Problems with shared associations near expiration

[Drew Clippard]

I'd be interested in hearing clarification on this issue, too.

In my experience, I've seen issues with both Java and Ruby relying
party libraries and stateful associations.  When dealing with a large
volume of log-ins near the boundary of association expiration, some
users end up getting a bad experience (the equivalent of a "log-in
failure" in their eyes) through no fault of theirs.

It seems the that the only reasonable fix is for relying party
libraries to somehow compensate for this.  Is that right?

I'm guessing that since no such fix has been implemented in these
libraries, that one of (or possibly many) of these less-desirable
outcomes tend to be taking place out in the wild:
1) OPs cranking up their lifespan of associations.  This workaround
sacrifices security and doesn't really address the problem.  It just
makes the negative side effects happen less frequently.
2) OPs implementing potentially surprising behavior (similar to the
DotNetOpenAuth OP described above)--where the OP is ignoring
association handles that are close to expiring, yet not returning an
invalidate_handle.
3) RPs opting to use stateless associations exclusively (despite the
OpenID spec's encouragement otherwise).
4) RPs having to forgo common libraries and implement their own
association management utilities that continue to accept
"late-arriving" assertions during a grace-period window.
5) RPs having to forgo common libraries and implement their own
association management utilities that establish new associations well
in advance of the expiry of existing, still-valid associations.

So, I second Mr. Randall's request for clarification on the spec?
Which party (RP or OP) should be addressing this issue and how?

Of the 5 options described above, 1 and 3 seem clearly undesirable,
and 2 would only feel comfortable with some acknowledgement from the
spec body.  4 and/or 5 seem reasonable.  Yet, some guidance from the
spec authors would undoubtedly add some expediency to such
enhancements being implemented in these various projects.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

--Drew