posted by armoured-ant at 3:42 AM on April 3, 2004

"Matt must have seen the problem."

heh. who knows.


These political articles are very tedious, but the application of a vigorous stabbing usually gets the blood going and sorts things neatly into column A and dead pile of commie corpses B.

Why didn't the women just grope tigger back? I'm not following the whole sexual harrasment/victim angle.
Is groping bad or good? The terminator confused me

So a super smart, highly educated arab scientist is the spitoon for the commies? Interesting..... what kind of achievements do you commies actually respect? Since science, math and making money obviously aren't your thing.
Perhaps you respect excessive french lookingness?


posted by matteo at 4:51 AM on April 3, 2004

if they were people coming to the site anyways, would there be terribly that much additional strain?
posted by mcsweetie at 6:21 AM on April 3, 2004

Well, the server was essentially shutting down at around 12 PM PST every day... Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Especially since I was able to get in. ;-)
posted by armage at 6:23 AM on April 3, 2004

Hmm, it's like getting a membership to the MCG...
posted by GrahamVM at 6:36 AM on April 3, 2004

Perhaps you respect excessive french lookingness?


Consider the source....

Banned, by republicans, banned by democrats.....

(both sides banned Bad Commie in under a day!)

Being against communism sure is unpopular in the US these days. Sigh. Osama bin Texan may be right.

Oh well. Commie stabbing is its own reward!!!

Instant Bannination--live by the ventral orifice, die by the ventral orifice....
posted by y2karl at 6:50 AM on April 3, 2004

Need coffee--read in under a day as same day.
posted by y2karl at 6:51 AM on April 3, 2004

karl you totally confused me. I know, it can be easy to do. But you genuinely confuse me.

Anyways, its kind of crazy that these accounts are so hard to get, makes everyone with one feel pretty high and mighty.
posted by Keyser Soze at 6:53 AM on April 3, 2004

Am I the only one wondering why nobody has questioned the existence of this thread? At the very least it should be in Ask Metafilter.
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:08 AM on April 3, 2004

Question: why does user registration so easily overload the server? I didn't realise writing one row in a database table caused so much stress. Why is this row of data so much more heavy than a row of data that is a new post?
posted by SpaceCadet at 7:09 AM on April 3, 2004

I don't think it's the one person registering. It's the couple hundred people hitting refresh every ten seconds. Then again, I was thinking last night the easiest way to get my SO an account would be to run a script that kept scraping the new user signup until it the text didn't look like the usual "try again tomorrow" content. If someone else came to that conclusion and went through with it, that could certainly overload the server depending on how often it ran.
posted by yerfatma at 7:16 AM on April 3, 2004

Um... hi. I'm new. I just registered a minute ago.

The registration process is... sorta insecure. By messing around with Google and a few other things I won't mention (nothing even slightly illegal), I've made an HTML file that lets me register memberships at any time of day, as often as I want. I didn't think for a second it'd actually work... but... well, I'm here. So, sorry about that. What should I do here?... It's a bit of an ethical dilemma.

(sorely tempting to register a ton of names and sell 'em off on ebay, actually...)
posted by reklaw at 7:49 AM on April 3, 2004

I'd say that's a pretty neat trick, but I hope you're joking about selling the names on Ebay.
posted by Kwantsar at 8:06 AM on April 3, 2004

I wouldn't worry too much reklaw, I seem to recall the same shenanigans going on last time registrations were open. I think it's just a trick to get more people who can use google on MeFi so as not to put too much of a strain on AskMeFi.

*ducks and runs*
posted by fvw at 8:06 AM on April 3, 2004

Frustrating. People doing things the right way are unable to get accounts, but reklaw mucks about and now has multiple accounts. I think I'm more bitter than my coffee this morning.
posted by FunkyHelix at 8:10 AM on April 3, 2004

Well, I have multiple accounts, but only actually remember the password for this one. They were just tests... oh, and the ebay thing was a joke (who would pay for an account called "testing again"?)

I'm emailing Matt about it now, anyway.
posted by reklaw at 8:13 AM on April 3, 2004

Funky, Don't hate the player, hate the game.
posted by Kwantsar at 8:16 AM on April 3, 2004

Seems like the kind of thing you might have wanted to email me first about. hmm.
posted by mathowie at 8:17 AM on April 3, 2004

mathowie: I had no idea how to contact you (didn't think it was possible except via metatalk) until someone on #mefi pointed me in the right direction. Sorry.
posted by reklaw at 8:26 AM on April 3, 2004

Also, those unwilling to wait out the twenty-a-day limit could make a donation, and get membership then and there.

No, you couldn't. There was a too full error message from long ago that mentioned that, but I changed it after I noticed, since I didn't want to do it again.

I actually don't know how 130 people got in, in the space of 5 minutes. I was looking at the old counting code last night and have no idea why it failed (if they were all from reklaw's method, they wouldn't have stopped at 12:05). It's some old crappy code, but it beats me.

I realized I don't want new commenting members. We already have too many comments on the site. I'd rather have new posts that are good, and will program a way to allow new users via that route.
posted by mathowie at 8:35 AM on April 3, 2004

Talked with mathowie briefly on IRC, looks like all the holes are plugged now.
posted by reklaw at 9:14 AM on April 3, 2004

Don't worry reklaw, we love the sinner here. Myself and about a thousand of my neighbors are products of the "the5k.org" backdoor.

Since Matt's apparently plugged the hole, it would be neat if you would share your method...
posted by PrinceValium at 9:23 AM on April 3, 2004

it would be neat if you would share your method...

That might be a secret that should be kept a secret. No sense in causing curious outsiders to seriously test the integrity of the site. I think we can all agree that Matt has enough on his plate as is...constantly fighting potential hackers should probably be avoided.
posted by BlueTrain at 9:29 AM on April 3, 2004

I don't think it's really giving away a dangerous secret to say that it was just a file hanging around on the server that should have been deleted, but wasn't, but is now. It was pretty much a fluke, and it wouldn't be repeatable.

That said, it's nice to hear that it's not the first time something like this has happened. I promise to be good, since mathowie seems to be letting me stay -- oh, and I have a really neat link to post once my first 24 hours are up...
posted by reklaw at 9:41 AM on April 3, 2004

Welcome, reklaw. I admire your initiative, but it's probably best to stop talking about it now.
posted by timeistight at 9:45 AM on April 3, 2004

Myself and about a thousand of my neighbors are products of the "the5k.org" backdoor

What was the5k.org backdoor?
posted by MiG at 9:46 AM on April 3, 2004

It was actually a clever method, feel free to share it reklaw.
posted by mathowie at 9:53 AM on April 3, 2004

It was actually a clever method, feel free to share it reklaw.

You sure?... well, OK, here's the long version [links aren't linked, but there wouldn't be much point in going to any of them now anyway]:

There was a URL posted on lots of blogs for the new user signups: http://www.metafilter.com/newusers/newuser.mefi. Notice that it's different to the one 'New User' links to, which is http://www.metafilter.com/newuser.mefi. The page in /newusers was still up. I decided to see what else was in that subdirectory, like this.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Ametafilter.com+newusers.

Clicking on http://www.metafilter.com/newusers/newuser_action.cfm there returned a coldfusion error: "Element USER_NAME is undefined in FORM". So I defined user_name in a form in an HTML file on my own computer, and set it up to post to your newuser_action.cfm, like this.

form method=post action="http://www.metafilter.com/newusers/newuser_action.cfm"
input type="text" name="user_name"

[triangle brackets removed to avoid it messing up, hopefully]

Typing in a username there returned the error message "Element USER_EMAIL is undefined in FORM", so I added that field, repeated, got the name of the next one and so forth. After adding user_name, user_email, user_pass, real_name and user_web, I was shocked to be taken to the blue registration successful page.

The problem was solved by mathowie removing the leftover pages.

...so, yeah, surprising the lengths people (well, me) will go to. You know, it feels really strange to be able to talk to you all... it's like meeting lots of celebrities, all at once. Kinda. Reading MonkeyFilter now gives me twinges of guilt.

it's probably best to stop talking about it now

Point taken, and this'll be the last I speak of it. I'll try to be a positive contributor to the site, so as not to abuse my dubiously-earned privileges.
posted by reklaw at 10:01 AM on April 3, 2004

That is clever. Congratulations!

Point taken

If mathowie doesn't mind you describing it then he must be pretty confident it can't happen again.
posted by timeistight at 10:13 AM on April 3, 2004

It's not bulletproof but you should always validate registration submissions against the registration page that was served. There are lots of ways of doing this -- taking an MD5 checkum of some secret number + the requestors IP address (the latter expressed as a single 32 bit number) and including that in a hidden field would do it. Then when processing the registration, all you do is do the same thing with the submitter's IP address and compare the two values. If they don't match, no registration. As long as you kept the magic number secret you should be immune to spoofs.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:24 AM on April 3, 2004

Yeah, this same method won't happen again, and I'll be sure to note the ways to fix it (thanks George_Spiggott).

I'm surprised an internal function file is the only thing returned for a search of "newuser" on metafilter, but it's certainly clever how reklaw did it.
posted by mathowie at 11:04 AM on April 3, 2004

The5k.org was a contest for websites whose source code was smaller than 5KB. Pretty neat actually. The website's user database was shared with Metafilter's, and by joining one you joined the other. Even neater! The hole was plugged shortly after I joined in March 2002, so most of us 13kers - though not many are still active - are rogue pirates. Yeearrgh.
posted by PrinceValium at 11:08 AM on April 3, 2004

That's a darn shame -- I had a friend who's been wanting a user account (lots of ask.meta questions to answer) for quite some time now, but she couldn't be around at noon until the weekend. Ah well.
posted by j.edwards at 11:20 AM on April 3, 2004

Am I the only one wondering why nobody has questioned the existence of this thread? At the very least it should be in Ask Metafilter.

Is there some reason you quoted me from another thread in a manner that makes no sense? This is probably the third or fourth time you've directed some strange comment at me since I poked fun at your joke in that thiefs-stole-my-purse thread. Get over it already.
posted by The God Complex at 12:53 PM on April 3, 2004

yes , the reason is you're bullying the newbies , get over it already.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:59 PM on April 3, 2004

yes , the reason is you're bullying the newbies , get over it already.

Obviously you're talking about my comment in the shaolin soccer thread. I don't think there's anything wrong with question a link to a movie poster and a whole bunch of questions (asked to the mefi collective) about when the movie is coming out. As I said, it should have been in Ask Metafitler if it was going to be anywhere on the site.

Or you could be talking about the joke I posted in the now-deleted (and rightly so) thread that appeared late last night, which was clearly a joke and noted as such before it was deleted.

But, really, it's fairly clear that you're still bent out of shape about that joke I made fun of, considering you posted a couple comments directed at me in unrelated threads a week or two ago. So here you go: I apologize for making fun of your lame joke.
posted by The God Complex at 1:10 PM on April 3, 2004

the reason is you're bullying the newbies , get over it already

seems to me they can defend themselves pretty well anyway. when your first comment after supposedly waiting for years/months to get in is "bite me" (hurled at somebody as polite and wise as languagehat, of all people), well, nobody can really bully you.
posted by matteo at 1:41 PM on April 3, 2004

Ok, now, that one definitely wasn't bullying. I was simply commiserating over name choices and the like.

I'm not a bully, I swear! ;(
posted by The God Complex at 1:46 PM on April 3, 2004

Im just jealous of you gc , i want to be migs and quonsars best friend , but you're blocking my way.
There, i've finally got honest with myself, thankyou so much for that , i love you.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:38 PM on April 3, 2004

when your first comment after supposedly waiting for years/months to get in is "bite me" (hurled at somebody as polite and wise as languagehat, of all people), well, nobody can really bully you.

word to that. i don't know whether to laugh or sigh at that exchange...i think i'll smirk warily.
posted by ifjuly at 2:41 PM on April 3, 2004

quonsar has friends?
;-)
posted by konolia at 2:58 PM on April 3, 2004

Kwantsar too : >
posted by amberglow at 4:14 PM on April 3, 2004

Man, it sucks that new user registration is turned off.
posted by Hildago at 4:57 PM on April 3, 2004

no it doesn't. that means that i'm special
posted by bob sarabia at 4:59 PM on April 3, 2004

It seems to me that reklaw has redefined 'monkey see, monkey do,' by adding 'monkey think' in the middle of the process.

Here, have a banana, even though we're over here now. No need to feel guilt about swinging amidst the trees.
posted by mwhybark at 5:47 PM on April 3, 2004

Oh, no fair. I feel bad now because I shouldn't technically have gotten in -- I swear I clicked the link at dead-on 12:00 (and telnetted to Mefi to compare the server time to my computer's) and got the form at first click, yet I must have been about new user #120 for the day even then.

Like reklaw says, no choice now but to contribute something meaningful, dammit. *sighs*
posted by tracicle at 6:07 PM on April 3, 2004

"and telnetted to Mefi to compare the server time to my computer's"—tracicle

Ooh, that was smart. I wish I'd thought of that. I just checked via MeFi if his clock seemed to be correct—I have a time fetish so I use SNTP to keep mine correct to the second. At ~five seconds after 12PMPST, I clicked the link. But I was the 71^st person who signed up that day; and you, tracicle, were the 73^rd. (Hi, neighbor!)

As I said earlier, I didn't expect to get in. Was very pleased that I did, then disapointed and a feeling a little guilty, like you, to discover that I wasn't among the initial twenty. And I've posted a lot of comments.

I'm really, really gonna try hard to find a good site to post. Otherwise, I'm gonna try to be a good citizen. Do you, or any of the other newbies, have a bit of a problem as as result of lurking so terribly long and intensely? I feel like I already well know everyone here and their foibles, not to mention that I do know quite a few people from #mefi. This makes it probably too easy for me to assume a familiarity here that I haven't earned. But it's hard because it's really familiar to me. I'm just not familiar to MeFi.

This reminds me of what it was like for me in college. I went to a very small, very unusual liberal arts school where all classes where tiny seminars around a seminar table. Everyone took the same classes (that is, it is a set curriculum), and there were also usually "core groups" of four or so people that had all their classes together. The tutorials were about 12 people, the seminars were about 20. Anyway, occasionally there would be prospective students or other visitors who would sit in on a class—usually away from the table, but occasionally at the table with the rest of us. Observers were always warned that they were absolutely not to speak under any circumstances—but sometimes either a weak will or a really engaging conversation would get the better of them. And, let me tell you, when that alien voice spoke up, it was shocking. Almost one of the most shocking experiences of my life. An incredible social transgression. But the visitor was usually unaware of the enormity of the faux pas. Anyway, that's my Anecdote of the Day. The point is just that among a tight-knit, insulated community, new voices can be very disturbing in a way that the new voices themselves can't really fully comprehend.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:10 PM on April 3, 2004

shut it bigmouth , or its off to the wicker man with you !
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:36 PM on April 3, 2004

shh, sgt--you're supposed to make them feel all comfortable and stuff before you threaten ; >
posted by amberglow at 8:09 PM on April 3, 2004

I'm really, really gonna try hard to find a good site to post. Otherwise, I'm gonna try to be a good citizen.

kmellis! Delighted that you made it in, and I have no doubt you'll contribute well -- the #mefi discussions I've seen you on were some of the best. So none of this "tentative new voice" stuff for you.
posted by weston at 9:00 PM on April 3, 2004

Well, even if there was a problem in the configuration, it looks like it resulted in a lot of Monkeys (and other FOM - "friends of MeFi") being able to sign up, which is something we all wanted. So it was a fortuitous error, and we're happy.
posted by taz at 10:49 PM on April 3, 2004

Well, I'm not happy. I was thinking of picking up some "extra" accounts, to use in various selfish and amusing ways, but in an uncharacteristic moment of self-devaluation, I decided that attempting to do so might result in stealing a spot away from a deserving contestant.

So, I went all virtuous. Having done so in the midst of the The Great MeFi Membership Plunder kind of makes me want to stop congratulating myself.

*throws counterfeit halo down, stomps off to read something by A. Rand*
posted by Opus Dark at 11:43 PM on April 3, 2004

Um, Opie? One-hundred some-odd added onto 17 grand is "The Great MeFi Membership Plunder"? Don't worry... you'll get more chances to sneak in; just save your next FPP until Matt starts "auditions"... with a second email address, any experienced MeFite will be able to get an extra account.
posted by wendell at 12:27 AM on April 4, 2004

My next FPP would be my first FPP. FPP's are dangerously close to work. I never said I wanted to earn anything. I just wanted to sneak in a couple (more) artificial personalities - gorgeous postiche posters, both blonde, waiting tables until they hear from their agent.

I'm kidding about all this, you know.
posted by Opus Dark at 1:02 AM on April 4, 2004

I actually don't know how 130 people got in, in the space of 5 minutes.

i have many enthusiastic relatives. ain't that right, billyqbob?
posted by quonsar at 4:49 PM on April 4, 2004

Im just jealous of you gc , i want to be migs and quonsars best friend , but you're blocking my way.
There, i've finally got honest with myself, thankyou so much for that , i love you.

While it's true that Miguel and I are sort of the MetaFilter equivalent of Method Man and Redman--with European sensibilities, of course--I think your distinct use of syntax and the resulting overabundance of lower-case letters vs. upper-case letters may in fact warm Quonsar up to you. Surprising as it may come to you and others, Quonsar has yet to "reach out" to me in any meaningful father/son sort of way, perhaps because he's been busy with Little Keyser (that rascal).

Continue efforts are in order, Sarge, and your love for me is an inspiration. Keep this up and you'll be Major Major Major Major in no time, Major Major.
posted by The God Complex at 6:20 PM on April 4, 2004

quonsar is also yet to reach out to me in any meaningful son/father sort of way, 'though I have lots of advice for the young rascal when he finally swallows his pride and does so.
posted by timeistight at 10:12 PM on April 4, 2004

I hear metafilter accounts allow you to breathe for months, like you have gills, underwater. Here I'll prove it.

(splashes in)

GLuuuuuGGGGGgggg vbbbbrrrRRRRRRR ttt DD. TT.

(air bubble)

(air bubble)


bluprp. rrr..rrr...... (pipppt)

(still underwater, speaking)
"Such powers come with great responsibility and conflict!
Post bravely and with caution! Welcome to the soup, though."

gluglugluglughhhhggggg......

plbt.
posted by Peter H at 11:02 PM on April 4, 2004

(re-emerges, dries off) walks back to cabin off the lake ...
posted by Peter H at 11:03 PM on April 4, 2004

(shuts door)
posted by Peter H at 11:04 PM on April 4, 2004

.
posted by Peter H at 11:05 PM on April 4, 2004

tracicle - and here i thought i was just one of the 20 lucky monkeys for the day. darn. just taking advantage of a server bug. well, anyway... i'm in, and happy. somewhere around 2 years ago i started filling out a new member form and then decided to put it off until later (at which point the door was slammed). cursed to lurk since then.

as long as my first post isn't a fark double-post from five seconds ago, i won't feel too badly...
posted by caution live frogs at 6:07 AM on April 5, 2004

Weston—that's very kind of you. Thanks!
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:43 AM on April 5, 2004