The DG forum

i agree with Dreams.... when I noticed the issue, I knew I could come to the "Daves" forum to see if someone had posted about the coding showing up... only to see that the "Daves" forum was gone [name change] and I could not find a thread with any sort of topic of what i was looking for.... So I just jumped into this one, seeing that it was already mentioned.

I didn't use the "Daves" forum much, but always knew I could find what i was looking for .... I guess this change Dreams was mentioning, I was unaware of.... No posting by Members.

Terry, since we're no longer allowed to start new threads here, this post will probably end up being the place where members comment as new problems arise.

And why were we not informed of a site update, which is probably what led to this fiasco?

The techs should be embarrassed. I can't think of any other site *that charges fees* and has such frequent issues related to basic coding.

I know there are frustrations, but I think we should refrain from beating up on the developers. They inherited a large body of code which likely lacked documentation (what usually happens when one person writes all or most of the code), and the original developer is not around to answer any questions or explain things. I'm guessing none of us has actually seen or tried to work with that large body of legacy code, so we have no way of knowing what they are up against.

Bottom line, bashing the site and/or developers will not produce any positive results.

"Bottom line, bashing the site and/or developers will not produce any positive results."

Sitting by patiently hasn't helped, either.

I'm not trying to be difficult. The opportunity to discuss these kinds of issue in an open forum of this kind with admin included is something fairly unique across the web. It's a gift and one which I fear we haven't always shown the proper respect and appreciation. I fear that the very unproductive ranting and raving which has occurred on this forum at times over the past several years may be one of the reasons this opportunity has been dialed back. I'm hoping we will all try harder to keep our discussion more positive, respectful, and productive, lest we loose this option altogether.

But we *have* lost the option. There *is* no open forum. We're supposed to be using the Contact Us link, not discussing it here. They have already closed the forum, period.

Btw, an open forum with the admin is NOT AT ALL unique. There are other gardening websites (that don't break) where the admin is quite visible.

My point is that neither discussing calmly *NOR* loudly protesting has been productive.

My threads are all better now:-)

Thanks!

The issue caught us by surprise - had we known upfront that there was something afoot, we would have started a new thread.

The best way (honest!) to report problems like this is through the Contact Us link. That gives Melody and/or me a heads-up, and we can start a new thread here if it looks like it's a widespread problem.

I know it's a change from where we've been, but we really do want to make sure we can serve our community the best way possible, and since the techs do not interact directly with users in this forum, it's not the best way to report problems, as it was in the past.

As soon as we have a status report from the techs, I will either post in this thread or start a new thread in the forum.

but, as a side note, quote boxes still not fixed ;-)

Sallie, it's not a continuation. That's all I can say, but it is a new phenomenon :-(

Terese,

Sorry, I forgot to respond to your post earlier. The 1st post on this thread explains about the changes.

Sure hope they can fix the problem soon. It is really hard to try and read what is going on, and when one post a link to a new page, it does not work!

Some problems fixed, but some still ongoing. Such as italicizing Plants.

Hey Terry,

Is it possible that the glyphs in the system are being caused by the new Admin Bhavi, who is presently testing the system.

What is Bhavi doing?

Mahalo, Dave

Links are also failing to work.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1377289/

Who is messing with the system?

I was able to post today without the HTML Gremlins but only with no line spacing, no quotes, bold or italics. The link to a new thread I started for an ongoing thread would not work.

The techs need to find what caused this before they can fix it. They should be able to backtrack changes they made just before it happened.

Impossible to provide links and DG sites to folks when they don't work.

Who is screwing with the site? Please let us know when they are done.

Bhavisha (Bhavi) is our lead tech. She or one of her team is testing things to try to resolve the problem.

Thanks Terry,

It's understandable that a new tech is causing many problems. Giving them the handles, when they don't know what's is going on is what is causing problems.

I'm guessing Bhavi doesn't have a crap of experience of dealing with this site, and this is why DG is now suffurring.

I bet that Bhavi is actually being givin money$ for this mess.

Tell us more, honestly.

Dave, she has been our tech for a couple of years now. DG is a fairly unique site because of the homegrown coding, but she's not new or inexperienced. Let's give her and her team the benefit of the doubt that they know what they're doing and the problems are temporary - and that they want them fixed as much or more than we do.

Terry, many of us know/remember that the entire DG site originally was coded by the man who then owned it. Times have changed mightily since then and so has technology. Today's techs are likely flummoxed by "homegrown" coding that worked beautifully for years but was dependent on the person who created it to make fixes. This is rather like me trying to recreate my Grandmother's recipe for sugar cookies that she made with no written instructions and never used measuring utensils. ;-)

Thanks Terry!

Judgement and sarcasm won't help one bit to fix anything.

You are right June,

But I would feel better if our problems were being fixed by botanists, people who know plants, rather than computer geeks, people who know machines.

Would you rather have a Botanist in your Garden or a Computer Geek..

A hui hou aloha!

Uh, I am happily married to a Computer Geek. LOL He is indispensable around our very electronified household. Plus he's cute.

I agree with Metro myself. It is assumed that East Indians know computers and all computer languages. The East Indian may have been hired without a thorough series of interviews/tests about what they know about the hyper text markup language (html). Just because somebody has a computer science degree doesn't mean they know about everything in computing. Her degree could've been centered around something entirely different.
Actually, the basic html codes have been the same since the birth of the internet over twenty years ago. Sure, programs and procedures have changed but somebody educated in the field should have a solid grasp on it at that pay grade. And also backwards compatibility on an older forum model such as this should be a piece of cake for a website computer geek. Just because someone's family put them thru college doesn't automatically qualify them for a career anywhere. I started working at 18. Even though I know (and have known) what I wanted to do, I can't get a computing job (in any fiel), all because I don't have a degree. I am self taught but that doesn't mean a decent job.

Sorry Sallie,

I guess I got my emphasis wrong.

There are many folks who understand computers and plants. Many of those folks visit DG.

It would be good for DG to have a tech that understands plants and computers.

The present computer tech for DG has little history of plant knowledge (check the record). The few photos are of a puplic garden or a well tended elitest. There is no record of any plant know how.

Quite understandable that the computer geek for Dave's Garden should have a history of computers. Shouldn't the computer geek for Dave's Garden also have a history of plants?

Mahalo, Dave

Gee Dave, you are always so nice and professional on PlantFiles. I hate to say anything against you for I really have come to like you thru all our interactions on PF but I am aghast by the tone of this conversation.

You sound so mean spirited. You are personally attacking someone on DG whom I am sure is doing her best. No where on this thread has it been said by Admin that Bhavi is the cause of any of the current problems here. In fact Terry said Bhavi is trying to fix the problems. But even if she has inadvertently caused any of them, no one deserves to be talked about like this publicly.

I personally do not care if the techs on Dave's are plant people, they just need to be tech people. I think it is rude for anyone to make assumptions based on which country they assume she is from. If you have a problem with someone's work, you need to discuss that and not that they are a princess or rich or not a gardener or an elitist or a screw whatever that is. By the way, many of my photos I share on DG are from fancy gardens that I am thrilled to be able to enjoy but no one could call me an elitist or a princess. I am just shocked by this so personal of an attack. It is just totally unbecoming of anyone on DG and I am so disappointed that Admin is allowing it to go on.

My apologies Kell and Admin.

I thought it weird when Admin started doing tests and problems started happening again with the system.
I thought it even stranger when I checked out an Admin's history, and there is a lack of plant experience.

I don't recall any enthnic or gender bias.

Please forgive my assumptions about what is causing errors in the system, and please forgive my judgement about who has qualifications to run a plant database.

Aloha, Dave

You do not need to apologize to me Dave, but perhaps a kind word to Bhavi would be appreciated. I am going to assume something myself and think you have just had a very bad day. I know you are not usually so severe but you are kind and thoughtful.

I did not direct all my comments toward you, another discussed East Indians in ways that I just felt was not needed or even pertinent. It is just so unpleasant to be witness to unkindness.

At any rate, I have been on DG for years and for the various problems that I have seen crop up on occasion, though some are solved faster than others, they all eventually do get solved. Becoming so unhappy has never seemed to make the process go faster.,

It is freedom of speech actually. I can imagine someone with a volunteer job here like Plantfiles is po'd. There was alot they couldn't do, they couldn't italicize plant names (how it's done), they couldn't send links and more. At the peak of the fiasco (and regular other fiascos) I bet there was alot they couldn't do, it probably made them look like jerkoffs. I don't know that we should be advocating that the admin (or site) put it's foot down and go Hitler on anybody.

Let's look at facts, they are looking at a dwindling paying membership of only a few thousand (under 3,000). I don't think they can afford promoting an environment of communism-like smackdown on respected members. I believe the days of being able to lose a few members have been over, I don't think coddling them is what they want anymore. It's their ship, let them let it go down or stay afloat.

The good news is, the majority of the issues have been resolved. On behalf of the techs and the admins I sincerely apologize for the problems we encountered over the past couple of days.

If you see any other problems, or continuing problems, please use the "Contact Us" link and we will respond directly to you, investigate it and if it's a widespread problem, we'll open a discussion thread here in this forum.

Thanks, Terry. "Stuff Happens" in today's high tech world and I've never know Admin to be
anything but responsive. Not everything can be fixed with quick click!

To Terry and DG workers on this site - thank you for fixing the Morning Glory forum index formatting.

Terri - Thank you for the fast response on the technical support.

I would not say the response has been fast at all.

Quotes and weblinks are still broken. It's been a week.

mine are all fixed and back to normal.