TampaYankee

>I will be going to Moscow in May for about a week. What >should I prepare for? Does anyone know of any great bars? >club? resturants? > >I have never made a journey to Russia before and I am very >excited about it. Any suggestions would be greatly >appreciated. I always loved Midnight In Moscow, a favorite popular piano piece from days gone by. However, having never been there mysself, I suspect you would love Midnight In St Petersburg -- at least I think I would. Might be tough to do in a week though.

Well for the first time since the last fix, the forum wanted me to login a second time. I had been performing some testing with a couple of different test login IDs prior to this. Rather than succumb to the second login request, I quit and restarted my browser (IE6.0...) and logged in to the site. I went straight to the forums and posted without difficulty. No second login request this time. Your mileage may vary. I suspect this is a cookie issue. The problem seems intermittient in the extreme, only happening to a small percentage, or in my case exceedingly rarely. We will continue to monitor to try to get a hand on this. For now if it is a real nuisance i recommend deleting cookies, clearing cache and restarts of browser or even computer. The cure may be worse than the disease.

Hmmm... yes that is odd. However you seem to be in lots of good company as it seems OZ, flguy, marcanthony, and eastburbguy were all birthed on the 6th too. Was that a full moon? I suspect further inspection will reveal others although I and a few others remain firmly fixed in January. I can only guess that the tech guys were hung over from the weekend when they made any updates on Monday (the 6th). I will ask if anyone recalls Monday. Fortunately, previously we had taken all the sharp tools from them. :7 I will ask. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

>WHo would have thought my question would have brought it to >this. Chuck, over the years some great threads were generated off of an initial simple post such as yours, IMO. Part of the glory of the past, as I see it, was just such circumstances where threads dynamically took off eliciting differing opinions about a subject without personal rancor and invective taking over the thread. Hopefully we will see more of it here. BUT I too like AOL and dont like it getting blammed all >the time. I'll go on record to say that AOL does many things right. By far their biggest screw up was merging with Time Warner but that is a subject for the Business Forum :7 Hooboy himself use to bad mouth AOL. I get and can >send email to all most everyone. I have gotten them from >Hooboys on a regular basis and all my favorite escorts and >porn sites that I am sure AOL would thiink worse tha this. Yes, HooBoy did and I don't doubt your experience either. But to put HooBoy's comments in perspective, as I understood them, he was counseling lots of escorts who would contact him complaining that their accounts were deleted by AOL and they were unable to respond to clients. AOL would delete escort profiles without comment and in many many instances cancel AOL accounts. He was making the point that it is illogical for escorts to rely on a hostile provider to supply the primary business contact for their customer base. The logic still applies today.

>>This is pure Corporate Big Brother and it is amazing how >many >>not only acquiesce but embrace it. Go figure. > >It would be far more trouble to change my AOL email addresses >than to put up with what are, in reality, very minor problems >at AOL. I appreciate the investment legacy that a long time email service builds. It is not practical simply to walk away from it, even over the principle that your provider shouldn't be deciding what is fit for you to read. Very, very little incoming AOL email is blocked. At >least that's been my experience over 15 years ... I think the key qualifier there is 'that's been your experience'. No doubt that is true for many others too -- millions and millions even. However, some people like myself use an AOL account primarily for adult oriented contacts. Many escorts do. A great many clients real or potential too. This type of service prohibition is at the least a great inconvenience and at most a lot worse. I'd >know if I was missing email in any great amount: when people >send you email and you don't get it, they end up contacting >you in other ways. Only if they have other contact information for you. Without a name, address, phone number, or company affiliation, I daresay most people would be dead in the water when attempting to contact you. Exactly the situation we find ourselves in here. And my experience is that AOL email is at >least as reliable, over time, as any other ISP I've ever >worked with. Being in the IT business, I've worked with quite >a few and they all have their own reliability issues. I'm not doubting AOL's reliability. I take exception to their stance that they decide what is fit for me to read on their own initiative and, to rub salt in the wound, not even inform me in a clear easy to read statement that it is their policy. If they choose to impose this policy then they ought to inform the primary account holder at sign up in an easy to see and comprehend statement and give them the choice to opt out of their en loco parentis policy. I have no problem with informed users making their own decisions. For escorts and clients this kind of sub rosa policy is a clear detriment to their business interests or leisure time activities. If AOL wants to restrict its service for these activities that is fine too -- as long as it is known to those who pay for a service that they think they are getting but in actuallity they are not receiving. In addition it seems to me that two average run-of-the-mill adult users ought to be able to communicate with each other regarding any URL on the web. Again, if AOL wants to restrict them that is fine as long as the users know that. They are free to choose AOL service or not. And should they choose to accept, then they are on notice that certain types of emails will require an alternate service. > >We've gone over this before and agreed to disagree. We have gone over AOL's pros and cons before but I don't think this issue was salient in my mind at that time. We continue to agree to disagree. I think >it's great for people to have choices and be able to choose >the ISP they want to work with. I happen to like AOL for a >variety of reasons, of which high reliability is only one. >It works for me but I don't care if others use other ISPs. >Why should I? > I am in general agreement with your sentiments here. However, I think your song might change key if it was your business that was being black listed for denial of service. It often comes down to whose ox is being gored. >However, I also don't choose not to respond to people simply >because I don't like the ISP that they happened to choose for >their own service. > We can agree to agree on this one. My problem is just the opposite - trying my damnedest to respond to people with an ISP that won't tolerate me and my business. >Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, once >again. :-) > Well if we all agreed all the time there woudn't be much to discuss other than the weather. :7 >By the way, this board seems to be picking up. Nice job. >Congrats to you and Oz. Yes, we are really quite busy... you should see the activity in the private tech issues forum... lol :7

It is nothing short of the equivalent of the US Post Office opening your mail and deciding whether you should be allowed to receive it. Not only is it amazing to me what people will put up with but that they will actually pay to do it. SPAM filters are good. They capture a lot of junk email I am not interested in. But at least I get to see what they flag and decide for myself to read it or not. This is pure Corporate Big Brother and it is amazing how many not only acquiesce but embrace it. Go figure.

WASHINGTON - A particularly bad strain of chlamydia not usually seen in this country appears to be slowly spreading among gay and bisexual men, an infection that can increase their chances of getting or spreading the AIDS virus. for more see... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060206/ap_on_...hbeat_chlamydia

The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right! [em]....Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5 -- Wm. Shakespeare [/em]

Chuck, Thanks for your patience. I am pleased to hear that you are in business. Our tech people looked at the issue from an AOL browser and could find no problem. So I cannot explain your reversal in fortune -- just one of many things I cannot explain when it comes to web software. x( Unlike a controlled environment where all code is developed under strict scrutiny, web software is cobbled together from such disparate sources as Microsoft, Apple, Intel, IBM, Mozilla, AOL/Netscape, and a myriad of other independent developers of php or asp or html or java or whatever. Everyone is supposed to communicate and observe standards and protocols... supposed to. Such distributed development (distributed in time and space) requires collaboration if it is to be pulled off without many bumps or potholes. However, the collaboration model for this environment is more often than not: Throw it over the fence and forget it. If there is a problem somewhere the other guy owns it. So our tech guys weave a patchwork quilt with many different existing packages, developing special purpose packages, connecting interfaces and fabricating bridges where necessary. The result has to run in every user's environment among which are subtle differences. This is why there has to be a definite shakedown period to identify and resolve issues. The more complex or multi-faceted the site, the more intensive the shakeout period. Ideally we would have the time, resources and foresight to minimize this. The truth is that it is very difficult for a handfull of test users to stress a system the way several tens or more users can. It is tough to anticipate all the things they might try intentionally or unintentionally. It is even more frustrating when someone reports a problem with a tested and verified process. To date you are the only one to report this type of problem with submitting a review. That does not mean there haven't been one or two others that chose not to report it or that there won't be more in the future. We only know what is reported and that includes the reviews received. This doesn't lessen the frustration as I know first hand. This is our problem not the users but the users pay a price too. We appreciate your patience and perserverance. Thanks.

You are extremely polite. :7 It has been on our To Do list and I, for one, will be most happy when it gets resolved. We have been focusing on getting the trains running. Sooner or later we will get them running on time (the correct time) -- the sooner the better. <-- me when it happens.

I see that you are all prepared to take me on a tour. Can't wait. }(

Oz, I agree 100%. Daniel Henney is no slouch either... That's my kind of sushi...um, i mean kimchi. }( http://www.mostbeautifulman.com/actors/dan...mages/pic02.jpg

We are currently implementing impoved map-based index pages for reviews and profiles for North America. You may see it undergo some variations in the next few days as we fine tune it. Please bear with us. Thanks.

We haven't had any new complaints about forum login issues or strong indication of lingering problems from earlier complaints. If anyone is still encountering difficulty logging in please let us know. Thanks. The Management

Hmmm.... just my kind of biker. }(

Works for me.. 2 outta 2. Must be that magic thing.

Voila!! :* (magic is wonderful)

I have had a few requests: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir....7/win32/fi-FI/ I am running Explorer v6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2... under Windows XP. So far both are working for me. I hope your mileage will be the same.

I thought I would be the first to test and post here. Previously, I had consistently had failures accessing the Forum using Firefox. Using firefox v 1.07, I am making this post after logging in to the up-front site. I can report that I had no problems at all entering the forum and posting. One success story is a start, two is a trend. Who will be a trend setter? :7

An update to let everyone know where we currently stand on this bug. For the first time I am actually feeling optimistic about making progress on this front. I don't want to declare victory just yet. I have been around long enough to know that one doesn't get out in front of the cart unless one is confident that the brakes are working and the driver is more friend than foe. With that caveat for cautiion in place... It seems that DCForum software has salted away in at least three different places/vehicles user and session status information. If the session is closed down improperly then inconsistent data may be left among the three repositories of information. Restarting a forum session with inconsistent stored data causes the software to behave in a disagreeable manner. Hopefully the authors haven't opted for a fourth, as yet unknown, respository. Right now I cannot say if we have the complete solution or if we are just closer to a complete solution. Often debugging proceeds in steps and sometimes it all just falls into place. It remains to be seen if what we have will apply to all browsers. We are hopeful but we need members to help us test whether we have isolated the problem and solved it. How can you help us test? It is easy. For those having problems previously, just login and see how it works? Let us know if there is any change in behavior or not. Please indicate your browser and version if you know it. For those who had no problem before let us know if you are now having a problem. Again, we need browser and version. If you had no problem before and are not having one now then no need to let us know as a positive status quo is good. That is all. Try it and let us know.

>I am a pornstar and love getting naked for you. Here, there, >and everywhere...bring it on!!! I'm available on DVD, magazine >and LIVE in your BED with you IN ME. Bring it on. >Bastian-Michigan www.BastianModel.com}( Yes, welcome!! Happy to have you here. Given the choices I'll take door number 3. }(

Well, it is good to have all this confusion cleared up. Now that we are all on the same page, I'm feeling much better. I am shocked... just shocked about Cody. Well, maybe one shock is enough. He started out acting so straight. I don't claim to have seen all of his performances but he went from a halting solo performance to getting it on hot and heavy with a female. Then he moved on to a guy, again sort of a halting participant. Now this... never expected him to bottom much less au naturel. He is definitely scorchingly hot alone or with company. That holds for Dawson too. Although I haven't seen this performance I doubt film could handle the heat -- be they gloved or not.

BG, Thanks for your sharing your perspective and comments. I agree with much... most.... ummm... probably all that you said. We haven't exactly followed the standard commercial software development model, that I worked by for three decades. Costs would have been prohibitive IMO. Even without the cost issue, distributed development has presented its challenges. Without knowledge of the specific problems encountered I'd probably do it all over the same way. Only because in our developement environment we did not discover the most severe problems in a small sterile inhouse test environment and in our small-sample beta test. We needed a critical load factor, critical database population and diversity of unanticpated user behavior. This was necessitated, in part, by the broad scope of our site -- maybe too broad for a smooth startup in our time frame. I agree there is a limited window of optimal opportunity. We do the best we can. Hopefuly we will slay our dragons soon and offer worthwhile value to the community. The MC performance has been problematic and must be addressed. That is why we are considering alternatives. My preference is the single login option with DCForum -- if we can get it to work. My personal fall back preference is the double login with DCForum. I am willing, as a user, to pay the price for the extra login because i think the forum layout is worth it. However, as site adminstrators we have to consider the preferences of our users. To date more have expressed preference for a single login. It wasn't presented exactly as an either-or proposition. It wasn't anticpated that way at the time. Nevertheless, that is the prevailing opinion sample at the moment. Part of the motivation of my post was to solicit comments regarding perference. You made yours and I am appreciative for the response in general and more so for the particular response as we agree. That makes at least 2 for option 2. I did ask and your comments have not fallen on deaf ears. Thank you for offering them. They help to shed light on where we are and how we got there. I think it is important to keep the community apprised of what's going on and why. Startup problems, and everyone has them to some degree, are bad enough but trying to keep the user base in the dark about them, igoring them -- the problems publicly and the users -- is much worse IMO. Thus the other motivation for my post. Thanks again for the on-point comments. TY

Two things you never want to be first on the block with: A new model automobile and a new software release. The first wave of users is just the second wave of beta testers! Ummm... sorta hitting close to home on that one.

A read to accompany your morning coffee... http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22012006/323/brit...c-scandals.html