Last Seen date is sometimes wrong

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:48 am

Server time 21:49, date 7/01-11, I uploaded a file containing:

						&#91;"Hierophant"&#93; = &#123;
							85, -- &#91;1&#93;
							"Excito", -- &#91;2&#93;
							"2011-01-08", -- &#91;3&#93;
						&#125;,

This is because on my local time (CET timezone), time was 4:49, date 8/01-11..
However after LUA was processed, my WR profile says this:

Code: Select all

Hierophant on EU-Shadowsong
Level 85 Troll Druid of Excito
Last Seen Jan 07, 11 - Primary

I've seen this problem before, but only after latest version was released.

The bug, however, isn't cocsistant. Most of the time, the date is correct..

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:29 pm

Fuxie, it isn't a bug as such... it is a by-product of the time difference, compounded by the processing delay and the delay in updating the other parts of the site.

In other words, the data you saw was still based on the data you had submitted earlier during the 7th.

And the "bug" only occurs during a period, which for you due to your location lasts 7 hours between 00:00 and 06:59 (your local time) and for me 8 hours between 00:00 and 07:59 (my local time) every day + whatever time the site happens to need until it has updated. Which is why we don't see it constantly.

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 1:24 pm

Yes and no...
I see what you mean, but there is no consistancy in it..

SOMETIMES, I submit a file in the 0:00-7:00 time-window and the date is set to the correct EU date.. And SOMETIMES I submit a file in the 0:00-7:00 time-window and the date is set to the in-correct US date..

When I submit a file that contains the date 8th, the system should not change it to 7th, as I might not even have been logged on the 7th...

1974ER wrote:And the "bug" only occurs during a period, which for you due to your location lasts 7 hours between 00:00 and 06:59 (your local time) and for me 8 hours between 00:00 and 07:59 (my local time) every day + whatever time the site happens to need until it has updated. Which is why we don't see it constantly.

I get up at ~5 in the morning...
When I eat my breakfast between 5:30 and 6:00, I do some census-work. This is the LUA that (sometimes) cause problems.
While the file I make e.g. monday is set to correct date when procesed, the file on wednesday, might set the date to tuesday..

This is what I mean by "not consistant"..

(Day-names are random chosen, not specific days that cause specific routines)

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:00 am

Ahha... we are getting onwards... Now, here's another trick.. both you and I live on the eastern side of the international time line... and... even more importantly, ALL the EU servers are located on the eastern side of it, while WCR is located to the west, six time zones worth, to be more exact.

If you see one of you characters at 05:47 on a Monday morning and submit the data pretty much immediately, it will arrive to WCR for example at 05:51 your time... However, at that point, the time on WCR is still 22:51, Sunday night. Now depending on queue length, the file might get processed before 23:59... or it might not. If it does get processed, the character will show the date of your Monday morning... if it doesn't, the character will still show the date of last successfully processed info for it, regardless of it being an actual update or just "was present at this time" sort of info.

And that earlier date... may be the Sunday, the previous Friday, or even 3 weeks ago, if you have not been censusing for a longer time with that character. And also, if you have been online, but not censusing, your last seen date might even come from someone else's submission.

Further more... if it gets processed at let's say 23:13 WCR time... If you look at your character at 07:04 your time, he should be up-to-date... but if the the file is at "the end" of a long queue and gets processed... let's say 01:21 WCR time... due to the typical 8 hour interval I often see... it might be 15:03 or so your time, before the data finally shows up for you as up-to-date.

You also have to remember that the reverse of this process applies as well... If a Canadian person happens to play on EU realms, that person might run into situations where the character has been seen on Saturday, even though (s)he is still enjoying the Friday night.

What I am trying to say is basically this: This feature can not be "fixed" as we can't live stream data directly 24/7 from our .luas into WCR database. Now, purely in theory, it might be possible to reduce it, if the site forced updates on all its contents at let's say 15 minute intervals... but I am fairly sure such an attempt would overload the current systems, badly. As far as I can tell, the interval is now, at least roughly: force updates at around 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00, WCR time.

If Rollie happens to have time for even a short comment, I would be interested in hearing it.

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:59 am

Yes, BUT.....

If I submit a LUA that contains the date "8th", I also expect to see WR reflect this.
If WR changed it to 7th, simply due to being on the wrong side of GMT, then it dead wrong, as the toon(s) in question wasn't observed at the 7th, but the 8th.

Also, it's a new bug.. It never happened before last version..

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:24 pm

No "but", because if the site shows 7th, then the .lua with 8th isn't processed yet, or the site itself hasn't updated fully, even if the .lua already has Y status. Also, the time stamping has been like this as long as I can recall... which amounts to about 26 months.

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:26 pm

Yes it is/was.. My initial example, the LUA clearly states 8th.. However, AFTER it was processed, Hiero had 7th set as last seen date...

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:19 am

Maybe you are seeing something that I can't catch... because all I see are updating delays... I have played more than 10 of my claimed characters today (that is, after 00:00 my local time)... So far only two of them show up as seen on the 10th. However, I already know that that will change... it might still take about 3 hours 50 minutes... so WCR time can reach 08:00, but it will happen.

Just to prove my point, I will try to remember not to submit anything more before 16 (my local) / 8 (WCR) and take another count around 16:15/8:15 or so.

EDIT: Now approximately 16:15, and my count is ELEVEN, not two, no further uploads (from me) so... Site update delay.