DECEMBER 31 Four times today I have started my scheduled skypecast and watched the time carfully and tried to enter as soon as the cast started. Each time the call fails and I cannot enter. The error message is "The Skypecast has already Finished !" I checed my time settings and -5 GMT as it should be, daylight savings time auto turned on. Windows is set the same -5 etc. Each time I monitor the cast for a while just looking at time running and 0 participants and it goes for the complete hour like a car running down the road without a driver. Has anyone else seen this happen or have any idea what I might be doing wrong? I have hosted about 30 casts in the past without this problem. Dont know if its me or a system bug.

JANUARY 1 Ok Ok I am back...a day later! I turned off the auto daylight savings time feature in SkypeCast options and I am back in sync with the rest of the world and all is working well. Neat that one can come back to ones post a day later and edit it!

JANUARY 1 Dang the problem is still there! I can form a cast NOW but if I schedule one, it wont let me in when the time comes and says The Skypecast has already Finished ! I have no idea what to do next.. Does anyone have any ideas?

JANUARY 1 Puzzling... I can find my cast in "your skypcasts" and i can find it in a keyword search but it and it shows as running. I scheduled for 1 hour and the hour is not up yet. But, it doesnt show in "On Now" for some reason... it does however show in "All Skypcasts"

JANUARY 2 This received from Skype Support
Hello Lyman, Thank you for contacting Skype Support.
We are aware of this problem and are working hard on fixing it as soon as
possible. We apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause
Best regards, Timo T. Skype Support
Visit www.skype.com for latest news, updates and tips.

This problem continues and I can only start casts using "NOW"
I hope to update this post as time goes on and hopefully the problem will resolve.
If anyone else having this problem please post here.

I have the same problem. After creating skypecasts, I can join some of them but not others. I started experiencing this problem a couple of days ago. Other people cannot join the problematic skypecasts i created either. We got "the skypecast has already finished" message.

January 3 Danielle I believe I have my problem fixed. I say fixed but not solved as there is still some mystry. In file/edit my profile/ I changed my time zone from GMT-5 to -6 and now my problem has disappeared. The mystry is that I am really in zone -5 (eastern) and have to lie to make it work. So if anyone is scheduling casts and when they start they cant enter and it says "the skypecast has already finished" message, then play with the time zone in file/edit my profile/ as it worked for me, I know not why

My windows clock is set for -5 and my skypecast options are set for -5 too and my clock reads properly. But now I see that there are at least 3 places as the two mentioned and also in profile. Thanks to Jenny at SkypeHelp for the suggestion! It worked ! I suspect that I could change it in one of the other places and it would also work but I am not sure. I am still curious as to why this is happening.

Eastern Standard Time (EST) = GMT-5
Central Standard Time (CST) = GMT-6

keywords time zone timezone

That has been common earlier in the day ~Jan 1st EST Time Zone.. Issues seem to be resolved around 7PM

Hi

As of today 04th January 08.00 hrs (AEST - Australia) I am getting the same error and have been prevented from accessing my skypecast for the third time since 29th Dec, the last was 04th @ 07.00 hrs local time with the same faults as reported above.

Please advise of an up to date fix, :twis as this does not seemed to have corrected the problem.

Thank you

Chris

As fare as I can see this dos not solve the problem... Lets all hope that support solves this problem soon... Happy new year to all

Right. The problem is still there for me. Anybody heard from Skype Support regarding this issue?

Hi

No response or reply to date and just happened again - it just wont let you on and then you need to wait for the duration of your set time to restart - come on Skype we need this sorted and quickly even if it's a 'temp' patch while the permanent fix is 'in-hand'.
Chris

Tried once more on the 09th and same porblem telling me when I log on 1 minute before due to start, "this session has already finshed" and yet I cannot even start 'now" as the system then tells you "you have a session in progress, please select anothe time".

We need a fix ASAP and the fact nobody has responded (since the 03.01.07) from Skype and or suggested any resolution is very poor and very, very very frustrating

A response to our post would be much appreciated just so that we know you are aware and still trying to overcome the problem with an approx !

Chris

I tried to run a Skypecast tonight at 9pm and it had already started at 8pm. I couldn't moderate it either and there are no instructions how to use it.


ITS VERY POOR

andrewdavidlong,

The one hour off is probably caused by a daylight savings setting. I had that problem before. After I uncheck the "Automatica adjust for daylight savings" box on the option page (https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/settings/settings.html), the issue is gone. Good luck with that.

Hi Danielle

I have already had this set up and still no joy. I also tried to start the session early which worked to get me in my Skpyecast, but I could not use the controls to bring people in and out of the talking mode.

Basically it was either all able to chat and make loads of noice including the idiots or all muted - so I decided to cancel the session rather than have 46 people all able to chat at once - come on Skype this needs sorting a s amatter now of priority !!

Chris

I am working with a MANUAL OVERIDE fix. While awaiting SKYPECASTS (REMEMBER- IT´S IN BETA TEST, WE ARE PRIVILEDGED TO HAVE THESE PROBLEMS)

I go to My Skypecasts page, and enter into the scheduled SKYPECAST that is to START in a couple minutes.
I click EDIT.
And in the field for Start Now or Start Later, I click START NOW.

The link doesn´t change, so if you have advertised the link, it will appear seemless to the end-user.
Just requires that you do the triggering of the SKYPECAST before their automatic system can ruin it.

Thanks to Rah for the good ideas!

Adrian

Danielle - I've just unticked the DST box and its now saying the right time - big thanks. Before I used to set up Skypecasts for 1 hour hence

Also I do not IE7 for hosting a skyoecast - I use Netscape instead because with IE7 you don't get all the hosting screens - found this out through bitter experience

But at least we should be thankful - remember its only beta software and is bound to be a pile of poo !

Could you imagine if Airbus released a beta A380 for the general public or Boeing did the same

andrewdavidlong, I am glad it worked out for you. I owe my big thanks to another developer Marian who figured this out.

I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me the "Skypecast has already finished!" problem occurs less recently. I guess Skype realized the increasing demand for Skypecasts from the user community and is scaling up to handle the volume.

WRONG! It still happens to me most of the time!

Well yet again Skype crapped out on me - For the third week running I was sat there watching the clock tick don till the 'Join this 'Skpecast' message appeared - it did and I did or rather tried to... 'could not connect' was the message and then I noticed the 'Started 26 minutes ago' message.

26 minutes ago!!! This was approx 2 mins after it was supposed to start. Kept trying to connect but after a couple of tries the message changed to 'This Skypecast has Finished'

Its enough to drive anyone to drink....

I think you have your start times messed up. Set yourself a private Skypecast lasting 15 mins to ensure that the time you start it for is the real time it starts. You may have the DST box ticked.

You may need to set it to start 1 hour later to cope with the european time.

A bit of prep and testing will pay different dividends - I had the same problem until I mastered it !

I wouldn't use the scheduling for now if you're having issues. Just create the skypecast to start right now. I can confirm having the same issues with the service.

Problem with Skypecast is the british programmers have not figured out what "adjust for daylight savings time" is. That is why your Skypecast is showing as Finished !

I live in Dallas (central US time) and if I click on "adjust for daylight saving time" (which Texas abides by, the time is off by an hour.

Let's see how long the goons programming Skyecast figures this one out. For now either un-check this option or select another time zone as a work around.

What do you mean by British Programmers ? Do you mean those who set Skypecasts up or those who produce the coding behind the screens ?

Yesterday I set my timezone to GMT London and unticked the box & saved it. Today - I went back in and its been set back to GMT Casablanca and the box is ticked again - seems like a bug to me. But then its only a beta and its bound to be full of holes.

Do you ever actually read a message before firing off an irrelevent reply??? And please stop dispensing that GMT advice like its some sort of cure-all. We all know it off by heart by now.

I've been at this about two months now and while it normally works okay just every so often it doesn't. Tonight was an example yet again. The Skypecast started okay and on time - after a while I wondered why nobody had turned in and checked the 'On Now' pages - no sign of my skypecast. Checked if it was accidentally set to private and it wasn't . It was just a case of non-appearance in the listing despite the program page saying it was running and inviting everyone to 'Join Now'

For me this problem doesn't show up when the skypecast begins. It shows exactly 1 hour before my scheduled end time. It seems the skypecasts always finish one hour early. 2 hour skypecasts finish at 1 hr after it begins. 3 hour ones finish at 2 hr, etc.

Tell you what - you keep on being rude to fellow posters & you will wonder why no one bothers to reply to your posts. I can get it to work - why cant you

I have tried a lot of advice given on here and either I am really. really stupid (no comments please) of the problems is so wide spread that it has multiple 'bugs'.

I suspect that Skype is now waiting for the clocks to change back !

This is so poorly handled to launch a product, have BIG software failure, ignore the complaints and people asking for a solution or 'temp' fix.

Why doesn't somebody (perhaps E Bay who paid $1.8 B USD to buy skype) who owns Skype, a decision maker, a manager a CRM be engaging with us and understand the problem and then keep us posted on what is being done - its not that difficult to listen and keep your customers informed - it wont be long before 'other' software will overtake skype and people move on - or perhaps this is the hidden agenda, who knows and who the hell from skype is talking !!

If I ran a business and gave the customer service received on here and kept people waiting over two months with no information, no completion date and no alternative - my business would be in a lot of trouble.

Chris

Chris - there is certaintly a bug with your own timezone being set back when you log into the options part of the your Skypecast. Despite setting mine to London (GMT) and unticking the DST box - this morning I have signed on and it says that my timezone is Casablanca and the DST box is ticked again. Its 0906 but Skypecast thinks its 1006.

Although I did a lot of 'pre-flight' checks re time zones - I was later unable to connect into my own family tree skypecast last Saturday - really annoying.

As to your comment about Customer Service - totally agree. I think Skype is run by technologists trying to run a business (and not customer facing business people) and they concentrate on those areas which make money - hence all the focus on Skype Pro which makes money and none on Skypecasts which are not revenue generating.

Is there a Moderator/Super User out there who could raise with the powers that be in Skype to get this sorted. Its about time these bugs were fixed.

International Time & Date offset issues- DEVELOPERS PLEASE READ!

I'm putting this long, detailed post up hoping that it will eventually get noticed by the Skype development team. Obviously its a free service and it's still in beta, so we cant really complain too loudly...but ultimately these kind of problems have a big negative impact on the skypecasting experience....

I have been having serious problems with the scheduling of my regular skypecasts ever since the USA implimented daylight savings. I host an international chat cast 3 times weekly. When I first started there were no problems with timing. However, things started to go wrong three weeks ago when the USA put its clocks forward by an hour (the change happened early than normal this year due to a desire on the part of government to save energy, I believe). I am guessing that the scheduling problem results from the fact that different time zones impliment daylight savings measures on different dates. In order to maintain the correct time differences across all time zones...time and date offesets neeed to be tweaked manually over a two to three week period until all time zones have made the shift. Nice as it would be to create an algorithm to make a universal adjustment, there is no way to program for variances in the human decision making process.

I live in Melbourne Australia (Eastern Standard Time GMT + 10). I have my computer’s clock correctly set to my own time zone. Also it is set to synchronize to the correct time once per day to a standard time source over the Internet. I have Skype set to use my computer's clock settings.


For illustrative purposes I will be referring to my chosen start time, i.e. the time that I entered when first creating the Skypecast (22:30hrs EST), as [T]

During the first week after the US changed its clocks, I was finding that the confirmation screen ‘Your Skypecast has been created’ would show [T]. . However, I would then hear from my regular participants that Skype had scheduled it for [T – 1HR]. Trying to fix the problem proved doubly confusing, because when I went back to change the time…I found that sometimes the Skype website would show me [T] and sometimes [T- 1HR]. The problem seemed to have been corrected briefly (ironically just before Europe and Australia changed their clocks), I did manage to correctly schedule at least one skypecast before we moved into daylight savings here in Melbourne. However, since our own clocks moved back the problem is worse. Now, sometimes I get an inkling of the problem from the Skypecast setup confirmation screen…Sometimes the confirmation screen returns [T], other times it will return [T-2HRS]…this makes it very very confusing and difficult to know what is going on. Generally however, once it gets processed and posted into Skype’s upcoming skypecasts schedule it turns into [T – 2hrs]. So in order to get it right I have to enter [T+2HRS] in the entry screen. Not only that, but when talking to a friend in Sydney…I hear that her displayed times for my skypecasts can be as far out as [T – 5HRS] !!!...she has identical time settings to me both in skype and on her computer.

There is a facility for editing the time and details for skypecasts, once one discovers an error…but it seems that using this makes the problems even worse. Last night for instance I discovered that my Skypecast was going to start at [T-2HRS]…(I'd been lulled into a false sense of security by an earlier success in scheduling ) ..I went to the Skypecast edit page and entered the time [T+2HRS] and breathed a sigh of relieve. However, when the time came to start the Skypecast…neither I, or anyone else could connect to it. I had scheduled it to run for 4 hours, but after a few minutes of trying to connect and having a variety of connection failure messages...I got the following message ‘The Skypecast has finished’. Then, on trying to set up another Skypecast..I got the error message ‘You already have another Skypecast running’...I've experienced that a few times before. Like a few other guys that have posted to this thread I've found that there is no fixing this error once it happens. Once you're out of your own skypecast, its game over... for that user ID anyway. Ultimately the only way I could get around this was to set up a brand new Skype ID and a brand new Skypecast, setting it to start immediately…This one went off without any problems...except for the fact that for most of the evening this was displayed on skype’s website along with the one non functional one. I have only ever had connectivity problems to skypecasts on those occasions where I have used the edit facilty to change times or details...it does look as if there is something seriously wrong with the edit functionality..presumably it results from information being updated in one part of the system and not another. Having made repeated edits to Skypecast details on previous occasions…I have found that these tend to experience sometimes fatal connectivity problems. So until the problems can be addressed...I guess the answer is dont attempt to edit the details of an existing skypecast. Delete the old one...and set up another.

I don’t know if current scheduling problems are now only confined to Australia…I know for sure that in the week immediately following the USA’s clock change, people in Europe were having problems. Maybe now that we have changed our clocks, the problem may be unique to Australia for the following reasons

1) Daylight savings changes mean that we move in the opposite direction to the Northern Hemishpere...difficult to get your head around...but when the northern hemisphre goes into summer we go into winter..creating a 2 hour increase between our real time differences)

2) For some reason a lot of web based time and date services seem to default to Perth time (Western Standard Time) when the user sets his / her country to Australia. This may seem logical to developers, as WST has the smallest time offest to GMT in Australia GMT + 8 and thus a good place to start)...However there is a snag with this...WST clocks never change... there is no Daylight savings scheme in western Australia, whereas CST (Adelaide) and EST (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane) clocks do use the DS scheme. Quite possibly the assumption that Australian clocks move in sync with Perth sync has been programmed into some commonly used web services at a higher level.

Anyway, suffice to say the problem is both confusing and annoying.. For those of us who are trying to make something of the skypecasting tool, it is really important to be able schedule our skypecasts…and do it correctly. There is nothing worse than having a Skypecast start 2 hours earlier than planned, or having a Skypecast that nobody can connect to…. This sort of experience can be guaratteed to turn repeat visitors away in droves...perhaps some will never ruturn..PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM

Melbourne / Sydney Time -winter = EST (eastern standard time) = GMT + 10
Adelade winter - CST (Central Standard time) = GMT + 9.5
Perth Time (WST) Western standard time = GMT + 8

Matt, thanks for the detailed post. I do not host skypecasts regularly, but I have experienced similar issues.

I am located in US Eastern timezone. Before the past weekend, skypecasts almost consistently finish one hour early. Since the daylight saving time change in UK and some other countries last weekend, skypecasts finish two hours early. When I say finish, it means anybody trying to join will get the "has finished" message. The website still shows Click Here to Join. The starting time also displays correctly for me, meaning it shows a particular skypecast starts at the time I intended for it to start. However, I suspect the internal clock that controls when it ACTUALLY starts and finishes are off - by two hours in my case.

I hope this thread will get someone's attention at Skype. Skypecast is a great tool that has attracted a lot of users since its inception. It is important for Skype to fix the existing bugs if not adding more features to Skypecast at this time.

I have also been experiencing this issue now since daylight savings time began in the USA. I have tried setting the time zone online in the options area (clearing the automatic correction check box etc.) also edited the profile in my Skype application. THe Skypecast shows up at the right time, counts down correctly but as soon as it is due to begin, I get a message saying that it has already finished. If I edit the Skypecast ahead of time and try to start it amnually, I get a server error from the Skype servers. There seems to be no workaround and regular listeners to our Skypecasts have presumably given up on us at this staqe.

Is there any hope that Skype will acknowledge this difficulty and implement a fix as a matter of urgency? If not, I think I will have to check out some of the other services offering this facility online.

Thanks!

Open Letter to Skype Support

I've little to add to this thread except that I am one more voice expressing frustration over this problem. Perhaps force of numbers can get your attention. My Skypecasts have been screwed up for several weeks now and I cannot find a cure.

This is Beta software and we are Beta users -- I bet you would find us to be very cooperative. But you guys need to communicate with us. As far as I know, this forum is the main channel of communication but we don't hear you.

I have an ugly suggestion that might work -- if anyone is listening. This may not be exactly a user friendly kindof thing but how about posting all times in GMT. This would be a great annoyance to all users *but* it would give users a way to solve their problems.

Or -- if anyone is listening, other than frustrated users like me -- give us some proper instructions as to how to work around this bug. Should we lie to the system about our time zone and/or DST? If so, what kind of lies should we tell.

Or, and again if anyone in any kind of authority is listening. At least acknowledge this problem and let us know you are working on a solution. Or at least let us know that you feel our pain.


Jim (just one more voice)
PS and BTW, thanks to all who have posted on this subject...

I have now exhausted all the options I can think of for solving this problem:

The host PC clock is set to GMT-7, with automatic daylight savings disabled
The Skypecast account is set to GMT-7, with automatic daylight savings disabled - the DST check box has sometimes re-checked itself automatically but at the beginning of a session the checkbox is cleared.
The Skype profile for the host user account is set to GMT-7

The Skypecast shows up as starting at the correct time and counts down correctly
As soon as the "join skypecast" link appears, Skype attempts to connect and fails, reporting that the Skypecast has finihsed
Meanwhile, the Skypecast on the web site continues to show that the Skypecast is ongoing

Any attempt to edit the Skypecast before it starts and to set it to start "now" is met with an error saying Skype is having problems with that Skypecast page and to return later.

Using a different account, it is possible to launch an immediate live Skypecast, though this does not appear in the Skype Directory for any length of time so only attracts opportunist listeners.

Skype support has so far suggested that we should make sure our host PC clock is correctly set - but it seems to me that the problem is more fundamental than this and is not on our end of the Skypecast but lies with the Skype system.

Any further suggestions or at least an acknowledgement that there is a problem would be welcome.

Graceopc2


More news - today I created a brand new Skype account and used it to set up a brand new Skypecast on the PC I would be using to host the event. I wanted to see if variables introduced by the PC might be causing the problem, or if it was inherent in the Skype account I was using.

I tested the system with a quick, private Skypecast which was set to start 10 minutes later and this actually worked (though the first time I connected to the Skypecast I could hear the contents of a Spanish language Skypecast that was somehow confused with the one I was attempting to host - on connecting a second time this rectified).

Based on this success, I set up a Skypecast to begin 4 hours later at our normal broadcast time. Sadly, this Skypecast failed with exactly the behavior noted above. I conclude it is not a problem in the account or a problem caused by setting up a Skypecast on one PC and hosting it on another.

I've been doing these Skypecasts since December. This server error message that the "Skypecast has ended" has bit many trying to come into mine during the final hour and now "hours". It bit me twice when I fell out and couldn't rejoin. Kind of disappointing to people in Waiting when the Host disappears. The trump to that was not being able to cancel the cast and start a new one because it said I had "one already in progress". Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I've written to Support for some suggestions since I've seen no official remarks or replies here in this forum. I'll pass along any reply that I get of substance.

Another thing that I'm curious about was a posting saying that the "Featured Skypecasts" are ones that require a pricey phone call to join? Is this real or someone just planting a hoax? It has been a mystery to me how one becomes "Featured" or appearing in the list in the client software window.

Anybody have experience with PalTalk?

Thanks.


http://www.xanga.com/worldmikel
http://blog.sina.com.cn/worldmikel

Dear Skype

The dire situation you now have in using Skypecasts is made even worse by your apparent disability in achieveing any 'fix'. It would appear that Skype maybe deliberately ignoring and driving people away, preventing any 'angle' to go around the problems - which are many and total. Strange that nobody from Skype is talking or offering any form of support and that every avenue to activate and use a Skypecast Schedued event is blocked !!

Regards

Chris

No news from Skype on this. Nothing's fixed. In fact, it has been getting worse. If you want to have 3 good hours of a Skypecast, set it for 5 hours in length and tell your visitors, via your directory summary, that if they get there in the last two hours, they'll not get in. This will be part of mine from here on out. The Skypecast is effectively over after hour 3.