First of all, thanks to Tux for bringing this thread to my attention. I think I have mentioned to you all before... if something needs my immediate attention the best thing to do is PM or email me. I do not get a chance to read all the threads.
It sounds to me like this is, as mentioned as a possibility, a "session timeout" problem.
For those that don't know what that means, when a person browses to a website, the computer that the website is on (the "Web Server") starts a "session" for them. A session helps the Web Server keep track of who is who. So if two people go to the site, it knows, among other things, that user A has been on for 5 minutes while user B has been on for 10 minutes, for example. Another thing a session can do is keep track of who is logged in, like with C3VR.com. This keeps the user from having to log in on every page. They log in once, and as long as their "session" is active, they will stay logged in as they move from one page to another.
Sessions have a "timeout" which means after a user's session has become inactive for a certain amount of time, the Web Server will close their session to free up memory on the Web Server and keep it from being overloaded. Typically, a default timeout is 20 minutes. So if the user comes to the site, browses to a bunch of pages then stops (or goes to another website) after 20 minutes, the Web Server will close their session.
Here in lies the problem. If a user browses to a site, like C3VR.com, and goes to a page where they enter text on a form (like a thread or PM), the Web Server has no way of knowing if the user is typing or not. So as far as the Web Server is concerned the user is no longer active. So if it takes the user more than the session timeout to type their message (like more than 20 minutes), when they go to submit their entry, the Web Server has lost track of who they are so it starts a new session and clears everything out to reset it. This is why you lose your text entry and can cause strange errors like the one you get with the PMs. Technically, you are trying to submit nothing to the PM, since the form has been reset, so it gives you "user unknown" error.
So, I checked what C3VR's session timeout was (which I thought I had done in the past), and it was set to 20 minutes. Apparently, many of you take longer than 20 minutes to type some PMs and thread posts.
So I have changed the timeout to be 60 minutes, for now. I can't make it unlimited or much longer than 60 minutes because it will hog up too much memory and resources. Eventually, what I'd like to do is set it back to 20 minutes with a "timeout monitor" that will present you with a little pop-up window letting you know that your session is about to expire, and if you click a button you can continue it and not lose your form entry.
So basically, here's what you need to know... Don't take longer than 60 minutes to write a PM or thread post. If you start typing one and have to walk away for awhile, copy it and paste in into Notepad or Word or something so you don't lose it.
Thanks.
______________
-Adam Wartell
NCM Lifetime Member #1222
Founder: C3 Vette Registry
C4 Vette Registry, C6 Vette Registry
My first Vette, now owned by JB79:
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deeboy59
TargaBlue72
tuxblacray
Adam Wartell
my7t1
But maybe for Ron's sake (and mine) you should have set the session timeout for around 2 days...................??
Adams' Apple
Ya think?!?!?!?
aceinthehole
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