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Header refreshes correctly automatically on increase in reputations, but the changes are not immediately reflected on the profile.

Different reps shown

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    It is cached on the server side and will update itself within a few minutes (actually it was already updated when I visited your profile).
    – Joachim Rohde
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:17
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    Caching. It's always caching.
    – Amal Murali
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:18

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I suppose this is done by the server-side caching of SO. The server-side caching is a technology approach to keep a cached version of pages that are not frequently updated, but take server resources to load, or do not have significant changes coming too often. This can be applied to frequently visited pages too, if they do not change as frequently as they are served. In general, this is a mechanism to reduce server loads by returning an older version of the page, or binding it with an already calculated (although older) data. This is not the same as the browser cache, which can be manipulated by the user.

My guess is that the user profile's page is being cached on the server. So, the profile page actually is an older version of itself. The top header updates immediately, because there is some real-time communication mechanism established between the browser and the stackoverflow server (I do not know which exactly, as there are several technologies for it). This real-time communication is intended for immediate notifications such as inbox messages, reputation changes and etc. These things do not involve heavy server or database operations and appear immediately.

I have often noticed this to happen on various updates on my own profile page, including question views or vote count, reputation and even badges, but a few refresh clicks fix the problem. In this context, the refreshing will cause to either get the same cached data from the server, or a fresh one if the server decides the old cache has expired. So, you may need a few refreshes and more patience in order to get things synchronized.

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  • I frequently refresh my browsers after asking question or giving some answers because I also want to know question view counts :)
    – Cataclysm
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:21
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    @Cataclysm, actually, this is server-side caching. Refreshing your browser may only cause the page to load the most frequent cached version on the stackoverflow server. This is NOT the same as the browser caching that the user has full control over.
    – Ivaylo Slavov
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:22
  • I had noticed (or may be I thought) just votes and notifications were actived synchronously but not question view counts.
    – Cataclysm
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:26
  • @Cataclysm, if the entire profile page (as a page) is cached, you will observe the differences. Also, it may be that the data is cached too. The SO guys can provide a more-detailed explanation on how exactly they cache data.
    – Ivaylo Slavov
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:30
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    Thanks for explain to me patiently.
    – Cataclysm
    Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 11:32
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This is because you have been upvoted and your profile page is cached. When you will refresh the page it will show the corrected Points.

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