What is wrong with the site? (Please read updated post #1)

muffler

I was trying to forward a PM I had previously sent but the text just disappeared from the box. I tried it again with other PM's both in the sent and received folders which had included previous replies and it was fine.

Tried again with a couple of other sent PMs (no replies included in text) and the same issue is occurring -original content has disappeared.

Edit/ Just after receiving a PM and when I hit reply the text has disappeared.

This site has gone to the dogs. More than a year now since these problems started and its still going on and on and on and on and on. Are you using Duracell batteries?

Boards.ie: Mark

muffler wrote: »

I was trying to forward a PM I had previously sent but the text just disappeared from the box. I tried it again with other PM's both in the sent and received folders which had included previous replies and it was fine.

Tried again with a couple of other sent PMs (no replies included in text) and the same issue is occurring -original content has disappeared.

Edit/ Just after receiving a PM and when I hit reply the text has disappeared.

This site has gone to the dogs. More than a year now since these problems started and its still going on and on and on and on and on. Are you using Duracell batteries?

This may sound a little odd, but could you give a step-by-step breakdown of what you do that leads to this? Also, because I have to ask, what OS and browser are you using? We'll try to replicate it here.

muffler

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

This may sound a little odd, but could you give a step-by-step breakdown of what you do that leads to this? Also, because I have to ask, what OS and browser are you using? We'll try to replicate it here.

First issue was when I wanted to forward a PM I had sent to someone else previously so I went to Private messages -> sent items -> clicked to open PM -> clicked on forward tab and hey presto, the text box was empty.

I then copied and pasted the content of the PM that I couldnt forward and went to the persons profile and sent it as normal. However when that person replied all was good until I hit the reply tab which led to the second issue whereby all the text in my original PM to that person together with their reply disappeared.

So I replied without any of the previous text and they replied again. I have now just hit the reply button tab and the text is there but only the text from the last 2 PM exchange.

So I received 2 PM replies from a user, one I can reply to with original text included and the other is just a blank text box.

The OS is W 8.1 and Im using Firefox 49.0.2

amtc

I'm getting a 503 back end feed error every night for the last week which resets itself by 5am.
Any advice

Boards.ie: Mark

amtc wrote: »

I'm getting a 503 back end feed error every night for the last week which resets itself by 5am.
Any advice

Are there any particular pages that seem to cause this? Are you on responsive or legacy site? And which OS and browser are you using?

amtc

Chrome on my android phone. Also chrome on my laptop running windows.

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi all,

Been talking with the tech guys about how errors are reported, and it would help everyone involved (yourselves included as it could help us get to the root of issues) if you could do the following.

Before submitting a bug report, please take the following steps to attempt to resolve it:

• Clear cache and cookies
• Restart your browser
• Try a different browser
• Try incognito mode
• Restart your machine
• Try a different computer
• Helpful link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-dont-load-troubleshoot-and-fix-errors

Should that not work, please include as much information as possible, including but not necessarily limited to:

• The URL of the page you were on when the error occurred
• Steps to reproduce the process
• Screenshots
• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• The results of the Diagnostics page - please delete the IP address line
• Whether you are using the Legacy or Responsive site
• Whether you are based in Ireland or overseas
• Whether you are in an office / operating behind a proxy/firewall

Thanks all!

Gadgetman496

Which Browser one was using should be added to that list.

Boards.ie: Ronan

Gadgetman496 wrote: »

Which Browser one was using should be added to that list.

Thanks for the suggestion Gadgetman, but users browser details are gleaned from the output of the diagnostics page: http://www.boards.ie/diagnostics.php

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE

Why are their so many problems?

my3cents

Triple posts http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057672131 5,6 and 7 .

PucaMama

Error 503 backend fetch all the time here

PucaMama

Can't do anything on here tonight with all the errors

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE

PucaMama wrote: »

Can't do anything on here tonight with all the errors

You need to do this stuff...

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

Hi all,

Been talking with the tech guys about how errors are reported, and it would help everyone involved (yourselves included as it could help us get to the root of issues) if you could do the following.

Before submitting a bug report, please take the following steps to attempt to resolve it:

• Clear cache and cookies
• Restart your browser
• Try a different browser
• Try incognito mode
• Restart your machine
• Try a different computer
• Helpful link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-dont-load-troubleshoot-and-fix-errors

Should that not work, please include as much information as possible, including but not necessarily limited to:

• The URL of the page you were on when the error occurred
• Steps to reproduce the process
• Screenshots
• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• The results of the Diagnostics page - please delete the IP address line
• Whether you are using the Legacy or Responsive site
• Whether you are based in Ireland or overseas
• Whether you are in an office / operating behind a proxy/firewall

Thanks all!

PucaMama

Do you want me to post while doing back flips too?

The issue is their end.

PucaMama

PucaMama wrote: »

Do you want me to post while doing back flips too?

The issue is their end.

Yes maybe it is, but they need this information to help in pinpointing where the fault is.

Felix Jones is God

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yes maybe it is, but they need this information to help in pinpointing where the fault is.

The majority of boards users couldn't do what's being asked there, and a few more wouldn't be arsed .

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

The majority of boards users couldn't do what's being asked there, and a few more wouldn't be arsed .

Ah, its fairly basic stuff. Looks more than it is.

Felix Jones is God

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE wrote: »

Ah, its fairly basic stuff. Looks more than it is.

If you're on a phone and technically challenged it isn't.
You'll see the reports here drop to nothing

rex-x

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

Hi all,

Been talking with the tech guys about how errors are reported, and it would help everyone involved (yourselves included as it could help us get to the root of issues) if you could do the following.

Before submitting a bug report, please take the following steps to attempt to resolve it:

• Clear cache and cookies
• Restart your browser
• Try a different browser
• Try incognito mode
• Restart your machine
• Try a different computer
• Helpful link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-dont-load-troubleshoot-and-fix-errors

Should that not work, please include as much information as possible, including but not necessarily limited to:

• The URL of the page you were on when the error occurred
• Steps to reproduce the process
• Screenshots
• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• The results of the Diagnostics page - please delete the IP address line
• Whether you are using the Legacy or Responsive site
• Whether you are based in Ireland or overseas
• Whether you are in an office / operating behind a proxy/firewall

Thanks all!

It is not really reasonable to expect people to do any of this, unless it was maybe trying to track down a very rare very unusual issue. The issues are so big and so widespread the question has to be asked, wtf is going on with the developers?
This site isn't particular complex from a development perspective and hasn't a gigantic userbase to deal with. The ongoing issues are really inexcusable and I think its high time lines were drawn and things changed drastically around here. If that means starting again with a new dev team and a new site then so be it but something is really not working currently.

Boards.ie: Ronan

Hi,

While I realise that it might be an arduous enough task for some to provide the information that Mark specified, the tech team need it to be able to reproduce, diagnose and then fix issues.

Posts like

Can't do anything on here tonight with all the errors

give us absolutely nothing to go on at all. I accept that not everyone will be able to complete the list of details but as much detail as possible is needed for us to be able to fix.

AlmightyCushion

I seemed to be having nothing but 503 errors whilst using the responsive site on my phone for weeks now. Sometimes it was grand othertimes it was useless and I had to reload the page up to 10 times to get it to load. Switched back to legacy a few days ago and haven't had one since (if I had realised I could go back to the legacy site I would have done much sooner). Browser is Chrome on Android. Location was mostly Ireland but also a few days in Germany (had the same issues in both places).

muffler

Boards.ie: Ronan wrote: »

Hi,

While I realise that it might be an arduous enough task for some to provide the information that Mark specified, the tech team need it to be able to reproduce, diagnose and then fix issues.

Posts like

give us absolutely nothing to go on at all. I accept that not everyone will be able to complete the list of details but as much detail as possible is needed for us to be able to fix.

Tbh you have been given numerous details over a long and sustained period and here we are over a year later and the site is still riddled with ongoing errors.

Im on several other discussion forums and I dont see any of this pissing about so what exactly is the problem then? Are the resources not there? Are the current tech team not capable of resolving these issues?

Im sorry if that comes across as being harsh but at this stage I have to say that we have never been given a definitive answer as to what exactly the problem is and how and when it will be fixed.

As a mod here I dont think its helping me perform my role therefore I dont intend to hang around to listen to the same apologetic dribble day in and day out.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Morning folks.
I understand it is frustrating when you try to use the site and experience errors or cannot access it at all. Ronan was simply explaining that the guys need information when there is an error. It's not an unreasonable request. We don't expect everyone to be able to provide ALL of the information requested but just to give as much of it as possible. The site is huge and there are several different ways in which any one element of it might stop working; this is why we need users help in providing details - what you were doing when it happened, what error you got, what page you were on, etc. all help the team to pinpoint the source of the error. "It is broken" is pretty useless without any further details so we're encouraging users to give as much detail as possible to help us eliminate bugs and other issues.

Muffler - Ronan was simply explaining the reasoning behind their need for extra information in order to help users and resolve bugs. There was no need to get shirty with him.

To address some of your points - the site is large and old and it is to be expected that things go wrong from time to time. This is one of the main reasons we are working on getting off vBulletin. A large amount of time and resource is going into exactly this.

The problem and perhaps answer to your question is we don't have a huge tech team; we don't have huge resources. We test things before they go live but we cannot test exhaustively and sometimes something will go awry and cause some errors. Users always make us aware of these errors fairly early on and we will either roll back the change if possible, or investigate the issue with a view to fixing it. If we don't get enough details about the error and cannot replicate it here, it cannot be investigated. As above, we do not have huge resources and investigating blindly is essentially like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I'm sorry you feel that certain errors are preventing you from modding as best you can; if you can give some of the details requested about those specific issues, we'll add them to the list of issues to be investigated. If you have given the details in previous posts, they'll be on the list already. Thanks.

Sully

Patient: "Hey Doctor, I ain't feeling too well at the moment"
Doctor: "Why, what seems to be the problem?"
Patient: "Go figure it out yourself lad, I don't have time for this nonsense!"

Ah here lads will ye just try give it a bit of a structure/system to your reports. 199 pages mixed with rants, ravings, bugs reported, bugs fixed, etc. Mostly with the tech lads stabbing in the dark and trying to figure out what possibly is causing the patient to be sick with little to go on. If we want this site to work, to progress, than stop whining that it's not working and try give something to the team that they can actually use and go on to fix the damn problems. Now, lets just say we do all this and the Boards Team still don't do anything - than rant, curse, swear, protest etc.

AlmightyCushion

Sully wrote: »

Patient: "Hey Doctor, I ain't feeling too well at the moment"
Doctor: "Why, what seems to be the problem?"
Patient: "Go figure it out yourself lad, I don't have time for this nonsense!"

Ah here lads will ye just try give it a bit of a structure/system to your reports. 199 pages mixed with rants, ravings, bugs reported, bugs fixed, etc. Mostly with the tech lads stabbing in the dark and trying to figure out what possibly is causing the patient to be sick with little to go on. If we want this site to work, to progress, than stop whining that it's not working and try give something to the team that they can actually use and go on to fix the damn problems. Now, lets just say we do all this and the Boards Team still don't do anything - than rant, curse, swear, protest etc.

I agree that people should give a bit more information other than 'the site's fecked' when reporting they have an issue. But the details the tech team have requested is akin to the doctor in your analogy asking you to get an x-ray, MRI, blood tests, etc before even asking you what the problem is. People need to provide more information but the amount the dev team is expecting from an ordinary non-techy user is borderline ridiculous and I say that as a techy user.

Boards.ie: Niamh

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I agree that people should give a bit more information other than 'the site's fecked' when reporting they have an issue. But the details the tech team have requested is akin to the doctor in your analogy asking you to get an x-ray, MRI, blood tests, etc before even asking you what the problem is. People need to provide more information but the amount the dev team is expecting from an ordinary non-techy user is borderline ridiculous and I say that as a techy user.

We never said we expect ALL of that info in every report. Would it be helpful? Sure. Would it be nice? Absolutely!
But we know our users range from those who barely know what a browser is to the highly technical folk who could nearly tell us how to fix a problem before we've even looked at it. Wherever a user falls on this scale, we're just asking for as much info as possible after 'it's not working'.

Boards.ie: Mark

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

Hi all,

Been talking with the tech guys about how errors are reported, and it would help everyone involved (yourselves included as it could help us get to the root of issues) if you could do the following.

Before submitting a bug report, please take the following steps to attempt to resolve it:

• Clear cache and cookies
• Restart your browser
• Try a different browser
• Try incognito mode
• Restart your machine
• Try a different computer
• Helpful link: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/websites-dont-load-troubleshoot-and-fix-errors

Should that not work, please include as much information as possible, including but not necessarily limited to:

• The URL of the page you were on when the error occurred
• Steps to reproduce the process
• Screenshots
• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• The results of the Diagnostics page - please delete the IP address line
• Whether you are using the Legacy or Responsive site
• Whether you are based in Ireland or overseas
• Whether you are in an office / operating behind a proxy/firewall

Thanks all!

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I agree that people should give a bit more information other than 'the site's fecked' when reporting they have an issue. But the details the tech team have requested is akin to the doctor in your analogy asking you to get an x-ray, MRI, blood tests, etc before even asking you what the problem is. People need to provide more information but the amount the dev team is expecting from an ordinary non-techy user is borderline ridiculous and I say that as a techy user.

A balance can be struck between giving us everything above and doing nothing. If we're going to use the health metaphor, trying to resolve it yourself is akin to resting, trying Lemsip, etc. before rushing to the doc with a cold (though, let's face it, it's probably Lupus ).

A first port of call when something doesn't work online is often to clear cache and cookies (How To). Another browser or incognito mode could actually help too (Incognito has been a fix for 404 errors on mobile). And if these work, this info could also help us - and in the meantime gives everyone some temporary relief.

When it comes to reporting, the more information that can be given, the better. It doesn't have to be everything and you don't have to be technical minded to provide some useful information, including links to pages where the error occurred, steps and/or screenshots (especially in the case of unusual errors or where people are reporting that a screen doesn't look as expected), the Diagnostics report, and info like what site version you're using and where you're based.

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Morning folks.
I understand it is frustrating when you try to use the site and experience errors or cannot access it at all. Ronan was simply explaining that the guys need information when there is an error. It's not an unreasonable request. We don't expect everyone to be able to provide ALL of the information requested but just to give as much of it as possible. The site is huge and there are several different ways in which any one element of it might stop working; this is why we need users help in providing details - what you were doing when it happened, what error you got, what page you were on, etc. all help the team to pinpoint the source of the error. "It is broken" is pretty useless without any further details so we're encouraging users to give as much detail as possible to help us eliminate bugs and other issues.

Muffler - Ronan was simply explaining the reasoning behind their need for extra information in order to help users and resolve bugs. There was no need to get shirty with him.

To address some of your points - the site is large and old and it is to be expected that things go wrong from time to time. This is one of the main reasons we are working on getting off vBulletin. A large amount of time and resource is going into exactly this.

The problem and perhaps answer to your question is we don't have a huge tech team; we don't have huge resources. We test things before they go live but we cannot test exhaustively and sometimes something will go awry and cause some errors. Users always make us aware of these errors fairly early on and we will either roll back the change if possible, or investigate the issue with a view to fixing it. If we don't get enough details about the error and cannot replicate it here, it cannot be investigated. As above, we do not have huge resources and investigating blindly is essentially like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I'm sorry you feel that certain errors are preventing you from modding as best you can; if you can give some of the details requested about those specific issues, we'll add them to the list of issues to be investigated. If you have given the details in previous posts, they'll be on the list already. Thanks.

You know you've been asked whats wrong with the site every couple of weeks for the guts of a year and you've only now bothered to reply. Have ye got stuff going "live" every week for there to be so many bugs?

OCEANIC FIZZY POP NINE

Double posts, double posts everywhere.

Here 1 example, not mine.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101734398&postcount=309
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101734399&postcount=310