Please Read Before Posting Problem/Trouble Reports!!
Apr 9, 2015 9:33:54 GMT -6
727sky, Mystic Wanderer, and 5 more like this
Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2015 9:33:54 GMT -6
A quick note from your dedicated bunnies in the Tech Department:
There have been some funny things going on with the board over the last couple days, and I don't mean the new changes and staff additions. Those are great things!
Naww...funny stuff like last posts on a PM thread showing "guest" with no dateline on the message display screen (I saw that myself last night, but as a passing thing that was gone quick enough too). There have been other reports and the example here isn't the only issue apparently occurring.
----
So, this sticky note is added to the forum in time to address these issues, but also to give a general guideline of how best to report problems in the future.
--
When making a trouble report or starting a new thread to note problems you've found, please try and follow this outline, and for the reasons I also include.
Please DO:
* - Include time, as close to the minute, and second, if you happen to have something that set a time stamp at or close to the issue being seen, at the start of what you are reporting. (If you don't have that, it's fine, but give it your best guess. The first thing I do with a technical issue is pull system and server logs to review what was happening site-wide, and server-wide on the secondary location, at the time of the problem. Our logs can run into the thousands of lines across a shockingly short period of a single day. The more you can do in your information to narrow that down, the better chance of isolating a pesky bug.)
* - Be as specific as possible. The second thing I do is try to recreate the problem, if that is appropriate and possible for the issue. The more detail to make a recreation of the problem possible, the better the odds of fixing it quickly.
* - Please include at least the browser you're using, and anything that would make it unusual from any average install. A lot of extensions? Other things running? The idea isn't to pry..and it isn't expecting one report to give useful information this way. The point of this is to spot the pattern across multiple reports, and identify a 3rd party issue which won't be evident from a single person's perspective. (Your browser, O/S and other data is already a part of the system logs, as it is for every site you ever visit..so it's not a privacy thing for new info, but narrowing down which info matters vs. which doesn't)
--
Please DO NOT:
* - Hestitate to report a problem or figure someone else must have already said something. Odds are, if the problem isn't being talked about? It hasn't been reported and others assume the same as you may on that. Please let us know whatever trouble may come up, however small it may seem for a tech thing. (Small things hint at bigger things, often enough to matter)
* - Never think complaints make YOU the problem, in ANY way! I know..no one likes to be a complainer, but input from members can sometimes be the only way we become aware of a thing. Keep in mind, on some things, staff displays of a website are very different from a member view. We literally see different things than you do in some examples, and may NOT actually see a problem, because it is not visible to a staff view.
----
That is about it, and those few things will go a long way toward making a smooth and responsive Tech Dept for whatever comes up over time.
All your help is appreciated, and a site is only as good as its member base. Ours is among the best, in my humble opinion!
Thank You for helping us support you!
*** A quick note on how to report something. Everyone has the option to use "Staff" as the name in a PM, and that will send to every staff member on HH, at once. We all get it, and we all see it. Again, that is everyone's right to use, if you feel you haven't gotten a decent response. However...I'd ask on technical things, you start by sending a note directly to me and/or post something in this forum.
Most of the staff has nothing to do with, and doesn't work on technical stuff, so this just saves clutter on the back end, and helps it get where it'll get the quickest response. Thanks!
There have been some funny things going on with the board over the last couple days, and I don't mean the new changes and staff additions. Those are great things!
Naww...funny stuff like last posts on a PM thread showing "guest" with no dateline on the message display screen (I saw that myself last night, but as a passing thing that was gone quick enough too). There have been other reports and the example here isn't the only issue apparently occurring.
----
So, this sticky note is added to the forum in time to address these issues, but also to give a general guideline of how best to report problems in the future.
--
When making a trouble report or starting a new thread to note problems you've found, please try and follow this outline, and for the reasons I also include.
Please DO:
* - Include time, as close to the minute, and second, if you happen to have something that set a time stamp at or close to the issue being seen, at the start of what you are reporting. (If you don't have that, it's fine, but give it your best guess. The first thing I do with a technical issue is pull system and server logs to review what was happening site-wide, and server-wide on the secondary location, at the time of the problem. Our logs can run into the thousands of lines across a shockingly short period of a single day. The more you can do in your information to narrow that down, the better chance of isolating a pesky bug.)
* - Be as specific as possible. The second thing I do is try to recreate the problem, if that is appropriate and possible for the issue. The more detail to make a recreation of the problem possible, the better the odds of fixing it quickly.
* - Please include at least the browser you're using, and anything that would make it unusual from any average install. A lot of extensions? Other things running? The idea isn't to pry..and it isn't expecting one report to give useful information this way. The point of this is to spot the pattern across multiple reports, and identify a 3rd party issue which won't be evident from a single person's perspective. (Your browser, O/S and other data is already a part of the system logs, as it is for every site you ever visit..so it's not a privacy thing for new info, but narrowing down which info matters vs. which doesn't)
--
Please DO NOT:
* - Hestitate to report a problem or figure someone else must have already said something. Odds are, if the problem isn't being talked about? It hasn't been reported and others assume the same as you may on that. Please let us know whatever trouble may come up, however small it may seem for a tech thing. (Small things hint at bigger things, often enough to matter)
* - Never think complaints make YOU the problem, in ANY way! I know..no one likes to be a complainer, but input from members can sometimes be the only way we become aware of a thing. Keep in mind, on some things, staff displays of a website are very different from a member view. We literally see different things than you do in some examples, and may NOT actually see a problem, because it is not visible to a staff view.
----
That is about it, and those few things will go a long way toward making a smooth and responsive Tech Dept for whatever comes up over time.
All your help is appreciated, and a site is only as good as its member base. Ours is among the best, in my humble opinion!
Thank You for helping us support you!
*** A quick note on how to report something. Everyone has the option to use "Staff" as the name in a PM, and that will send to every staff member on HH, at once. We all get it, and we all see it. Again, that is everyone's right to use, if you feel you haven't gotten a decent response. However...I'd ask on technical things, you start by sending a note directly to me and/or post something in this forum.
Most of the staff has nothing to do with, and doesn't work on technical stuff, so this just saves clutter on the back end, and helps it get where it'll get the quickest response. Thanks!
