Polling thread?!??!

Hi,

I have a web app that needs to be controlled from an iSeries dataque. The 
iSeries sends control messages on a dataqueue on end and start of day and my 
webapp reads the messages from the queue in a polling thread, reading with a 
wait of -1. Whenever a message appears, the webapps status should switch to 
STOPPED, STOPPING, or RUNNING. 
The problem is that some of the messages seem to disappear. It looks like they 
are retrieved from the queue but not processed. The behaviour is unpredictable, 
sometimes the thread handles the message correctly after sending repeated 
control messages and the webapp responds correctly. For instance, I have to 
send 3 or more repeated STOP messages until the thread responds.
Can someone tell me how a robust polling mechanism should be implemented, so 
that every control message is handled?

Kind regards,

Jeroen de Wolf