System Update 23-Sep-2009

Looks like you guys have been bury this morning updating stuff :thumb: Well done all involved.

Is there a note of what has changed / to expect so that any changes folk found might be "expected"?

There is a link at the top to "Any questions about latest update" which points to the thread from the last big update. Maybe link to a new thread?

Only thing I've spotted so far is that some people are "sponsors" and some people are "Paid members". I don't have a badge, so where do I send the cash? :D

 

Blow me down, I appear to be a now. The cheque must have clearly quickly!

 

oooooooooooo I have "not updated but unread post since last visit" Thats new

Wheres the paid member bit Kristen ? Not heard anything about this but would donate if it keeps the site online

 

Top work, hurray for the admins:gnthb:

 

"Wheres the paid member bit Kristen ?"

Looks like it was temporary, and now removed.

So my virtual cheque didn't clear after all :(

Yes, I'd be happy to donate too. (Its a conversation that I aired a while back. Even several hundred subscribers times, say, £10 each doesn't get you enough to buy professional help ... but if 1,000 subscribers by £10 were possible then it think it might. Personally I doubt that many subscriptions are to be had easily ...)

 

"oooooooooooo I have "not updated but unread post since last visit" Thats new"

I think that was there before - on the "Today's post" page, but it looks like the system is now tracking actually read posts.

On the New posts page threads that have been read no longer show - so its just showing things that are unread (apart from threads that are older than when the update took place).

As I said above a note of what had changed would have been handy.

 

:yho::yho::yho::yho::yho:

HOORAY!!! It's remembering me each time I close down. Nice one!:thumb:

 

Ahhhh but they are still leaving your username on the dodgy sign in system Aaron :hehe: Just cause we know you like it so much :wink:

 

I know some forums that you pay to be like a premier member, which gives you the option to use facilities like search and archive etc. If your not a paid up member you cant access these which then makes people want to be a premier member ..... just an idea

Yes thats what I meant, it used to show me the post on 'todays post' page but not on the 'new threads' so whatever change has been made is great .... well for me anyway

Am sure the 'powers that be' will update with the changes made when they are all fully working etc ... plus will give us something to do - trying to figure out whats new lol

 

" work is in progress as we speak.. So yours & others problems will be sorted very soon."

Well its early days, but I am thrilled with the "Remember which posts you have read" bit. So much easier for me as a "GC Supporter" to be able to see which posts I've answered, and which not, and not miss any. I hope I speak for other regulars, and it isn't purely a Geeky thing :D. I also hope that the promise (as per the vBulletin folk's blurb) is as good as the delivery; I appreciate the GC owners have no control over that, but I am optimistic as the vBuletin folk have a good reputation :thumb:

 

"Am sure the 'powers that be' will update with the changes made when they are all fully working etc ... plus will give us something to do - trying to figure out whats new lol"

No wish to appear critical, but I build huge sites for a living and I wouldn't do it that way; so FWIW here's my 2p-worth suggestions:

0a) Test System. Copy the system to a Test Site and perform the update and rigorously test. Only embark on updating of the Live system once the Test system had met with approval. This may not be fesible for GC, but there is a cost associated with not doing it :(

0b) Inform "insiders" (Mods & Admins) what the proposed / actual changes are

1) Advanced warning to members that the site is going to be down for scheduled maintenance

2) Informative "Site down" message ("We are running a few script" is fine, but after the message has been there for 4 hours it is a little hard to gauge the extent of the work etc. :thumb

3a) Behind-the-scenes testing before the site comes live again (that may well have happened). We have what we call a "water test" - i.e. "Does it hold water?" where we test the critical functions. This is intentionally a light-weight test but ensures, for example, that it is possible to place and order and take a credit card payment [relevant to what we do!]

3b) Personally I would not allow a site to go live again until confident that all obvious issues had been caught - to the best of our abilities.

4) If the changes are "non-trivial" an announcement of what has happened - i.e. there should be no surprises for regular punters. Usually a "News" items along the lines of "Site updated, CLICK HERE to read the details" should do.

5) All-hands-on-deck. The upgrade is arranged at a time when "staff" are on hand to deal with any issues.

Example: Looks like I was in early after the fixes were completed. There was a rogue image showing that some members were "Subscribers" or "Sponsors". This has since been sorted out. Fair enough.

BUT ... no one has said anything. Why not? A simple "We've fixed that" message would make the world of difference. Its trivial, I guessed what had happened, but I'm a geek by trade, other folk will have been confused. Developers don't think it necessary to make such announcements, its "management" that make that call :thumb:

"All hands on deck" also means that Admins / Mods can participate in any "I'm having a problem" threads (hopefully there are NONE!!) and either a) sort our the problem and have a happy camper or b) be reassuring that the problem is being looked at. The alternative is that customers are annoyed, and possible they are "lost" which as sad-as-a-sad-thing :(

and 6) my advice would be to have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document. Again, Geeks won't do/volunteer this - they just see it as being unnecessary work; management call for this.

It needs a write up of what steps were done in the rollout (not this specific rollout, but in general terms):

• Arrange time with MODs so no one on holiday :thumb:
• Pre-Announce rollout to customers
• Put up holding page
• Install upgrade
• Perform private tests:
  • Post message
  • Read message
  • ...
• Post "What's changed message"
• Put site live
• Co-ordinate management of any issues

and each time there is a rollout review & revise the document if any useful additional steps need to be added, or existing steps need tweaking, such that next time is better, and the process improves over time and any previous errors are never repeated.

 

I didn't know you were a fellow geek Kristen. I develop applications (desktop with SQL back end) for a living, but the process of development, testing, and release is pretty much the same, just the technology used differs slightly.

 

Yup, content managed websites, database driven from SQL.

Extraordinary industry since late '90s largely because of the lack of adherence to good computer science techniques developed over time, and lack of adherence to standard procedures and QA testing. "We gotta get to market, lets throw this stuff together with some young, inexperienced, programmers and then go bust" :(