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GoGoGoodyear

Champion Author
Los Angeles

Posts:2,053
Points:508,060
Joined:Mar 2010

Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 1:27:30 AM

Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse

This or something similar has been brought up before. I've noticed this repeatedly but I finally captured screen shots showing the minute-by-minute action.

Activity near midnight accrued points on that day, confirmed on the My Point Stats page, then a few minutes later some points accrued close to midnight are moved to the following day.

Referring to the points history list below, it would appear that I posted a message on 7/27 11:52 PM (4th item down the list) then waited until 7/28 2:24 AM and posted three more messages. This is not accurate, I did not wait more than 2 hours between message posts.

Also seen in the points history list below is that I read three news items on 7/27 at 11:14 PM, 11:24 PM, and 11:44 PM followed by my first message post at 11:48 PM. This also is wrong, I read one top-5 news item, posted a response, read the next top-5 news item, post a response, etc. My last action on 7/27 was to post a response to a top-5 news item on 7/27 11:59 PM and immediately click on My Point Stats (opened in a new tab) with the GB official time on that page shown as 11:59 PM. On that page it shows:

Message Posts 100
Price Entry 750
Read a News Item 125

and one minute later at 12:00 AM the Point Stats page still showed the points as above. However when the Point Stats page was reloaded four minutes later (GB time 12:04 AM) it shows:

Message Posts 60

with the same total points, although I have not had any more activity on GB after midnight other than checking the My Point Stats page. There is an unexplained gap between message posts which puts the last three posts over two hours into the following day.
.
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Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:55:37 AM
Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:44:10 AM
Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:24:27 AM
Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 11:52:17 PM
Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:48:56 PM
Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM
Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM
Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:44:40 PM
Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:24:58 PM
Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:14:21 PM
Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:39:59 PM
Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:39:59 PM
Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM
Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM
Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM
.

[Edited by: GoGoGoodyear at 7/28/2012 4:31:18 AM EST]

REPLIES (newest first)Ignore Short Messages

bytebug Champion Author Orange County Posts:26,394 Points:4,124,605 Joined:Oct 2001	Message Posted: Sep 8, 2012 7:38:42 PM Ignore bytebug Report Abuse >> As seen below, the points stats taken at 1:49 PM Pacific Time show that the last message >> was posted at 4:30 PM. If you clicked on a reference to a forum article that took you to an east coast site and you chose to respond, the time would show up as EDT in the log, while the time displayed in the news article itself is translated to the current time zone. So, the example you note is no big surprise. [Edited by: bytebug at 9/8/2012 10:40:41 PM EST]
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Sep 8, 2012 5:38:14 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse My question - Did you get points for what you posted? If the answer is yes, move along, nothing to see here. If the answer is no and you haven't maxed out for the day, there is a problem. [Edited by: scoutmaster at 9/8/2012 8:38:54 AM EST]
nurdco Champion Author Colorado Springs Posts:9,238 Points:1,695,385 Joined:Apr 2008	Message Posted: Sep 8, 2012 4:33:12 AM Ignore nurdco Report Abuse Somewhere in the cumulative counters have SHORTed the MidYear counters by 300 points... Minor as far as I SEE but has IT AFFECTED the Overall Counter??? In my GB time I have had 3 Mysterious RESETs of my Consecutive Day count as well... As a retired IT troubleshooter and designer I have detected various problems BUT this recent DIFFERENCE was discovered in this Mid Year cumulati e counter WHICH shows quite visably... GB moderator will NOT RESPOND... Anybody else notice strangeness ??? Bill
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 28, 2012 2:11:04 PM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse FYI, more information on this time of day problem: I logged in at LosAngelesGasPrices.com (my home GB site) on 8/28/2012 1:06 PM Pacific Time. Proceeded to read the top five news articles, and posted responses in three of them. As seen below, the points stats taken at 1:49 PM Pacific Time show that the last message was posted at 4:30 PM. If we subtract 3 hours (for Eastern time) it was actually posted at 1:30:58 PM Pacific Time, in response to and 11 minutes after reading what was the 2nd of the top five news items at the time, "GM tries to escape national politics, and... suspends Volt production" from the GB blog. It was the first message posted since logging in today. The message post in the news item does show the correct time the message was posted. Therefore this problem is not at all limited to posts made or other point accruing actions taken near midnight local time, and evidence so far indicates that it only affects the logged time of message posts, not other activities on GB. . Message Posts 20 8/28/2012 4:30:58 PM Message Posts 20 8/28/2012 1:43:18 PM Read a News Item 25 8/28/2012 1:39:09 PM Message Posts 20 8/28/2012 1:39:08 PM Read a News Item 25 8/28/2012 1:33:05 PM Read a News Item 25 8/28/2012 1:31:21 PM Read a News Item 25 8/28/2012 1:19:08 PM Read a News Item 25 8/28/2012 1:12:54 PM .
annettemendieta Champion Author San Diego Posts:1,709 Points:314,875 Joined:Jul 2012	Message Posted: Aug 23, 2012 11:00:35 PM Ignore annettemendieta Report Abuse Thank you for this!
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 23, 2012 1:55:00 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse However the message just below this one, posted from the Hawaii site at 10:46:50 PM is logged with the correct local date/time. Is it possible that the Eastern time logging error only affects replies to news items? Message Posts 20 8/23/2012 3:42:21 AM Price Entry 150 8/23/2012 1:18:25 AM Message Posts 20 8/22/2012 10:46:50 PM
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 23, 2012 1:46:50 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse Further info on the time logging error when posting replies. I logged into the Hawaiigasprices.com site on 8/23/2012 12:38 AM California time. (the Hawaii site showed 9:38 PM) I read one news item and posted one reply. Here is the points detail: Message Posts 20 8/23/2012 3:42:21 AM Read a News Item 25 8/22/2012 9:38:29 PM As we can see, a reply submitted over two hours before midnight is logged as taking place 6 hours into the next day (compared to local Hawaii time) e.g. on Eastern time. So the time error I mentioned in the original post is site-wide.
nurdco Champion Author Colorado Springs Posts:9,238 Points:1,695,385 Joined:Apr 2008	Message Posted: Aug 22, 2012 10:10:45 PM Ignore nurdco Report Abuse MID YEAR... every 6 months are SHORT by 400 points....Why this statistic is tracked is unknown...
nurdco Champion Author Colorado Springs Posts:9,238 Points:1,695,385 Joined:Apr 2008	Message Posted: Aug 22, 2012 10:07:59 PM Ignore nurdco Report Abuse Updated COUNTs update at the Click of the HOUR and NOT in realtime... The Cumulative points UPDATE IN REALTIME. . NOT Other stats... THEY ARE Alphabetized and NOT when you POST points accululation...
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Aug 12, 2012 3:46:40 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Well since the 30 day scoreboard means nothing, who cares?
nurdco Champion Author Colorado Springs Posts:9,238 Points:1,695,385 Joined:Apr 2008	Message Posted: Aug 11, 2012 10:03:36 PM Ignore nurdco Report Abuse Missed Accumulations in MidYear calulations WILL FOLLOW when posting at Midnite... GB moderator is in Denial of points ommittage...
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,656 Points:3,684,375 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Aug 9, 2012 3:36:02 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Here's a more complete telling of the 30-day scoreboard story. When you earn points, your 30-day score goes up, and typically your 30-day rank improves as a result When you're exactly 30 days beyond some point-earning activity, your 30-day score goes down, and typically your 30-day rank worsens. Also, when someone else earns points, their 30-day score goes up, and if this causes them to pass you, then your 30-day rank worsens. And when someone else is exactly 30 days past a point-earning activity, their 30-day score goes down, which could cause your 30-day rank to improve as they pass you in reverse.
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 9, 2012 3:17:34 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse I suspect that since the time-of-posting error only seems to affect forum posts, that those are saved to a different server than price entries and other point-gathering activities, and there is a bug in the code that calculates the time offset for the various time zones.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,551 Points:2,359,505 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 10:15:03 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse DeeMamma88 - I rather suspect that the changes you saw occurred over more than 1 hour of time. It may have been a little as 1 hour and 1 minute but probably more than 1 hour. The 30 day rank is updated at the top of each hour. If your rank drops from 490 up to 2357 in an hour, it mean that in the first case, you earned point 29 day, 23 hours and some minutes earlier. An hour later, those points were no longer included in the calculation because they were earned more than 30 days ago. [Edited by: Scrapheap at 8/8/2012 1:15:46 AM EST]
buckeyecountry Champion Author Ohio Posts:8,029 Points:700,955 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 2:56:08 PM Ignore buckeyecountry Report Abuse ....sometimes in minutes.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 10:18:58 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse "I was wondering how my "30 Day Rank" can go from 535 to 490 up to 2357 in a matter of an hour." Your 30 day rank will change throughout the day every day.
DeeMamma88 Veteran Author San Bernardino Posts:352 Points:282,855 Joined:May 2012	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 8:14:56 AM Ignore DeeMamma88 Report Abuse I was wondering how my "30 Day Rank" can go from 535 to 490 up to 2357 in a matter of an hour.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 4:39:13 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Seems we are getting hung up in the minutia~
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Aug 7, 2012 4:01:55 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse This time logging error leads to some interesting points totals, until after midnight when it corrected itself. Even a message posted almost an hour before midnight local time was logged in the next day. Points Statistics at 11:54 PM: (Daily points) Message Posts 140 <- Price Entry 750 Read a News Item 125 Points Statistics at 12:06 AM: (Daily points) Message Posts 100 (note: last activity was at 11:53:04 PM) Points detail retrieved at 11:54 PM: Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:28:09 AM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:21:25 AM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:18:53 AM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:17:05 AM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:05:38 AM Message Posts 20 8/6/2012 11:53:04 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:47:31 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:45:57 PM Message Posts 20 8/6/2012 11:45:57 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:28:58 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:22:09 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 10:09:56 PM Price Entry 150 8/6/2012 9:57:33 PM Price Entry 150 8/6/2012 9:57:33 PM Price Entry 150 8/6/2012 9:57:33 PM Price Entry 150 8/6/2012 9:57:33 PM Price Entry 150 8/6/2012 9:57:33 PM . Events rearranged in correct order: Message Posts 20 8/6/2012 11:53:04 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:47:31 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:45:57 PM Message Posts 20 8/6/2012 11:45:57 PM Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:28:58 PM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:28:09 AM (11:28 PM) Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 11:22:09 PM Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:21:25 AM (11:21 PM) Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:18:53 AM (11:18 PM) Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:17:05 AM (11:17 PM) Message Posts 20 8/7/2012 2:05:38 AM (11:05 PM) Read a News Item 25 8/6/2012 10:09:56 PM
jrsva Champion Author Virginia Posts:9,857 Points:1,613,225 Joined:Jan 2006	Message Posted: Jul 29, 2012 9:31:56 PM Ignore jrsva Report Abuse I suspect a server glitch that reset the time and which was subsequently corrected, bringing the time back to where it should be. The bottom line here is that errors of this type can happen. If you are posting anywhere near midnight and want to be sure your points are entered for the correct day, you would be well served to check your point total and be sure things are right while there is still time to make corrections. Vigilance is a virtue.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jul 29, 2012 12:26:19 PM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse No site is perfect.
buckeyecountry Champion Author Ohio Posts:8,029 Points:700,955 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Jul 29, 2012 4:39:34 AM Ignore buckeyecountry Report Abuse I think we can all agree on one thing....this site is far from perfect.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jul 29, 2012 3:43:42 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I have said for awhile now the points should be eliminated. They create more problems than they are worth.
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,656 Points:3,684,375 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Jul 29, 2012 3:08:52 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse scoutmaster writes, > Did you lose any points? If the answer is no, then there is really no issue. Not all bugs in the system are points-related. It's appropriate to report a bug (and/or to discuss the behavior of the system) even when the current instance does not change what anyone's point total would have been.
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 6:08:03 PM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse This is not about the importance of points, or lost points, or how many points to award for participation in a given feature, or whether GB should award points for certain activities or not, and I did not mention those subjects in any part of this thread. This is about a logic error in the backend software that operates this site. If anyone thinks it's not an issue, that's fine, you have your opinion and I have mine. My opinion is that I'm reporting what I found to TBTU in the hope that someone at GB is making a bug list for when they get around to fixing this stuff someday, if ever.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,551 Points:2,359,505 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 5:20:32 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse GGG - If you were to subtract 3 hours from the messages posted after 2 AM, wouldn't the list look exactly like you said it should?
Gas_Buddy Champion Author Maryland Posts:25,977 Points:3,035,040 Joined:Aug 2004	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 5:14:40 PM Ignore Gas_Buddy Report Abuse If the issue of points is so sensitive, maybe the solution is to get rid of points, and simply have a listing of how many gas price posts were made, how many message posts were made, and...what the heck, rate the value of the message post. Seriously, and I'm not trying to be dismissive about the importance of points, consecutive day or point standing lists, but if you're that concerned about anonymously receiving your points in a timely manner, why not try to avoid posting at or near the date changeover? I know that's not necessarily an optimum solution (and some will say that the only time they can post to Gas Buddy is at the "witching hour" of midnight), but I just can't see what the real problem is. I'm probably in a minority in not seeing any problem, but I just, really, don't see one.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 11:52:41 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Did you lose any points? If the answer is no, then there is really no issue.
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 11:44:34 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse "Other than GGG having too much time on his hands, is there a point to this topic?" Yes, the point is that: (A) There is an unexplained time error of over 2 hours from the actual time posts were made and the time they were recorded in the points history. (B) The date/time when points were accrued is not recorded accurately in the points history. (C) This is TBTU and I'm bringing this error to the attention of the sysops, and anyone else who gives a damn. "When hiccups occur on the servers, the time reverts to East Coast time by default. I'm assuming that is what happened here." Interesting, but doesn't explain why the points accrual is out of order. Disregarding the 'Message posts shown after midnight on 7/27' error, the order in which events occurred was: 10-Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 9- Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 8- Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 7- Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 6- Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 5- Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 4- Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 3- Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 2- Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 1- Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 . The diff between East and West coast time is 3 hours. The time skipped from 11:52 PM to 2:24 AM. Allowing for ~15 ~20 minutes for me to read an article and post a reply, this is wrong. There are other unexplained discrepancies such as: Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:44:40 PM If I read a news item at 11:44:40 PM and posted a response at 11:48:44 PM then I could not have read the next news item at 11:48:44 PM. Especially on this slow PC, it takes _at_least_ several seconds to post the response and reload the page to the point where I can see my response in the thread, then close the tab and click on the next news item. Computer timekeeping is a complicated subject and quite a few commercial software packages get it wrong one way or another. Bugs usually surface during things like daylight savings time change, with things like scheduled items repeating or being skipped, and with time zone difference errors.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,551 Points:2,359,505 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 9:54:47 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse When hiccups occur on the servers, the time reverts to East Coast time by default. I'm assuming that is what happened here.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,330 Points:3,254,445 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 9:45:11 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse Other than GGG having too much time on his hands, is there a point to this topic?
buckeyecountry Champion Author Ohio Posts:8,029 Points:700,955 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 6:53:49 AM Ignore buckeyecountry Report Abuse Sounds like you have too much time on your hands....lol
GoGoGoodyear Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:2,053 Points:508,060 Joined:Mar 2010	Message Posted: Jul 28, 2012 1:52:14 AM Ignore GoGoGoodyear Report Abuse After starting this thread at 1:27 AM, the post is shown with the correct date/time in the Points History while the other three message posts that occurred before it are shown as having occurred later, at 2:xx AM. Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:55:37 AM Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:44:10 AM Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 2:24:27 AM Message Posts 20 7/28/2012 1:27:30 AM Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 11:52:17 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:48:56 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM Message Posts 20 7/27/2012 11:48:44 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:44:40 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:24:58 PM Read a News Item 25 7/27/2012 11:14:21 PM Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:39:59 PM Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:39:59 PM Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM Price Entry 150 7/27/2012 10:37:51 PM .