So how did he do two front page posts?

October 24, 2001 5:58 AM

So how did he do two front page posts? 1 and 2.
posted by NortonDC to Bugs at 5:58 AM (11 comments total)

an educated guess: the server was slow on the draw, so when ros submitted his post a second time, the database would not have updated with his first post. this theory would prove correct if matt's code first checks the database to see if you have successfully posted within the past 24 hours before allowing you to proceed -- in that case, that test would have allowed ros to do what he did.

there's not much of a solution to the problem, since the culprit is network latency. this sort of race condition (as this type of problem is occasionally referred to in computer science) can happen again, though improving server performance can certainly help.
posted by moz at 8:19 AM on October 24, 2001

My quick guess:

1. You post

2. After some tiny delay, your post is recorded in some separate list Matt checks for that once-a-day stuff

If you post twice quickly enough (within the delay time), the second isn't rejected. And that's a shame, because that's one thing people waste a lot of time complaining and apologizing about.
posted by pracowity at 8:19 AM on October 24, 2001

No if you could only edit to create a new post and the post again within that time... Ahhhh.... ;-)
posted by fooljay at 8:50 AM on October 24, 2001

If you edit multiple posts in multiple browser windows and quickly alt-tab between them pressing post, that just might work. The hard part would be convincing matt not to kick you out afterwards.
posted by Gary at 9:46 AM on October 24, 2001

You can email Matt if you think it’s that important to get in another post...
posted by gleemax at 10:13 AM on October 24, 2001

Over at Photographica, they're having problems with double posts as well. Jonathan, the proprietor, gave the mailing list the following suggestions:

a couple tips:

1) DO NOT hit refresh or reload - this will result in a double/triple/quadrupal post - yuck.

2) before posting open two windows of photographica. one for logging into and the other for reloading/refreshing. While you wait for your post to happen, occasionally refresh/reload the other window and see if it shows up.

if it does, close the logged into window, you have succeeded! yay!

Point is, even though it may not seem like you have posted your storyt, you probably have.

I think it's applicable. Getting folks to do it, though, there's the rub.
posted by precocious at 11:52 AM on October 24, 2001

i fell victim to it myself. (the weird server message has happened to me before in posting a link, however hitting post a second time only posted the link once.)
posted by moz at 11:59 AM on October 24, 2001

You can email Matt if you think it’s that important to get in another post...

In my long life here, I've only found 21 things important enough to post (and some of those I wouldn't post these days). Can't say having to post twice in a 24hr period will ever be a problem for me.
posted by fooljay at 7:19 PM on October 24, 2001

Out of the 8 things I’ve posted to MetaFilter, I would’ve only posted 1 if I realized how stupid I’d think most of them were now.
posted by gleemax at 8:07 PM on October 24, 2001

i've only posted one... and i feel bad about it, because it's the only post and it wasn't worthy enough to be an "only" post.. kind of like if a car only has one bumper sticker, it's more significant than a bumper sticker amongst other bumper stickers because one would think that there is more meaning behind the presence of just one bumper sticker... (i'm rambling again.).

my post was a spur-of-the-moment thing.. i'm sure if i had waited ten minutes after i stopped laughing, i wouldn't have put it up..
posted by lotsofno at 9:31 PM on October 24, 2001

Lemme guess: high-larious war cartoons no one had ever seen before?
posted by NortonDC at 4:26 AM on October 25, 2001