Phantom Requests

Ghostkeeper · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:06 pm Post subject: Phantom Requests

From time to time you can see what people have come to call a "Phantom Request" in the queue. The "requested by" and "message" of these requests are blank. I recently had one myself, and discovered that apart from the mishap that the message disappeared, it also doesn't reset the request cooldown. This would allow someone to request indefinitely if it can be forged.

Here's what I know:

When the phantom request occurs, the user that requested it gets the message that "this track has already been requested".
For me, it occurred when I requested something explicitly as the queue length just dropped from 1:32 to 1:28 minutes since I promised someone to request a track for her but my previous request would've been too recent if the queue was longer than 90 minutes. This could indicate a nondeterministic programming error (and those are a pain to fix!)
At least for non-moderators, there is no record at all of the requester, not in the queue, history or "your requests". As far as the site is concerned, the request just comes out of nowhere.

Perhaps this could help an administrator to fix the bug.

alien_avatar · Captain Joined: Oct 28, 2006 Posts: 1342 Location: Berlin

I've had those "phantom requests" a couple of times and as far as I can tell, it *does* reset the timer.

When I've tried requesting something else immediately afterward, I got the usual "You requested too soon." message even when the timer was green.

I haven't tried this each and every time, but I think the two-minute minmum interval between requests still applies.
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- Peter F. Hamilton, The Evolutionary Void

alien_avatar · Captain Joined: Oct 28, 2006 Posts: 1342 Location: Berlin

Tried it again today when the queue was firmly in the 6 hours/30 minutes territory, and I definitely can't request something new only two or ten minutes later.

So it seems the only real effect is that your name doesn't show up in the queue and the request counter doesn't start its countdown but keeps pretending that your request is available.
_________________
"Welcome to the paranoia club; cheapest fees in the universe and membership lasts forever."
- Peter F. Hamilton, The Evolutionary Void

Alchemist · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:35 am Post subject:

Ghostkeeper · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:08 pm Post subject:

If Alien_Avatar is right, the issue is not very pressing of course. When I tried it, the queue was bordering between 30min and 2min waiting time for VIPs, so perhaps I made a false reading.
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Music is not just made of sounds. It is also made of silence.