quote:However, in this particular case, a technical error on our end was the culprit. The reason "Ready" status was displayed on this snipe after the auctionâs end, which is also the reason your snipe on this item was not placed, is because the bidder server that this snipe was allocated to was not responding and the auction ended before it was brought to our attention, and we were able to get in running again.
I pushed back asking how we as users could alert AS that a biddder server had gone down, with the idea that we are paying attention and could squawk if that would help lower the total number of missed snipes before a server is fixed and working again. My point was that my report of the symptom was not immediately understood as a clear indicator of a bidding server being down or having been down. Would reporting the same symptom in the future alert anyone that a bidding server was down?
Answer:
quote:To correct this problem moving forward, we have begun monitoring out status statisitics around the clock so, when such a problem arises, it should not go un-noticed for an extended period of time. Through the use of this system, we will also be able to rely less on support requests to detect when things are amiss. Regardless, we will still appreciate your input whenever you believe the system may not be performing properly.
What we are seeing is system failures that prevent AS from keeping up with the backlog of bids in the queue. Some number of snipes are not executed when this happens.
I'm not happy that the margin between system capacity and the sniping queue is so small. I'd prefer that there was enough headroom so that a machine could go down and the remaining machines could keep up with the queue.
Bottom line is that if you see the symptom of a snipe still in your Active list after an auction ends, open up a bug report with support immediately. The automatic system they have planned might work but it might not.