General site sketchiness

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OVERKILL

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Ever since it started before last weekend (and then we had the outage) I've found the site "hangs" and then brings me to an unavailable page periodically. When it was out I was getting a Cloud notification that the site was down.

I just got that again.

Error message is:

Quote:
What happened?
The web server reported a bad gateway error.
 
This has nothing to do with the site. You're having server problems with your provider.
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
This has nothing to do with the site. You're having server problems with your provider.


Incorrect sir, my provider is fine, I do know a thing or two about networks and how they operate, given my occupation
wink.gif


When the site was down last week both myself and Rand were getting the EXACT same error message, which was the Cloud error page. We are of course in two different countries with two very different ISP's.

Sometimes I just find the site laggy and it will either time out or eventually go. Sometimes the timed out page will refresh itself automatically. This started a day or so before the site got all goofy and was offline for a while and has persisted (but intermittently) since then.

However, the thing from when I posted this thread was the SAME error we both got when the site was down, so there's something going on.

Historically this site has generally been good. And every other site on the Internet loads fine for me when this is happening, keep that in mind.

Also, right now, Rand can't get on BITOG, I'm talking to him on Hangouts.
 
The specific error message is coming from Cloudflare, the issues started the last couple of days of August and then the site went down for a while September 1st.

Around that time it would periodically load the odd page but most of the time you'd get the Cloudflare error page telling you the server hosting the site was offline but you could view a cached copy if you wanted. Or you could hit their link on the top right and try to load a live copy again.

You'd also get a "verification" thing as the Cloudflare service was apparently trying to mitigate DOS attacks. This was all sort of going on at the same time.

It has been ever since that chain of events happened that I've found the board to be "off" in terms of periodically not loading. Today was the first time I've seen the Cloudflare page since the outage.

And in case you are wondering who Cloudflare is:

https://www.cloudflare.com/

Originally Posted By: Cloudflare

Overview

CloudFlare protects and accelerates any website online.

Once your website is a part of the CloudFlare community, its web traffic is routed through our intelligent global network. We automatically optimize the delivery of your web pages so your visitors get the fastest page load times and best performance. We also block threats and limit abusive bots and crawlers from wasting your bandwidth and server resources. The result: CloudFlare-powered websites see a significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks.

CloudFlare's system gets faster and smarter as our community of users grows larger. We have designed the system to scale with our goal in mind: helping power and protect the entire Internet.

CloudFlare can be used by anyone with a website and their own domain, regardless of your choice in platform. From start to finish, setup takes most website owners less than 5 minutes. Adding your website requires only a simple change to your domain's DNS settings. There is no hardware or software to install or maintain and you do not need to change any of your site's existing code. If you are ever unhappy you can turn CloudFlare off as easily as you turned it on. Our core service is free and we offer enhanced services for websites who need extra features like real time reporting or SSL.

Join CloudFlare today and be part of the community that is creating a better web.
 
Attempted to delete this post, but time for deletion has expired (grumble).
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Ever since it started before last weekend (and then we had the outage) I've found the site "hangs" and then brings me to an unavailable page periodically. When it was out I was getting a Cloud notification that the site was down.

I just got that again.

Error message is:

Quote:
What happened?
The web server reported a bad gateway error.


I've had this same problem too, I'm on AT&T DSL.

My workplace as well, it is on Spirit Communications service.
 
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Ever since it started before last weekend (and then we had the outage) I've found the site "hangs" and then brings me to an unavailable page periodically. When it was out I was getting a Cloud notification that the site was down.

I just got that again.

Error message is:

Quote:
What happened?
The web server reported a bad gateway error.


I've had this same problem too, I'm on AT&T DSL.

My workplace as well, it is on Spirit Communications service.


Yup, I have it happen at home (Nexicom) and at work (Rogers fibre). It isn't all the time, but when it does happen it is annoying.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The specific error message is coming from Cloudflare, the issues started the last couple of days of August and then the site went down for a while September 1st.

Silly question from a non-network-guru: How come I've never had these problems or seen this error? Ever?

The only error -- if you can call it that -- that I ever see, is a persistent tendency of the site to log me out, which I've noticed is a common thing.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Incorrect sir, my provider is fine, I do know a thing or two about networks and how they operate, given my occupation
wink.gif


Bah, you're a hack.
wink.gif


Seriously, I'm wondering if there are network issues somewhere along the line, outside of BITOG. I've had a couple of the usual sites I browse give me similar errors lately. I have gotten the "cloud" thing of which you speak. I tried a different DNS or two, but to no success. Before, I was getting the gateway error (502 or whatever it is); now it's the cloud error. It hasn't happened for days, but showed up once this afternoon.
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The specific error message is coming from Cloudflare, the issues started the last couple of days of August and then the site went down for a while September 1st.

Silly question from a non-network-guru: How come I've never had these problems or seen this error? Ever?

The only error -- if you can call it that -- that I ever see, is a persistent tendency of the site to log me out, which I've noticed is a common thing.


I don't know when the site switched to Cloudflare. I also don't know how frequently you refresh/post on BITOG, it may be part of the antiflood/DOS protection that Cloudflare offers so that frequency may be relevant. All I know is that it started for me and several other members around the end of August (there was an entire thread on it around that time) and the site has been "off" since.

The error is coming from Cloudflare, not BITOG, keep that in mind. Cloudflare attempts to route my traffic, your traffic; OUR traffic using what it deems the "shortest" or "fastest" route to the BITOG server, rather than the traditional method of the hops along the way doing that by themselves, which is what is leveraged when something like Cloudflare isn't in place. There's something that isn't going right with that process and that's what is causing the issue, the Cloudflare "proxy" can't connect to BITOG using whatever route its chosen and subsequently that error pops up.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Incorrect sir, my provider is fine, I do know a thing or two about networks and how they operate, given my occupation
wink.gif


Bah, you're a hack.
wink.gif


Seriously, I'm wondering if there are network issues somewhere along the line, outside of BITOG. I've had a couple of the usual sites I browse give me similar errors lately. I have gotten the "cloud" thing of which you speak. I tried a different DNS or two, but to no success. Before, I was getting the gateway error (502 or whatever it is); now it's the cloud error. It hasn't happened for days, but showed up once this afternoon.


Yes, it is something to do with how the traffic is being routed. I explained in a bit more detail in my response to Tegger above
smile.gif
 
yep I just had about an hour? outage of bitog.
Randomly happened. ISP is Time Warner

After about 15min I tried my phone.. wouldnt load.

Turned off the wireless >>> Cricket 4g LTE site loaded fine.

turned back on wireless.. site wouldnt load.

Its like cloudflare randomly picks non-working routes which ends up blocking giant swathes of people from getting through to bitog.

I have also gotten the whole cloudflare is checking to make sure you are a real person type thing but only once or twice.

its 100% definitely a site host/provider issue on cloudflare's end.

bitog.JPG



Happens for me 1-2x a day usually lasts about 10-15min then fixes itself.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
OVERKILL,
did you PM Wayne? (Wwilson)?


No, for two reasons:

1. I figured that if I created a thread, others who were having the same issue would be able to chime in so that he could get a better handle on the scope of the issue (and he'd be sure to see the thread anyways).

and

2. Putting it "out there" as an issue for everybody to see, if he responds, he can do so to everybody more easily as there are many who have been (or are being) affected by it.
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The specific error message is coming from Cloudflare, the issues started the last couple of days of August and then the site went down for a while September 1st.

Silly question from a non-network-guru: How come I've never had these problems or seen this error? Ever?

The only error -- if you can call it that -- that I ever see, is a persistent tendency of the site to log me out, which I've noticed is a common thing.


I also have to Log In again about every 2-3 weeks. I have to use the temporary password each time. I don't think it recognizes my original password.
 
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