Bugs found

[Hybrid]

Ok, seeing as how the last lot of bug reports have been 'forgotten about', here they are again, but now in compliance with the alleged "bug reporting procedure" (found in http://www.photoradar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4)..:

2. Doesn't work the way I expected
The site behaves in an odd or erratic fashion, and presents you with something you didn't anticipate. This can be anything from a link pointing to the wrong location to an image appearing at the wrong size.
The site in general. Face facts, it's clunky.
Posting/replying to threads.
You read a post/thread. You want to contribute, but you have to log in. You log in. You're dumped at some user profile page. You then have to find the thread you were reading.
Galleries.
The one time I ventured into the bombsite that's meant to be a gallery, I was trying to resolve a users problem of being unable to post a picture to the forums. Oh boy... the galleries are a nightmare to navigate, and cumbersome to utilise within the forums. The pictures themselves are hidden behind a 1x1 transparent GIF file, so there's no straightforward and functional "Copy image address". Apparently, right-clicking on a magnifying glass will give you the correct address to use... very obvious.
Tutorial videos.
I think I'm one of a few Linux users who can use these "tutorial" videos, providing I disable all advert-blocking software and reload the page. Clunky... very clunky.
The "INDENT" tag.
In the actual vBulletin forum software, I've found the indent tags don't render correct either, although this might be a problem with the preview function. Anything between the "INDENT" tags ends up half-way across the actual webpage, and one line below the correct starting position.

3. Doesn't look right
Something on the page is not right, but it's a small, niggly thing or it's something as basic (and annoying) as a spelling mistake. Alternatively, use this rating if you can't put your finger on what the problem actually is.
Page rendering.
Remember this baby? Well, after a month of reporting this fault, and also supplying where the problem lies, and showing that the problem exists by posting a screenshot of the problem removed (and the page thus working fine), the problem *still* exists. Which year are the amateur website developers going to resolve the two typos that are causing the site to look wrong? 2010?

... and for those who aren't aware of the thread, have a read here...:
http://www.photoradar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212

Yes, I know that there's a list of things to be fixed (http://www.photoradar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336), but that's all it is... just a list. Pretty as it is, there's still no sight of the bugs being fixed.

[Hybrid]

Ok, so it's been over 24 hours since that post was made, and over a month since those bugs were first reported. Site admin staff have been seen making replies, so PR wasn't closed for the day.

And there's been no change. No bugs fixed, and no feedback from anyone at the pr site. And that's no surprise really. I'm beginning to wonder if the-powers-that-be are driven by phases of the moon.

One thing that did make me giggle though, Amy's quick to reply to any post that says "Thanks for such a great site". Shame there's not many such posts around, really.

[hobee]

Maybe if you weren't so rude you might get a reply!

BTW I'm not trying to have a go at you but I'm sure whoever is designing/creating the site is not intentionally trying to make a mistake or create problems.

PS Your give Amy a hard time for not replying but I assume she is not a designer so you would be equally critical if is she replied with a standard "we are looking into the problems" Easy target springs to mind!

I really don't understand people who continually visit a web site they dislike so much. If you genuinely want to help and have the knowledge why don't you PM the designers and have meaningful dialogue instead of critical posts followed up with digs about how many users you perceive think that its a great site!

[Hybrid]

Originally Posted by hobee

Maybe if you weren't so rude you might get a reply!

BTW I'm not trying to have a go at you but I'm sure whoever is designing/creating the site is not intentionally trying to make a mistake or create problems.

I've been trying to get those problems resolved for over a month. Some other users reported the same problems, then gave up reporting them due to lack of feedback.

Nobody really wants to make something faulty. But bugs are always present, simply due to the vast number of configuration differences. It's down to the beta testers (paid or unpaid) to report the faults, it's then down to the software developers to resolve the faults and apply the fixes.

The last stage has not been done for over a month, regardless of solutions being offered.

Originally Posted by hobee

PS Your give Amy a hard time for not replying but I assume she is not a designer so you would be equally critical if is she replied with a standard "we are looking into the problems" Easy target springs to mind!

I've also acknowledged the sad fact that Amy is nearly the only one who gives any feedback. If the website designer were answering these posts, my questions/comments/complaints would be aimed at him/her.

But, as with any other corporation geared to generating revenue, the generals aren't on the front line. It's down to the poor "cannon fodder" sods on the front line to take the flak from us users.

I'm also well aware of the possibility that the site admin sometimes cannot give the answer they might want, due to the others higher up the food chain instructing them otherwise. This can sometimes be seen with replies being simple stock answers, one of which was "Sorry, but we don't support Symbian", after I'd mentioned that this site is also faulty in the Opera browser running on a Symbian-based Nokia phone.

Knowing who to contact would help tremendously... providing that feedback (no auto-anwers) is supplied as well.

Originally Posted by hobee

I really don't understand people who continually visit a web site they dislike so much. If you genuinely want to help and have the knowledge why don't you PM the designers and have meaningful dialogue instead of critical posts followed up with digs about how many users you perceive think that its a great site!

During the beta testing, when others were also suffering the same problems ("Jonathan Ryan" was one such user, before he was (in)formally requested to leave), I found where the problem was (and still is), regarding website rendering, and showed that a 30 minute fix was all that was needed to resolve the problem. Over a month later, the problems are still there. In fact, they've increased slightly... anyone else notice one of the background images is missing? That's down to a typo! Nothing else!

So, really, it is just a case of checking over the site source code using different web browsers... and that's a stage that appears to have been overlooked, when this site was being worked on for over a year.

I hope you can understand why I despair sometimes.

[jinky]

I really want PR to be an efficient site that is a pleasure to visit - as I largely found the old DC mag site apart from picture loading. It`s early days and maybe there will be a successful , busy forum offering help and guidance but one thing does strike me as odd. There was a great to do about the beta testing stage and people`s access to that. I was never invited along until Amy personally kindly made it possible for me to look in. When I saw there were issues to resolve that I did not begin to understand I thought I`d wait until PR wentlive with all the bugs fixed. What seems odd to me is that seemingly little note has been taken of the issues raised by qualified, experienced testers and when they point out the gremlins remaining they get stick from others for doing so. I`d have thought that was the point of the beta testing stage and their help would be welcomed and acted on.

Other than that now that Rachel has advised that I have to disable my ad banner blocker I am able to view technique videos and enjoyed a few - just feel a little vulnerable disabling key elements of my expensive internet security features to do so - an issue highlighted by the beta tester poster above.

[ether]

Ok whos nicked the main site or is it just me

[Sue Allen]

The above highlights a few of the reasons for the negativity some people are being accused of before being told to clear off if you don't like it. There are obviously other issues. Perhaps we were a bit disappointed to find that a large organisation like Future could'nt ensure a reasonably smooth transition from what was a functioning site to another even better functioning site. Perhaps we were disappointed that, after weeks of being told our exclusive invite would appear, it did'nt - that happened to quite a few regular contributors so I'm not surprised that some less frequent visitors only found out their galleries had gone after they tried to access DCMag. Perhaps we thought, although secretly wondering if it was a good idea to actually invite 100,000 plus beta testers, that by the time the site went live it would have all the bugs sorted. Especially as people like Dave spent a lot of time investigating and reporting back. I'm not surprised Jonathan and Mick decided to bow out of any further contribution.

It's all about advertising and revenue after all and happy visitors visit more frequently. So at the moment it seems for many of us it's a place to take a look at occasionally as it's not exactly user friendly. Fortunately many of us have found an alternative that works for actual discussion and photo sharing - although I'm not sure that's allowed under the current T & Cs!

[ether]

on my user profile recent visitors does not update I'v had the same 10 last visitors since I joined

[ap4a]

Originally Posted by ether

on my user profile recent visitors does not update I'v had the same 10 last visitors since I joined

They don't show up at all on mine. Just says how many there have been.

[Hybrid]

Originally Posted by jinky

I really want PR to be an efficient site that is a pleasure to visit - as I largely found the old DC mag site apart from picture loading.

The forced move over to this place, and the eventual and inevitable loss of everything on DCM, seemed to unsettle a lot of people. Personally, I was saddened by this decision, but felt it was something beyond my control to say and/or do anything about. I too wanted this new site to work, even though I felt it rather odd that certain aspects of photography were being shoved aside.

During the beta testing, I was well aware that it was beta testing, and welcomed the fact that the website and forum was functional, albeit glitchy. However, there were some glaring problems, and I raised these problems to the only people who were seeming to listen... the admin staff. But my tensions were raised when various problems being reported (not to mention help and solutions being offered) seemed to be ignored. Nearly one month after one admin staff requesting it, a list of known faults and planned fixes was posted.

Nothing's been done since. The bugs haven't been fixed, regardless of this site "going live".

So, really, can people be so surprised about the apparent tone of my bug reports?

Originally Posted by jinky

Other than that now that Rachel has advised that I have to disable my ad banner blocker I am able to view technique videos and enjoyed a few - just feel a little vulnerable disabling key elements of my expensive internet security features to do so - an issue highlighted by the beta tester poster above.

... what?? "To get the most use from our website, disable all advert blocking software you're using"..? Lol!!

Sorry, that's bad! Very bad, in fact! Expensive internet security or otherwise, users shouldn't have to disable anything in order to use a website. I wonder if the admin staff know of the "Viewable in any browser" site..? Photoradar hardly matches that sites ideals.Also, talking about compliances and that, I'm also pretty sure the admin/site developer are/is unaware of the W3C website, as Photoradar certainly isn't their dreamed "XHTML 1.0 Strict" compliant.