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Topic: What gives with Dilbert?
| Author | Message |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 12/14/2007 1:57:34 PM | show profile | email poster Why is it whenever I really want to reada topic, I get an error message saying that the page cannot be accessed and that Dilbert has been notified. The forum topic "What gives with SELF? (5)" has been unaccessible for at least one week. Augh. It's like as soon as Dilbert gets hold of it the topic is permanently dead. I don't mind being patient, but I do expect these sort of things to get fixed one day. Can anyone give me an eta? |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 12/27/2007 6:05:25 PM | show profile I'm waiting 19 days and counting for Dilbert to "fix" a thread in the Current Events section, without word one from anyone at mb. |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 12/27/2007 10:35:28 PM | show profile | email poster paging Greg, party of 1 how obnoxious, at least someone could say something. Where's the mb member relations director when you really need him? |
| mb_greg | Posted – 12/28/2007 12:54:49 PM | show profile | email poster I'm sorry you think it's "obnoxious" that we're short-staffed over the holidays, but we are working on the problem. The biggest hurdle is that we're not sure what the common thread is with the threads that are encountering error messages. In the past, we saw this with threads that contained non-standard characters, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. If anyone does notice any similarities between threads that cause errors, please let us know. In addition, when you do encounter Dilbert errors, please click the "send" button -- believe it or not, it does actually get logged. In the meantime, I'll continue to provide updates as they're available. Thanks. ------ Greg Membership Director mediabistro.com |
| Cyrus | Posted – 12/28/2007 1:13:11 PM | show profile Greg, Honestly, it's probably time for MB to dump this platform because it really doesn't perform optimally. I know having to work with poorly-performing tech isn't a dream for anybody, especially support personnel, but it is a little vexing why this problem can't be solved since Web-based forums are pretty common these days. Now that MB is part of JupiterMedia, they should have additional tech sources to draw from. (I say this having been an employee of the company years ago). Most of JupiterMedia's sites have the same elements as MB, at least collectively. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 12/28/2007 1:45:59 PM | show profile Greg, for being membership director, your first sentence was actually quite rude and unprofessional. And this is an ongoing problem that has nothing to do with being temporarily short-staffed for the holidays. |
| mb_greg | Posted – 12/28/2007 3:04:54 PM | show profile | email poster First of all, Mag Girl is right, and I offer my apologies for the snarky tone of my previous post. I was bothered by joyeuxnoelle's use of the word "obnoxious," which seemed to imply that there was some personal reason we hadn't responded (in other threads, people were accusing us of censoring posts based on their content). But I was wrong to let me emotions get the better of me, I do understand everyone's frustration, and we are trying to get the problem fixed ASAP. One additional thing you can do to help: When you encounter a Dilbert error message, you can also paste the URL into an email and send it to ag AT mediabistro.com. And Cyrus, we are definitely looking into alternate BBS platforms, although the problem is that it might require a separate login, which would cause a lot of confusion and customer-service headaches. So for now, the plan is to make improvements to the current platform. I'm always reluctant to get into too much detail on unreleased features, just because I never know which will actually be implemented, but I'm going to push very hard to add increased functionality that will make the forums more stable and easier to navigate. Thanks. ------ Greg Membership Director mediabistro.com |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 12/28/2007 3:24:43 PM | show profile Thanks for the explanation, Greg. I know folks are away, so Dilbert's busier than usual. Explanations such as yours help to keep down the guesswork and frustration from continued silence. I also recognize that this board is a free service, which I do appreciate. So, thanks to you and all the mb gang, and here's to a happy and healthy new year for all. |
| joyeuxnoelle | Posted – 12/29/2007 6:25:39 AM | show profile | email poster Well Greg, I felt I was within my right to use the adjective I used. My initial inquiry was very civilized. All I wanted was an acknowledgement of my post. As I mentioned in my initial post I could understand that the problem wouldn't be immediately fixed, I just wanted an eta or something. However, using the word 'obnoxious' proves a theory I've had for a while that the only way to get mb to respond to anything is to accuse them of some wrong doing. I'm glad Maggirl pointed out, and you acknowledged, that these problems *are on going* and have nothing to do with being short staffed. Thanks for getting back to us with an answer, which is all I wanted in the first place. If I have any further questions, I'll be sure to imply that mb denies members of access to ice cream or blocks npr or something. Best, jn Posted ? 12/27/2007 10:35:28 PM | show profile | email poster paging Greg, party of 1 how obnoxious, at least someone could say something. Where's the mb member relations director when you really need him? mb_greg Posted ? 12/28/2007 12:54:49 PM | show profile | email poster I'm sorry you think it's "obnoxious" that we're short-staffed over the holidays, but we are working on the problem. The biggest hurdle is that we're not sure what the common thread is with the threads that are encountering error messages. In the past, we saw this with threads that contained non-standard characters, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. If anyone does notice any similarities between threads that cause errors, please let us know. In addition, when you do encounter Dilbert errors, please click the "send" button -- believe it or not, it does actually get logged. In the meantime, I'll continue to provide updates as they're available. Thanks. ------ Greg Membership Director mediabistro.com Cyrus Posted ? 12/28/2007 1:13:11 PM | show profile Greg, Honestly, it's probably time for MB to dump this platform because it really doesn't perform optimally. I know having to work with poorly-performing tech isn't a dream for anybody, especially support personnel, but it is a little vexing why this problem can't be solved since Web-based forums are pretty common these days. Now that MB is part of JupiterMedia, they should have additional tech sources to draw from. (I say this having been an employee of the company years ago). Most of JupiterMedia's sites have the same elements as MB, at least collectively. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com Mag Girl Posted ? 12/28/2007 1:45:59 PM | show profile Greg, for being membership director, your first sentence was actually quite rude and unprofessional. And this is an ongoing problem that has nothing to do with being temporarily short-staffed for the holidays. mb_greg Posted ? 12/28/2007 3:04:54 PM | show profile | email poster First of all, Mag Girl is right, and I offer my apologies for the snarky tone of my previous post. I was bothered by joyeuxnoelle's use of the word "obnoxious," which seemed to imply that there was some personal reason we hadn't responded (in other threads, people were accusing us of censoring posts based on their content). But I was wrong to let me emotions get the better of me, I do understand everyone's frustration, and we are trying to get the problem fixed ASAP. One additional thing you can do to help: When you encounter a Dilbert error message, you can also paste the URL into an email and send it to ag AT mediabistro.com. And Cyrus, we are definitely looking into alternate BBS platforms, although the problem is that it might require a separate login, which would cause a lot of confusion and customer-service headaches. So for now, the plan is to make improvements to the current platform. I'm always reluctant to get into too much detail on unreleased features, just because I never know which will actually be implemented, but I'm going to push very hard to add increased functionality that will make the forums more stable and easier to navigate. Thanks. ------ Greg Membership Director |
