found the millions of stars bug... but...

a reply to: Indigent

Fantastic!!!

Damn! A glitch! And all this time I just thought those peeps were very, very popular.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I eventually learned to embrace this bug although I will always wonder what my real total is.
Now I am just my own galaxy.

Why not use the way back machine to look before the roll out came that screwed things up

archive.org...

scratch everyone total!

Then let the fun rebuilding begin!

You could code in a big star for those over 20,000 stars,
Have board and business explaining that the big yellow
star represents prestige.. but also to right a coding bug.

I'm all in for it and the big guys have their big yellow stars..

A winner

originally posted by: rigel4
scratch everyone total!

One of the things that is scary about ATS: it's size and popularity, is that such a database query would take more than 20 seconds -- resetting everyone's stars. And in that 20 seconds, there could be hundreds of reads on the member database as a result of our traffic.

The member table would be locked during the long-lasting update query...

Those hundreds of reads would take 5-20 seconds, depending on volume...

Resulting in increased database load, slowing down the original stars update...

Which would slow down all the other reads... sometimes going past the established time limits...

Setting up a situation for data error as the database tries to honor all the new slowing connections...


It's full of stars.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Seriously.. that’s a bit of an Issue...!

You could get round it by taking the site down for maintenance

for the 20 seconds..

kill apache2 (hopes your using a decent server) I love LInux!
do the query on the database..

Start Apache2 /all fixed

At least that’s how it works in my simple brain .

Edit: It's occurred to me that resetting the stars would focus peoples
attention on getting new stars,, therefore better quality threads and posts more win

originally posted by: rigel4
scratch everyone total!

Then let the fun rebuilding begin!

Have board and business explaining that the big yellow
star represents prestige..

I'm all in for it and the big guys have their big yellow stars..

A winner

You never thought that one through BIG YELLOW STARS

All us Hebrews love that

a reply to: stonerwilliam

I'm the epitome of spontaneity

Thoughts come after the idea !

a reply to: rigel4

Tell that to Mossad they are on route as we speak

originally posted by: Montana
I would like to donate my stars. 1000 stars to every new member. That way they can post to a thread and not be immediately discounted by the star worshipers.

How new is "NEW".

originally posted by: DISRAELI
The glitch is now part of the heritage. Would anyone correct the lean on the Tower of Pisa?

Prop it up before gravity causes its fall.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord

originally posted by: rigel4
scratch everyone total!

One of the things that is scary about ATS: it's size and popularity, is that such a database query would take more than 20 seconds -- resetting everyone's stars. And in that 20 seconds, there could be hundreds of reads on the member database as a result of our traffic.The member table would be locked during the long-lasting update query...

Scary fun; I could change my name and keep my identity (potentially). You have created a virtual universe here and do not realize that it (this, your creation) is just as valid in competing with the 5 senses 3D world. All is false all is true.

originally posted by: rigel4
You could get round it by taking the site down for maintenance
for the 20 seconds..

The problem is, I don't *know* how long it would take. Cycling through a 20 million row 14 gigabyte database, once for each member with stars, to tally and reset actual stars. I have no idea.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Time down should not be a concern to accurately portray the system you chose to implement...

a reply to: SkepticOverlord


Even if it's 30 minutes, the site has been down several times over the years for just a few minutes to probably an hour.
It's really not an issue if it will fix a bug that really, really needs fixing.
But hey you could always bump the rest of us up to 5 million stars or whatever the figure is, you know - if that's easier.

a reply to: 5StarOracle
But in the first explanation I noticed the phrase "setting up a situation for data error".
In other words, creating ten new glitches to replace the one being solved?

as the ATS tech team conclude that the risks outweigh the benefits [ of reseting star tallies ]

i will repeat my earlier suggestion :

remove start tallies from user profiles and mini profiles

the stars next to each post are a true record of the stars that post recieved [ sock puppet activity included ]

and IMHO thats the only thing members NEED to look at if stars should be used at all [ i dont even think stars are nessecaruy - but thats just my opinion ]

ATS will not suffer because stars counts are no longer in profiles

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
ATS will not suffer because stars counts are no longer in profiles

But the whiny babies and star hunters will.
I'm sure there was a huge fallout some years back over the ATS top ten posters and the race to be number one.
A couple people were banned (Dimensional Detective was one) and it was all very bitchy and petty.
There are people here - and there are many - whose sole purpose is to collect the most stars and flags.
There rarely offer any insightful posts, never engage in constructive discussion, they simply churn out a huge number of threads and post one liners in the hope of hoarding their precious S&F.

That's why either resetting, removing from mini profile, or better still doing away with entirely the personal stars and flags would be of huge benefit to this site.
People would post solely for the discussion and debate and investigation, as it should be.
But sadly in society and on ATS - people need rewarding for participating, they need their egos massaged and they need to compete and prove themselves, even on a supposedly collaborative discussion site such as this.

It's all very sad.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Upside, it's not going to happen again.

Damnd. And how am I supposed to get the trillion stars every single one of my posts deserves? Screw you!



Aiming for the stars anyone?