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I've tried on Chrome and Firefox to get Cross Validated to list users in the "leagues", e.g., https://stackexchange.com/leagues/65/alltime/stats/2010-07-19?sort=reputationchange&page=3 and most entries show the "circle of death" as in the image below. What is going on?

screenshot of user cards loading forever in Cross Validated

Note, a similar problem (where only the current user wasn't loading), without browser information, for different Stack Exchange sites has been also reported User profile is not loading Stack Exchange reputation league page

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  • 2
    I can also reproduce this on Safari on iOS.
    – cocomac
    Commented Feb 24 at 3:41
  • @Arulkumar No, it merely asks a similar but different question. My question pertains to Cross Validated. The other question documents a problem which may have the same cause but on Stack Overflow and Meta Stack Exchange. Neither question has been answered thus not closing this post until the problem, which may be system wide, is addressed would be appreciated. Consider it supplementary information, please.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 24 at 6:56
  • @Arulkumar Moreover, the existence of a potentially similar problem has prompted me to add the bug tag since some sort of problem is confirmed. The evidence here is also helpful in the sense that three browsers, so far, are herein reported to have the same problem, making it more likely to be a source code bug, and not a browser problem.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 24 at 7:04
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    @Arulkumar I agree with the author here - this might be a different cause given that the staff comment on the post you link says it's a Gravatar issue but examining the avatars that don't load here, those include direct Imgur uploads as well. If they indeed turn out to be the same cause, staff can close it when answering. Commented Feb 24 at 8:44
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    Looks like the bug escalated, now most cards are not loading (at least for me) and on all sites I've checked, so this report is better suited for that, hence reopening. Commented Feb 24 at 20:33
  • @ShadowWizardLoveZelda This either is or is not a duplicate of the first one. If it is a duplicate and you're going to reopen this one, then you should close the first one as a duplicate of this one.
    – Makyen
    Commented Feb 24 at 20:39
  • My guess is some big server side cache that used to hold the users data got stuck/reset and the query to fill it up is heavy. After a user is loaded, they'll show up, but most are still loading. Commented Feb 24 at 20:40
  • @Makyen fair point, done. In case it's different issue (though I doubt it), the developer confirming it can easily reopen. Commented Feb 24 at 20:41
  • @ShadowWizardLoveZelda Look, the rules for closure are there for a reason. However, sometimes, like when a bug is active and not addressed, confirmation in the form of independent validation is needed. Both posts can be closed when the bug is addressed, and before that occurs, leave both open, please.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 24 at 20:42
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    No, I agree with @Makyen as this appears to come from same root cause. Closing does not affect chance of fixing, it needs a status review tag first anyway. Commented Feb 24 at 20:48
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    Also, looks like something very similar happened before Commented Feb 24 at 20:51
  • @ShadowWizardLoveZelda Thanks, the prior occurrence is important in that the problem perhaps can be fixed again, maybe better this time?
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 24 at 21:07
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    I'm having the exact same problem (on Space Exploration) since last night to present.
    – phil1008
    Commented Feb 24 at 21:49
  • I confirm the problem on Meta Stack Exchange Leagues for Firefox using iMac. Most links show circles of death now, including mine, as of Feb 24, 2024.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 24 at 21:57
  • @Carl problem is, previous time nothing was really fixed. If you'll read the developer's answer carefully, you'll see he wasn't able to reproduce, and it just "fixed itself" at some point. Commented Feb 25 at 9:06

2 Answers 2

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tl;dr

The issue is now fixed. Thanks for the report!

Some details for anyone curious

For reputation leagues on stackexchange.com, we load and cache users on a background thread that doesn't have the full site and user context available. This code is separate from the main Q&A app, so when we added a check in the method that validates profile image URLs that required that context, it caused a null reference exception that went unnoticed. 😓 We've refactored the checks, so all user cards are once again loading correctly.

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  • Thank-you very much for your kind attention to this problem and for participating in its repair. The bug is now fixed.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 29 at 18:21
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    Thanks for the details. Missed them in recent bug fixes. Commented Feb 29 at 18:38
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I discovered that you can improve the reputation leagues page with a work-a-round. If you first go to the "users" page on the site...

enter image description here

.. you can identify the names of some of the users that are not showing up on the reputation leagues page.

Then, if you search for one of those users on the reputation leagues page, and enter their full username, the card will often populate (not always though). Once a card has initially populated, it seems to stick around even when you aren't searching for a specific user.

enter image description here

As I said, it's not a real fix, but perhaps it's a helpful workaround for some users in the meantime.

... maybe also a clue that will help devs figure out the root cause.

P.S> Interestingly, this workaround did not work for my own card.

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  • For what it is worth, if one left clicks on any particular "circle of death" the link to that users web page is executed allowing one to see who it is. However, that doesn't solve the problem.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 29 at 8:34
  • It's working for me today! Possibly a fix was rolled out or something was reset.
    – phil1008
    Commented Feb 29 at 19:34
  • Indeed, read the accepted answer by Adam Lear above.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 29 at 19:50

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