3/14: Release today + bug reports here

Carrie, are you viewing the screen full-size or less-than-full-size? If you resize it to a narrower view, the "Home" link goes away. Lisa, let me check help desk. I didn't see any notes from you, but I'll dig around specifically to look for them.

We've been covered up with PlantScout vendors sending in new lists, so if you don't see me in the forums, it's not that I'm not around, I'm just scrubbing lists and matching them up to PlantFiles as fast as my fingers will type. And pulling weeds when I need a break from staring at my screen :-).

Odd...the times have completely disappeared in the threads. I don't mean the exact times (those have been gone since the changes), rather the " 10 minutes ago, one hour ago", etc.

Terry's post shows a time frame, but all the others just have a date. I checked several other threads in different forums and it's the same thing. What happened to them?


Edited to say: apparently this post also shows the time period, everything before Terry's post does not. Is this only happening on posts from yesterday or before? I haven't checked that yet so I don't know.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2016 12:02 PM

I am pretty sure that anything within the last 24 hours shows hours/mins since it was posted. Anything older than 24 hours is shown as the date it posted.

Okay then, my mistake. :o)

Thanks for clarifying that, Terry.

I realize what happened, now that I've gone back through the threads. I thought that some of the posts were within the last 24 hours. Now that I look at them again, they probably were not.

Terry
Still haven't heard a word from either Melody or Alison to confirm that my calendar is being mailed. Funny, Melody has the time to respond to my comments on her Sunday Funnies but not to anything I send her way about my missing calendar!

Terry, Melody, or Alison,

The various commercial 2016 calendars in bookstores have been on the remainder tables or were already cleared out at deep discounts. It is important that a calendar be delivered before January 1st, because that is the first day that it is supposed to be in use. It starts to lose value rapidly after that date.

I suggest you mail the calendar that is overdue to oxdriftgardner immediately, but to compensate for this inexcusable delay, I suggest that you schedule a complimentary free copy of next year's calendar to oxdriftgardner as well. And make sure that the free copy is mailed well before the first of the year.

I was considering entering some of my many photos in next year's photo contest, but this episode had caused me to change my mind on that. Instead, I will purchase Calendar Maker software and make my own calendar, using pictures selected by me from my own stock on every month. And my homemade calendar will be on my wall before the first of the year.

I will not be at all surprised if some of the Dave's Garden detractors use this incident, the treatment of the grand prize winner of the DG photo contest, as a running joke.

Wow Zen, that was a very much appreciated show of support. I really don't like having to get this settled so publicly but sending message after message behind the scenes for 3 months got zero response. It is the lack of any kind of response that is getting me riled up more than the lateness.
Thank you very much. I hope someone takes the time to read your post. It states my case much more vividly than I did myself
Keith

No answer? C'mon.... it can't possibly take THAT long to list what's been fixed since everything was hosed. What has Internet Brands actually fixed since they screwed this site up royally? They've had MONTHS to correct the issues that THEY. CAUSED. What has been actually fixed? Is this how they treat ALL of the sites that Internet Brands manage? These are honest questions, that deserve honest answers. It's beginning to become quite obvious that they aren't capable of fixing things. Are they also not capable of honestly answering? I understand that it's much easier to make like an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, ignoring us, and not communicating. But, the people that made this site what it was, are the members. Each and every one of us, that pays their yearly dues, are the ones that made this place. And, in one fell swoop, it seems that an inept company is doing their very best to ruin that experience for the rest of us. The impression that you (the admins as well as Internet Brands' staff) leave the rest of us, is that you really just don't give a **** whether things get fixed, or not (and that we don't matter in the least).

Perhaps if all of us went to the BBB site, and filed (deservedly) negative reports on Internet Brands, something might actually get done....

Terry,
I have to agree with most of Zen_Man's points. As you're already aware, after no response to my own D-mails, I also had to state my case publicly in order to finally get my "photo-winning" 2016 calendar.

Once you responded to my complaints (in another one of these "site update" threads) I eventually did receive my own calendar, but what in the world happened to oxdriftgardener's catalog?

While I'm sure he would appreciate a complimentary catalog for next year, it certainly won't have his top-winning "cover photo" from this year. I have to believe that's what he truly wants.

Keith is a wonderful new member that is trying to enjoy all the great things DG has to offer (even putting up with the glitches without complaint) and the one thing that's been frustrating him is the treatment (or lack of any) he's getting from Admin.

Come on guys...it's now April. Instead of giving him excuses, send him the calendar that he won and rightly deserves to receive.

Eggs, sorry, but you can count me out of that one. DG may be having issues, but they're not being malicious. I have no intention of going to BBB or filing any complaints.

I do plan to continue using and enjoying all the wonderful things that are still a part of being a member here as long as they're available to me. If you're unhappy here, no one is forcing you to stay...but we would all love for you to stay. :o)

That's my point. We ask tons of questions and maybe one or two get answered. I ask 2 question but only got one answered.

Keith, I feel bad that I bought the calender. I assumed all the winners had got theirs. I know all the members on this thread support you and we are glad to have such a valuable new member. You are getting the raw end of the deal. I really hope you decide to stay on DG.

I never said they were malicious. I said they were inept. Big difference. And, their "customer service" is all but nonexistent. Issues that a company won't /can't fix, are one of the reasons that the BBB exists.

Well put Nuts. You are right. Aside from the atrocious neglectful treatment from admin. I am really enjoying this site. I've made a lot of long distance friends and enjoyed how they, like yourself have been so helpful in guiding me through all the good things the site has to offer. I've really had a great time and met some wonderful people on the Propogation thread.
Thanks again
Keith

Terry was right about the "home" link. It gets enlarged off the page if I look at too close-up of a view. It's all because I'm too lazy to put on my reading glasses. I've had this problem before.Now I feel dumb. Thanks Terry!

Keith, were you the other one with a disappearing home screen? Does hitting ctrl- or ctrl+ help or affect it?

I have it too but I don't think it's the same thing. It only happens on some threads (I haven't noticed it recently) I get there using the DG logo anyway.

Carrie, there is no reason to feel dumb..

Carrie and 1lisac: my Home is missing as much as it is there. It has nothing to do with enlarging the screen in my case and I use an I-pad so don't think I have the ctrl keys that Carrie was talking about. I am absolutely content with using the DG logo.
Keith

I'm on an iPad too, half the time I don't even notice if the home link is there or not. Using the DG logo is so easy.

HEY EVERYBODY LISTEN UP!!!!

I just got a D-mail from Alison. They are going to get right on sending me a calendar. At this point I am fairly convinced that DG admin were not really at fault for anything other than follow up. My wife and I live on a 40 acre rural lot and therefore our mailing address is a PO box . Apparently Zazzle will not ship to PO boxes in Canada. Therefore I suspect that they either simply didn't ship because they didn't have a proper address or they asked DG for a street address and no one had time to follow up.
Thank you all for your support
Life goes on
Keith

"Home" like is not at the top of the page on the iPad. It would be SO much easier if the "back to home" button was at the BOTTOM OF THE CURRENT PAGE LIKE IT USED TO BE..................just sayin'.......................

Ox, that's great! I'm so glad that it's all working out. It doesn't sound like it was the "typical" situation. It is a really nice calender!

This message was edited Apr 7, 2016 8:20 PM

YAY Keith!!
That's great news. Sometimes persistence is worth the hassle. Better late than never. I think you'll really enjoy the calendar.

You might not want to file a complaint. I understand that. I do suggest you peruse the BBB site, and the complaints that have been made about IB. Most have to deal with their forums software (how it's incomplete, buggy, etc). They apparently have a track record with situations such as this. These complaints go back several years, and it becomes apparent that they can't/won't fix them. I wouldn't hold my breath. DG won't be fixed anytime soon (if at all).

Eggs, please don't take this wrong.
A lot of people complain about a lot of things.
I'm not saying DG doesn't have problems. It's just that most of them don't affect my life like they seem to with some people.

I come to DG for "enjoyment" and "learning". I still get both. Maybe I can't do everything I used to quite as easily and maybe there isn't as much activity right now. But the key words here for me are "enjoyment" and "learning".

Even when things were running smoothly I'd go days or weeks or months without ever posting on a thread, preferring to explore old threads, explore the site, search old bookmarks, look at pictures, etc...all of which I still do.

It's not life and death we're talking about. It's a website that I come to for enjoyment and learning. And If I were to ever feel that I'm not getting those things, maybe I'd stop visiting DG, but right now I don't see that happening.

But what's the purpose in all those complaints? I'm familiar with BBB. They provide a great service. But a website with wonky software that people come to for enjoyment and learning (and can join for FREE if they want) somehow doesn't seem like what BBB was intended for.

I have no interest in "perusing" old IB complaints. Did they steal someone's life savings or kidnap a child or join a terrorist group? No, they have buggy software...ho hum.

Sorry, I know it's important to you and I'm not putting you down for it. I'm just saying it's not important to me.


This message was edited Apr 9, 2016 9:15 AM

Nuts: very well put, I couldn't agree with you more.

Also it looks like you could again help me along with my learning adventure on this site. In the third paragraph above you mentioned "bookmarks". Coincidentally I just attempted to bookmark a thread for the first time to see how it worked. Didn't really seem like it worked right for me. I went back into "my info" after I thought I was done and clicked on bookmarks and couldn't see anything. If I can remember right it said "open in cloud" and when I clicked on that it changed to "open in ????" (Can't remember the other word in place of cloud.
When I was trying to create the bookmark I may have missed a step. Again if I can remember the step correctly there was a line indicating the forum and thread I wanted to mark. Below that there was an empty box to type into . The text below the box said you could make multiple bookmarks by placing a comma between them.
Since all the info for the thread I wanted to mark was already listed above the box and I didn't want to make multiple entries. I then clicked on a lit up word at the bottom to complete the transaction, may have been SUBMIT ??? or something like that. Wondering whether I was supposed to type all the info that was already shown for the forum and thread into the empty box???
Keith

Keith,
It sounds like you did everything right until the last part. By not typing anything into the box your bookmark wasn't accepted.

What that box does is give you (and other members...if you click the box that allows other members to see your bookmark) the ability to look up bookmarks by using "Tags".

Tags are basically "categories". For example: Bookmarking an article or thread titled "How to feed birds" is great if you only have a few things bookmarked. But if you have tons of bookmarked items (like me), it becomes harder. If you type in things like Birds, Bird Feeding, Birdfood, you can now "View in Cloud Form" to see those tags. By clicking on those tags it will bring up a list of everything you have saved pertaining to those tags.

It also allows you to go to the Community Tags (I'll explain that in a later) and look up Tags to see all kinds of things that other people saved as long as they clicked the box that says "Allow others to see these tags?" (yours may also be in there).

These two Screen Shots might help. In the first one I clicked the bookmark symbol on this thread then added some "tags" in the text box. I also made sure the box that allowed others to see the tag was clicked (something I always do unless my bookmark is something I don't want in the "Community" or don't think anyone else would be interested in).

The second one shows you how you can highlight all the bookmarks using the same tag. I don't know if this would work on your iPad, but on my desktop if I hold down both ctrl and F it brings up a text box on the bottom of the page where I can type in a tag and it highlights all bookmarks with that tag. If there are lots of them you can click "Next" and it will show you more of them. or you can just scroll down the page.

Hope all that makes sense. If not, let me know.

Nuts: WOW!!!!! Thanks again. That looks a little overwhelming for me. I found I didn't really need to bookmark for what I was trying to do. I had gone into some recent forums from your recent instructions and found something interesting that I commented on. It was not on one of the 9 forums that I have on my home page so I thought I might have a hard time finding it again if anyone responded but I now know that you get notifications of any responses to your comments whether it's on one of your favourite forums or not so all is good.
Keith

I agree. I have been lurking to see if things are getting better...but the weeks spin by along with my subscription period. An important function of the BBB ...is to provide a heads up on a business or service that I may want to invest my dollars in...in exchange for something I want, need, or value.

If it were a life or death big-deal situation...I would not contact and report to the BBB ..I would call 911.

I have been a member /subscriber in good standing at DG for 10 years. I come to learn and enjoy.....this site has not been very enlightening for quite some time..certainly not enjoyable. It has lost a huge amount of functionality --weeks and months of it. IB entered into a bargain with me and it has not kept up its end. The bargain has not been met. The BBB is very appropriate for this purpose - to submit this sort of complaint...a "Buyer Beware" .... I bet new subscriber fees are still being accepted and those folks wishing to invest their hard earned dollars for a service should be able to find the information they need to make a good decision..especially if their subscription dollars are limited.

But if they (new members) have just joined up since the beginning of the year, I would imagine that they think all this mess is "normal".

Indeed. And that's one of the reasons I won't let up on my questions, and vocalizing my displeasure with the way this has all been handled. I've never been one to bury my head in the proverbial sand, and I don't intend to start now. This place is jacked up horribly, and it needs to be fixed.

What bothers me is that IB took over yrs ago but everything went pretty well until this last fiasco. Now admin doesn't even respond.

I'm not getting updates on threads that I've marked "to watch" I have to post on them.

But I still enjoy DG and it's members.

I do too, Lisa.

My watches haven't updated since April 9th...

I'm having issues in that too. Some are and some aren't but it's just been in the past few days. I wasn't even going bother to say anything since admin doesn't respond anyway......

Mine seem to be ok right now but when they seem to be hung I just post something even if it is just " my saved threads aren't updating so I am testing." At this point everyone understands.

The spam in the forums has been overwhelming, report when found! Its not allowed. Pistil, may mean the forum is being vacuumed?

Reporting does no good. There has been no sign of updates, nor have any admins responded to anything having to do with issues with the site. The only conclusion that can be drawn from that is, that this site is now as fixed as it ever will be.

Welcome to the world of Internet Brands (who have a history of forum issues that don't get resolved).

Earlier in this thread I mentioned the issues with spam and and flagged posts. Terry said she hadn't seen anything come thru the help desk but she would look again. That was 2 weeks ago. Some of this, as far as I know, goes thru admin not IB so I don't know what the reason is. Terry and Melody used to be quick to respond.

Terry and Melody have gardens, like most of us, I know they disappear into them in the Spring. I think this thread is simply where they tell us, and we line up to talk, but they are gone. I send really confusing issues thru other ways, like d-mails. So far, those things I reported have been getting attended if slowly. Like googling for Plantfiles, finding data and no pictures- just ads on the site.

I've been reporting the spam via many avenues since Feb. I've reported it in the past and it was taken care of immediately. Now,when Terry checks into this thread, she answers one question then " poof" she's gone. Last Terry posted she had gotten her garden planted.