Geni Server has slowed to a crawl!!!

I have better luck with chrome than Firefox and I E is really bad but it's the only one I can get my spell check on this computer , however, it won't let me see my tree on Geni nor my old pictures on face book, on this computer, so I have to go to Chrome. On the lap top I E works just fine but no spell check.

Second day here, and still completely useless becauxse of unstable Flash.

The only thing I can do is come here and gripe about it.

It has the exact same sympton in both IE and Firefox. Right now I am posting in an IE window, and I also have a Firefox window stuck forever on trying to open my Geni home page.

I can tell right away that it is hopelessly stuck, because when it does not work it just keeps scrolling two Flash bars, the top one for Downlaoding stories, and the bottom one for Downloading revisions. When it is working fine on a good day, I only get the Downloading stories scroll bar.

As it is now, I can click into a visible profile, but that is all Geni will let me do. I will never see the contents of the relationship box at the top of the profile, and it will never open the bottom half of the profile page, with the About section, etc. No edit, no nothing.

Basically the faulty Flash just shuts down every bit of functionality in every Geni page that is is employed on.

Well gee, at least it's free :\

In fact, I could not pay for it if I wanted to, because it won't even open the Pro Free Trial page :/

Actually, I take that last part back. It did finally open the page, "Special Offer: Try Geni Pro for free!"

Ummm, great.

Steven I'm glad you're at least laughing about it. I take it no such errors on IE8?

I hate i.e allways gives me the blue screen of doom.. chrome and firefox are much better for me.. i use ie only as a last resort

Day three of Geni being completely unusable because of it's faulty and unstable implementation of FLASH.

To be clear, the sympton is exactly the same in IE8 and Firefox. Loading of any Geni page cannot get past the FLASH attempt to improperly access whatever it is trying to do on my system.

I am NOT going to alter my security settings to accomodate Geni's faulty FLASH implementation. Geni is evidently allowing some third party tool to randomly use it as an open doorway via FLASH. My system does not like that.

It may not be malicious, but it's obviously not stable, and it's probably not secure.

Until and unless Geni fixes this, then it's goodbye to Geni for me.

I particularly like this quote, from the links below:

"Adobe's products are a security nightmare. Reader, Flash and Air are - alongside Oracle's Java browser plugin - the screen door through which the raw unfiltered sewage of the internet oozes into the homes of netizens."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/01/adobe_says_no/

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/10-Reasons-Why-Ste...

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/02/browser-security-the-main-thing-is-n...

You should start some reading about Internet Explorer as well....
There is no problems using Geni for me - using Google Chrome.

agreed with bjorn I have no such problems with flash on chrome.. not even a virus warning from mcafee.. but i agree with you about vunerbilites in flash and adobe's products.. Mike Stangel your take as a enginner?

Well, frankly Bjorn, my issues are strictly with Geni ONLY. Everything else works just fine. Sure, some things at other sites might run a bit slow at times, or get a bit glitchy here and there. Maybe a mouseclick with fail on some pages. I can usually find a workaround, or reboot, to cure those minor issues relatied to my older equipment.

But only Geni does this totally random thing with Flash that makes this web site COMPLETELY unusable, and in a very random way. It is a problem that only pops up every few weeks or so, and this total unusability then persists constantly for days on end.

Since it behaves in an identical way with both IE8 and Firefox, both when it is working and when it is not, I really doubt that Chrome would cure anything here.

As it is now in its nonfunctional state, I try to access it hour after hour, day after day, and I get NOTHING usable from Geni.

It may be that I need a new computer, a new fast internet service, who knows, but it is absurd that my system needs an entire overhaul or replacement just to be able to do the most MINIMAL thing with a single web site - especially when on most days, up until this week, this web site shows absolutely no signs of being otherwise disfunctional on my system.

It is quite bizarre, and utterly frustrating, to say the least. I am trying to control my anger.

I know that a lot of people have given up on Geni over the years. Makes me wonder how many of those were just because of technical aggravation like this that Geni imposes on users with their faulty software implementation.

One thing I have noticed from years before is that Geni will be the first site to become unusable on older equipment. I then have to abandon it for months or years on end, until I can get an equipment upgrde.

So I think Geni implements software changes very agressively, and so it tends to be a buggy site in the transitions. But this current randomness of perfomance over the past few months with the My Heritage merger has really just flummoxed me past my level of patience, because it is so bloody random. It works. Then it doesn't work. It's slow. Then it's fast. Then it doesn't work. Then it works again. Good grief.

Steven I really feel bad for you - there's nothing more frustrating than computer issues with a site, particularly when time is limited.

I'm usually on iPad & don't use tree view at all. This has forced me into a different way of thinking about the tree; I'm now very profile oriented rather then relationship oriented. For where I am in developing research skills this is, I think, a good step for me. On the other hand I'm no longer a "power merger" so others might feel otherwise.:)

Please let me know any way I can help you.

I've never used the ipad app Erica Howton that's a first for me to see that geni has made that leap

Thanks Erica, and Michael for your attention on this.

Erica, for merging from the profile view, I have learned to use the Actions button, merge link. You start on the Master Profile page that you want to be the final proifle. Then copy and paste the hyperlink of the profile that you want to merge into the master. Then edit down the pasted hyperlink to just the ID number. Then click search, and it will always call up the exact profile that you wish to merge.

Of course this is all moot for me now, because the Actions button is a flash/java script tool, that will no longer open for me this week.

I really, really miss the days when web sites had simple hyperlinks that just opened, with one click, without fail. Sigh. I even miss DOS.

Eek not DOS :)

iPad does not have Flash but I merge the same way (almost - I use the people tagger, not the profile ID). So it looks like you're having a JavaScript error in additions to the flash issue, if you're missing the actions button.

Have you debugged in console mode?

Michael I don't use the iPad app, I am using very ancient Safari and opera for iPad. Chrome doesn't work with this very old machine very well but it's my preferred browser when not on iPad.

The HTML view on Geni works fine but is slow on wifi.

Erica, debug in what mode now? Mabye you can throw me a hint about how to do any such thing in Windows XP.

And how come your old stuff works, but mine don't?

I briefly got into the HTML tree view option before, but it took forever to load. Now it does not even seem to start loading.

I can see the Actions button, etc., but clicking on it or on any of the top Geni menu words that have any kind of a drop down list does nothing at all. I don't know what distinguishes JavaScript from Flash issues here, but if it is not just a straight forward hyperlink, then it fails.

So for instance I can get into the edit screen on a profile, but I never get to the step where the option fields have gray text. So no changes I might make will save properly. If the Save buttons even work.

Loved DOS, it was quick and reliable, worked without fail every single time. :)

I might be able to haul out the XP laptop with the frayed out power cord to tell you where the debug console is hiding on your browser menu ... Or you could ask Mr. Google? He's pretty good at answering this & with screen shots too even.

I think you're having several different issues & I don't know how to fix them, just can suggest what they might be related to.

Flash we know about (a sad Adobe story). But profile view is not using flash, it uses JavaScript, CSS, etcetera.

I fix most of my problems by clearing the cache. There's the delete cookies trick too (otherwise known as "the hairy cookie").

I think I still remember WordPerfect macro codes BTW.

yes i've had to play cookie monster before and clean the cache with firefox.. seems chrome is the way to go because with firefox i have to clean out the cookies and cache every time i use the pc but to me that's just a minor annoyance.

Private User, - could you please tell where or what you are doing when you claim that Geni causes problems for you because of flash?
We had similar hard reactions about Java, but it showed up that there is only one place in Geni where java is used, and that is in the advanced photo uploader. Similar to Flash, - the only place where Geni is using flash is in tree view, but that is going to be replaced by html5.
I would recommend searching for general problems on your PC.

so let me get this right you use cofeee in the uploader.. oh you mean the other kind of java.. ha ha.. Never had a problem with it..

Geni does by the way have a script cleaning up Geni cookies: http://www.geni.com/login/clear_cookies

yes i use it all the time with chrome..

Bjorn, I detailed answers to your questions all above. "Where" it happens is at my home page, to start with.

Here are the yellow warning flag codes from the bottom left corner:

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; GTB7.5)
Timestamp: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 17:02:12 UTC

Message: Script error
Line: 0
Char: 0
Code: 0
URI: http://geni1-mhcache-com-myheritage.netdna-ssl.com/assets/libs-50f4...

Message: Script error
Line: 0
Char: 0
Code: 0
URI: http://geni3-mhcache-com-myheritage.netdna-ssl.com/assets/applicati...

Message: 'undefined' is null or not an object
Line: 61
Char: 5
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'Geni' is null or not an object
Line: 283
Char: 5
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'NoticePoller' is undefined
Line: 344
Char: 9
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'Geni' is null or not an object
Line: 567
Char: 7
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'PeopleTagger' is undefined
Line: 614
Char: 5
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'undefined' is null or not an object
Line: 726
Char: 5
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'Ajax' is undefined
Line: 1457
Char: 3
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'Ajax' is undefined
Line: 1845
Char: 5
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: Object expected
Line: 2016
Char: 3
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

Message: 'Ajax' is undefined
Line: 2020
Char: 3
Code: 0
URI: http://www.geni.com/home

==================

Who knows if the problem is Flash, JavaScript, or whatnotall. But basically everything beyond a simple hyperlink fails.

The recent activity summary never loads. The scrolling bars for dowwnloading stories and downloading revisions never stops.

The problem is a complete failure to load for every single instance of where Geni implements a drop down list, shows scrolling bars, shows the twirly thing (techincal term) in the tree completeness section, shows the relationships details at the top of a profile, opens the lower section of a profile after the standard delay, changes page view on the Timeline tabs etc., shows the gray options select in the edit fields...

And on top of all that a complete failure to open the tree view.

And for what it's worth, as I stated above, these problems only occur to this extent with Geni. Otherwise, I would not be here griping about it incessantly.

But I will try again deleting cookies, et. al, try that utility you posted, been through this, but maybe not thoroughly enough.

Have you tried another computer?

Yes Bjorn, other computers work fine. I use the library computer for Geni every few weeks. I do know that the problem is with my pc, and it's failure with Geni. The point I am trying to unsuccessfully make here is that Geni is the ONLY web site that my computer has an issue with, to this extent, to the point where the web site is entirely unusable, in a very inconsistent way.

In fact, MY computer is absolutely fine for Geni, except for 7 or so days out of the three months since Geni has complicated its site with the My Heritage merger program changes. In fact, as of this past week, it has been more excellent on my computer than it has ever been since that merger and those accompanying changes.

And this recent downtime this week is the worst stretch of downtime that I have yet seen from Geni. I do not know if tomorrow it will suddenly work again, as it did before after the last downtimes, or if it is now down permanently on this computer.

I ran that utility you posted, and it seemed to work as ordered, because opening Geni home page again required me to login. But the scrolliing bars are still scrolling at me, so no fix there.

A bit later I will try to run the utility again, then reboot my machine, and see if that does any different.

Alex Clayton White this is reading like an issue with SmartMatching perhaps? I did open a ticket and can reference the ticket number for you.

Erica Howton Are you referring to Steven's problem above?

Alex Clayton White Erica Howton Mike Stangel use firefox now because i can't get into geni on chrome at all unless i delete cookies every time. I hit delete cookies log in do my work log out.. restart the pc rinse and repeat to me it's a minor annoyance because i love cookie monster.. Is any one else having that issue? as a non pro user i can't get priority help with this which is ok because it's not that big of a pain in the butt but if you could look into it that would be good..
thanks.

Alex Clayton White yes, I am referring to http://www.geni.com/discussions/86491?msg=900413

What made me think it could be related to SmartMatches are these lines Steven quoted

Message: Script error
Line: 0
Char: 0
Code: 0
URI: http://geni1-mhcache-com-myheritage.netdna-ssl.com/assets/libs-50f4...

Message: Script error
Line: 0
Char: 0
Code: 0
URI: http://geni3-mhcache-com-myheritage.netdna-ssl.com/assets/applicati...

Private I didn't hear back from you after I suggested the following, in our PMs...?

"It looks like there's a Facebook Connect cookie there, try (at least temporarily) disassociating your Facebook account from Geni by doing the following:

1. Go to the Application Settings - Authorized section of your Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/editapps.php?v=allowed
2. Look for the Geni application.
3. Click the "x" at the end of the Geni application row"