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[quote user="Quillan"]Seeing as you have only made 23

posts over four years and virtually all of those have been asking for

help I don't think that you will be missed that much. For somebody with

your background… etc. [/quote]

[quote user="Clair"]…you are probably right to go "off

somewhere else". I'm quite sure I won't miss you.[/quote]

Or  (an alternative form of words) :    How nice  -  and what a refreshing change  -  to hear from an infrequent poster. 

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Someone is being paid to produce this cr4p software and now we're doing their system testing and user acceptance testing for nowt!!

I worked in IT for more years than I care to remember (over 40, just remembered) and I would have been sacked for giving clients stuff like this.

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[quote user="Quillan"]Seeing as you have only made 23 posts over four years and virtually all of those have been asking for help I don't think that you will be missed that much. For somebody with your background… etc. [/quote]

[quote user="Clair"]…you are probably right to go "off somewhere else". I'm quite sure I won't miss you.[/quote]

Q, Clair,

 

I realise that this has put you and the other mods under a great deal of strain - none of which has been of your making or in your gift to influence, but I think your rebuke is totally uncalled for - notwithstanding the number of posts and level of support from Roger888.

 

He has in fact simply articulated what I suspect many if not most of us feel.

 

Q - even you have been locked out of the system, so you must understand the frustrations of others who have no link to the powers that be.  They can only articulate their feelings here.

 

Like others here I have been involved with many major software changes (but as a user rather than IT project driver) - some have gone smoothly, some less so; but with every software change I have been involved with:

1.  Key people are chained to their desks during the change and not allowed to wonder off and be out of internet and email contact during the critical introduction phase - sorry James but that is how it should be.  We have cancelled holidays for less.

2.  There is a group of IT professionals available to field problems, and who give feed back on what is happeneing and what is going to happen, what are the fixes and what are the work arounds.  The silence from Archant and its IT "professionals" has been deafening.  In fact it seems it has been us who have found every single work around that at least makes this pile of junk function in any way at all.

3.  Users have been advised in advance of what is going to happen, what the impacts might by, and how to make contact if there is a problem.

 

I have now probably broken just about every rule in the code of conduct but it had to be said.

 

I may be gone a little while

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I'm sure there are very very hacked off mods on here (cos mods are human too... [:P]) who've had enough of members bending their metaphorical ears over this inept change of forum software? appearance? (which, let's face it, is probably only so Archant can get their change in before another French forum unveils their upgrade) but mods telling a poster to sid off because a) they've complained, presumably out of simple frustration, b) they don't post much and c) when they do their posts haven't been worth much [:'(] is a little... surprising. [6]

If Mr Winner could actually register and post, he'd say it's only a forum, no one's life usually depends on posting here - it's not even that active a forum nowadays. The poorly implemented and tested changes ( so it seems to me) are irritating, but I can't see why so many prams appear to be empty of toys.

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I think I'm sorted but it was a bit of a struggle! I could see my old posts but not log in as me for a few goes. So I panicked and re-registered on the main part of the site and it didn't say 'that email address is already taken'... Hey ho, all okay now I think!
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andyh4, Roger888 has the right to be critical (we all have been during this week, believe me!) but I'm afraid being rude and demanding is just plain unhelpful. FWIW like every other organisation Archant have to move with the times, in this case to them it meant making their websites available and more compatible with things like internet enabled phones, net books etc. No doubt they hope this will encourage more viewers, which for a commercial organisation seems to be an entirely reasonable thing to do.

Its unfortunate that when this changeover took place the person the mods liaise with was away, however it was not originally expected to be a major change, in so far as the postings were all be transferred together with members log in etc. Obviously something went badly wrong, but surely its better to be part of the solution rather than add to the problem ? 

 

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What I am about to write is information purposes only and I (and my fellow moderators) have no intention of entering it to any debate on the issue.

 

As many older members will be aware the moderators are only here to moderate and ensure the Code of Conduct that we all agreed to is upheld. We have the right to take whatever action we consider correct with those that breach those terms. We are all volunteers, we get nothing, and I mean nothing, we used to get a free subscription to LF and a calender every year but have not done so for a few years now. I only mention this fact because some bright spark will say "ah but you get a free mag etc", well we don't. Right that's that bit out the way.

 

The moderators were informed a short time prior to the changes about them taking place. No consultation took place but then why should it, we don't run the forum just moderate it. The biggest change was to bring the stable of three magazine in to one place on the website. This would have meant moving the forum. Please note I mention moving and not changing, reloading, upgrading or anything. For those of you who are more IT orientated you will know that this meant just moving the forum and its associated software to another directory on the server and making the correct links. So technically nothing should have changed although unfortunately it appears it did.

 

Many will know that Archant is a very big company and that the three French magazines are but a minuscule part of its operation. The IS department is responsible for the day to day running of all the IT for the Archant group and yes our forum comes very near the bottom in the list of priorities.

 

The only point of contact the moderators have is with Forum Admin whose main job is to write articles for the magazines with only 5% of their job working with the forum. Unfortunately Forum Admin was in France when all this happened BUT they did leave instructions with IS to keep an eye on things even though they were assured nothing could go wrong. Going to France was not a choice Forum Admin had.

 

Does Archant have a 'test lab' with a test network they can test changes and update on before rolling changes out, I honesty don't know so I can't answer. From experience I can tell you that going that route does not guarantee a perfect roll-out without problems.

 

Even though it's not our job the moderators did try to contact the IS department in Forum Admins absence but they were very busy dealing with other problems not necessarily linked to the French side of their business.

 

There are two parts of the Code of Conduct that state...

Users must not post messages which:

  • Are insulting, abusive, racist, sexist, or derogatory in any way to others, whether they are individuals or companies, users of the Forum or not.

And

Use the service in a manner deemed inappropriate by Archant

The latter includes discussing how Archant runs it business or it's forum.

 

Normally a lot of what has been written in this thread would be deleted by the moderators but seeing as the moderators have the right at times to use their own judgement we have kept them. Better they are all in one place so we can watch and also perhaps it might not be such a bad thing for Forum Admin to see what the members think and how frustrated they are. HOWEVER that does not give people the right to be abusive towards Archant or to individuals including the moderators. I cannot and would not, for obvious reasons, give details of the person to whom I and Clair replied to in open forum but given their position and what they do for a living shows that their comments were stupid within that context, uncalled for, totally unprofessional, rude, obnoxious, insulting and a few more other things to boot.

 

Yes the moderators are pretty fed up about all this and believe me we have made out thoughts known to Forum Admin who as well as apologising to you has also apologised to us even though it was none of their doing and not their fault. On their return they have experience the same problems as the rest of us on the forum. They asked you all to give descriptions of your problems (for which we thank you) which have been passed on to IS which will be dealt with in good time. One thing we have learned when we had problems while back is that changes, because Archant uses a server farm, can take a while to propagate round their system so they can make a change and it can take several hours for it to take effect.

 

In some ways the moderators would like to apologise but then given the circumstances and what is in their remit it would be a bit pointless because it truth it is nothing to do with us. What we have done is pass all the information you have given us on to Forum Admin who has in turn forwarded them on to the Archant IS department.

 

As I have said none of the above is open for discussion but we would like to thank you all for 'sticking with it (or us)' during these difficult times and hope all these issues will be sorted out soon.

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I don't object to people complaining, moaning, ranting, venting their frustration...

You see sid's post at the top of page 23? I put it there. I moved it from another thread to this thread, where it undoubtedly reached a wider audience. So no, I don't object.

I do object to being singled out as making excuses for Archant, simply for asking people to list their problems clearly so they can be resolved.

I didn't tell anyone to "sid off". I merely wished him well on his way out.[Www]

I almost typed something along the lines of "don't let the door hit you

on the way out
", but I remembered this software and the

probability that the metaphorical door would be jammed anyway... [:P]
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If you have login issues:

Request a forgotten password. If you use this but it wont allow you in, it is likely you are inputting the wrong email address, you will need to input the email address you used for registration, not necessarily the email address you have now.

For technical issues please raise them in the appropriate threads:

Technical issues:

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2697225/ShowPost.aspx

Appearance issues:

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2697228/ShowPost.aspx

Thanks.

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I've now read the whole thread, so just for info it seems to all work okay using Safari on a MacBook (or perhaps that's because fixing has already been done?). I have the forum open in its own window, so to get rid of the lavender fields I just decrease the window size until only the actual thread is visible. And I turn down the brightness on the Mac, as has already been mentioned, to avoid a migraine. :)
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I too work in magazine publishing, admittedly for a smaller outfit than Archant, but with an infinitely smaller staff. I have a website to maintain, using a somewhat non-admin-friendly system (and would love the chance to include a forum, despite the extra work involved; in fact it's something I've been asking for for a long time). We went through a major change, it was over the Christmas/New Year period a year or two ago and I had, like my colleagues with other titles, just two or three days to transfer everything from an old system to the current one. It was made worse by the fact that I was in France, supposedly on holiday. We achieved it, not without a few problems and quite a long settling-down phase afterwards, but we did it. The fact that we did so was, as I pointed out at the time, due to the dedication of the staff involved - i.e. a couple of IT people and the individual editors - with a fair smattering of luck. Things went wrong, but could have been much worse. But it gave us an online product that was streets ahead of all our competitors, and in my opinion they are still a long way from catching up. That in itself was highly satisfying.

I mention this to prove that these things happen. They are an inevitable part of growing a publishing company. This forum may be important to some, but it is only a website, and nobody has been seriously harmed in the changeover process. In view of my own experience I would tend to agree that Archant maybe should have foreseen the potential for things going wrong, and having key people away at the time was shortsighted. And some warning would have softened the blow - even a post on the site saying that it would be down for a short time for an upgrade (which any other site owner would have done). But it's very easy to be wise after the event. Particularly as the forum has been through this sort of thing before, and arguably even less successfully in the past.

Please don't take your frustration out on the unpaid people who are the main link to Archant, or on any individuals. But please be constructive and add your comments in the correct topics on this forum. Archant should be glad of these, even the most comprehensive testing can't fix all the bugs for everybody.

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Well said, Will.  I think that the mods probably know that those who use the forum regularly (not necessarily post, but use it) know that it's not their fault and that we appreciate the job they do.  We've got Admin's e-mail address. To my mind we should making our feelings known to those  who are paid to get this right so that we get a forum we can use and which will attract advertisers so Archant bring it back up to scratch and keep it going.  Isn't that what we want?

 

I'm as guilty as anybody of having had a good moan on this thread.  Mostly, I reckon all would have been much better if we had had advanced notice, then I think even Archant might have got a bit of a sympathy vote. However, I've made some good (genuine, not just cyber) friends on this forum.  I hope they don't leave because of an IT c*ck up and a poorly managed changeover.  The forum isn't about that - it's about mutual support and help plus a little fun either having a good rant or a good laugh.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water along with the toys.

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Well Will I don't wish to be pedantic..... but I will. [;-)]

The system was, to the best of my knowledge, never actually down. If you went to the 'index' page of the old website you would, and still are, redirected to the 'new' site.

 

Testing should have been done by the IS department, did they test, I don't know.

 

As regards to Forum Admin being away there would have been little or nothing they could have done at the time other than mentioning there were problems which the moderators did manage to do eventually.

 

The forum is technically a very large and complicated database. Moving that amount of data around can cause problems (known as corruption) which are not always obvious. The rest of the website appears to be functioning with little or no problems.

 

As far as letting people know well the moderators were informed although at very short notice. Perhaps there was a certain amount of assumption that we would post something and some assumption on our part that Archant would have posted something. Whichever way round it was an oversight and something to be learnt for the future.

 

I am glad your upgrade went so smoothly.

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[quote user="cooperlola"]

so that we get a forum we can use and which will attract advertisers so Archant bring it back up to scratch and keep it going.  Isn't that what we want?

 

I'm as guilty as anybody of having had a good moan on this thread.  Mostly, I reckon all would have been much better if we had had advanced notice, then I think even Archant might have got a bit of a sympathy vote. However, I've made some good (genuine, not just cyber) friends on this forum.  I hope they don't leave because of an IT c*ck up and a poorly managed changeover.  The forum isn't about that - it's about mutual support and help plus a little fun either having a good rant or a good laugh.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water along with the toys.

[/quote]

This is an interim posting from me while another forum is down for a well publicised and I hope for them well planned upgrade, that is if I dont smash the screen in frustration with the page jumping out of view all the time!

I echo your sentiments and my reason for staying away is that I have nothing to offer except negativity, not being at all computer savvy, I do believe that if you have nothing good to say then say nothing hence my absence.

I miss the forum, as it was, not the software but the postings, the community etc, my fear is that unless prompt action is taken and judging by the past I am sceptical that it will, then the damage, perhaps fatal has already been done.

I do sincerely hope that I am wrong.

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[quote user="Chancer"][quote user="cooperlola"]

so that we get a forum we can use and which will attract advertisers so Archant bring it back up to scratch and keep it going.  Isn't that what we want?

 

I'm as guilty as anybody of having had a good moan on this thread.  Mostly, I reckon all would have been much better if we had had advanced notice, then I think even Archant might have got a bit of a sympathy vote. However, I've made some good (genuine, not just cyber) friends on this forum.  I hope they don't leave because of an IT c*ck up and a poorly managed changeover.  The forum isn't about that - it's about mutual support and help plus a little fun either having a good rant or a good laugh.  Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water along with the toys.

[/quote]

This is an interim posting from me while another forum is down for a well publicised and I hope for them well planned upgrade, that is if I dont smash the screen in frustration with the page jumping out of view all the time!

I echo your sentiments and my reason for staying away is that I have nothing to offer except negativity, not being at all computer savvy, I do believe that if you have nothing good to say then say nothing hence my absence.

I miss the forum, as it was, not the software but the postings, the community etc, my fear is that unless prompt action is taken and judging by the past I am sceptical that it will, then the damage, perhaps fatal has already been done.

I do sincerely hope that I am wrong.

[/quote]

Is it me or has there been some tweaking being done. It certainly seems better to me - if this does acually post then I am in non compatability mode, no white space at the top, no jumping about and I can post.

I do think Archant handled this change very badly - I normally enter by clicking on an item that I had viewed the previous day and just got a page not found. After 2 days of this phoned Archant to be told that I needed to login and hey presto there was the forum with several gremlins.

Hopefully it is now more stable and time to get used to a bit of lavender on the side.

Paul

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Well I'm sticking through thick and thin, hoping that it will all improve, following the listing of problems from so many people. It isn't at all easy for me to read and concentrate, so I'm reading/writing in short bursts.

I thank the mods for all their info, trying to keep us au fait; most of us do recognise that all is beyond their powers an also that of the administrator.  It has been very frustrating, and hope for better to come. Maybe in a couple of weeks, improvements will have been made and the community can come together as before; it has been such a great help with info, with support in bad times and great company in good.

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From my personal perspective........The forum appearance is certainly different, black type on a white background is fine for me to read.

The blue on blue also seems ok - different but ok.

1 cm of fields etc on each side of the screen I can live with.

Access to the 'active' threads is only a couple of extra mouse clicks from my chrome home page so that's not too bad.

All in all, whilst I don't care for the changes it's not too bad - so far.

I still can't include smilies in the text but I couldn't before, so no change there.
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[quote user="powerdesal"] 1 cm of fields etc on each side of the screen I can live with. [/quote]

Funny.  I have ten cms of border either side so lose 20cms  of my screen width leaving just under 30 cms of actual forum.

Also, now when I quote, half of the quoted post has fallen off the screen so I cannot read it whilst responding which is worse than it was, not better!

I'll re-post this in the technical problems thread.

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]I've killed the lavender..
[URL=http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f288/croixblanches/cf.png][IMG]http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f288/croixblanches/th_cf.png[/IMG][/URL]
[/quote]How did you do that?  Without changing browser, that is.
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