topic Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003! in Operating System - HP-UX

Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Kimberly Ann — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:35:14 GMT

Hi All,

Please continue reporting any issues you may encounter while using the forums. It helps us continue to improve upon your forums experience!

Please include URLs from your browser associated with error messages, and please include the date and time the errors occur.

You can also post your forums **successes** for September at:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xc711083afa2ae44aaed63c3cd35ec86e,00.html

Thanks for your previous feedback!

Best regards,
Dan
Support Forums Manager

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Pete Randall — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 15:21:35 GMT

Hi Dan,

Here's the monthly "most wanted" list for you:

Dan,

My monthly request list:

1) Fix the slow submit issue that causes so many duplicate postings and duplicate replies (get rid of ja
va?).

2) Fix the inablility to assign points issue (java, again?).

3) Pre-assign 0 points to all answers. This eliminates the whining about not assigning points and the o
bsessive pursuit of 100% point assignment ratios. Alternatively, eliminate the tracking of points assign
ment ratios.

4) Create a new category under HP-UX for congratulations, humor and other miscellaneous off-topic thread
s so that those who don't wish to view these items can bypass them.

5) Provide the ability for a user to customize the forum subjects they view by setting up their own grou
pings (like: all of HP-UX, plus Servers (9000), plus Workstations (hp-ux based), plus all of Storage - we
ll, you get the idea).

6) Borrowing from JRF: could you please *not* preload "databases" (just because it is the lexicographica
lly first item). Instead, make the user choose the correct category.

7) Show the poster's name in the reply window.

8) Limit the amount of space taken up by "masthead" stuff (headings, descriptions, rankings, etc at the
top of the page) so we can actually see some questions.

9) Repeat the bread crumb navigation links at the bottom of the page so we don't have to page all the wa
y up to the top of long threads. Also, add the same links to the notification pages.

10) When a question is moved, make the link point to directly to the question, rather than just to the c
ategory.

11) Could we possibly have a real, functional search engine? Please??

12) Could we have some sort of convergence between the US and European sites? They can't get to our URL
s, we can't get to theirs, Merijn gets the wrong search engine - why do they have to be separate and diff
erent?

13) Other forms of URLs need to be recognized (https, ftp) as the http ones are.

Pete

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 15:28:00 GMT

I like Pete's list, disagree with item 3.

Consider the occaisional reminder about points assignment when entering the site. This would include a link and exclude those with 100% or greater assignment ratios.

Add item: Check into the nightly performance issues that seem to prevade between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. Central(I know I should be sleeping).

I love reading this thread.

SEP

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Pete Randall — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 15:47:03 GMT

Steven,

"Consider the occaisional reminder about points assignment when entering the site. This would include a link and exclude those with 100% or greater assignment ratios. "

In response, I have to say that there are all kinds of reminders - people just don't read them. According to Steve Krug, author of "Don't Make Me Think" ( http://www.stevekrug.com/chapter.html - it's really worth a read!), people do not read or study pages, they scan them. They don't analyze the data and make the "best" choice, they scan and formulate the most reasonable choice, they "satisfice" (check the above link for a definition). This is surfing after all, it's not studying! They just want their answer so they can move on.

OK, I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Pete

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

H.Merijn Brand (procura — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 16:51:19 GMT

IMHO point 8 should be extended to have the forum pages use variable width expressed in percentages, instead of fixed width columns so 45% of my browser window is blank. In cases where people post long links, the important buttons are moved to the right so far that they fall outside the screen and the users visible area (assuming noone has 50" wide screens yet with 24000x1024 resolution).

Having the last, it might not be a bad idea to move the reply button set to the left of the column.

And an additional point that Pete does not want on his list: be able to attach PNG pics. For now I am bound to JPG.

Enjoy, have FUN! H.Merijn

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Rob_132 — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 16:55:11 GMT

ZERO points please

Sorry, Pete (congrats on "going Olympian", by the way!), but I'm with Steve on this one - in that I like your list, but disagree with #3. Offering help for free is what the forum is all about, agreed. But, abuse - defined (by me) as NEVER assigning points - does no good to direct people towards solutions should this issue arise in the future for somebody else. (As well, assigning 10 points to all responses of a thread is just as useless!). And lastly, to your solution, pre-assigning to "0", IMHO, ONLY helps ones point assignment ratio - nothing else....and I'm not sure that is worthy of forum developer's time...

****

Steve, here's a thought ;-) . Use this as your default signature for any reply you post:

http://us-support.external.hp.com/estaff/bin/doc.pl/screen=estaffAssistance?Page=file0002#forassign

Rob (far from a UX guru, but always learning - thanks in large part to this forum and its participants!)

ZERO points please

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:05:03 GMT

The big problem with Pete's suggestion is it might radically drop point assignment. At least in the current environment, when once points are assigned, you can't change them. I'm testing solutions from a Microsoft suggestion because if its a good suggestion, it deserves a rabbit. I will obviously get to the assignment, but I think Ron deserves a rabbit if the suggestion solves the problem.

I think dumping the user back into a question where points should be assigned might be better. Its not a problem to simply agree to disagree on this one.

I for one am happy to take the odds that a post good or bad only has a 55% chance of point assignment. Its done me pretty well for 13 months and 13,700 points.

SEP

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Pete Randall — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:14:09 GMT

Steve, Rob,

Guys, the last thing I wanted to do was to turn Dan's issues thread into a debate about points assignment (actually I was trying to brainstorm a solution to the endless debate). I like Steven's suggestion: let's agree to disagree.

If the infamous #3 continues to do nothing but stir up controversy, I'll remove it.

Peace,

Pete

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Umapathy S — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:53:21 GMT

Dan,
I was using opera 7.11 on a WinNT box. I tried to post an answer for a question with no success. Is there anything I missed with the opera installation? I skipped the java installation part. May be Merijn can answer about this.
I am writing this in good old mozilla-firebird.

-Umapathy

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Patrick Wallek — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:56:51 GMT

With Opera 7.11 you must submit the response 2 times. The first time you will get an error. You then hit the back button and submit again. It almost always works the 2nd time.

I am currently using Opera 7.20 beta 7 and submits work the first time and assigning points works too (that doesn't in 7.11 by the way).

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Rob_132 — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:57:30 GMT

ZERO points please

Pete (and Dan),
Sorry, the intent was more to 2nd the motion on 92% of your request list, though I spent more time disagreeing with 8%. Again, sorry.

On to different "issues" now.

Rob

ZERO points please

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Umapathy S — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:59:49 GMT

Patrick,
I tried for almost 10 times. During the opera installation the java installation part failed due to permission problems.

So I got mozilla firebird to participate in the forums. Will check that again.

thanks,
Umapathy

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

H.Merijn Brand (procura — Wed, 03 Sep 2003 18:36:49 GMT

Umapathy, go for 7.20 beta +++

http://www.opera.com/download/?ver=7.20b7
I realy don't have any problems here on Win2k

Enjoy, have FUN! H.Merijn

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Pete Randall — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 11:02:08 GMT

Dan,

I got no response when I asked this last month, so I'll repeat:

I've got 10 points in the "printing and digital imaging" category of the "business and customer discussion groups". They don't count towards my ITRC total and create ongoing confusion with Merijn's statistics. Could those two responses of mine be made to disappear? I managed to track down one of them -
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x04599c196a4bd71190080090279cd0f9,00.html

The other is supposedly under "printing and digital imaging", "digital printing press". I went through all 12 responses to the 8 questions in that category without seeing my name once. I'd really like to see that one purged. I might also mention that I saw only one of the names of the top 10 users in this category in any of the questions. The other 9 of the top 10 are in the same boat I am. They've got points in questions that aren't there.

Could this please be cleaned up?

Thanks,

Pete

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Tim Sanko — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 18:57:02 GMT

Dan,

First there are several ways to help

1. Assign 5 points to any unanswered response after 5 days. Why shaft the responders, but debit the questioners total if they don't respond within a week. (Both carrots and sticks)for us poor donkeys.

2. Get rid of the slow response (Java).

3. Fix the packet reflection/NAK issue. I think there is a real problem. I have gotten packet reflection several times. I checked it with my network general sniffer. I have seen it ping pong several times. ACK/NAK ACK/NAK ACK/ACK produces three posts.

When in doubt read Pete Randals gripes.

Tim Sanko
Semper Fidelis

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Steven E. Protter — Mon, 08 Sep 2003 19:04:29 GMT

I think Tim just got that packet reflection thing.

SEP

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Jay Bollyn — Tue, 09 Sep 2003 20:04:42 GMT

Dan,

I think this thread needs your attention:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x206d50011d20d6118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html

:-) Jay

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Jay Bollyn — Tue, 09 Sep 2003 22:39:47 GMT

Thanks!

I see the offending reply has been vaporized, gone without a trace of evidence that it ever existed.

Sounds like a solution worthy of X-Files.

:-) Jay

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Geoff Wild — Wed, 10 Sep 2003 14:58:48 GMT

Getting the following all day when I try to search:

IT resource center busy

Due to an unusually high volume of users, the ITRC is currently busy. Please try again later to access the ITRC.

To address this problem, HP plans to deploy additional replicated sites and perform hardware upgrades at existing sites, so all of our customers can be accommodated.

(Error 9901)

Rgds...Geoff

Re: Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 10 Sep 2003 15:47:08 GMT

I must note that Geoff's error message has frustrated me all day.

I'm sitting here sheparding some long processes through on my sandbox, which gives me extra time for itrc. Unless I have the answer in my brain or internal database I can't search one out.

As a notoriously bad typist, I prefer to cut and paste procedures from itrc or manuals. If I can't find the manual I can't post the answer.

If I can't post the answer maybe someone else does, maybe they open a software call( I always try here first).

In other words, this problem is impeding the productivity of the forums.

Please fix it and give us an idea of when its going to be fixed.

regards,

SEP