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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsA highlight can disappear after a device reconnects without showing an error or asking which version to keep. In Andy Stanly’s account of a production sync bug, the cause was a hidden mismatch: the server ordered changes by when it received them, not when the reader made them. A revised row-ordering rule helped, but older rows without timestamps and devices with incorrect clocks remained limits.
How an offline change became the newest change
Stanly designed highlights to remain usable offline and synchronize later across devices. The original policy treated each highlight as a last-write-wins register: a server-assigned, increasing server_seq determined which update prevailed.
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Consider two devices sharing a highlight. Device A goes offline for a week. While A is disconnected, Device B synchronizes changes. When A reconnects, the server assigns fresh sequence numbers to A’s queued edits. Those numbers are new because the server has only just received the edits—not because the user made them more recently. A later sync from B can receive still newer sequence numbers and overwrite A’s changes.
That is the ordering mistake at the center of Stanly’s account. A server sequence records server arrival or processing order. On its own, it cannot reveal the intended order of edits made on disconnected devices. As Stanly puts it, “The server sequence is a fact about when the server heard about the change, not about when the change happened.” Stanly’s incident account
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Why a deleted highlight could be hard to recover
Deletes complicated the conflict. Stanly describes a queued delete marking a row deleted, followed by another device briefly resurrecting it; another synchronization cycle could then make the tombstone prevail again. To the reader, the result could look like a highlight had simply vanished, with no conflict prompt explaining the competing edits.
Stanly reports that a production query found 41,208 rows with deleted_at IS NOT NULL, and that the most affected user had 412 tombstones. These are the author’s reported figures; they are not independently verified measurements or estimates of how common this problem is in other apps. The account says soft-deleted rows let Stanly run a one-off restoration script that recovered many highlights, but it does not claim every missing highlight was restored. Stanly’s incident account
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The row-ordering change Stanly made
Stanly says the revised comparison used a client timestamp captured when a change was made. For colliding writes, the later timestamp won; the server sequence served as a deterministic fallback when timestamps tied. This changes the ordering signal from server receipt time to the recorded time of the edit, while retaining a consistent tie-breaker.
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To reduce the effect of implausible client times, Stanly also says incoming timestamps were clamped to a plausible range around server time, with out-of-range writes logged. Those are implementation choices in this incident account, not a universal recipe or a guarantee that timestamps settle every conflict. Stanly reports that eleven out-of-range timestamps appeared over two months and attributed them to one model of low-cost Android tablet; the time window and device attribution are not independently verified. Stanly’s account of the change
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What the fix could not settle
A badly incorrect device clock can still make the edit order uncertain: a timestamp-based policy can trust a misleading time. The approach also could not fully restore older rows that lacked timestamps. Stanly’s report is a specific engineering account, not an independently audited case study; it does not establish that all lost highlights were recovered or that the same policy is right for every sync system. Stanly’s account of the change
How to think about conflicts in another sync system
There is no single conflict policy that suits every kind of data. Offline Protocol distinguishes last-writer-wins, retaining versions for a user to choose between, automatic merging, and authority-based decisions. When reviewing a design, the practical questions are:
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- Offline use: Can people continue working while disconnected, and what happens to queued edits when they reconnect?
- Ordering: Does the chosen signal represent edit time, server arrival, or some other authority—and what happens when devices disagree?
- Version survival: Are competing versions retained for review, or does one replace the other immediately?
- Merge safety: Can the data type be merged without silently changing its meaning?
- Deletes: How are tombstones retained, synchronized, and prevented from causing confusing resurrection or loss?
- Visibility and recovery: Are sync errors recorded, reviewable, and retryable, and is there a recovery path for data that cannot be reconciled automatically?
Microsoft Dataverse provides one official example of making sync errors visible: its documentation describes recording errors in a table with review and retry workflows. That illustrates an operational option, not a rule for every application. Offline Protocol’s conflict strategies; Microsoft Dataverse sync-error documentation
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For a broader treatment of conflicting writes, unreliable clocks, sync engines, and local-first software, see Designing Data-Intensive Applications, 2nd Edition, by Martin Kleppmann and Chris Riccomini. O’Reilly’s listing covers those topics, and Kleppmann’s publications page lists the edition as published by O’Reilly in March 2026. It is background reading, not a requirement for implementing Stanly’s specific change. O’Reilly book listing; Martin Kleppmann’s publications page
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- Kindle Paperwhite – 7“ Paperwhite display with high contrast ratio and fast page turns.
- Ready for travel – The ultra-thin design has a larger glare-free screen so pages stay sharp no matter where you are.
- Escape into your books – Your Kindle doesn’t have social media, notifications, or other distracting apps.
- Battery life for your longest novel – A single charge via USB-C lasts up to 12 weeks.
- Read in any light – Adjust the display from white to amber to read in bright sunlight or in the dark.
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