# Why so many duplicate posts?



## hummingbird_206

Been happening for weeks (maybe months now?) Duplicate posts all over the place. It's happened to me at least once and I don't know what I could have done to cause it. Some glitch in the forum s/w?


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## stevel

Are you using Tapatalk? It has a tendency to double-post.


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## hummingbird_206

Nope, I use Chrome on a PC.


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## NorthAlabama

i noticed an uptick in dup posts starting about the same time david posted changes had been made to the server (coincidence?), and it happened once to me when several users also reported receiving the sucuri timeout error pages.


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## kdmorse

I really suspect it's related to the very large delay when using Quick Reply in very long threads (which appeared at the same time as the forum upgrade). Something is timing out, refreshing the page, and causing a double post.


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## dswallow

There used to be something on the forum side that'd prevent this -- something checking for an exact prior post. But it sure doesn't seem to be happening reliably anymore.


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## David Bott

Not sure it will solve it, but I just added a dup post checker to try.

And yup...very large threads can be an issue.


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## whoknows55

I saw another one this morning but this is the first I've seen so it might just be a fluke. Sharing it just to give data.


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## eddyj

I got a duplicate message when I double clicked on post by mistake, so that part is working. But the problem in the past has been with correct clicks, so I saw someone complaining about it just today.


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## whoknows55

I've seen a lot more dups recently


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## hummingbird_206

Yep, the problem isn't going away.


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## David Bott

Not sure on the issue. Maybe time for new forum software.


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## hefe

David Bott said:


> Not sure on the issue. Maybe time for new forum software.


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## Thunderclap

I help admin a vBulletin site and there is a plugin the checks to see if there are similar threads prior to allowing someone to start a new one. Might be something worth considering here.


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## eddyj

We had that, until the last upgrade.


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## Jonathan_S

eddyj said:


> We had that, until the last upgrade.


And bizarrely it would find similar threads that the search function couldn't.


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## Rob Helmerichs

Jonathan_S said:


> And bizarrely it would find similar threads that the search function couldn't.


Yes, it was very useful!


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## Hank

David Bott said:


> Not sure on the issue. Maybe time for new forum software.


I hear vBulletin 4.2 is a good upgrade.


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## Marc

Hank said:


> I hear vBulletin 4.2 is a good upgrade.


:up:

Yes, I've heard that, too.


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## David Bott

LOL...you guys but be jesting on VB 4.2. RIGHT?

Sim threads would not help this as that is for starting a new topic and that is not the issue.

It can not be used as the site now uses something called Sphinx for the search engine. To make it work, the site needed to be hacked. It is needed based on how poor the search engine was on this version of Vb as any such could and did hurt the site by locking the database during searches. 

The issue with the dups happens mostly in large threads. The software has a hard time phrasing it as it takes time and people just click, click, click submit.


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## whoknows55

David Bott said:


> LOL...you guys but be jesting on VB 4.2. RIGHT?
> 
> Sim threads would not help this as that is for starting a new topic and that is not the issue.
> 
> It can not be used as the site now uses something called Sphinx for the search engine. To make it work, the site needed to be hacked. It is needed based on how poor the search engine was on this version of Vb as any such could and did hurt the site by locking the database during searches.
> 
> The issue with the dups happens mostly in large threads. The software has a hard time phrasing it as it takes time and people just click, click, click submit.


If they aren't I am. One of the other forums I run is on 4.2.2 and appears to be running well.


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## Hank

Dave -- we've talked about this before... I do think 4.2.x is a good and easy upgrade. I know you are concerned about performance of the Version 4 branch of VB, but there are many many larger forums running VB 4.2.. for instance:

http://www.bikeforums.net/ -- Threads 936,028 Posts 17,273,972 Members 316,680
http://www.howardforums.com -- Threads 1,772,276 Posts 15,722,960 Members 1,138,258 (also uses Sphinx Search)
http://www.zyngaplayerforums.com/ -- Threads 2,050,413 Posts 13,518,847 Members 4,141,111
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ (uses vB 4.1!) -- Threads 6,510,669 *Posts 124,757,512* Members 11,198,315
My own forum (a little smaller than TCF) -- Threads 196,440 Posts 4,361,184 Members 21,203

TCF: -- Threads: 243,249, Posts: 7,099,270, Members: 281,174

Just food for thought.

Also, the double posting thing is not from multiple clicks -- I'm sure that I've only clicked once when submitting a post, and it shows up twice once in a while. If people do click twice (and submit two separate posts), there is a dup post error returned.


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## hummingbird_206

Hank said:


> Also, the double posting thing is not from multiple clicks -- I'm sure that I've only clicked once when submitting a post, and it shows up twice once in a while. If people do click twice (and submit two separate posts), there is a dup post error returned.


Yep, the dup posts is not from double clicks IME. I have double clicked and gotten the error. But when I had dup posts it wasn't from a double click.


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## David Bott

Hank said:


> Dave -- we've talked about this before... I do think 4.2.x is a good and easy upgrade. I know you are concerned about performance of the Version 4 branch of VB, but there are many many larger forums running VB 4.2.. for instance:
> 
> http://www.bikeforums.net/ -- Threads 936,028 Posts 17,273,972 Members 316,680
> http://www.howardforums.com -- Threads 1,772,276 Posts 15,722,960 Members 1,138,258 (also uses Sphinx Search)
> http://www.zyngaplayerforums.com/ -- Threads 2,050,413 Posts 13,518,847 Members 4,141,111
> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ (uses vB 4.1!) -- Threads 6,510,669 *Posts 124,757,512* Members 11,198,315
> My own forum (a little smaller than TCF) -- Threads 196,440 Posts 4,361,184 Members 21,203
> 
> TCF: -- Threads: 243,249, Posts: 7,099,270, Members: 281,174
> 
> Just food for thought.
> 
> Also, the double posting thing is not from multiple clicks -- I'm sure that I've only clicked once when submitting a post, and it shows up twice once in a while. If people do click twice (and submit two separate posts), there is a dup post error returned.


I can see about setting up a test area for it and trying a conversion. From what I have seen and read, moving from 3.8 is not simple with many bad stories. But we can see.

The formatting of the site will surely change as the style/theme would not work in 4.2 and would all needed to be remade. Something I personally do not have time to do.


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## whoknows55

Just a quick update to say that I'm seeing the double posts on the rise again.


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## wizkidzulu

hummingbird_206 said:


> Been happening for weeks (maybe months now?) Duplicate posts all over the place. It's happened to me at least once and I don't know what I could have done to cause it. Some glitch in the forum s/w?


to pad their post count and not reading other posts


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## hummingbird_206

David Bott said:


> Not sure on the issue. Maybe time for new forum software.


Ever make any progress on this? There seem to be more and more dup posts in threads as time goes on.


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## Turtleboy

Happening to me too.


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## jsmeeker

With time, you'll get over it.


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## Adam1115

So this has been happening for 4 months now...


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## Mike Lang

Not just here...everywhere. AVS is flooded with them.


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## Hank

Mike Lang said:


> Not just here...everywhere. AVS is flooded with them.


AVS is also still running vBulletin 3.8.x


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## David Bott

Hank...What a job converting the site to a new version?


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## Hank

David Bott said:


> Hank...What a job converting the site to a new version?


Took me a minute to realize you meant "Want" instead of "What kind of job is it to..."

Well, as we've spoken in the past, and the actual Vbulletin upgrade/conversion is pretty straightforward.

But I'm pretty sure you know that the bulk of the time needed is going to be re-incorporating all the plugins you have installed (if they're even available for the new version), as well as developing at least one new TCF theme and incorporating all the Tivo icons and whatnot into the new system. I also know you have a lot of custom ad-zones set up, and that might take quite a bit of time to convert over. And the custom search module also. But I think it's doable.

Is the database still in Innodb tables? Are you still running Ngix?


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## David Bott

Seems like a lot of hassle.  No to the tables and no to Ngix. (Just moved servers and not running Ngix and when the DB came over, it converted the tables back.)

Anyway, it was just a thought but sounds like it would be costly.


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## unitron

Hank said:


> Dave -- we've talked about this before... I do think 4.2.x is a good and easy upgrade. I know you are concerned about performance of the Version 4 branch of VB, but there are many many larger forums running VB 4.2.. for instance:
> 
> http://www.bikeforums.net/ -- Threads 936,028 Posts 17,273,972 Members 316,680
> http://www.howardforums.com -- Threads 1,772,276 Posts 15,722,960 Members 1,138,258 (also uses Sphinx Search)
> http://www.zyngaplayerforums.com/ -- Threads 2,050,413 Posts 13,518,847 Members 4,141,111
> http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ (uses vB 4.1!) -- Threads 6,510,669 *Posts 124,757,512* Members 11,198,315
> My own forum (a little smaller than TCF) -- Threads 196,440 Posts 4,361,184 Members 21,203
> 
> TCF: -- Threads: 243,249, Posts: 7,099,270, Members: 281,174
> 
> Just food for thought.
> 
> Also, the double posting thing is not from multiple clicks -- I'm sure that I've only clicked once when submitting a post, and it shows up twice once in a while. If people do click twice (and submit two separate posts), there is a dup post error returned.


So there's over a quarter of a million of us, huh?


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## Rob Helmerichs

unitron said:


> So there's over a quarter of a million of us, huh?


Although that's probably everybody who's ever been a member (and hasn't gotten the boot)...


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## unitron

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Although that's probably everybody who's ever been a member (and hasn't gotten the boot)...


Yeah, I'm sure it includes all the "one and done" folks, as well as those who haven't been around in years and probably people who've passed away but their account still exists.

But still, that's a much higher number than I would have thought if I'd been asked to guess, because that's people who actually bothered to sign up for an account, not just those who've browsed here before.


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## hummingbird_206

The occurrence of double posts seems to be getting worse and worse.


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## Hank

unitron said:


> Yeah, I'm sure it includes all the "one and done" folks, as well as those who haven't been around in years and probably people who've passed away but their account still exists.
> 
> But still, that's a much higher number than I would have thought if I'd been asked to guess, because that's people who actually bothered to sign up for an account, not just those who've browsed here before.


A lot of people sign up to ask a Tivo question and never return or discover Happy Hour.


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## whoknows55

another example if it helps

This is a server side problem as I've seen it happen in cases where I have network based evidence that there wasn't a double post from the client (and the 5 min timeout would have prevented any client based double posting).


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## LoadStar

It definitely seems like the duplicate post problem has been drastically increasing in frequency, and is getting kind of annoying.


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## Adam1115

So my new workflow is after a post is to hit F5, see that it duplicated it, then delete the duplicate. Especially if I have to edit this post and there are two.


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## Hank

It's funny to see "workflow" mentioned for posting on TCF.


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## Mike Lang

We made a change on AVS that seems to have fixed the double posts there. I just made the same change here. Please report back if you notice a difference.


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## Adam1115

Hank said:


> It's funny to see "workflow" mentioned for posting on TCF.


LOL I found it amusing when it popped into my head as well.


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## Hank

Mike Lang said:


> We made a change on AVS that seems to have fixed the double posts there. I just made the same change here. Please report back if you notice a difference.


Care to share what the fix was for those who are curious?

thanks.


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## Mike Lang

Disable problematic AJAX features in admincp.


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## dswallow

Absolutely positively clicked just once on my end when posting this, but after a short delay got this page, but the posting had already gone through (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10815774#post10815774).


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## Hank

I just had that happen using tapatalk.


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## Hank

And it just happened making this post!!!!


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## David Bott

Well, still need to move the site to new software I guess. I just do not have the time to do it myself and it is kind of scary in general. 

I for one have not had a dup post made. Then again, I do not post a lot so that is not saying much.


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## hummingbird_206

The original duplicate post issue that sparked this thread appears to be fixed. I haven't seen any duplicate posts in threads since the fix was reported 2/23. 

The message about not posting twice within a short time (10 seconds) is different and appears to be a new issue. I haven't seen it, but I don't use tapatalk.


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