Missionary Online Recommendation System loading forever - unavailable?

[danielgibby]

Whenever I go to the Missionary Online Recommendation System, whether from the clerk computer, from either of my home computers, or from work, I just get a never ending loading page and nothing ever happens. It doesn't time out eventually, it just continually loads nothing forever.

[danielgibby]

I got an email today with the link as http://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/mss but that redirects to https://missionaryrecommendations.churc ... endations/ which has the problem.
Signing in first to the www.churchofjesuschrist.org website and then clicking Missionary Online Recommendation from applications also causes the same issue.

[danielgibby]

Hmm... I tried an incognito window and didn't have the problem. Somehow this must be caused by a cookie.

[danielgibby]

I started deleting cookies one by one and refreshing, and eventually it was a cookie called AMCV_something that caused the issue (not AMCVS_, but AMCV_).

Seems like a bug. A cookie shouldn't cause the site to not work.

[jdlessley]

Thanks for doing some research and troubleshooting. We commonly recommend what you did to others as a solution. And yes, cookies will cause a problem for websites - especially TLS (SSL) encrypted sites. For some reason the church websites are not replacing old cookies on some browsers after an update to the site/page.

[danielgibby]

Most people will not have the ability to know how to even clear cookies, much less troubleshoot the way I did. Please pass on that it was that particular cookie at fault. Also, the fact that it happened on four different systems of mine seems to indicate that it may have to do with the authentication process not working correctly in relation to that cookie. If I had more information that would help I'd send it along. When I get home I'll try deleting just that one cookie first and see if it solves it and report back.

[drepouille]

Most people will not have the ability to know how to even clear cookies, much less troubleshoot the way I did. Please pass on that it was that particular cookie at fault. Also, the fact that it happened on four different systems of mine seems to indicate that it may have to do with the authentication process not working correctly in relation to that cookie. If I had more information that would help I'd send it along. When I get home I'll try deleting just that one cookie first and see if it solves it and report back.

Pass on to whom? We are users, the same as you.

[danielgibby]

When jdlessley said:

We commonly recommend what you did to others as a solution.

I guessed that they were someone at the church who is monitoring these posts, and I replied to them.

If not, hopefully someone at the church will see these posts and understand they have a problem. There is no feedback link on that application. I suppose I can open a generic feedback ticket at the main church website or call tech support, but generally the people I've dealt with in both situations are volunteers who are not the developers and don't understand what I'm talking about. Sometimes they pass on the information and things get fixed.

[jdlessley]

The we I was speaking of are those of us who have been around for a while, have technology experience, and have followed the progress of technology in the church. Many of us are now moderators and admins on the Tech Forum. All of us are volunteers with the exception of a few. Some are identified with the church employee badge avatar. The few employees without the badge avatar prefer to remain anonymous.

[eblood66]

I suppose I can open a generic feedback ticket at the main church website

That's really the only reliable way to pass on information like this. Although there is a developer or two who occasionally visit the forums that's just at their own initiative and they may or may not see any given post and if they do they may or not have time to pass it to the responsible group. Feedback is routed (by volunteers) to the appropriate group and it will get there.