Am getting it intermittenly again. Takes about 1 minute - 80 seconds to be indicated. This is the 3rd try to post this.
Yep, same here. The rest of the site seems OK. Just the forums are slow.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Tried multiple times on 5/5 - all without success 504's and other time out issues.
Surprised to get this far just after midnight 5/6
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Do not believe it just got thru almost instantenously. Friday evening 23:35
Daytime seems to be the most problematic time to connect with the FORUMS;In my recent experiences. '504' Timing OUT ius really quick, allowng almost no time to reply, or even edit a response.
Seems oinly the abulity to be able to read, without any response, is the new oirder of business???? This new ' technology' is really, no where near as user friendly..
What happened is that the gateway or computer that the internet uses to access the trains.com general discussion ip address was down. It could have been for any number of reasons which I will not go into. Below is the results of a trace route. As you can see ip address one which is 192.168.4.1 is the gateway address. It is up now, but that was where the problem was.
traceroute to cs.trains.com (3.220.122.119), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets 1 _gateway (192.168.4.1) 0.525 ms 0.650 ms 0.833 ms 2 100.64.112.2 (100.64.112.2) 3.775 ms 3.487 ms 3.589 ms 3 10.70.0.226 (10.70.0.226) 3.823 ms 3.795 ms 4.058 ms 4 10.70.0.2 (10.70.0.2) 3.466 ms 4.198 ms 3.749 ms 5 10.70.0.10 (10.70.0.10) 4.957 ms 4.561 ms 4.778 ms 6 10.25.0.97 (10.25.0.97) 5.880 ms 4.238 ms 3.953 ms 7 10.25.0.113 (10.25.0.113) 4.763 ms 6.143 ms 6.194 ms 8 204.111.0.118 (204.111.0.118) 5.672 ms 99.83.90.146 (99.83.90.146) 11.102 ms 204.111.0.118 (204.111.0.118) 6.557 ms
This is the first time that I have gotten all the way to the forums in about 4 days. I believe the end is near...
I just figured the server admin tasked with sorting this mess out, and the only one who knew how to reset the hamster wheel, moved on.
Dear trains. "IF" This problem or anything else occurs again can you set up a way for us to immediately notify you that there is a problem? Once you are aware of a problem is it possible to post on News wire what you are doing to mitigate the problem as News Wire was never down. Of course that does make the problem much more transparrent to the world.
Backshop This is the first time that I have gotten all the way to the forums in about 4 days. I believe the end is near...
Yes, I managed to get back in last night around 10:00 PM after hitting "walls" all week long. And I only tried just for the hell of it, a "Just maybe..." thing.
I just hope if they're going to shut the various Forums down (It's their right after all) they give us enough warning so we can make our goodbyes. I've been on the various Forums for 14 years, I'd hate to just drop out of sight like so many others have.
This problem has been happening more than once this year. Seems likely that maintenance is not a priority now that the publications are being sold.
I have also been getting messages that the server can't be reached, almost instantly when making a request, to be followed several seconds later with the screen I had requested.
OWTX:
You are correct. The admin had to completly shutdown and restarted the server that serves the trains forum. As I displayed earlier the gateway server was down. It could have been hardware failure, in which case I wonder why they did not have redundency in case the main server went down. It also could have been a hack, which is very easy to do, since most companies still use Microsoft operating systems and requires more knowledge on the part of the admin to fix the problem and restart the system, or any number of other causes.
I access the forum through the main 'forums' page (because it lets me select Trains, MR, and Classic Trains with one button click). At no time during the outage did this page fail to load. At no time did I observe ads failing to load as forum pages tried to render. From time to time 'the holes in the Swiss cheese would align' and I might get a forum to momentarily open, or even a thread page to open... but just as when moderators have deleted or moved a post, none of the actual thread postings or text-entry window would appear -- you got only the header and the information down at the bottom, with nothing in between. This would only last a refresh or two before abending to the familiar white screen with 504 notice. Evidently there were a couple of people who actually did get something to post, but in one such case their post disappeared when the site originally came back up and only reappeared hours and hours later...
I think this is part of changing the digital permissions on the 'money side' trains.com over to Firecrown, and only incidentally (albeit painfully) involves the forum content. I am now seeing frequent very slow throughput (where it may take 30 seconds or more for letters I type to actually appear in the post window) and involuntary page refreshes (losing all the entered text!) every couple of minutes, which makes it tedious to endure.
To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue.
And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
EuclidIn any case, apparently the moderator’s response that the problem it is caused by malware; and can be fixed with anti-malware, ad blocking software that we can install on our computers; is directed to the commonly voiced complaint about pop-up ads. This leads me to wonder if Kalmbach is even aware of this “504 Gateway Time-out” problem, or maybe has ever been aware of it.
I had to wonder if it was "buck-passing" on Kalmbach's part. "It's not US, it's YOU!" The thing is I NEVER have problems like this on any other 'site I go to, except once when one 'site was undergoing a website change and that lasted only 24 hours.
Overmod To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
To: Overmod, and other posters; Thanks for the updates....
For those of us who are NOT really computer literate(?); It has really been a pain in the 'Touckas;' since the Klambake sold out to the New guys....
I personally, have enjoyed their Forums for a couple of decades+....The last month or so, has really been a female puppy dog..... Hopefully, we are now on the cusp of getting thingsd straight.
Well I am sure the problem has more than one dimension. The only dimension I have seen for the last two years is the inablility to access the forum. And I know that Steve Otte has commented on several aspects of the problem including those related to the recent chages in the Trains dot com site.
But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach. That was all he said in that post.
I am not trying to blame anybody, but I am not convinced that anyone has diagnosed the 504 problem. If so, it may have nothing to do with other types of malfunction.
OvermodTo be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all.
If Otte was to be believed then these actions would afflict virtually ALL activites on the web. It only affects Kalmbach sites.
Since the site has returned to life - I have been getting 'This Site can't be Reached' when making the initial request to the site - then several seconds later the page I requested will display.
Euclid Overmod To be a bit clearer, I recall that Steve Otte said it was the plethora of ads that involved 'non-Kalmbach activity' -- this having nothing to do with the forum server(s) being down or the 504 issue. And the greater part of the support 'problem' was with the lost functionality of some of the forum code, not the ability to access forums at all. Well I am sure the problem has more than one dimension. The only dimension I have seen for the last two years is the inablility to access the forum. And I know that Steve Otte has commented on several aspects of the problem including those related to the recent chages in the Trains dot com site. But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach. That was all he said in that post. I am not trying to blame anybody, but I am not convinced that anyone has diagnosed the 504 problem. If so, it may have nothing to do with other types of malfunction.
Well, pretty clearly "But in one specific post, probably about January, he said the problem was in our user computers being infected with malware, and had nothing to do with Kalmbach" was not the whole story at that time. hange in ownership often means a clean sweep of the old The recent off and on aspect of the forum is likely the prelude to curtailing their existence.
BaltACDIf Otte was to be believed then these actions would afflict virtually ALL activites on the web. It only affects Kalmbach sites.
I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience. If my interpretation is correct then this rings true to me as Facebook has the same problem with whomever their ad distributor is in the upper right corner of the FB page because it is a recurring problem with FB that a malware ad pops up that emulates a user getting a FB message or response to a FB post.............click on it and they can hack your FB account. Not easy to track that nonsense down via FB staff because they do not own the content in the web page region where the mischef occurs. I suspect the same is true of the Kalmback webpage in the area of problematic content ads.
Do they ban the ad distributor and lose a chunk of revenue or do they put up with it and try to fix the issue as it occurs?..........so that is the quandry I believe. So my take on this is it is the ad distributor they use and only some of the ads that are at issue, well initially anyway.........noticed the problem is slowly getting worse over time. So I also surmise a Forum Software update is part of the issue as well and it might not have been kept as current as it should have been. Just all gueses on my part as thankfully I am not on Kalmbach Staff. IT is not the only issue that was slipping in my view. Marketing has slipped. I remember when Kalmbach had a booth at most major Model Railroading shows or would show up at railfan events and make their attendence known. Not so much anymore. I suspect regular ebb and flow of business cycle for a company of this size and right now appears to be a definite ebb vs flow.
They could be doing a lot more with marketing without spending a lot of money. One area would be to market more to large public libraries. I have been in some of those and they never heard of TRAINS magazine..........it doesn't have to be the published magazine either. A lot of public libraries have gone digital with their periodical publications. Almost no TRAINS presence there that I have noticed in the DFW area and this is major metroplex in the United States. TRAINS gets it's revenue from adverstising not paid subscribers and yet the management of TRAINS does not seem to grasp that expanded distribution of content is better for them financially even if in part it is free. Also, they need to cut the price of their Calendars a little......some of which I can get a lot cheaper and delivered a lot faster via other sources. Someone is really not paying attention to these details.
Last and trying not to write a novel here. Geopolitical situation is not helping with website stability and cybersecurity. Private employers have switched to skills based hiring or some are still about to switch. Feds announced it is their plan to switch in 2025. Which means the college degree is starting to fade as a litmus test for white collar jobs (which I think is awesome), however it's also my view it is slightly more difficult to security screen someone without a college degree than with one. Which is one of the minor reasons it was used as a litmus test.
CMStPnP I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience.
I think Steve Otte was saying that the Ad Distributor is to be blamed for their content impacting the User Experience.
That was my take as well. FWIW, I've been able to set up Firefox to kill the ads by the simple expedient of enabling HTTPS only mode and setting enhanced tracking protection to "strict". Do wish the advertisers/websites take note that ads that don't cover content are less likely to be blocked. Ads can also be created to be worth reading/watching in their own right, Analog Devices "Rarely asked questions" was often a more interesting and useful read than the content in the magazines they appeared in.
3 days without a 504 error...
Erik_Mag... 3 days without a 504 error...
I can't make that statement.
There is a free ad blocker called Adblock Plus. It is an add on to Firefox and works very well. I have been using it for years. No ad of any kind on my system.
caldreamer There is a free ad blocker called Adblock Plus. It is an add on to Firefox and works very well. I have been using it for years. No ad of any kind on my system.
I have been using U Block on Chrome without issue.
I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing, but I see virtually no ads and I don't have to worry about the ad blocker being malware itself. Most of the ads come from just a few sites.
I can't click on the "sponsored" ads if I search for a product, but the same site usually shows up further down the results list.
Use your favorite search engine for more info on hosts files.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Erik_MagThat was my take as well. FWIW, I've been able to set up Firefox to kill the ads by the simple expedient of enabling HTTPS only mode and setting enhanced tracking protection to "strict". Do wish the advertisers/websites take note that ads that don't cover content are less likely to be blocked. Ads can also be created to be worth reading/watching in their own right, Analog Devices "Rarely asked questions" was often a more interesting and useful read than the content in the magazines they appeared in. 3 days without a 504 error...
I still get them but I don't want to go through the hassle of changing web browers, though I might start using Edge to access the website instead of Chrome. For some reason everyone gives priority to testing Microsoft over other products. Ad distributors do not care what garbage they send out.....I noticed.
Microsoft operating systems security has more holes than swiss cheese. Every time I see a company get hacked or ransomwared I have a good laugh. Microsoft will never learn. Unix operating systems have a program built into the operating system itself called selinix which stands for security enhanced linux. It was first created by the NSA to help secure their systems. As far as I know, haveing retired in 2010 they are still using it. A version was eventually released into the public domain and is constantly being upgraded.
tree68 I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing
I have a hosts file. Granted, it's a Windows thing
The "hosts file" is pretty much standard with any OS that uses DNS software that was derived from the orginal Berkeley (Go Bears!) software. This includes just about every variation of UNIX (Solaris, Linux, BSD's (MacOS userland is BSD), HP-UX, IRIX, AIX, QNX, etc) along with MS-Windows. The standard UNIX file is usually in the /etc directory i.e. "/etc/hosts", though MacOS stores it in the /private/etc directory, and thus "/private/etc/hosts".
The advantage of the "hosts" file is that it just has to be set up once on the computer (though may need updating), doesn't cost anything and should work with any browser.
Addendum: Got hit by the 504 error message when posting - post succeeded, error came while refreshing the webpage.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.