The problem is that it is unlikely you will even notice it, but the friends list on the web has been hosed for a long time. Some say since January. I think it's really more since mid-February, for this SNAFU, anyway.
If you rely on the "Friends Online" page of the Second Life web site, you should go to the public Jira and cast your vote (link at the bottom of this article.) Here is the issue:
The friends list web pages are stuck. They are frozen in ice... time... whatever you want to call it. The reason you might not notice is that the list appears to be actively working and here's why:
For most of Second Life's web pages, you'll notice the URL address changes. Yes, obviously enough. But what I am referring to is the sub domain: the server that page is being served from. For example, with regard to the friends page it can come from:
The sub domain is that part before "secondlife.com" - the part that says "secure-web5." This means this page is being served from web server number 5. The server the page is served from each time you click the "Friends" link is chosen pretty much at random. (Not really, there are forces that determine exactly which server is selected, but that is beyond the scope of this post.)
So, clicking this link each time will get you a different server - and, likely a different resulting friends list:
Now, once you are on that page (and server) hitting your browser refresh button will get you the same list every time. You are simply refreshing that page from that server.
So do try this: manually change the address. Simply change the number to another number between 0 and 25 - press enter and you will likely get a different list or a notice that there are no friends online.
Something happened to cause these pages to 'freeze' - obviously at different times, which is why each server seems to have a different list - they were broken in a different state. But needless to say, the servers are not connected to the live grid, or at least are not parsing the information it finds there.
However, because each time you click the "friends online" link within the web site and get a different listing - many people may not even realize the listing is broken. Until they notice two awkward things: The first being that a friend who allows mapping cannot be teleported to as the SLURL is wonky:
Additionally, one might cock their head sideways to see a name on the list who has not been in your actual friends list for a very long time.
It has been given the level of "Show Stopper" in the Jira. I agree.
Please go to the public Jira and vote:
[#WEB-511] "Friends' Page incorrectly reporting avatars online - Second Life Issues
0 comments: