Update: site performance issues

We’ve been experiencing gnarly site performance issues the last few days. The sites have been slow or timing out altogether (sorry about that!). The good news in all of this is that we seem to be back on track. Let us know if your’e experiencing any site performance issues.

The culprit? A backend issue where folks were trying to merge duplicate Manhattans using the Report A Problem tool. As it turns out Manhattan is a big place and merging it brought the sites to their knees. Leave it to Manhattan to take the mighty 43 Things down! On that note, I think we all deserve a delicious Manhattan … it’s on the Robots.

31 Responses to “Update: site performance issues”

  1. Frankie Roberto Says:

    At least it’s quite a funny way for the site to go down…

  2. Avid 43t user and fan Says:

    10:09 GMT: Application error when I try to make an entry :(

    I tried 5 times then gave up - I hope you get it sorted soon, its kinda off putting.

  3. absnasm Says:

    Yeah, I’m getting the application error too, when I try to make or edit an entry. At least I stand a fighting chance of getting some work done today though.

  4. Stu Says:

    I’m going to try that excuse in future… “I was merging Manhattans. Honest…” :)

  5. Daniel Says:

    If anyone is still getting errors go ahead and shoot us an email at robots at robotcoop dot com. Please describe what you’re doing and what error page you receive. Thanks!

  6. Stine1 Says:

    I`m still getting the dreaded “Ooops” message when I try to write or edit entries or cheer someone, I can`t do anything on the site really for at least 2-3 hours after that daily haf-hour-hiatus. I have got an unusual amount of work done in the office lately though. ;)

  7. trinah Says:

    Cheers are not cheering
    Posts are not posting
    comments are not commenting
    goals probably are not creating..cant try this though cause i’ve got 43 things..

    and well, the rest of the site works…though photos may also not be uploading.

  8. trinah Says:

    Cheers are not cheering
    Posts are not posting
    comments are not commenting
    goals probably are not creating..cant try this though cause i’ve got 43 things..

    and well, the rest of the site works…though photos may also not be uploading.

  9. Avid 43t user and fan Says:

    I hope you guys sort it soon, its beginning to suck :(

    Oops that didn’t work is making me say stuff like..’No shit sherlock’

  10. ToddSchoonover Says:

    I’ll be dropping you an email shortly but had been hunting to see if there were site problems. I’ve been unable to cheer this morning, keep getting the Oops page. But over on Zeitgeist I see other people are able to cheer. I’m wondering if it’s a system limitation issue again where people under a certain number of cheers are fine, but those of us who are in the top 10 of cheerers are blocked.

  11. jazzchic Says:

    I keep getting the oops! leaving comments and making posts or trying to reorder my list - randomly. I haven’t noticed any issue leaving cheers.

    But I get the oops! every time I try to include a photo in a comment or to a goal.

    Be well!

  12. mamawrites Says:

    I keep getting the oops when trying to cheer, and I just got several times in a row the “can’t find the server” message…

  13. Nathan Howe Says:

    It’s REALLY slow this morning - I can’t even login.

  14. NYCinephile Says:

    Very slow this morning, with frequent “Oops”s. At 11:45 ET, it seemed that 43T wouldn’t even load.

  15. NYCinephile Says:

    Very slow this morning, with frequent “Oops”s. At 11:45 ET, it seemed that 43T wouldn’t even load.

  16. [email protected] Says:

    1. What the heck are Manhattans?
    2. Lots of Oops messages. Adding entries, or even just switching from screen to screen.
    3. Hey…how about some cheers? I’m empty!

    XO - Love this site!

  17. HoneyPumpkin Says:

    Can’t get my entries to be saved - all that effort lost! And the thing is, it’s not consistent, it’s working about 1 time in 3.

  18. HoneyPumpkin Says:

    Can’t get my entries to be saved - all that effort lost! And the thing is, it’s not consistent, it’s working about 1 time in 3.

  19. Nathan Howe Says:

    Patchy. Within the past hour, it’s worked very fast at times, then I couldn’t even get listsofbests.com to load, and now we’re somewhere between, with frequent application errors.

  20. DaveWasThere Says:

    It seems to be broken every day at about 09:00-11:00 GMT.

    So many times - any sort of update (a cheer, an entry or a comment) will just result in an application error.

  21. robert Says:

    Yes 9 - 11am is problem time for me too, but then it also seems to go skew whiff when America wakes up too.

    Ive tried 3 times to add a picture to a comment, but after application oops error no 3, just gave up.

    What I found a little odd and perhaps is an obvious bug of sorts is that it will often give you an error saying oops etc, so you hit the back button or refesh to try again only to get the same oopsishness, yet when you go to the thread you’ll see that the comments are there twice or thrice as the case maybe minus pics.

    Maybe those if else statements need a little fine tuning :)

    Its unusual that the database will allow identical inserts, if memory serves correctly, mysql has a UNIQUE field option..maybe it would be good to use a combination of userid, timestamp and field content to determine a duplicate entry and thus eliminate/prevent.

    2 cents.

  22. Flirt Says:

    Dear Robots:

    I’ve e-mailed you about this problem:
    http://www.43things.com/things/view/1067174, but just in case you haven’t seen it yet, I thought I’d better contact you this way, as the problem is still on going and not getting any better.

    Thanks, Flirt

    P.S. Please note that it was Manhattan, NY that caused the problems last week and NOT Manhattan, Kansas!!! Hee, hee!!!

  23. NYCinephile Says:

    43T seemed faster than 43P early this morning. Both sporadically sluggish with some Oops!

  24. Nathan Howe Says:

    Mostly OOPS this morning. It took me five tries just to login. 10:25 AM Denver time.

  25. NYCinephile Says:

    43T pages are slow to load this afternoon.

  26. Daniel Says:

    Thanks NYCinephile & Nathan. I should tell you that there’s not one issue — but a few overlapping issues that we’re steadily addressing. Wish I could give you a definitive answer on what was up earlier today, but suffice it to say we’re still focused on the performance issues. Thanks again for your patience.

  27. the_good_sister Says:

    I am an avid user as well and for the whole week now 43things has been going EXTREMELY slow to open/load pages, post comments, give out cheers – everything basically. Hardly worth trying as am getting error pages all the time as well! I hope this issue can be sorted.

  28. the_good_sister Says:

    I am an avid user as well and for the whole week now 43things has been going EXTREMELY slow to open/load pages, post comments, give out cheers – everything basically. Hardly worth trying as am getting error pages all the time as well! I hope this issue can be sorted.

  29. Nathan Howe Says:

    Daniel (and all the robots), thanks for your work. I don’t think many of us are too angry about the slowdown, as long as it’s temporary. We’re just addicted to this thing you’ve put together, and suddenly it’s harder to live without. Thanks, and keep working! Please!

  30. PeterAndSophie Says:

    Heh. It won’t let me log out!

    I got the dreaded Oops when I tried!

    At least it’s a new error. *LOL*

    Good luck fixing it, folks, and thanks for your hard work.

  31. NYCinephile Says:

    10/30/06
    User images not consistently downloading.

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