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Problems adding a point favorites from the log page. Bug? ..


Chickilim

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I think there must be a small bug in the website concerning favorites' points.

Several of us have noticed since few months that when we click the "Add to your Favorites (X remaining)" box on the "Post a New Log" page, the point of favorites is not always awarded by the site. This is not systematic but it happens very often. We discovered that the only way to assign with certainty a point is to return to the description page after our log "Found it" and go through the favorites' points' counter for adding the cache in our favorites.

 

Many geocachers do not check if the favorite point they have attributed when they logged has been really taken into account by the website.

When the finder specifies in its "Found it" log that he favors the cache and the point does not appear, it forces the owner to send an email asking him :

"Thank you very much for that favorites' point you gave to my cache GCxxxxx but unfortunately it has not been taken into account by the website. Could you, please, go back on the cache's page and add your Point via the favorites' counter? Best regards."

 

Obviously if a geocacher has awarded a point favorites without specifying in its log and the point was not taken into account by the site. The owner will never know and the point will never appear :( .

 

So could it be possible to check this... point ;), please?

 

Best regards,

Edited by Chickilim
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When the finder specifies in its "Found it" log that he favors the cache and the point does not appear, it forces the owner to send an email asking him :

"Thank you very much for that favorites' point you gave to my cache GCxxxxx but unfortunately it has not been taken into account by the website. Could you, please, go back on the cache's page and add your Point via the favorites' counter? Best regards."

Forces how?

I've often said "this is one of my favorite areas" or, "this is my favorite type of cache" in my logs.

- It doesn't mean I'm gonna give the cache a favorite point.

If I received a "Could you, please, go back on the cache's page and add your Point via the favorites' counter? " email, any future issues would be resolved easily.

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It is maybe an old topic, but yesterday I wanted to add a favorite point to a cache, and it seemed I did. The cache had 9 favorite points already and with the one I added it was 10. But the moment I refreshed the page, it went back to 9. Whatever I do, I don't succeed in giving away a favorite point.

I tried to give one to another cache, I logged out and in again. I made an extra log to try it that way, but everytime the same thing, at first sight I added a favorite, I see the numer count up with one, but as soon as I return to the cache or refresh the page, the favorite I added is gone.

I thought well maybe today is a new day and it will work again (you never know...) but alass, I still cannot add a favorite point.

Does anyone recognize this?

Is there another way to add favorites or is this a recent bug?

 

best regards, Melisesue

 

PS By reading the instructions in case you want to report a bug to geocaching.com I just tried a suggestion given there:

I tried another browser. First I was using Chrome, then I had the problem I could not add a point, so I tried Internet Explorer and yes, problem solved, finally I was able to add a favorite point.

 

So there is a work around :)

Edited by Melisesue
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I just had this very same problem. Tried repeatedly to add a favorite point to a cache using both IE and Firefox. It would increment the number of awarded favorite points, but when I looked at who marked it as favorite, my ID was not there. Back on the page for the cache, the number had returned to its original value. I finally awarded a favorite to a DIFFERENT cache, and then removed that point. Went back to the original cache and it then allowed me to assign the favorite point - and it stayed. Something is very flaky there!

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Having this problem today. Tried to favorite a find I logged last weekend and it adds it, but when I refresh the page its gone. Tried adding a note and checked the favorite box and it still didn't take. Tried different browsers too, no change. But before this happened I added a favorite to a cache I found today while logging it without any issues.

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I have the same problem. I have enough FP to share (11) but I cannot give a any favorite point to a cache I just logged. I get the exact same behaviour. First it seems to work and the FP is increased (to 10), but after a refreshing the page, the counter is back to 9. I even tried adding a new log (though that log was a note, not a found).

 

Having this problem today. Tried to favorite a find I logged last weekend and it adds it, but when I refresh the page its gone. Tried adding a note and checked the favorite box and it still didn't take. Tried different browsers too, no change. But before this happened I added a favorite to a cache I found today while logging it without any issues.

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I've had the same problem in recent days too. I awarded a favourite point to a cache on Sunday, but when I checked last night it had disappeared. I then repeatedly tried putting it back, both in IE and Firefox, but to no avail - as others have said, it shows the point, but then after a refresh it disappears again. A few minutes later the site went off line for a short while. When it came back and I tried again, it worked properly and the point stuck.

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I'm having the same problem with favorite points for caches that I found over the weekend. I'm pretty sure I checked the box to add to my favorites when I wrote the log up, but noticed that only one of the caches it actually took. I've tried different computers/browsers, and am not able to go back and add them. Really frustrating. :angry:

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I just became a premium member and got frustrated while trying to award favorites to caches that I have enjoyed. Then I looked at the forum and saw that it is not just me, this problem had existed for awhile. How come there hasn't been a response from Groundspeak with a work around or a fix?

 

thanks,

 

rangercarol

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Yeah, I am here due to the same thing. I am not able to log one. I logged the cache from my iphone intro app and came home later and hit favorite, but it doesnt stick. Then I tried internet explorer as stated above, nope.

 

Odd. I have two that I would like to give out. Maybe if I don't log from my iphone intro app?

Edited by Kankui
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Several people in Finland have following issue: when they try to add favorite point to a cache, everything seems to work normal ( cache has one more point, and giver count is down by one), but after a while given favorite point returns back to giver and cache count is same as it wasa before trying to give a favorite point. After ten or more tries, favorite point my stay with cache.

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I was stung by this again yesterday, except I was on the receiving (or should I say non-receiving) end this time. Someone was trying to favourite one of my caches from the cache page, having previously posted a field log, but it wouldn't stick. After some hours of fruitless trying, he ended up succeeding by using the app instead of the website. I don't know whether the app is immune to this bug or if he just got lucky.

 

This is really insidious as the awarder thinks everything worked unless they happen to come back and check later, and the recipient is unaware of a missed favourite unless the log happens to mention that a favourite was awarded (which is what happened in the above case).

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I just encountered this bug while trying to award a favorite point today. As others reported, trying to add a favorite point from the cache page or via a note log doesn't work reliably. I tried two different browsers (IE and Firefox) on my laptop. I finally succeeded in awarding the well-earned FP by doing so in the Safari browser on my iPhone.

 

Boy, that was hard. I'll need to remember not to submit any logs without first checking the box to award a favorite point.

Edited by The Leprechauns
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Boy, that was hard. I'll need to remember not to submit any logs without first checking the box to award a favorite point.

 

... which is great if you've actually got favorite points to spend. Me, I'm awfully generous, so I've actually got a list of caches that I want to give favorite points to, once I earn a few more.

 

Anyways ... yeah, there's a bug that needs to get squashed somehow.

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Just another report on the "Add to your Favorites" bug. I'm having major problems using them lately. I have over 4,000 to give out so that's not the problem. I was able to award a couple caches points a few days ago but once again I can't use them at all. Even just tried using my phone but no go there too. Sure hope this gets fixed soon.

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For those who experience this issue and then eventually get it to work, it would be good if you could provide some server information. This could help Groundspeak troubleshoot the issue.

 

When the FP fails to award, go to http://www.geocaching.com/whoami/ and record the server name ("I am: WEB##"). Later, if you get it to successfully award the FP, go to the whoami again and record the server name again. It would be interesting to see if there's a pattern regarding servers that do or do not work.

 

NOTE: The above procedure is only useful if you perform the same action when it doesn't work as when it eventually does work. For example, if it doesn't award the FP and you later delete the log and add the FP through the new log entry, you're performing a different action and the information won't be as useful.

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I just discovered that I am experiencing this problem, too.

 

I logged some caches in three bunches over the day. After processing each bunch via GSAK, I went to the cache page and added a favourite point. The FPs on the first and third bunches didn't stick but the second did. Very odd. The only reason I discovered it wasn't sticking was that I wasn't sure I'd done one so I checked it and I hadn't. So I checked another and another and was surprised at how many it looked like I'd missed. Except that I hadn't. I'd add an FP, refreshed the page, and the FP wasn't there any more.

 

I found this thread and the request for info. I wondered if I could get myself onto another server if the same thing would happen. Just logging out of geocaching.com didn't have any effect, unless I just happened to get the same server. Then I shut down my computer, cycled the modem, and started up again. That time, the WHOAMI told me I was on a different server. I had been on WEB16, now I'm on WEB18.

 

Sadly, there was no difference. No FP I add now will stick.

 

I sure hope this can be fixed soon.

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Well, well, well.

 

After posting my previous note, I did another WHOAMI. Interestingly (to me at least), I was now on a different server (WEB09), though with the same IP. I pulled up a cache, added an FP, refreshed the page, and it had stuck!!! I checked with another. Same thing.

 

I'm going to go add the rest of the FPs now and see what happens.

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In a face book group, someone shared a reply from the frog.

They said that there is a lag of 24h in the FP system. So if you give a favorite point today, it will stick tomorrow.

I wonder, why there has been no lackeys responding to this thread?

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In a face book group, someone shared a reply from the frog.

They said that there is a lag of 24h in the FP system. So if you give a favorite point today, it will stick tomorrow.

Hmm, that doesn't seem to match what people are seeing. For example, Xira just above got it to work far sooner than 24 hours. They did get it to work on a different server, so it fits my theory of only particular servers having the problem. It will be good to see if anyone else can give similar evidence.

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I've discovered that the server changes every 5-10 minutes. So, I got busy experimenting. What I've discovered is that the problem happens on some servers and not others. While I don't have much data yet, each server seems to be consistent. I've tried it 20 times over the last 2.5 hours and gotten the following results:

 

successfully allocated favourite point:

WEB09 - 1

WEB10 - 1

WEB11 - 1

WEB17 - 1

WEB19 - 2

 

Failed to allocate FP

WEB03 - 1

WEB04 - 2

WEB06 - 3

WEB07 - 2

WEB16 - 1

WEB18 - 5

 

It would be great if other people would contribute some data. That would give Groundspeak to start with to fix this problem.

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In a face book group, someone shared a reply from the frog.

They said that there is a lag of 24h in the FP system. So if you give a favorite point today, it will stick tomorrow.

Hmm, that doesn't seem to match what people are seeing. For example, Xira just above got it to work far sooner than 24 hours. They did get it to work on a different server, so it fits my theory of only particular servers having the problem. It will be good to see if anyone else can give similar evidence.

Whatever the bug, this is the response she got:

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to Geocaching HQ. Favorite points are currently operating on a lag.

If you grant the favorite point, it should appear on the geocache page within 24 hours. Our

developers are working to have it fixed soon.

Another note: Please make sure you are not using Internet Explorer as our website

sornetimes has issues on that browser.

Please let me know if you are still experiencing issues.

Best,

Geocaching HQ

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A short while ago, I assigned 2 favourite points.

 

#1: using Internet Explorer, connected to WEB04, on GC1ZN9T

#2: Using Chrome, connected to WEB03, on GC1YW6F

 

Neither of these stuck. Let's see if they show up in 24 hours.

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I've discovered that the server changes every 5-10 minutes. So, I got busy experimenting. What I've discovered is that the problem happens on some servers and not others. While I don't have much data yet, each server seems to be consistent. I've tried it 20 times over the last 2.5 hours and gotten the following results:

 

successfully allocated favourite point:

WEB09 - 1

WEB10 - 1

WEB11 - 1

WEB17 - 1

WEB19 - 2

 

Failed to allocate FP

WEB03 - 1

WEB04 - 2

WEB06 - 3

WEB07 - 2

WEB16 - 1

WEB18 - 5

 

It would be great if other people would contribute some data. That would give Groundspeak to start with to fix this problem.

I've been doing similar testing for the last couple of hours, and so far my data fits the same pattern. There are some servers that always work, some that never work, and none of the servers switch from working to not working or vice versa. I'll keep testing for the next day to build up a good set of data and then post it here.

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Thank you, but there is no need to go to that effort. We have a set of new headless servers that seem to be the cause of a variety of seemingly intermittent issues that people are experiencing at the moment - everything from display of percentage of favorites on a cache from failing to display, to issues with certain parts of statistics disappearing, to this issue of favorites not sticking, et al. The IT team is aware of the problem and have been working on tracking down exactly which services are having issues on these servers. Thank you for your patience and we will have more information once they have been able to fully investigate.

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The IT team is aware of the problem and have been working on tracking down exactly which services are having issues on these servers. Thank you for your patience and we will have more information once they have been able to fully investigate.

It's good to know that the team is aware and working on it. Thanks for giving us that update.

 

Feel free to provide such info more often and more quickly. When people report a problem and we hear nothing from the GSHQ end, the natural assumption is that nobody at Groundspeak is doing anything about it. At the very least, an acknowledgement that the problem report is valid and is now known to the IT team would be greatly appreciated. I know we've been deemed to have "unrealistic expectations", so feel free to ignore any subsequent posts questioning the timeframe of a fix, but you really should be providing some kind of acknowledgement as soon as the problem has been confirmed.

 

Is it possible to pull the problem servers out of rotation temporarily until the problem is identified, or are the site's loads so high that the problem servers are critical? As has been mentioned, there are probably a lot of people who don't even realize the FP they awarded isn't sticking, so it would be good to at least workaround the problem for the time being.

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Just ran into this problem this morning. Tried several times, both IE and Chrome, to add a point from the main cache page but it would not stick. I finally tried submitting a new found it log, along with ticking the "add to favorites" box, and it stayed in place.

 

This is kinda frustrating and yes, it sure would have been nice if GS would have come along sooner to post in this thread that they knew of the problem and were working on it.

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Have not read since my last post here, but today it dawned on me. I used the intro app to log the cache and when I got home to give the point, it didn't allow it with Chrome or IE. So today, I deleted my log and resubmitted it and was able to add it to my favorites. Maybe that will work for some of you?

 

Just noticed Mudfrog posted the same thing:

Just ran into this problem this morning. Tried several times, both IE and Chrome, to add a point from the main cache page but it would not stick. I finally tried submitting a new found it log, along with ticking the "add to favorites" box, and it stayed in place.

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