I posted this in another thread here:   
  https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,21157.msg296184.html#msg296184
see which reports from other users, and their apparent cause analysis.

I'm elevating to a new topic here, because this is a Critical Showstopper Bug.  It's likely the BitShares community has been silently losing prospective users since January.

===
As of July-12 (v2.0.160702) this bug is still present.  I'm building from source under Linux.

My blockchain sync is jammed on block 2821722,  presumably because, as roadscape found, the next block 2821723 has a huge text (the bible -- typical graffiti  blockchain vandalism).

This needs to be fixed *immediately*,  or provide a workaround  in top level documentation. 

This seems like an insidious CRITICAL bug, throttling the entire BitShares ecosystem,  *No New Users* !!  Everything seems to be working for the old-timers, who already have the chain, while new users are throwing up their hands and silently leaving (possibly in droves, over the last several months, SINCE JANUARY!!)   It's incredibly frustrating to follow official documentation (which is already scattered, incomplete, outdated) and run into inexplicable jams like this.

I've been hammering on it for week++, trying to bring up BitShares as a new user, and only tunneled this far with relatively high expertise and perseverance.  (found issue, searched, confirmed bug, made this account specifically to alert you all, ...)

In a sense, we don't actually have a working software or blockchain at the moment.  It's a closed system,  no new users!

Please fix it!!

===

As further comment on the bug, how did that huge text get in the field?  The protocol should have limits built in for all these fields,  and the rest of the code needs to enforce and handle up to those known edges.  As the user base expands, you can expect plenty of accidental and malicious error injection like this.

Also, the release process should include a complete source build and blockchain sync from scratch,  on "typical" hardware.   If that's too onerous to do for every platform, at least cycle through one platform each release.

It would also help to update the official build/sync documentation as part of the release process.

Thanks to everyone for this excellent, advanced cryptocoin, exchange, ecosystem !


BTS id: miner9r   
(computing expert, new bts user, please send me donations for my informative or helpful postings)

==================
STATS FROM cli_wallet:

about
{
  "client_version": "v2.0.160702",
  "graphene_revision": "3f7bcddd2546b1a054c8d46193db4efa19eab3e3",
  "graphene_revision_age": "10 days ago",
  "fc_revision": "31adee49d91275cc63aa3a47b3a9e3c826baccca",
  "fc_revision_age": "16 weeks ago",
  "compile_date": "compiled on Jul 12 2016 at 11:35:42",
  "boost_version": "1.58",
  "openssl_version": "OpenSSL 1.0.2h  3 May 2016",
  "build": "linux 64-bit"
}


get_dynamic_global_properties
{
  "id": "2.1.0",
  "head_block_number": 2821722,
  "head_block_id": "002b0e5a206413b5f17ee209705b51b3cb90fa4c",
  "time": "2016-01-20T09:28:42",
  "current_witness": "1.6.38",
  "next_maintenance_time": "2016-01-20T10:00:00",
  "last_budget_time": "2016-01-20T09:00:00",
  "witness_budget": 94350000,
  "accounts_registered_this_interval": 0,
  "recently_missed_count": 0,
  "current_aslot": 2839861,
  "recent_slots_filled": "340282366920938463463374607431768211455",
  "dynamic_flags": 0,
  "last_irreversible_block_num": 2821705
}

info
{
  "head_block_num": 2821722,
  "head_block_id": "002b0e5a206413b5f17ee209705b51b3cb90fa4c",
  "head_block_age": "25 weeks old",
  "next_maintenance_time": "25 weeks ago",
  "chain_id": "4018d7844c78f6a6c41c6a552b898022310fc5dec06da467ee7905a8dad512c8",
  "participation": "100.00000000000000000",
 ...
}