Login is really slow

[iguanamon]

I have to log-in every time now... then 504 error. Forum has become unusable for all practical intents and purposes. I'm surprised we haven't heard from rdearman or emk. rdearman tweets- about things to do to stop being bored. Here's a suggestion "bored, just come on the forum and tell us what's going on", please.

[bolaobo]

For now, it appears to be back to normal to me and page is loading at normal speed.

What is going on?

[coldrainwater]

I suspect neither admin is aware of the current problem (or was just recently made aware) but cannot say for sure. If memory serves, the server may need to be rebooted outside of the normal schedule. On servers that I administer for work purposes, what has always helped me mitigate this type of situation is to establish a few core reliable custom email alerts made and tested 'by hand', rather than using a monitoring tool. I give it purely as a general suggestion for post-mortem to those involved in development. There may be several leading indicators that could trigger an alert in advance of need concurrent with or before end-users notice.

For those currently experiencing issues, I don't have a user-oriented workaround. However, I can navigate and use the forum. In case it helps anyone, I always click remember me on login, open threads in new tabs only, click once to process a like action, leaving the tab open until it shows as registered, and limit overall forum time in case the server overload is an issue with too many users trying to navigate on a taxed server. Searches per usual are best done via Google if they are necessary at all. I have started logging out when finished in case that helps as well. I would suggest saving any lengthy new posts offline (word doc/notepad) and in the rare event that a restore from an earlier point may be needed just as a simple and time inexpensive precaution (myself not knowing the details of the issue but being familiar with problems on different platforms in the past).

[rdearman]

I only just attempted to login to the forum today, so I haven't noticed the errors. I didn't have a problem logging in, although I noticed I had been logged out which was unusual. I've looked around and everything seems to be ticking along OK at the moment. I suspect we had another round of Bots trying to create accounts on the system. I've spoken to EMK and he'll be able to check into the server history (it is stored on his AWS account) and get more information.

Sorry for the disruption.

[Iversen]

The problem is still there, although the situation was even worse Monday. I have also been logged out even though I always mark "remember me", and I have noticed another weird detail: now each tab is marked (645) - and only that. I don't remember this situation from earlier times so when I first saw it I thought that the forum had been hacked, but now I just see it as a sign that it isn't functioning normally yet.

[rdearman]

Emk and I think we need a reboot. Emk will perform it as soon as he can.

[ryanheise]

By the way, I get the same challenge question (12 divided by 6) each time I'm forced to re-login, which is probably not an ideal preventative measure against bots.

[cito]

By the way, I get the same challenge question (12 divided by 6) each time I'm forced to re-login, which is probably not an ideal preventative measure against bots.

Site has been quite slow for me lately, but I haven't had this issue. I did think recently, however, that it is possible bots may be logging in with Chat-GPT or other AI to solve the log-in questions, as for something like an advanced language model, they can probably solve the questions quite easily.

[Iversen]

I got in without delay today - and that's the first time in a fairly long time. Even when it was possible to get in during this period it took a long time, and probably due to the delay the system asked for login data. And at other times it wouldn't even open the login screens. I hope the easy access this time wasn't a one time fluke. HTLA>L largely died because its administrator didn't care about it. At least we are not in the same boat with Llorg.

PS: maybe I was too optimistic - the system is now again beginning to open and store pages slowly. But so far it works...

[MorkTheFiddle]

For me login worked okay and navigating the site works okay, no errors, but it is sluggish.
FWIW, I noted also logging out took longer than usual, too.