Hi Andrew,
There are many kinds of computational caching going on when you use a web browser. Inside the CPU and at most levels of hardware (video card, etc) are all kinds of hardware caches, at the operating software (OS) level there are caches in your OS (eg your pagefile.sys file), at the networking level there are caches for example for domain name resolution, at the software level there are caches for your web browser for both graphics and for the text of web pages themselves. That's just on your computer.
On the internet side, there are caches inside your internet service provider (which can cause the problem you are experiencing) to save them requesting redundant data for multiple requests from different customers requesting the same web page, and there are caches on the servers hosting the content (such as the server diyAudio is hosted on) so redundant database queries aren't made from multiple similar requests, and there are simple page caches such as the one we use for the front page, so that 1000 guests requesting the "same" front page get sent the same data without burdening the server with rebuilding the page from scratch 1000 times.
When I was asking you to refresh your cache, I was specifically asking you to refresh your internet web browser cache. The "refresh" in "shift refresh" is I guess metaphorical - you hold down shift while performing the refresh command. On some browsers that is pressing F5, on some by pressing the "swirly reload button". On some browsers it's not shift, it's control, or on mac the apple or control key.
Here is a website that has a specific guide to refreshing the cache of every major browser:
Refresh your cache - When hitting F5 just isn't enough!
Look half way down the page for where it says:
Ok..
It means that when someone is not logged in to diyAudio, as in, if they haven't entered their username and password and can see the box in the top right hand side that asks them to log in, that the page they see isn't generated just for them. It's a "cached" (otherwise known in this context as "static") page that all non-logged-in visitors will see, and it's exactly the same for all of them. Only the ads will change, as they are loaded after the main page has loaded using dynamic code.
Now, if there was a problem with that particular caching mechanism (this is the caching that is used on our server, to show a static page) and it wasn't generating the page every minute, it could explain the problem that you're seeing, provided that you aren't logged in. If you were logged in it wouldn't explain that problem.
Additionally, if you weren't logged in, and nobody else (that was also not logged in) was experiencing the problem, then the problem is likely with one of the many caches between your browser personally and the interface with our server. That is, it could be your browser cache, or your ISPs cache.
The instructions at the URL above will show you have to totally clear your browser cache (stored on your computer). By doing a "shift-refresh" (or CTRL-refresh, or whatever your browser dictates you use) you can clear both your local browser cache as well as specifically not send additional headers which MIGHT cause your ISP to send you cached content.
If anyone highly computer literate is interested is interested they might like to read over the rather fascinating matrix listed in the top response to this StackOverflow question: http - What requests do browsers' "F5" and "Ctrl + F5" refreshes generate? - Stack Overflow
Thanks for that overview.
I shall look at the links provided.
What you have explained may have something to do with the odd behaviour of our "new" Forum software.
When I do a search it reports back and shows the same page with a time since search and only updates the few posts that have changed. Every now and again it loses the search list (cache?) and reports no results.
I search again and it finds the same list in the same order but all the posts are now reported as having been read. This newer list then updates with any very new posts.
Your old software never behaved so abdominally.
I shall look at the links provided.
What you have explained may have something to do with the odd behaviour of our "new" Forum software.
When I do a search it reports back and shows the same page with a time since search and only updates the few posts that have changed. Every now and again it loses the search list (cache?) and reports no results.
I search again and it finds the same list in the same order but all the posts are now reported as having been read. This newer list then updates with any very new posts.
Your old software never behaved so abdominally.
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