Losing attachments while posting?

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
sorry if this has already been brought up, but i couldn't find any related discussions, just somebody mentioning this problem here and there.

it happens frequently that when i'm posting, the attached images are gone; since i always do a preview before sending the post, i usually re-attach the files, but sometimes this issue occurs repeatedly: as example, i had to edit apost 6 times, just now o_O

also, when i'm attaching both from my pc and from http, sometimes only one of the files get attached, and the other(s) get lost

is this something you are aware of, or is it only occurring recently... or is it happening to me only? :why2:
 

redrooster

赤いオンドリ - 私はオタクです!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Sep 25, 2007
18,797
114
files attached by A-O attachment management cannot vanish normally, at least these are shown in a post / thread, external links however depend on the procedures of the sites where they are located / have been posted. Some sites block external links by nature, they don´t want their bandwidth wasted or abused, some sites even suffer from a bad bandwidth so that files just can´t load completely in time.

Sometimes it even needs several refreshments to get a linked picture loaded, some even never load although I can see that there should be one.

When moderating a thread or just checking it I always look at the parts loaded one by one to see whether there´s an external attachment or not, in case it´s not working properly I write a post in that thread or give a warning (which counts zero points) to have the poster check the problem, we don´t block anything normally except some sites which gave us a reason to do because of abuse, there may be less than a handful only though, but none of these is a picture hosting site.
 

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
thanks for the reply, but i'm talking about files attached here on AO from my pc, and they indeed vanish when i submit the post.

a further proof of this is that when i edit the post, nothing is shown in the attachments window

just to make it clearer: i type the post' message, then i add the pics (almost always taken from my pc, so no external links);
the attached files appear on the bottom of the page;
i click on preview and the post is shown correctly, but the images are missing, even the thumbnails in the bottom left corner and the "manage attachment" section :giveup:

btw it happens to .torrent files too
 

redrooster

赤いオンドリ - 私はオタクです!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Sep 25, 2007
18,797
114
I see and know what you mean, I had something like that ~ 10 days agao, I added files twice but they did not show up, next time I added 2 files again and only the 2nd appeared, trying to add the other file made the first disappear and the second appear instead, but that happened only once to me.

I had made a thread about in admin and mod section already and have been asked to write down the time and my IP address when it happened and to tell rollyco by a new thread in this section / post in this thread or by PM (if you don´t want your IP to become public) so that he can check the error log. I would like to ask you to please do the same.
 

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
i'll do it

if it can be of any help, the "error" happened 5 minuted before i opened this thread
 

xater

Bibitur Semper
Jun 5, 2007
3,145
361
Just happened to me, had to upload thrice, seen it before, and old pics might vanish temporarily, in a Ai's Love You Best post, I noticed the cover was gone, so I edited it and added one, after a few days, now it has the cover twice (the original and the one I added to fix the post).

Weird glitches, i guess it all will return to normal soon...
 

redrooster

赤いオンドリ - 私はオタクです!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Sep 25, 2007
18,797
114
send what happened together with the time and your ip to Rollyco

he´s the one who can check the error log.
 

Rollyco

Team Tomoe
Oct 4, 2007
3,556
34
I'm not sure what the cause is. The server logs provide no clue, and I can't reproduce it.
 

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
i've imagined that much, since it's not exactly an error
maybe this other example can be of more help, even if i doubt it:

http://www.akiba-online.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186415

picture is shown correctly, but the thumbs box in the left bottom is gone and there's no mention about any attachment, so that image shouldn't be there o_O
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
When you're creating a post, the server will put the files (attachments) into a "temporary" folder on the server when you upload the files. Typically, once you submit the post, those files are moved out of the temporary folder into the server's storage.

However, that temporary folder is automatically emptied every few minutes, so as to prevent the server from getting filled up with broken attachments.

So if the time between when you first upload the file and when you click submit is more than 2-3 minutes, your attachments are automatically deleted. You can reset/extend this "timer" by clicking Preview Post, but you still have to click Preview within 2-3 minutes.

Note that this is the duration on the side of the server, so even if you click Submit just within the 2-3 minute window, it takes some time to send the action to the server, and by that time the server may have already deleted the temporary files.

The easiest thing is to just write out your post completely, then attach your files at the end just before submitting.
 

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
thanks for the input guy, i didn't know about that

The easiest thing is to just write out your post completely, then attach your files at the end just before submitting.

that's what i usually do, but it probably takes over that time limit to post when the server is really busy; i'll try paying more attention to it... maybe the solution is as simple as that
 

guy

(;Θ_Θ)ゝ”
Feb 11, 2007
2,079
43
I don't know about the exact "timeout" for attachments, or if it varies based on server conditions, etc. But I've had the same problem of attachments disappearing when I submit, and have noticed that it only happens when I spend a long time completing the post (after uploading the files) before I submit it, but so far not when I attach the files just before submitting.

In the past (when AO was on the old server and with the slower IIS backend), I've even had cases where a second batch of attachments (on the same post) would take so long to upload that the first batch of attachments would time out and get deleted! Which would turn into an endless cycle of re-uploading the first batch and losing the second, etc. The only way to get around it was to submit the post with half the attachments, saving those files to the server, then go back and edit the post and add the other half.

:dunno:



Anyway, hope that helps.
 

Rollyco

Team Tomoe
Oct 4, 2007
3,556
34
That image link does't exist, so if you see anything, it's your browser cache.
 

Desu

アッチョンブリケ
Jun 25, 2009
2,367
769
you're right O_O
i've been tricked by my own browser, but now it's ok
 

xater

Bibitur Semper
Jun 5, 2007
3,145
361


Looks like her stats have been upgraded to 99H from 98H...

:evillaugh:

\m/

This is the first time I noticed it happening. When I posted it originally, the image went missing, only the [attach ] tag and the number was there, it didn't take 3 seconds to write it and didn't even realize the image was gone till hours later.

And at least one time, I had to edit 4 times my post. The edits were only to add the missing pics, no writing was done at all, but still, they went missing every time I hit submit. So I don't think the temporary folder being emptied accounts for those mishaps.

:defeat:
 

elgringo14

Survived to Japan
Super Moderator
Apr 28, 2008
9,092
339
I have another problem, I don't know if it's related to what has been discussed before.

When I attach several pictures that have exactly the same name and extension, only one (the first) is really uploaded by the server.
Is there a way to solve the problem, apart from renaming file(s) before the upload ?
 

redrooster

赤いオンドリ - 私はオタクです!
Staff member
Super Moderator
Sep 25, 2007
18,797
114
I have another problem, I don't know if it's related to what has been discussed before.

When I attach several pictures that have exactly the same name and extension, only one (the first) is really uploaded by the server.
Is there a way to solve the problem, apart from renaming file(s) before the upload ?

I only know this problem from long attachment file names. The length of the file names is limited, so long file names as for ex from new releases covers are cut when you upload these, and as the file names could be the same at the beginning the system does not realize that they are different because of the cut. In these cases I rename the file just by adding 1, 2, 3 and so on AT THE START of the file names. That solves the problem.

for ex:
01-29 私の知らない妻(メス)の貌 1st. 晒された初体験 - watashi no shira nai tsuma ( mesu ) no bou 1st. sarasa reta shotaiken.jpg

when I get a second cover version it´s named
01-29 私の知らない妻(メス)の貌 1st. 晒された初体験 - watashi no shira nai tsuma ( mesu ) no bou 1st. sarasa reta shotaiken a.jpg

trying to post both of these the system realizes two identical file names because of the cut in the file name length.

Solution:

1 01-29 私の知らない妻(メス)の貌 1st. 晒された初体験 - watashi no shira nai tsuma ( mesu ) no bou 1st. sarasa reta shotaiken.jpg

2 01-29 私の知らない妻(メス)の貌 1st. 晒された初体験 - watashi no shira nai tsuma ( mesu ) no bou 1st. sarasa reta shotaiken a.jpg

Don´t know whether this duplicates the problem you have or whether it´s different.
 

fr0stbyte

Member
Former Staff
Apr 8, 2008
738
10
Same thing happened to me. Add to that the unresponsiveness of the forum. Kinda gets me tired of posting content.