Mystery problem on brdatabase

[grumpyxch]

Every now and then I use brdatabase. I think it is a very good database, and must have taken a lot of work to build it. Now I'm not complaining but twice I have had a mystery problem with it, and I'm wondering if any of this forum's users have ever had the same - and have they found a solution.

As with most large databases, there are bound to be the occasional errors. Some months back I found some errors and reported them to the database owner. Because I wouldn't know when or if these errors have been corrected (or rejected - after all I make mistakes too), I could only check the database to see if the corrections had been made. I checked for some days. As far as I was concerned, they never were, although the database owner did contact me and state that they had been.

I didn't use the database again until a couple of days ago, and yes the corrections were there. Unfortunately, I then found some more errors, so I informed the owner, and I got an email back thanking me and saying he had corrected the new errors. However, I am unable to see these new corrections - don't know why. I have tried the Refresh button (I used it the previous time but it had no effect). It had no effect this time either.

So, have any of the forum users seen this problem before, and did they find a solution?

 

[Clarence Yard]

If you can tell us what one of the corrections is about, we can look for ourselves to see if it has been done. Then we will know if the problem is with the database or at your end.

 

[Taunton]

Have you tried clearing Cache and Cookies for the site on your computer? I don't know your setup or hardware, but if an issue arises where it seems a previous version is being displayed instead of a current one, that's a first stop.

 

[grumpyxch]

If you can tell us what one of the corrections is about, we can look for ourselves to see if it has been done. Then we will know if the problem is with the database or at your end.

One correction was that Plaistow shed was listed as LNER. The original railway should be LTSR, the Grouping railway was LMSR, and the BR part should be Eastern Region (so ER)

Have you tried clearing Cache and Cookies for the site on your computer? I don't know your setup or hardware, but if an issue arises where it seems a previous version is being displayed instead of a current one, that's a first stop.

Clearing cache and cookies for that site - I'm afraid I dont know how to do that. A little guidance would be a great help. Why doesn't the Refresh (the little circular arrow) do that?

If you can tell us what one of the corrections is about, we can look for ourselves to see if it has been done. Then we will know if the problem is with the database or at your end.

Have you tried clearing Cache and Cookies for the site on your computer? I don't know your setup or hardware, but if an issue arises where it seems a previous version is being displayed instead of a current one, that's a first stop.

Sorry. I should have said Thankyou to both of you. Thankyou

Merry Christmas

 

[Clarence Yard]

On the individual shed page, I see Plaistow is listed as LMS but on the shed summary page I see it still shows it as LNER. Is that what you are seeing?

 

[grumpyxch]

On the individual shed page, I see Plaistow is listed as LMS but on the shed summary page I see it still shows it as LNER. Is that what you are seeing?

Yes. I didn't know I could get details of each individual shed, so you have taught me something. It looks like I need to get back to the database owner and let him know.

Thankyou Clarence. Have a good Christmas

 

[Taunton]

Clearing cache and cookies for that site - I'm afraid I dont know how to do that. A little guidance would be a great help. Why doesn't the Refresh (the little circular arrow) do that?

Cache is a means for the computer to store Internet pages so when you get them back again it doesn't have to go through the whole process again, but shows it from where it has stored it on your device. I'm afraid this is a subject difficult to condense to one paragraph, but the cache is held by your Internet browser, so if your PC has both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome on it, which ever is the normal one you use, try the same web page with the opposite one.

If you are using MS Edge on a PC then pressing key F5 reloads the page, same as the Refresh arrow. (Shift) F5 does this but ignoring any cached pages (see attachment). Other combinations of device, browser and website have their own ways.

 

[grumpyxch]

Cache is a means for the computer to store Internet pages so when you get them back again it doesn't have to go through the whole process again, but shows it from where it has stored it on your device. I'm afraid this is a subject difficult to condense to one paragraph, but the cache is held by your Internet browser, so if your PC has both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome on it, which ever is the normal one you use, try the same web page with the opposite one.

If you are using MS Edge on a PC then pressing key F5 reloads the page, same as the Refresh arrow. (Shift) F5 does this but ignoring any cached pages (see attachment). Other combinations of device, browser and website have their own ways.

I haven't tried Edge yet, but just to let you know, it seems that Clarence Yard has found what was causing the problem. It seems the data I was looking at was not the same data the database owner was looking at (and I dont mean two versions of the database). On this database there is a full list of all the engine sheds that are or were in this country, and it has, on the row for each shed, data such as railway companies that owned it, and which BR region. Now that was where, for Plaistow and Shoeburyness, it stated LNER instead of LMSR, etc, an easy mistake to make because they are both in Essex. However, if you click on the shed name, it opens up a new page with details specific to that shed, and there it stated LTSR, LMSR and ER so was correct. I didn't know about this extra page so I was only looking at the full list. I think the problem was that the owner had corrected the extra page but not the details on the full list. I have sent a message to the owner to let him know. I hope I haven't spoiled his Christmas.

So to you and all the others that have helped me, a merry Christmas, and my thanks

 

[Taunton]

Such is life with the computer world, these being combinations I am also familiar with in the office.

Not realised however is that web pages are commonly more accurate that what used to be printed. Did we all used to believe the Ian Allan books were accurate? They showed every year until the 1970s the four Wirral electric cars that had been destroyed by bombing in 1941, along with their replacements built in the 1950s. Did nobody at the publisher ever know? A slight amusement was to look at the books of youthful Merseyside spotters and see if they had ticked them off .

 

[6Gman]

Such is life with the computer world, these being combinations I am also familiar with in the office.

Not realised however is that web pages are commonly more accurate that what used to be printed. Did we all used to believe the Ian Allan books were accurate? They showed every year until the 1970s the four Wirral electric cars that had been destroyed by bombing in 1941, along with their replacements built in the 1950s. Did nobody at the publisher ever know? A slight amusement was to look at the books of youthful Merseyside spotters and see if they had ticked them off .

And weren't there more 4-REPs in the book than out on the railway for a period?

 

[Bevan Price]

I remember seeing someone's ABC with one of the cancelled "Clans" underlined.....
I guess he may have misread a Britannia's number.

 

[D1001]

All of the chat about refreshing your cache is, well, almost right. The problem with BRDatabase is that it itself uses cache files so that interactions with the database are kept to a minimum. These cache files are permament, i.e. they do not have an expiry date. So, if I change the database and one part of the website uses the database directly, like the individual shed pages, the changes made are reflected immediately. However, the shed listing page is a cached page, so the cached version is used if I forget to delete it after a change. That is what has happened. I forgot to delete the old cache file, so LNER appeared for Plaistow on the listing page but LMS appeared on the shed page. I always forget. Sorry for all the confusion.

 

[Taunton]

Let's just finish off by saying Thank You for providing such a useful resource .

 

[ikcdab]

I'm not getting any response from this very useful database.
Is it offline again?

 

[Harvester]

I'm not getting any response from this very useful database.
Is it offline again?

It seems so, and has been for some days!

 

[Morayshire]

Problem is with Facebook according to D1001's blog over on RMWEB. Hopefully it will be back up in April.

Link to blog

Once again, my website is unavailable, but this time it is thanks to facebook. I don't fully understand this but facebook is indexing my website over and over again (it's a known thing) and has consumed all of my bandwidth for March (and it's only the 13th!) The hosting company wants me to go to a dedicated server which is like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. The cost of running it would triple from $18 to $48 per month (and that's just the starter offer). I can't afford that and I can't expect donations to cover that either. So, I have added some code to try and kick facebook straight off my pages but I still have consumed all my bandwidth so I cannot see brdatabase being available again until April. I am re-writing the website (it'll make it mobile friendly) and I am hoping to deploy to AWS where I may have more control over things. In the meantime, I am sorry for the incovenience. If you have any urgent queries, drop me a line and I'll look on my local copy for the relevant data.

 

[Magdalia]

BR Database is back in action today 18 March.