User blog comment:Theultimatesorafan/Anyone having problems with Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer?/@comment-496987-20140109190023

Rockstar has recently acknowledged the issues with RDR so hopefully that means they have not decided to not fix whatever happened to their servers.

http://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/200146536--Updated-1-6-14-Lag-slowdown-glitches-in-Red-Dead-Redemption-multiplayer

The general consensus seems to be that someone (or a group of someones) attempted to hack the game a few weeks ago and ended up messing things up for everyone. As a result there are piles of problems that include, but are not limited to, NPC's stuck in the ground at MacFarlane's and Armadillo, unlimited XP being granted when you shoot the stuck NPC's, horses not coming when called, some players being invisible when in session, guns not spawning properly, hideouts not spawning enemies and auto-completing as soon as you enter, problems getting stuck on the loading screen when accessing online or switching between game sessions or activities, etc.

The public glitches seem to be directly related to the whole mess at MacFarlane's, so if you join a session where people are using the glitch at MacFarlane's to get unlimited XP your whole session will be messed up. If you switch sessions, you seem to take the glitches with you. However, if you get into a session on your own or with friends and stay away from MacFarlane's or Armadillo, then kick all others who join the session you have a better chance of things being OK.

Private sessions seem to be ok since you are the only one there so as long as you avoid MacFarlane's and Armadillo everything should work fine. It has nothing to do with R* "fixing" private sessions, it's just that the sessions are much less likely to get glitched since the only people in the session are those who were invited.

Based on some posts R* has made on their support forums it seems like the issues are being investigated and will be resolved at some point.