Newsletter feature is having issues

Discussions about the Newsletter Tool at LDS.org.
samanthahollister
New Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:29 pm

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#31

Post by samanthahollister »

Thank you barkeraj .
sgbridges
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 6:26 pm

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#32

Post by sgbridges »

I am having trouble with the news letter edit function , I get no edit bar and the dialog box is small along the right hand side. I can paste to the box but cannot edit...
User avatar
johnshaw
Senior Member
Posts: 2273
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:55 pm
Location: Syracuse, UT

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#33

Post by johnshaw »

I was contacted by a member of my stake about this solution. How am I supposed to help her fix this? Submitting feedback doesn't seem to produce results, posting on this forum hasn't received results. Isn't this a Sev1 incident that should be worked until it is fixed? I don't get it.

Can't Edit the text field, can't add attachments
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
User avatar
johnshaw
Senior Member
Posts: 2273
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:55 pm
Location: Syracuse, UT

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#34

Post by johnshaw »

aebrown wrote:
samanthahollister wrote:That's interesting JD... because the last time this happened, someone from Feedback sent me to this Forum.
It's certainly useful to report issues here; others may see your post and be helped, or be able to shed additional light on the issue. Sometimes a problem can be solved or worked around by doing actions that any user can do, and people here on the forum might very well have experience that can help. That's probably why the support staff that processes feedback might send you here.

But if the problem requires action from engineers or IT personnel at the Church, then no one here can help you, and JD is entirely correct.
And this is the circular problem that the church has. I've been sent to this forum many times as well for issues that are systemic, that only Church IT can fix. Unfortunately, church IT does not consider the end user their 'client' - The departments inside the church are their 'client'.
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11460
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#35

Post by lajackson »

johnshaw wrote:How am I supposed to help her fix this? Submitting feedback doesn't seem to produce results, posting on this forum hasn't received results. Isn't this a Sev1 incident that should be worked until it is fixed? I don't get it.
Priorities and resources. It is as simple as that. Neither you nor I can fix it. All we can do is submit feedback, which does place the issue in front of the developers. Posting to the Forum will (almost) never receive results (in getting the software changed).

Regardless of the priority of an incident, it will not be "worked until it is fixed". It will be prioritized by those for whom the developers work, then worked in order of priority.

To poorly paraphrase Isaiah 55:8, "For my priorities are not your priorities, neither are your wishes my wishes, saith the developers."
User avatar
johnshaw
Senior Member
Posts: 2273
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:55 pm
Location: Syracuse, UT

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#36

Post by johnshaw »

lajackson,

If that is the case then the church knows there is an issue and is not doing anything about it. If that is the case, then send a message, post a little red message in newsletter, disable the link, do something so that people don't waste hours thinking that something works that doesn't work. The church IT methodology is based on ITIL, and if so, this is an outage that is worked until it is fixed. That's what outages are, they are automatically prioritized above everything else. I work and have many priorities with limited resources, but if my client has an outage it doesn't matter, we work it until it is fixed. That's just what you do in IT.

Certainly it could be as you have said, but it just seems pretty funny that someone would prioritize this lower than something else, particularly when it happened a month ago and they likely already know the issue and can either work-around it, or fix it (both are ITIL responses to incident management). If I was the developer of this solution, I'd likely consecrate some time off-work hours to fix it, but that's just me and the thousands of other developers I've seen do that kind of thing over the last 20 years of my career. It would be really hard for me to imagine going home, playing with my kids knowing that a solution that I owned as not working correctly.

I don't really do out-of-context scripture proof-texting
“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
kisaac
Community Moderators
Posts: 1184
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:04 am
Location: Utah, united states

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#37

Post by kisaac »

samanthahollister wrote:So what is the proper, most efficient reporting method? Do I give feedback on the Newsletter page and THEN come over to this thread and add my two cents
Yes...that's my suggestion! I'm not a church employee or software developer, but I will help you if I'm able! I think most of us here do the same...as a community of tech users like yourself, we can't fix a programming issue, or change some priority decision made by others, but WE ARE helping others when we can.
"A soft answer turneth away wrath" works great on LDSTech forum boards!
User avatar
barkeraj
Church Employee
Church Employee
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:15 am
Location: Springville, UT

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#38

Post by barkeraj »

Wow. That is a lot of anger you are tossing our way johnshaw. Feel better?

I'm glad that you understand how much work we have to do, and how many people we have to do that work. You also apparently have an understanding of how many users this portion of the site gets versus other portions of the site that would contribute to the priority of this issue. This naturally led you to the conclusion of where this issue should rank amongst all the work our team is asked to do.

> posting on this forum hasn't received results.
> the church knows there is an issue and is not doing anything about it.

I responded last week that we were looking into it. We got things fixed last time it happened. I'm sorry that doesn't count as receiving results. Guess what, sometimes things are hard to fix and take a while. We are looking into it, and that is a result. It is just not the result that you wanted. Other priorities are getting slowed down to take a look at this, that doesn't mean we have dropped everything and put our entire team on it though.

> Unfortunately, church IT does not consider the end user their 'client'

Man, I wish I worked at whatever place you do that apparently only listens to the end user and not priorities from 'clients' (that sometimes have Elder in front of their name). It must be pretty awesome. I'm sure you never miss home teaching visits, call each home teachee on their birthdays and read every lesson for every class as well. I'm sure nothing else in your life suffers

> It would be really hard for me to imagine going home, playing with my kids knowing that a solution that I owned as not working correctly.

You have absolutely no idea how much time we spend trying to make things better for the end user that is not part of our priority list. How many extra hours have been put in "off the clock" to do those things we want to do when sometimes our priority list doesn't match up. If we spent our home time taking care of every problem in our backlog, we would never see our family.

I wouldn't pretend to speak to how other groups within the church work, I don't understand their priority log or process. For my team, I try to respond to what I can. A moderator on this forum sends me things that look to be critical and I do my best to forward them on to the appropriate locations or get them taken care of when it is my team's responsibility.

I'm sorry you have been inconvenienced, I really am. But your attitude in your response makes me want to help less, not more. Well done! The situation is what it is. If the moderator hadn't notified me of this, and I didn't take *extra* time to look into it, it wouldn't be getting looked into at all. But he did, and I did, so at least *something* is happening.

I'm probably not supposed to speak out like this as an employee, but it is really disheartening to be thought of in such a derogatory manner, and I felt the need to speak up.
wendyhickman
Member
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 2:39 pm

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#39

Post by wendyhickman »

Having a similar ongoing problem with the newsletter. Fields are all squished to the left, can't select categories, can't install a link, can't attach. Reported via the on-page feedback link a month ago. Rereported via the on-page feedback link again on Saturday.
samanthahollister
New Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:29 pm

Re: Newsletter feature is having issues

#40

Post by samanthahollister »

BarkerAJ,

I am sorry you are feeling unappreciated. Your help is very much needed and appreciated. Maybe what johnshaw is saying isn't with anger so much as frustration & confusion. I know that's what I'm experiencing because I can't do my calling (for the second month in a row) and I am completely disconnected from the people who have power to help me serve my ward members. It puts me in an embarrassing awkward spot. Especially when I have enlisted other ward members in trying to "catch the vision" of this.

I have to admit that the process of reporting and receiving acknowledgement is sketchy, confusing, and inconsistent. I have no idea how important this is to anyone to fix or how long it is projected to take to be fixed. No news, day after day, can be a really bad thing. Sometimes we will assume the worst - that this is not a high priority - because it is a natural (maybe incorrect) conclusion. If our assumption is wrong, please tell us & give us some insight please! I know that in any other business - if a website function was down for a week - people would be pretty upset. They would be wondering why the breakdown.

Bottom line - we want the newsletter to succeeed; we want to help where we can to address problems quickly, and we want to know that this is a high priority because to us our callings are a very high priority. And we appreciate any help we can get.

Thanks for listening!
Locked

Return to “Newsletter”