Wazzup with all the I-129F's filed on "Future" dates?

[thongd4me 69]

Database in order of NOA1's received

Here are three brain surgeons who already know when their NOA1's are due to arrive:

Names Country Service Center Consulate I-129F Sent NOA1

Mauro & Audra Argentina California Service Center Madrid, Spain 2009-11-30 2009-12-11

Nasr & Brad Iran Vermont Service Center Montreal, Canada 2009-10-22 2009-11-23

Jie & Rich China Vermont Service Center Guangzhou, China ? 2009-11-17

Edited November 10, 2009 by thongd4me

[kizza 1]

More I-129F Filers gone Amok - Do they have a crystal ball?

They love to project - Should Igor have a list for months that we have yet to begin?

Some (2) are putting in December dates.

There are 9 people currently anticipating their I-129F filing in the future in the timeline database.

Maybe they don't know that timeline entries can be initiated WITHOUT putting in a date for the I-129F mailing.

I wonder if some are just trying to get an idea of how long the process would take if they filed.

When I first filled in my timeline in September, I noticed a couple had already entered a sent date & a NOA1 date for later in the month. Never checked until recently, but I realised the other day these people havent been seen on VJ since April!! I know you can come and check out the forums without logging in, but this means they filled in their timeline 5 months ahead of their predicted "send date".

I wonder if it would be hard to make it impossible for people to enter future dates.

[thongd4me 69]

More I-129F Filers gone Amok - Do they have a crystal ball?

They love to project - Should Igor have a list for months that we have yet to begin?

Some (2) are putting in December dates.

There are 9 people currently anticipating their I-129F filing in the future in the timeline database.

Maybe they don't know that timeline entries can be initiated WITHOUT putting in a date for the I-129F mailing.

I wonder if some are just trying to get an idea of how long the process would take if they filed.

When I first filled in my timeline in September, I noticed a couple had already entered a sent date & a NOA1 date for later in the month. Never checked until recently, but I realised the other day these people havent been seen on VJ since April!! I know you can come and check out the forums without logging in, but this means they filled in their timeline 5 months ahead of their predicted "send date".

I wonder if it would be hard to make it impossible for people to enter future dates.

From a programming point of view it may present a few challenges,

depending on how the program allows changes, but it shouldn't be too hard.

If the admins want to they can; they are definitely aware, as you can see from this thread.

Not many have posted here as this is a marginal issue for most people (it doesn't concern their case),

but you can see by the number of hits that there is a wide interest in this problem.

Edited November 10, 2009 by thongd4me

[thongd4me 69]

More I-129F Filers gone Amok - Do they have a crystal ball?

They love to project - Should Igor have a list for months that we have yet to begin?

Some (2) are putting in December dates.

There are 9 people currently anticipating their I-129F filing in the future in the timeline database.

Maybe they don't know that timeline entries can be initiated WITHOUT putting in a date for the I-129F mailing.

I wonder if some are just trying to get an idea of how long the process would take if they filed.

When I first filled in my timeline in September, I noticed a couple had already entered a sent date & a NOA1 date for later in the month. Never checked until recently, but I realised the other day these people havent been seen on VJ since April!! I know you can come and check out the forums without logging in, but this means they filled in their timeline 5 months ahead of their predicted "send date".

I wonder if it would be hard to make it impossible for people to enter future dates.

From a programming point of view it may present a few challenges,

depending on how the program allows changes, but it shouldn't be too hard.

If the admins want to they can; they are definitely aware, as you can see from this thread.

Not many have posted here as this is a marginal issue for most people (it doesn't concern their case),

but you can see by the number of hits that there is a wide interest in this problem.

The way the database works is fairly straightforward.

Currently it won't allow a date that isn't real (past, present or future): example - 31 February 2010 will be rejected.

The date is entered into what is called a "field" - a column that has a heading that says this date is for X purpose: "I-129F Sent"

The programmer can say "we will allow dates in this field that are real" - that's a function called something like {any valid date}.

You can also say you will allow {current date or earlier}+2 days.

That's my basic suggestion, as it gives a little wiggle time for those who are really preparing their paperwork NOW,

but doesn't allow outlandish "wishful" dates only for the purpose of appearing at the top of an online listing.

[kizza 1]

More I-129F Filers gone Amok - Do they have a crystal ball?

They love to project - Should Igor have a list for months that we have yet to begin?

Some (2) are putting in December dates.

There are 9 people currently anticipating their I-129F filing in the future in the timeline database.

Maybe they don't know that timeline entries can be initiated WITHOUT putting in a date for the I-129F mailing.

I wonder if some are just trying to get an idea of how long the process would take if they filed.

When I first filled in my timeline in September, I noticed a couple had already entered a sent date & a NOA1 date for later in the month. Never checked until recently, but I realised the other day these people havent been seen on VJ since April!! I know you can come and check out the forums without logging in, but this means they filled in their timeline 5 months ahead of their predicted "send date".

I wonder if it would be hard to make it impossible for people to enter future dates.

From a programming point of view it may present a few challenges,

depending on how the program allows changes, but it shouldn't be too hard.

If the admins want to they can; they are definitely aware, as you can see from this thread.

Not many have posted here as this is a marginal issue for most people (it doesn't concern their case),

but you can see by the number of hits that there is a wide interest in this problem.

The way the database works is fairly straightforward.

Currently it won't allow a date that isn't real (past, present or future): example - 31 February 2010 will be rejected.

The date is entered into what is called a "field" - a column that has a heading that says this date is for X purpose: "I-129F Sent"

The programmer can say "we will allow dates in this field that are real" - that's a function called something like {any valid date}.

You can also say you will allow {current date or earlier}+2 days.That's my basic suggestion, as it gives a little wiggle time for those who are really preparing their paperwork NOW,

but doesn't allow outlandish "wishful" dates only for the purpose of appearing at the top of an online listing.

Exactly what I was thinking about! and to be honest, I dont even see the point of allowing for the extra 2 days... Either you have sent it or you haven't. If you haven't, who knows what can come up on your way to the post office

In the case of the people who put in dates 5 months in advance, they joined that day in April and were never seen again... Kind of frustrating. Im not sure how much it has a bearing on other people's predicted timelines, but surely it tweaks the stats a little. Of course, one could argue I should get a life and stop spending so much time on Igor's list...

[thongd4me 69]

More I-129F Filers gone Amok - Do they have a crystal ball?

They love to project - Should Igor have a list for months that we have yet to begin?

Some (2) are putting in December dates.

There are 9 people currently anticipating their I-129F filing in the future in the timeline database.

Maybe they don't know that timeline entries can be initiated WITHOUT putting in a date for the I-129F mailing.

I wonder if some are just trying to get an idea of how long the process would take if they filed.

When I first filled in my timeline in September, I noticed a couple had already entered a sent date & a NOA1 date for later in the month. Never checked until recently, but I realised the other day these people havent been seen on VJ since April!! I know you can come and check out the forums without logging in, but this means they filled in their timeline 5 months ahead of their predicted "send date".

I wonder if it would be hard to make it impossible for people to enter future dates.

From a programming point of view it may present a few challenges,

depending on how the program allows changes, but it shouldn't be too hard.

If the admins want to they can; they are definitely aware, as you can see from this thread.

Not many have posted here as this is a marginal issue for most people (it doesn't concern their case),

but you can see by the number of hits that there is a wide interest in this problem.

The way the database works is fairly straightforward.

Currently it won't allow a date that isn't real (past, present or future): example - 31 February 2010 will be rejected.

The date is entered into what is called a "field" - a column that has a heading that says this date is for X purpose: "I-129F Sent"

The programmer can say "we will allow dates in this field that are real" - that's a function called something like {any valid date}.

You can also say you will allow {current date or earlier}+2 days.That's my basic suggestion, as it gives a little wiggle time for those who are really preparing their paperwork NOW,

but doesn't allow outlandish "wishful" dates only for the purpose of appearing at the top of an online listing.

Exactly what I was thinking about! and to be honest, I dont even see the point of allowing for the extra 2 days... Either you have sent it or you haven't. If you haven't, who knows what can come up on your way to the post office

In the case of the people who put in dates 5 months in advance, they joined that day in April and were never seen again... Kind of frustrating. Im not sure how much it has a bearing on other people's predicted timelines, but surely it tweaks the stats a little. Of course, one could argue I should get a life and stop spending so much time on Igor's list...

The only reason I suggested 2 (or even 1) days wiggle time is for time-zone differences.

On the internet it may be the same instant in New York & Bangkok but those online in New York

are 12 or 13 hours behind Bangkok in terms of time of day. The people posting in Bangkok

may honestly be already in the following day, but the server is in the US and the server

will register the previous day, disallowing the entry of the poster in Bangkok.

Those in Asia who are ahead a day would have their postings rejected by the server,

if the algorithm was set to {current date or earlier}.

[kizza 1]

ah.. absolutely. Hadnt thought of that.

[brightskte 18]

But if you were to do this thing, would it allow you to enter past dates? My guess probably not. It would have to be +/-2 days and that`s it. But of course, I know nothing in this area is just seems that way to me. But then if someone were to get their NOA2 while they were on vacation and couldn`t get to a computer for a week or more, then they`d be locked out and not able to update their timeline.

But I agree wholeheartedly. It`s so annoying I can`t stand it when I see a future dated timeline. I may have gotten my NOA2, but Igor`s List needs to be cleaned up big time.

[thongd4me 69]

But if you were to do this thing, would it allow you to enter past dates? My guess probably not. It would have to be +/-2 days and that`s it. But of course, I know nothing in this area is just seems that way to me. But then if someone were to get their NOA2 while they were on vacation and couldn`t get to a computer for a week or more, then they`d be locked out and not able to update their timeline.

But I agree wholeheartedly. It`s so annoying I can`t stand it when I see a future dated timeline. I may have gotten my NOA2, but Igor`s List needs to be cleaned up big time.

It would absolutely allow past dates. I've worked with databases for years

(sometimes as a programmer but less so recently) so I know that for sure.

To just allow for time zone differences, the rule could be set to allow any valid current date,

including all reasonable dates (lets say 10 years back) in the past, with a cutoff to be the server's

current date +1 to be an allowable entry. Even 30 years back might be good because then

as the database ages, the older records would not raise alarms but be allowed to stay.

Currently I don't know if there is a limit to how far back you can make an entry in the

timeline, but that doesn't really concern me.

Dates in the past SHOULD be allowed, because there may be some folks out there who are

deep into the AOS stage and never heard of VJ (until now) and want to show their Visa Journey

on the timeline from the beginning which could be 2+ years earlier. Allowing deeply earlier

dates shows neither harm nor foul because they are actions which already happened.

[kizza 1]

But if you were to do this thing, would it allow you to enter past dates? My guess probably not. It would have to be +/-2 days and that`s it. But of course, I know nothing in this area is just seems that way to me. But then if someone were to get their NOA2 while they were on vacation and couldn`t get to a computer for a week or more, then they`d be locked out and not able to update their timeline.

But I agree wholeheartedly. It`s so annoying I can`t stand it when I see a future dated timeline. I may have gotten my NOA2, but Igor`s List needs to be cleaned up big time.

No, I think it would be easy enough to allow you to enter past dates but not future dates... Like for people who find out about VJ and join later in the process etc.

[brightskte 18]

I just wasn`t sure if this would be a terribly difficult task to complete, allowing past dates. But then, my fiance is the engineer, not me.

[thongd4me 69]

I just wasn`t sure if this would be a terribly difficult task to complete, allowing past dates. But then, my fiance is the engineer, not me.

Past dates are already allowed, as I said.

The only change I propose is to limit the date upon which

the timeline could be updated for a given action to

the current date + 1 day to allow for time-zone differences.

Past dates would still be allowed, but if someone wanted

to enter a date that was the current server date +2 or greater,

that would be rejected.

The current date +1 would be reasonable because there could

be no time zone difference greater than one day.

Edited November 10, 2009 by thongd4me

[Darnell 8,479]

Here's a thought?

Harry the offenders, but nicely, and ask them to reform their dates.

[thongd4me 69]

Here's a thought?

Harry the offenders, but nicely, and ask them to reform their dates.

I've already done that in a quiet, polite way (posting a comment on some of their

profiles asking if the date was a typo). I think I got one honest reply out of many.

As our other friend said, many of them are fly-by-niters who post once & never

come back.

The only way to really fix this is for it to be addressed by the mods/admins.

A computer is neither polite nor impolite in and of itself, it will just allow or disallow certain data.

Edited November 10, 2009 by thongd4me

[kizza 1]

Here's a thought?

Harry the offenders, but nicely, and ask them to reform their dates.

I have done that and people have changed the date; they probably just entered the date wrong.

But in the case of people who join, enter a date to figure out how long the process will take and never come back, not much can be done.