Who uses Cellar Tracker

[David M. Bueker]

Well it seems that Cellar Tracker has implemented some new security measures that make it essentially useless for me to access it from work. It constantly asks me to verify that I am not a machine and to type in the security code so it can verify. I first encounted this yesterday afternoon and now again this morning. I have not tried from home or phone yet.

That's not new. I've run into that every once in a while. It usually goes away after a day or two - or if I clear the cache.

Well it seems that Cellar Tracker has implemented some new security measures that make it essentially useless for me to access it from work. It constantly asks me to verify that I am not a machine and to type in the security code so it can verify. I first encounted this yesterday afternoon and now again this morning. I have not tried from home or phone yet.

That's not new. I've run into that every once in a while. It usually goes away after a day or two - or if I clear the cache.

Thanks. First I saw it so I assumed.....

It is only two weeks old. It is mentioned here: http://www.cellartracker.com/forum/tm.asp?m=146470
If you or your work are blocking scripts, then you will see CAPTCHA on occasion.

BTW, you have Snooth to thank for this: http://www.cellartracker.com/newsletter/1-31-2011.htm

If you are hitting this repeatedly then please go to www.whatismyipaddress.com and email me your IP address, Eric@CellarTracker.com. This anti-scraping is brand new, and we are still tuning it. Of course if you don't tell me about issues, how can I know exactly?

Searching is fast on classic CT. Its the same database underneath.

True that. I'm quibbling over trivialities, but I can search for a new wine from the front page of the new CellarTracker, whereas I have to access a second page (add a new wine to my cellar) to access the entire CT repository of wines (and not just what's in my cellar).

The old CT has the same search. Just change the scope dropdown at upper left to "Wines (all data)" and uncheck the "Only show mine" checkbox. Of course most people the whole global versus my cellar scope confusing, hence the much cleaner separate in the new beta user interface. BTW, the latter still has a lot of work ahead. I have spent the past six months just obsessed with database performance and scale. Traffic and overall DB have grown so dramatically that things were getting very ugly at peak times for a while. I am still tuning, but things should be way, way better now than they have been in a long time.

It is only two weeks old. It is mentioned here: http://www.cellartracker.com/forum/tm.asp?m=146470
If you or your work are blocking scripts, then you will see CAPTCHA on occasion.

BTW, you have Snooth to thank for this: http://www.cellartracker.com/newsletter/1-31-2011.htm

If you are hitting this repeatedly then please go to http://www.whatismyipaddress.com and email me your IP address, Eric@CellarTracker.com. This anti-scraping is brand new, and we are still tuning it. Of course if you don't tell me about issues, how can I know exactly?

Bob, this is an example of Eric's responsiveness that has been described in the thread as one of the many upsides of CellarTracker.
Charles

Bob, this is an example of Eric's responsiveness that has been described in the thread as one of the many upsides of CellarTracker. Charles

Hi Charles, I saw Eric's reply this morning and was almost amazed that "The Man" himself took time out to post on the forum for our edification. I have just recently reloaded my Vinothèque after many months of procrastination. Now it is loaded and is reentered in Cellar, so I will try Cellar Tracker and see if I am smart enough to use the program, and smart enough to upload my Cellar Db to Cellar Tracker. It sounds as if I have a problem Eric or one of his people are standing by to help. I really like the beta version that is ready for us to kick the tires on. very intuitive it seems. I hope all here know that I appreciate the replies, it is what makes WLDG the family place it is.

Hi Bob, there are no other people, just me. If you want to try transitioning from Cellar! just follow these instructions: http://www.cellartracker.com/ow.asp?MigrateFromCellar

Brian, my security vendor in Israel tells me that the system should pretty quickly learn which are benign corporate proxies and give far fewer CAPTHA's. We also have a little more tuning to do around proxies in general apparently. Of course, if you still see this please do let me know your IP address, and we can look at it much more closely.

BTW, you have Google to thank for me finding this thread. I have a few Google alerts that pop up occasionally.

Brian, my security vendor in Israel tells me that the system should pretty quickly learn which are benign corporate proxies and give far fewer CAPTHA's. We also have a little more tuning to do around proxies in general apparently. Of course, if you still see this please do let me know your IP address, and we can look at it much more closely.

Eric, will let you know if the situation does not resolve over the next couple of weeks. My employer is the US Navy and I am nearly 100% confident that we do not have static IPs. I am not sure if I even route through the same proxy server consistently. That use to be the case but there were always issues of some proxy servers being overloaded and others under utilized. Those issues have largely gone away but not sure why.

You will have to deal with CAPTCHAs for each proxy (and may be the one doing the dirty work for everyone else on your netowrk, and yes you will have multiple proxies), but the system should learn from your efforts. If it keeps happening or doesn't slow down a lot please do let me know.

BTW, we did tweak things a bit further for known corporate proxies, so I think the system should be a bit more tame.

Remote access isn't a big deal for me, and I haven't got the time to re-enter all my data from an Access based form to a new form. With something like 1300-1500 different wines, there just doesn't seem to be the benefit there considering the time it would take.

I can see how Cellar Tracker would be invaluable for the guys actively buying to be able to have data available on their cellphones while on the road.

I gather my previous concerns about privacy have been addressed by allowing you to keep your entries unseen, is that right?

I gather my previous concerns about privacy have been addressed by allowing you to keep your entries unseen, is that right?

Always been so, Bill.

Remote access isn't a big deal for me, and I haven't got the time to re-enter all my data from an Access based form to a new form. With something like 1300-1500 different wines, there just doesn't seem to be the benefit there considering the time it would take.

There has been a bulk import tool since 2005: http://www.cellartracker.com/bulkfaq.asp
If you really have 1500 different wines (are any of those different vintages of the same wine) it would still be a big bulk import job (7 or 8 hours probably although professionals bang out that many in about 4 hours).

I gather my previous concerns about privacy have been addressed by allowing you to keep your entries unseen, is that right?

Always been so, Bill.

Since 2004: http://www.cellartracker.com/ow.asp?PrivacyOptions

If you really have 1500 different wines (are any of those different vintages of the same wine) it would still be a big bulk import job (7 or 8 hours probably although professionals bang out that many in about 4 hours).

The 1500 lines do represent vintages, not individual wines, but it still sounds like a lot of work, thanks.

I first took a look at your site when you created it in the early 2000s and recall the lack of privacy being a concern for me - nice to hear you amended that.

I've never had a problem using CT... I did encounter the security code last week, but thought, good, I like that..

I have nothing but praise for what CT does, Eric's commitment and his responsiveness to his customers. To be able to just throw out a name of a wine and find it and then add it easily to your inventory is a real time saver. I use the CT tasting notes all the time to decide on what to buy, when to drink, etc. Tons of info. You can even find out how much you have spent each month and each year, which can be very `enlightening.'

Worth every penny you choose, and you are not forced in any way, to pay.

If you really have 1500 different wines (are any of those different vintages of the same wine) it would still be a big bulk import job (7 or 8 hours probably although professionals bang out that many in about 4 hours).

The 1500 lines do represent vintages, not individual wines, but it still sounds like a lot of work, thanks.

I first took a look at your site when you created it in the early 2000s and recall the lack of privacy being a concern for me - nice to hear you amended that.

I built the site for myself and then a few friends in March, 2003. I went into beta in July of 2003, and indeed there were far fewer privacy options. Over the course of the next 9 months about 100 people took the site through its paces. However before the public launch of the site in April, 2004 I had pretty much fleshed out the privacy options. (There are still outstanding requests from a few people, active tasting note authors, to be able to hide their overall bottle count.)

As I said back in 2003 and often since then, online cellar management is not for everyone. That said, tomorrow the site will reach 150,000 registered users (not all active and only a fraction paying). A few days ago the site crossed 25 million bottles tracked. Next month the site will reach 2 million public tasting notes, and that is in addition to close to 350,000 professional reviews from 20 publications (only shown to subscribers based on rules defined by each publisher). The advantages of a system like this are many and not just limited to anytime, anywhere access. Did I mention a database of nearly 1.1 million wines?

BTW, since the launch of the anti-scraping technology we have already stopped two full-on scraping attacks from highly distributed, errr, scumbags. There will be more. That said, if real users are seeing inconvenience due to the defenses, please do let me know. Thanks everyone for your patience!

You will have to deal with CAPTCHAs for each proxy (and may be the one doing the dirty work for everyone else on your netowrk, and yes you will have multiple proxies), but the system should learn from your efforts. If it keeps happening or doesn't slow down a lot please do let me know.

Have not had an issue after the first few times. Something makes me believe I must have had help. Regardless works fine again.

You will have to deal with CAPTCHAs for each proxy (and may be the one doing the dirty work for everyone else on your netowrk, and yes you will have multiple proxies), but the system should learn from your efforts. If it keeps happening or doesn't slow down a lot please do let me know.

Have not had an issue after the first few times. Something makes me believe I must have had help. Regardless works fine again.

Terrific. I think we also did some tweaking for known corporate proxies to make things a bit less stringent. Glad it is less annoying for you now.

Thanks to Eric for the wonderful resource that he has developed. Not many people have made such a major contribution to the avocation that the love like hyou have. You should be proud.

Does the database have all the different types of wine, even if it's not too popular?

Does the database have all the different types of wine, even if it's not too popular?

go to http://www.cellartracker.com and enter the name of a wine you are interested in finding out about in the search box in the upper left hand corner...see if what you are interested is there...

It has tons of obscure wines. But, if you search and can't find the exact wine you are looking for, it has an easy function to "add new wine or vintage based on this wine." So for instance if you had a Ligurian Pigato from a producer not listed, you can choose another Ligurian Pigato, select add new wine, and just add a new producer's name, forming a new wine.

Dale, I find that many of the wines I am looking for tasting notes on are not in the data base. Not a case of the producer or wine missing, necessarily, although I have found that once in awhile, but rather the vintages I am interested in have no tasting notes.

I expect that the people using the site don't drink older vintages that much.

That quasi-cloning feature you mention, taking aspects of a new wine from an old one would certainly save on posting time.