Download Bids button on the DApp returned an empty json file

[DutchBoyd]

Using Chrome + Metamask extension. I made a bid for "content.eth" for ~ 2.2 ETH. The transaction went through fine.

TX ID : 0x5eba1fcd644e749d21b9311c0d0f62318f21c00e81012a98cf788b0acf817cc1

Popup window prompted to download bids. Clicked the button and downloaded an empty json file. I open and check these right away, and the file just contained a single line:

[]

I clicked the download button again. Downloaded another empty json file. I start panicking. Shut down Chrome. Restart. Watchlist is still there. Export bids link on the bottom right is nowhere to be found. I go to the console.

Try typing MyBids.findOne{("content")}. Undefined. I look in local storage. It's full of stuff. I filter for "content" but only see a hash: and _id: value. Nothing that looks like a secret or hexSecret that I might be able to import in the DApp or over at MEW.

I feel deflated and afraid to make another bid through the DApp. I'm keeping my computer powered on, hoping I might be able to figure out a way to pull that secret out of memory. Also thinking maybe there'd be a way to pull it out of my home router. Or perhaps a way to regenerate it using my Metamask private key.

I would suggest perhaps allowing (or even requiring) users of the DApp to submit their own generated secret as MEW does. Any help or advice you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

ens-bids-backup_2017-05-14T01-52-53.135z.json.txt

[DutchBoyd]

After talking with Nick and Yuan in the gitter channel, I think the problem is most likely that the local storage is filling up. And yeah, that means my ether is gone and in the lava.

I'd suggest a few things here:

(1) Allow the user to submit a secret with their bid, rather than have the secret generated randomly and potentially dropped. MEW does this with their bids. It would prevent Ether from being lost due;

(2) Stop loading up the garbage names on the front page... the "recently won" "last chance" and "recently opened" names seem to be filling up local storage constantly whether I am on that front page or not.

(3) I still think the idea of burning unrevealed bids rather than returning should be reviewed. The extortion threat seems to be a bit of a stretch, especially compared to the very unfortunate reality of early adopters losing big chunks of ether due to UI glitches, lost secrets, accidents and acts of god, or other hurdles to getting that reveal transaction on the block chain. I'm starting to wonder if the ENS team just enjoys the smell of burning ether.

[Laramie43ip]

"I still think the idea of burning unrevealed bids rather than returning should be reviewed."

Definitely agree with you there. I've lost over $1,000 in USD equivalent on bids that I have a confirmed transaction hash for. Whether it's memory leaks with Chrome or something else, I'm not qualified to say. But, I'm not sure there's much the ENS team can do about it now.

I will say that Nick Johnson and the rest there have been super responsive. I would also encourage anyone struggling with these issues to switch to bidding with MyEtherWallet. That process is different but you're much less likely to have ether burned through no fault of your own.

Overall, I'm still incredibly impressed with what the ENS team has accomplished. There are some glitches, but they always seem at the ready to try to help, even if nothing ultimately can be done.