Encounters replicated but corrupted (zombie encounters)

In which Wildbook did the issue occur? SeadragonSearch

What operating system were you using? (eg. MacOS 10.15.3) MacOS13.4.1

What web browser were you using? (eg. Chrome 79) Chrome 125 ish

What is your role on the site? (admin, researcher, etc) admin

What happened? I have seen recently a couple encounters appear with images corrupted (so you just see icons, not images). They appear to be normal jpg format. When I contacted submitters, it was confirmed that these were already submitted and processed. some just a few days before. So they seem like little zombie encounters that just rise up every now and then.

What did you expect to happen?

What are some steps we could take to reproduce the issue? no idea. but here is a link to a zombie that I’ve left sitting there. earlier ones were deleted. SeadragonSearch.org

the original is here https://wildbook.seadragonsearch.org/encounters/encounter.jsp?number=9b3a577f-4f6d-4722-af72-11ce00942d98

If this is a bulk import report, send the spreadsheet to services@wildme.org with the email subject line matching your bug report

Here is another. First the original submission

now the zombie

That is weird. Thanks for the examples! Let me investigate and figure out what’s going on.

ok, interesting new zombie example here…

  1. original encounter was an afterthought, an extra image that should have been matched to an earlier encounter. So i downloaded the image, attached it to the encounter it should have been with. and deleted the encounter with the single extraneous image. https://wildbook.seadragonsearch.org/encounters/encounter.jsp?number=3a8d452a-6ac9-4252-a740-aa4fa6e86237

  2. the zombie encounter appears today, roughly 5 days later, matching the deleted encounter. however, this time, first time ever, the zombie encounter has images that are not corrupted. SeadragonSearch.org

1 Like

actually @Anastasia I’ve just realised that the zombie encounter was definitely triggered by this submitter submitting a new encounter. first comes the zombie, then the new encounter. this definitely also happened with the zombie from marion macey too. hope that might a key bit of info, good luck!

1 Like

I’m curious: Do you receive a new encounter submission email when the zombie encounter is created or just for the actual submission?

I dont know; they would have gone to the person who submitted it I guess. I dont know these people well enough to ask this. but if a zombie pops up with someone we ‘trust’ I will ask this

1 Like

Hi @Anastasia, just had a breakthrough in the zombie encounters- I can confirm that it also generates an automated email, as well as the real new submission. See screenshot from Konrad (his zombie and his new one are still in the unapproved box).

Thank you! Putting the encounter links here for reference while I research:

These do look to be separate submissions and not exact duplicates. For example, this encounter with broken images has a depth of 6 meters and has 4 images (IMG_1297.jpeg, IMG_1298.jpeg, IMG_1299.jpeg, and IMG_1300.jpeg) and was submitted Sept 12 at 13:52:55.130

The other encounter has a depth of 7 meters and has 1 image (IMG_1895.jpeg) and submitted on Sept 12 at 13:55:54.311.

Regarding the duplicate emails, it looks like a separate issue. I also get duplicate emails from a
single encounter submission, but only sometimes. It’s a bug, but I hadn’t previously written a ticket for it because it wasn’t one that was disruptive.

Is it possible for Konrad to email you the files for IMG_1297.jpeg, IMG_1298.jpeg, IMG_1299.jpeg, and IMG_1300.jpeg directly? I’m curious if something’s up with the images themselves or if something weird is happening on the database side during submission.

hi @Anastasia - the zombie is an exact replica of an EARLIER encounter, usually the last one they submitted. Here is a link to the real encounter that I think the zombie is copying. Its like a new submission triggers a zombie version of the last one that submitter made. Might be from months ago, like in this case https://wildbook.seadragonsearch.org/encounters/encounter.jsp?number=1cf13e67-40d1-4da9-b0fe-82473b36d4d8

Also another set here…a new zombie encounter…

Original encounter here SeadragonSearch.org
Zombie version here
SeadragonSearch.org

another zombie, but this time no new encounter that triggered it? so confusing. https://wildbook.seadragonsearch.org/encounters/encounter.jsp?nuber=4e48201d-a501-4e96-8a2b-da64d0f1b7d3

Oh, interesting! And messy. :sweat_smile:

Thank you for the links. I may not have an update right away, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

Ha! Apparently tthis is not a zombie but an accidental re-submit- so strike it from the record. I thought it was a bit different! sorry!

Hi @Anastasia, just checking if I should retain the two zombie encounters for your investigation, or if I should delete them? thanks!

Hi @NeridaWilson

I was out of the office last week, but it looks like SeadragonSearch was updated while I was away. If you haven’t already, I’d say it’s safe to delete them and let us know if you continue to see this behavior in the latest version of Wildbook.

Actually, leave the encounters alone for now. I hadn’t caught up on the email thread where you mentioned this was still happening post-update.

1 Like

Yes, sorry, it became part of an email conversation with all the hiccups that are happening with 10.3. For convenience we currently have 4 zombies in our unapproved encounters, all listed here. Each one was triggered by the same submitter making a new encounter, whicc has triggered this zombie of their last encounter. sadly, yes, its still happening in 10.3, cheers.

1 Like

@Anastasia I wonder if this is not another form of zombie…? it popped up amongst a pile of new encounters from ATJ (7 Oct). But this was here too- much older (23 Sep), although with intact images. but now unapproved. bit odd. but maybe some way to crack this? SeadragonSearch.org