the delphic expanse

Problems where none had existed before

Report archive bugs and make suggestions here. Information about who is on shift for fic posting is also found here.

Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Aquarius » Wed May 02, 2012 7:59 pm

Basically, what EntAllat is saying is that telling us "it didn't work" doesn't tell us anything. It's like going to the doctor and telling him or her "I don't feel good" and saying nothing more about what's wrong with you. Is it your head? Your stomach? Pain? Nausea? Fever? Sinus congestion? Big toe feels like it's going to fall off?

Just like the doctor, we need a place to start in order to figure out what's wrong, so if you can copy/paste any error messages and tell us what you can about your browser (IE? Firefox? Which version?) and your operating system (Mac? Windows? Windows 7 or Vista? or what?), we can start to decode the "symptoms" and figure out how to fix it.

REGARDING POSTS/REVIEWS DISAPPEARING:

I cannot say this enough. Use Firefox, and download the LAZARUS ap. If you have Lazarus, you can recover your posts and reviews when they disappear on you. Just right click in the box where you type your message. A little icon with an ankh will appear, with the first few words of what you were typing. Click on the first few words, and -- TING!!! -- your message reappears without having to retype it or the frustration of having it lost forever.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby panyasan » Thu May 03, 2012 12:08 am

I posted my remark (with the text of the warning) in the first place, because I like reviewing and thought if I report it, it could be fixed in the near future.
Here is my official "problem form" : I use Internet Explorer, my computer is just a week old, I used the same procedure as always (I logged in with my name and password, went to the story, got my little box of reviewing, typed my review, pressed the button "submit") and got this warning:
Rating a story without writing a review is not allowed. You must write a review. With that, the review was gone. This happened to me twice.
If any extra information is needed, let me know.
BTW, I can't use Firefox, because that's not avaiable on my computer and I have no idea how to get Firefox on my computer. Any suggestion in this area are welcome.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Aquarius » Thu May 03, 2012 12:17 am

I don't think computers come pre-loaded with Firefox, you have to download it from the web. You can try this link, or Google Firefox and the first thing that comes up in the search should be the download page.

The Lazarus ap is the coolest thing on the planet -- or at least the most useful. :lol: Once Firefox is installed, you can download it through "add-ons", or just use this link.

I cannot recommend this tool enough! When I type, I have such a bad habit of not picking up my wrists, so I hit things I don't mean to hit...and the result is often chunks of texts or even entire posts being wiped out! :doh The Lazarus ap has saved me every time. I promise you'll love it!
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby panyasan » Thu May 03, 2012 12:29 am

Thank you - I still have to get used to the new computer and figure things out I normally don't have to think about. Yeah, I know, I am a creature of habit. Just hit the shower - it's 6.30 am here - and it daunted me that the whole problem could be my provider. I totally forgot that in fact I am using Internet Explorer now and given the warning at the Archive that provider gives problems with reviewing. No I am up to download Firefox for the sole purpose of leaving reviews. I can't live without them. :lol:
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Aquarius » Thu May 03, 2012 12:35 am

Just a word of caution -- the latest version of Firefox has had a few problems with the archive, too, but to my knowledge nowhere near what the IE9 issue was. We're going to replace tinymce with something else, because the software developer for the archive hasn't sent out any releases that make the text editors more compatible with the latest browser versions. So, expect a few more bumps in the road. You may have to uncheck the tinymce box when leaving a review, even with Firefox.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby EntAllat » Thu May 03, 2012 8:01 pm

tishkajaku wrote:This makes this NON techno savvy poster go. o-O


Whoops! Sorry about that. :geek: I just meant that technical details (what kind of computer you're using, what kind of software you're using, what happened) are really helpful to folks like me, when we try to figure out what went wrong so we can fix it.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Dinah » Sun May 06, 2012 9:34 pm

I just tried to respond to Panyasan's wonderful review and I got the same result as the first time. I wrote my respose and submitted it; it supposedly went through, but then there's nothing there. It just says, "Author's response." I use Windows and Internet Explorer - possibly 8.

I'm going to go ahead and post my response here and in a PM to Panyasan so she's sure to get it. I sure would like to know what I'm doing wrong.

It’s great to find out which parts of a story work for people. I’m glad you enjoyed the Trip and T’Pol scene at the beginning of the chapter. They don’t seem to get enough special time together, do they?

Your assessment of Admiral Kiran is very interesting. In some ways, he is a rather tragic figure. The universe is changing and he’s still clinging to the past. But I do like him, too.

I want to thank you for your review! I know the problems you had posting it. I truly appreciate your efforts very much.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Aquarius » Sun May 06, 2012 9:52 pm

I just took a look and my guess would be that it's the same bug that's taken out our welcome message and our Who Is Online at the archive. :( When we look at the guts of the system, the welcome message, etc. are still there, but they're not being displayed to the outside world for some reason. EntAllat fixed that once, but we were still experiencing SQL errors at the time due to problems on Yahoo's end. We'll try to muck about with it and get it solved soon. I just had finals and EntAllat had family visiting, but pretty soon here we should be able to get some work done on it.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience! 8-)
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby Aquarius » Fri May 11, 2012 9:14 pm

Dinah wrote:I just tried to respond to Panyasan's wonderful review and I got the same result as the first time. I wrote my respose and submitted it; it supposedly went through, but then there's nothing there. It just says, "Author's response." I use Windows and Internet Explorer - possibly 8.

I'm going to go ahead and post my response here and in a PM to Panyasan so she's sure to get it. I sure would like to know what I'm doing wrong.

It’s great to find out which parts of a story work for people. I’m glad you enjoyed the Trip and T’Pol scene at the beginning of the chapter. They don’t seem to get enough special time together, do they?

Your assessment of Admiral Kiran is very interesting. In some ways, he is a rather tragic figure. The universe is changing and he’s still clinging to the past. But I do like him, too.

I want to thank you for your review! I know the problems you had posting it. I truly appreciate your efforts very much.


Dinah, did you turn off tinymce before leaving your review? What browser are you using? Because we just uploaded a bunch of stuff tonight, and things are working ok for me. Honeybee left a review on my story, and I was able to reply to it just fine.
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Re: Problems where none had existed before

Postby HopefulNebula » Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:36 pm

EntAllat wrote:By-the-way: DE denizens? If you leave a vent here in Jupiter Station about something went wrong, would you do me a favor and also leave a few details about the circumstances? I.e. your operating system (Windows, Mac, and version) your browser and version and, say, the last two steps you did before anything went wrong. (And of course, any error message you get!) Tracking down the source of a computer problem is a bit like mimicking Sherlock Holmes - the more clues there are, the easier it is and the more accurate the diagnosis.


Agreed. The basic questions (formulated after many years of being go-to tech support for relatives):

1) What do you want to do?
1a) What are you trying to do it on? (can safely be skipped when you're trying to explain the concept of CDs to your aunt, and the like)
2) What are you actually doing?
3) What happens when you do what you describe in step 2?
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