Please Report Forums Issues - September 2003!

[Kimberly Ann]

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

[Pete Randall]

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

[Steven E. Protter]

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

[Pete Randall]

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

[H.Merijn Brand (procura]

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

[Rob_132]

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

[Steven E. Protter]

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

[Pete Randall]

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

[Umapathy S]

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

[Patrick Wallek]

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).

[Rob_132]

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

[Umapathy S]

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

[H.Merijn Brand (procura]

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

[Pete Randall]

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

[Tim Sanko]

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

[Steven E. Protter]

I think Tim just got that packet reflection thing.

SEP

[Jay Bollyn]

Dan,

I think this thread needs your attention:

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

:-) Jay

[Jay Bollyn]

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

[Geoff Wild]

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

[Steven E. Protter]

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

[Joseph C. Denman]

I have been getting the famous page not found error all day when trying to search!!!!!! Please help!!!

The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following:

If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Open the us-support2.external.hp.com home page, and then look for links to the information you want.
Click the Back button to try another link.
Click Search to look for information on the Internet.



HTTP 400 - Bad Request
Internet Explorer

[Kimberly Ann]

Steven and Joseph, I've reported the search tool performance issue. If you find this again, you may do better to go directly to the ITRC support team at itrc.support@hp.com to get a support case going.

Thanks for reporting it...

Jay, appreciate the heads up.

-Dan

[Steve Post]

Here's a small one problem. I don't know the scope of solving it. When a person has a problem with omniback or dataprotector (or whatever it is called today), they assume the question goes into sysadmin because the software is for backing up files on a HPUX system to tape. (i.e. the TASK sysadmin, not the software omniback).

So you click on the guys problem and instead of the question, you get to click a link to another area.

So you click on THAT link, and the question is not there. It is buried 5 pages in.

So my suggeston is to put backups either in their own category or put them in sysadmin. ....hmmmm. Could there be a way to have CROSS-category questions? Then dataprotector question could go into "backups", "openview", and "sysadmin".

One more thing. Just because I have a complaint, that's the ONLY complaint. At times I find the hp forums faster and more accurate than direct phone support! So kudos to the forums and the high-roller people who respond to the distressed, and dumb-founded.

steve

[Steven E. Protter]

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x0cb062be6eb76d418c79f7e85be23c86,00.html

I rarely get nailed by this, but I've got a dup post in the link above.

Can someone get rid of the dup before I get points on the dup.

SEP

[melvyn burnard]

done