Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

Can you fix the download counter, so that it resets always at the same fixed time, for example, at 0:00 GMT (Zulu)?
Or at any other fixed time.

I really mostly never download anything, but now I was downloading up to the limit for a couple of days, and then deliberately for a couple of days more - just to see how the counter behaves.
It is really frustrating when I get a message that the counter will be reset at 3 AM, then at 7 AM and then at 11 AM. The reset time seems to be running away, forcing me to wait longer than expected. In effect, it is not 300 stories every 24 hours, but 300 stories in intervals significantly greater than 24 hours.
I realize, that the reset time, as currently implemented, depends on the login time.
But the login time itself is pretty unpredictable.
In the last few days I never logged out, but I closed and re-opened the browser multiple times. The new login time is not the same as the last browser opening time.

And what if I have already downloaded 150 stories and then I log out and log in again? I will probably get 150 stories and then I will have to wait 24 hours, in effect, only 150 stories in the last 24 hours, not 300.
I still need to test this, though. I just thought of it now, while typing this post.

With the fixed reset time, it would be so easy to know how much time you have left to download what you want before the reset and how long you will have to wait if you exceed the count.

The current implementation is really disorienting and frustrating. It is as if deliberately done this way to confuse the users.

Oh, come to think of it, I killed the browser from the task manager each time, not closed it.
But certainly, the last login is shown earlier than my last browser start.
Because of VPN, the IP address might be sometimes the same and sometimes different - if it makes any difference to the login issue.

I really hate this moving target approach. I want a fixed reset time.

Completely off-topic: the links to finestories.com and to Scifistories.com keep failing for me this way:

finestories.com redirected you too many times.
ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS

Making it somewhat on-topic: so I cannot test the counters there :)

Now my last login changed from 11:20 AM to 2:53 PM.
Even though I haven't logged out and haven't quit or killed the browser at all. Just inactivity on the page.
So it is a pretty aggressive pushing away of the counter reset. It is not 300 stories every 24 hours but 24 hours to wait after the last continuous usage. If you took almost 24 hours to reach 300 stories, but you had a longer break doing it, in effect, it is almost 300 stories every 48 hours.
That is, if you want to get something resembling 300 stories every 24 hours, you better download them in a single burst.

The current implementation is really disorienting and frustrating.

From my observations, the current system is quite logical and predictable, and tailored to be optimal for the user who logs in at a regular time each day. The Login Expiry / Counter Reset time is 24h after the most recent login from a logged out state, less a little time to allow for variation in the actual login time (presently 100s, formerly 5 min). Only if you login at wildly varying times do you see this effect (or if your normal first login of the day is delayed by longer than the margin allowed).

(from 2nd post)
But certainly, the last login is shown earlier than my last browser start.

Yes, if you've not accessed the site for a while after the last LE/CR time, the reported login time will be given as the margin time before the actual site access time

It is as if deliberately done this way to confuse the users.

As I noted above, this actually helps the regular user, and also helps the site operations by spreading the extra processing for LE/CR away from a fixed time.

With the fixed reset time, it would be so easy to know how much time you have left to download what you want before the reset and how long you will have to wait if you exceed the count.

Well, IIRC when you exceed the download count, you get a notice banner telling you so and telling you how long you have to wait; getting the LE/CR time is just a case of looking at the 'Stories Accessed Today' page. A fixed LE/CR time would be very helpful to the bot operators, so I can't see Lazeez implementing that. What would be helpful for you without playing into the hands of the bot operators would be to have your LE/CR time (or the last login time, as displayed on your 'My Account' page) displayed with the download count on the front page.

I could go on about how downloading takes a non-trivial time and that you already have to do calculations to see if you have time anyway so a little more complexity to that calculation is negligible, but this is getting quite long already.

and then I will have to wait 24 hours, in effect, only 150 stories in the last 24 hours, not 300.

How do you manage to 'read' 150 stories in 24 hours?

I really mostly never download anything, but now I was downloading up to the limit for a couple of days, and then deliberately for a couple of days more - just to see how the counter behaves.

If I understand you correctly...

1. You very rarely download any stories.

2. You suddenly decide to download 300 stories a day for two days.

3. Finding that problematical you continue downloading as many stories as you can for a further two days, "just to see how the counter behaves".

At first I thought that perhaps you had lost your personal library and were thus downloading all the stories to replace those lost. But you stated you rarely download, so that can't be the reason.

You've already been asked how you manage to read 150 books in 24 hours, I'm wondering how you managed to choose the 600 books you initially intended to download?

Not to mention what legitimate reason would explain such actions.

Maybe you have to go somewhere isolated at short notice and want six months of reading material to keep you sane? Or maybe you are just trawling for stories to re-post elsewhere? Both of these make sense, but one isn't going to make you any friends here.

I need to get under control that login time, so that it stays more or less the same. Currently it moves by several hours each day.

But still, do I understand it correctly that the current implementation works like this:

- I download 299 stories.

- then logout occurs (or I log out myself) and then I login again 23 hours 59 minutes later

- So I waited practically 24 hours, but now, when I download just 1 story I will have to wait 24 more hours?

If so - that is the reason why a fixed counter reset time is much better.

As to reading 150 stories in 24 hours - I just download epubs and then move them to my e-ink ereader. Actually, I have a 512 GB card in it (never buy an e-reader without a card slot!). So nothing strange.

But it happens that I do not login for many months, and then download more for a few days. Usually, after paying for the next year, or if I accidentally see that the current subscription is about to expire in a few days. And for the rest of the year - 0 downloads :)
And then this issue came up.

The arguments that it is somehow convenient to the users did not convince me at all. Perhaps other arguments are more valid: anti-bot, the resetting load spread, or something (although also laughable, I think).

It is just that I was very surprised about what was going on.

And I'm not sure it is possible to control the login time so that it stays pretty much constant.

If I login each morning at 9 AM, and then do not access SOL for 20 hours, I will still see the login time = 9 AM?

I doubt it.

OK, thanks for the explanation. The clearest explanation so far.

I need to get hang of that login time.

I am pretty sure I did not stay away for more than 24 hours, and I saw the login time move by a few hours each day.

But I killed the browser and launched it again each day.

I will try to observe what happens.

BTW, that off-topic issue, perhaps I should create a new thread for it. I cannot access finestories or scifistories, for days now. Nothing changing:

finestories.com redirected you too many times.

ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS

That is from the same browser where I am logged in to SOL.

From a different browser they open, but I did not try to login yet. It should work from the same browser.

I probably should try to clear the cookies etc, before asking.

No, the login time still keeps moving away.

In the last two days: from 2 PM to 7 PM to 11 PM.

It's 9 hours in two days, so 300 stories more like every 30 hours.

I would rather have 240 stories every 24 hours with a fixed counter reset time. Or 200 stories. The current system does not allow to plan anything in advance.

Although it gives some extra time to download more stories :)

However, finestories and scifistories keep locking out for me. In order to get them working again I need to log out from SOL, and with the last login time racing away from me as it is, it probably would not help. I wonder if VPN has anything to do with this issue or not.

And now, after 11 PM, came 12:12 AM.

I thought it was 0:12, but not sure.

Maybe it jumped by 13 hours, because 12:12 came and went and the counter remains not reset.

Although, it depends on the time zone the last login time is shown in.

I still hope that this unique implementation does not exceed 48 hours between the counter resets. But it might. If the last login time jumps again and again, it might.

I mean, if I reach the 300 limit and get the message when the counter will be reset - that is one thing. Perhaps this time will not change. But if I stay below 300 (as it is now) and the last login time keeps moving (as it is now), then who knows.

UPDATE:
It seems it was a time zone issue, the counter finally went to 0 after 2 AM local time, but the last login moved not only by one day but also by almost an hour, from 12:12 AM to 12:59 AM - even though I was right here, typing the previous message and periodically checking the counter, never logged out, never a longer inactivity. But the login time still moved forward by almost 50 minutes.
The thing is, the last login time became an important issue only because of this peculiar counter reset implementation. Otherwise, who cares about the last login time.

I do not like the new reset method.

I do not know the last two digits of my account number so I do not know when to expect my reset.

The reset does not change the reset time - it changes from (22:22 PM on Dec 4) to (22:22 PM on Dec 5) and I must wait for the reset do continue downloading and have less time to do so.

It just complicates everything.

The reset time used to be (a little less than) 24 hours after accessing the first story after a reset.

Now I cannot access a story until after a reset, but the reset time does not reset to the reset but remains the "first story accessed" time + 24 hours.

I thought I spent a lot of time on SOL, but I can't recall ever running out of stories, particularly since I now have 300 stories per "day". Probably I spend too much time on the
forum and not enough actually reading stories.

If the way of resetting will be like it is now some pages need to be changed:

- https://storiesonline.net/home.php

- https://storiesonline.net/h/13/download-limit-reached-prematurely

These pages show correct information:

- https://storiesonline.net/library/todaysAccesses.php

- https://storiesonline.net/sol-secure/user/my_account.php