Question

Description:

This problem began sometime around Thursday October 4, 2012.

HTTP trace shows response code 500 – Internal Server Error from http://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/submit_page/.

Repeated button clicks sometimes clear the problem, otherwise a cache refresh using developers.facebook.com/tools/debug for the shared URL is required.

We use the following “flavor” of sharer.php:

http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?s=100&p%5Bmedium%5D=103&p%5Burl%5D=url&p%5Bimages%5D%5B0%5D=imageUrl&p%5Bsummary%5D=summaryText&p%5Btitle%5D=titleText

Example shortened share links:

• http://on.fb.me/RiDHzy
• http://on.fb.me/OaHFwh
• http://on.fb.me/VFNSCd

You can tweak the value of the p[url]=url ta_pid querystring parameter to bust the FB cache.

Expected Behavior

• Share This Link page is displayed.
• Click Share Link button.
• Link is shared to your Facebook timeline.

Actual Behavior

• Share This Link page is displayed.
• Click Share Link button.
• Nothing visible happens.
• HTTP trace shows response code 500 – Internal Server Error from http://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/submit_page/.
• Repeated Share Link button clicks sometimes cause link to share successfully.
• After a cache refresh using developers.facebook.com/tools/debug for the shared URL — p[url] — clicking the Share Link button will cause link to share successfully.

Answer 1

It appears that Facebook has fixed this problem after escalation through multiple channels.