Intro
DeepOnion recently published their new wallet which supports the long awaited stealth addresses. After they released their new wallet many users reported from syncing issues with the newest Version v1.6.0. Due to a necessary hard fork the new nodes caused a chain split although the consensus changes should not be activated before block 460 000 (approximate on 02.04.2018).
Everyone who doesn't know what a hard fork or a chainsplit is should read this article.
https://steemit.com/deeponion/@ra213/question-about-the-upcoming-deeponion-hard-fork-deeponion-hard-fork-faq
Summarized a chain-split is mostly unintended and unwanted and can cause some serious issues. This was the first incident I witnessed and I was curious about how DeepOnion will handle it. Spoiler Alert: prompt and professional.
They managed to fix all issues in under 24 hours and inform they majority of their user base about it. I want to share my observations and a historical summary with you.
Historical Summary
19.03.2018 17:55 - Wallet announcement with stealth address support (v1.6.0)
Deeper announced the new wallet with all the basic information needed. Many people responded and tested the wallet.
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/deeponion-v-1-6-0-with-stealth-addresses-mandatory-upgrade.32988/
19.03.2018 18:21 - First users are reporting sync issues
Shortly after the release a new thread popped up where many users reported their errors, some shared even their logs.
A discussion started and many users tried to find a solution together.
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/1-6-0-wallet-syncing-problems.33042/
19.03.2018 19:29 - First moderator responded to the conversation
escapefrom3dom informed the users that they will check the issues. I assume he is one of the devs.
19.03.2018 22:37 - A solution is provided for the affected wallets
escapefrom3dom recommends to use dedicated nodes and to make a resync of the wallet
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/1-6-0-wallet-syncing-problems.33042/page-4#post-518424
At a similar time the original announcement thread was updated with the explanation of the problems and a solution.
20.03.2018 00:27 - Deeper created a new thread 'Fork Sync Problems'
He informed users again about the chain-split and provided a solution for the sync issues.
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/fork-sync-problems.33061
20.03.2018 00:57 - Community pool was shut down
The community pool from Youngwebs was shut down to prevent losses their miners shares.
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/community-pool-shutdown-due-to-forked-chains.33064
20.03.2018 06:15 - DeepOnion Hard Fork Faq was published
I created a thread with the most frequent questions about the hard fork
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/deeponion-hard-fork-faq.33079
20.03.2018 08:48 - Community pool is back online
Youngwebs verified that the pool is on the correct chain and restarted it
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/community-pool-is-on-proper-chain.33096
20.03.2018 11:25 - Issues seemed resolved
Most users reported that they are back on the correct chain again and don't have any sync issues anymore.
Conclusion
I wrote this article because I was impressed how supportive the DeepOnion community is. After the issues started many users and team members helped each other out and the developers started instantly with the troubleshooting. Constant updates helped the members to keep calm.
This is how an active community looks like! DeepOnion is doing a great job.
I also published this article on the DeepOnion forum
https://deeponion.org/community/threads/issues-on-the-deeponion-blockchain-historical-analysis.33106/