Connection failure for non-logged-in users

October 11, 2004 8:58 PM

Unless you're logged in, the site doesn't load. AskMefi loads though. Mefi and Meta get "connection failure" text on a white screen.
posted by Peter H to Bugs at 8:58 PM (21 comments total)

See also: http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/8318
posted by MiG at 9:08 PM on October 11, 2004

Yeah, didn't mean to hijack. Just posted here in a more specific error-report sense since maybe it's been this way for three days? Oddly, if you bring up individual threads, they load - just not the front pages for Meta and Mefi don't load. Blogads maybe?
posted by Peter H at 9:16 PM on October 11, 2004

At first I thought it was just a firefox thing, since it happened when I upgraded. But now it's happening on Firefox and Safari on Mac OS X, and on IE and Firefox on Windows. Both home and work computers.

Thankfully, I have one browser with a logged-in cookie.
posted by MiG at 9:58 PM on October 11, 2004

Strangely, it seems to be the index page that's a problem. If you have computers that aren't logged in, you can go to www.metafilter.com/login/ (which does come up even if you're loged out), and then log back in.
posted by willnot at 10:01 PM on October 11, 2004

ah, crap.

There was a change with the router in front of the server, and all the local addresses don't seem to work on the server. So all the flat file generation stuff is busted.

Crap!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:16 PM on October 11, 2004

Yes, I just found my way here as I'd bookmarked an old MeTa thread.....this connection failure has been for at least 24 hours.....
posted by SpaceCadet at 12:40 AM on October 12, 2004

posted by Pretty_Generic at 2:04 AM on October 12, 2004

Not that this is useful (it's probably irritating) but the connection failure, she still exists! sacre bleu.

P_Gnrc - I get that Connection Failure members thing too. whuddat ya think?
posted by Peter H at 8:36 AM on October 12, 2004

once a day, mefi counts members. if there is a connection failure at that time, the page will say "connection failure members" the rest of the day. once every 5 minutes (i think) mefi makes a page for non-members to view. in precisely the same fashion, if there is a connection failure at that time, non-logged in members get a page that only says "connection failure".

logged in members see virtually everything generated on the fly - in other words, if you are logged in and go to the front page, all the posts are pulled from the database, comments are counted, etc, and the data is spat out to your browser.

to reduce load on the server, mefi periodically (every 5 minutes or so, i think) pulls the front page articles from the db and writes out a static html page which is served out to all non-logged in users for the next 5 minutes. browsers that are not logged in will not see any new posts for up to five minutes, but the payoff is that they don't cause the server to query the database everytime they load the page.

something has occurred which is preventing this behind the scenes static page generation from occurring, resulting in a page which, instead of containing the most recent front page posts, contains only the words "connection failure".
posted by quonsar at 9:04 AM on October 12, 2004

Damn, that was concise, clear, and helpful. What have you done with quonsar?
posted by gleuschk at 9:15 AM on October 12, 2004

Q said all that with a fish in his pants?
posted by sebas at 9:31 AM on October 12, 2004

Ha, gleuschk, I almost posted the same snark!

(thank you quonsar for the very education'l response ... see? your powers can let you do good things as well as wreak havoc! ;)
posted by Peter H at 9:34 AM on October 12, 2004

I think that was the fish in his pants.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:34 AM on October 12, 2004

posted by Peter H at 9:43 AM on October 12, 2004

I am the fish in his pants (ugh. But I am a Pike, btw, for those of you who have been speculating), and that was me speaking.
posted by taz at 9:46 AM on October 12, 2004

This thread has just become my new "Best of MetaTalk" thread ever! [this is good]
posted by Lynsey at 9:58 AM on October 12, 2004

q- thanks for the info. odd coming from you lately but then again the thread disruption isn't historically your only modus operandi. i've seen quite a bit of clear stuff from you. must have been in the pre-fish days?

so, pretty_generic... you use a pretty generic operating system/web browser combo there, huh? how... well, appropriate, i guess...
posted by caution live frogs at 9:59 AM on October 12, 2004

The fish in quonsar's pants sees virtually everything generated on the fly.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:00 AM on October 12, 2004

Things should be fixed now. Let me know if you still find problems anywhere.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:53 AM on October 12, 2004

The fish in quonsar's pants sees virtually everything generated on the fly.

But does it bite?
posted by languagehat at 12:21 PM on October 12, 2004

i'm logged in but i still can't get the front page to load. i've tried using firefox 9.03 and ie6. i get this error: Element RECORDCOUNT is undefined in GET_TYPE.

click for a larger version of what i see...


posted by t r a c y at 11:37 AM on October 18, 2004