PSA - Disabling Steemit More Info Browser Extension May Improve Performance When Steemit Is Slow - Traceroute Results For Steemit Today
Let me first unequivocally state this is not an issue with the "More Info" add-on; at least, not as a far as I know. By all means, consider what is written below as simply "what seems to be working right now." My data below is of a small sample size; it could all be coincidence. If anyone has looked into this and knows more, please educate us in the comments.
However, I spent a good deal of the morning attempting to discern why Steemit was still eating my posts, comments and votes at an approximately 60% rate (ie. only 40% made it through).
My current hypothesis, after running a number of traceroutes on websites of various size today, is that Steemit is still slower (to what degree, I cannot say) since the DDoS attacks the last two weeks.
I'm running low on explanations, but I do have results. Disabling my Steemit "More Info" add-on improved performance drastically and immediately.
Votes and comments that were routinely hanging for 10-30 seconds before possibly disappearing before, were now submitting in 2-4 seconds at a much higher success rate.
My vote and comment submission rate dropped quickly from 60% failure to 7.1% (1/14).
Again, I do not think this is anything wrong with the extension, and indeed I am saddened I have to go without it temporarily.
However, if you are experiencing these issues (as many others also are in the chat), and you are using this extension, you might want to try disabling it via the add-on menu.
I suspect the reason this can help is because the More Info extension must be pulling additional data from the Steemit site / Steem block-chain, in order to update you in real time on things like your voting value, etc. This must add additional load to connection with Steemit.com that are already straining from current load. I'm open to a better explanation, if anybody has one.
If you haven't checked out the mod yet, do so here.
If anyone else is able to shed further light on this issue, or provide their own traceroute results, please do so in the comments!
If you have any additions or errata for this post, please let me know! I will see that they are voted to the top of the comments, and will make the appropriate edits (if possible).
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Thanks @lexiconical! I have a new release planned to be published in a day or two! After that, I promise I'll look into performance to understand if indeed is my extension that could cause the problem!
However, I'm not quite sure about it.. because I don't even use the steemd node to retrieve the information but the node of @gtg (the witness) that is faster. So it should not impact on steemit performance
Thanks for stopping by, @armandocat!
Are there any other explanations for the data and reports I've shown above? The traceroutes confirm issues at Steemit, but I am still confused why I saw such a performance boost when disabling your add-in.
I actually refused to even try that on principle at first, because I thought, "no way it's the add-on." I still don't think it is, of course, but at least I can post again.
I honestly have not idea 😹 I'm going to do some profiling to see if I find some perfomance problem 😉
Relevant link: https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/1818
𝕊𝕋𝕆ℙ 𝔹𝔼𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝔽ℝ𝕌𝕊𝕋ℝ𝔸𝕋𝔼𝔻 𝔹𝕐 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕥.𝕔𝕠𝕞! 𝕌𝕊𝔼 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕖.𝕔𝕠𝕞 𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕋𝔼𝔸𝔻!
@lexiconical Many thanks for at least taking the time to acknowledge the problem, with a tenable solution.
I saw that no one made mention of the slowdown; so, I knew where to turn to see if it was just my computer. :+)
Unfortunately, I don't have the More-info extension; so, I'm forced to believe the problem is perhaps even bigger than the developers can contain for the moment.
Currently, most of my replies are in draft-mode; and, at the rate of successful posting, some will miss the 7-day mark; so, I’m hoping for a solution soon!
I'll receive it as growing pains for the platform; and, trust that it's fate will be, what it shall be; praying for the best, of course!
Peace.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the More-info extension; so, I'm forced to believe the problem is perhaps even bigger than the developers can contain for the moment."
It's absolutely a Steemit.com issue, but the More Info add-on just aggravates the problem further.
"some will miss the 7-day mark; so, I’m hoping for a solution soon!"
I reply to things older than 7 days with no shame!
I reply to things older than 7 days with no shame!
Ha! I *almost' got through the post without a lol!
Btw, I read the Banfield links; and, tried several times today to send a comment; but, all I got for each was the loop.
I will try again tomorrow using busy or one of the other platforms associated with Steem.
Peace.
*"I almost' got through the post without a lol!"
Good, that means I gotcha.
"all I got for each was the loop."
Steemit is still slow. Just posted about it again, actually.
Just posted about it again, actually
Thankfully, today 10-22-17, it's been pretty glitch-free.
I've read a lot of posts that the developers are working hard to correct the issues.
Steemit is still in the toddler stage. I suppose these glitches are 'expected'.
But, keeping the posts current on how the system is performing is helpful.
It's good to know that the problem isn't pc-related, and the whole community is affected.
Peace.
"Thankfully, today 10-22-17, it's been pretty glitch-free."
Ugh, not for me. It's been a nightmare most of today, too. (10/23)
Yep! Then it's official. I am now 99.9% sure that either certain members of the community, OR certain parts of the world are experiencing glitches at various times.
This could be an 'attack' or a strategic dimming down of certain areas to work on the 'glitch' in the platform.
I can't be sure; but, thanks for chiming in.
Prayers that things will get better! Okay, rme, but, I'm still thinking about this starting with that Ten-Commandments post you did...smh....resisting a lol....
ANYhoo...
Peace.
"This could be an 'attack' or a strategic dimming down of certain areas to work on the 'glitch' in the platform."
There was definitely some DDoS happening. I wouldn't suspect your latter possibility much.
Andreas Antonopolous (sp) was right.. cryptocurrency will make people take cybersecurity serious for once. I never really cared all that much, but now with Bitcoin, Steemit, and my log-ins to various exchanges, I am definitely starting to take it serious.
So when I see all these wonderful add-ons and browser extensions like the one in your post I can't help but think that these could be ideal ways to spy on people and take their passwords. I am sure it's not happening yet, or people would have noticed. Then again... how much faith am I willing to put in that? What about the future? I've had software do a 180 on me before, suddenly integrating spyware after years of solid service. Pretty much anything available on various app-stores is infected with a bunch of spyware/malware and hackers are always on the lookout for loopholes.
I'm not taking the risk, so I stay away from any add-ons :-/
It sucks because now I have to check randowhale manually all day long!
"ideal ways to spy on people and take their passwords."
It's true, even with open source projects that are vetted, they can always be changed later.
I would be more worried if Steemit didn't have our funds locked up via the power-down feature.
"It sucks because now I have to check randowhale manually all day long!"
Haha, if you're powered up, the risk is minimal. Time is money...
Personally I use Mozilla Firefox with the more info extension, but I always am in 'view-only mode', I never log in, no password or voting/active key is ever used there.
When I comment, I simply use Chrome, where I automatically log in. It's a bit of a hassle, but for me it's the best from both worlds.
Yeah I thought about that too. I have my chrome setup as a 'clean' browser, no ad-block or whatever (which sucks!) but I feel secure enough to log into things with it where money is stored.
I hope some new revolutionary new concept to deal with these issues (maybe digital identity linked to my hardware wallet?) hopefully soon! Long live the blockchain, it may solve this problem too :)
I'm having the same problems, I just cant live... I mean Steem without the extension!
I know it's tough, but you can live without the voting totals for just a bit ;)
missed the main post but heres a vote
Your regular patronage is massively appreciated, as usual.
its very hard to spread votes properly with steemit down all the time...i have to just dump big votes on comments instead of curating on each
@lexiconical I was just mentioning to a couple of friends that the loading time of Steemit is a killer and something needs to be done about it - so I'll try your suggestion out. Appreciate the help.
Just wanted to share with you, my current episode of Crypto nights with you. Had to give you a shout-out after hearing your thoughts.
Up voted & already following :)
https://steemit.com/steem/@antonburton/a-cryptocurrency-for-the-masses-crypto-nights-episode-6#comments
Thanks Anton! I heard in Discord last night that Busy.org might have been getting DDoS'ed. I think we can expect these problems as long as these attacks continue.
Typical! Not what we need right now.
Indeed.