I had a try at working through my alerts tonight, and have managed to clear the week and a half's worth of notification emails - a vast improvement over what it's been like since Christmas. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that they're now perfect. I've edited subject lines and surname lines, moved posts to other boards, and deleted posts (there were several instances of multiple copies, making me think some people had difficulties at the time). Most of the changes went through without a hitch. A few got the "usual" error message, so I'd go back and click on Submit again, and most of the time it'd go through on the second attempt. A few took more tries, but eventually went through. One or two seemed to hang, but on reloading that message I could see that my alterations had taken effect. I've also cleared my objections. I wrote to the Help Desk (working through their new system) a few days ago when I discovered I couldn't access that any more, since I had not seen any discussion or notification about that not working - read on before you react to that, please. I got a pleasant reply back in fairly short time, quite a contrast to what I've read others reporting recently. I've been following the list, but must confess I forgot about the board - this wouldn't have been a problem if the board and list were gatewayed, but they're not so ce la vie. Because of that, and because I didn't work through the alert emails, I didn't see the discussions there (which would have pre-empted my contacting the Help Desk!). It doesn't help that the Board Admins' board alerts are listed at the bottom of the alert email, so I only see them when I've worked through everything else. Not a gripe, just a statement of fact and maybe I'll remember next time. :-) And "my" boards are now listed at My Account again, which is also an improvement, since they've been missing for a few days at least. So, if you've been waiting for things to go back to "normal", you may find that you can get on with your work now. Posting this to both the list and the board to reach as many people as possible who have been waiting to get back to work. Kind Regards, Wendy Howard -- Kaiwaka, Northland, New Zealand http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wendyh65/ <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Ewendyh65/>

Are we still supposed to use the Report Abuse link if we have trouble editing or moving messages? Do we still mark the Report Abuse post ATTENTION STAFF: ? What is the "Board Feedback" link for at the bottom of the board pages? Lou ----------------- Lou- Sure, continue to REPORT ABUSE and put ATTN STAFF: for issues you run into where a post won't move or other "bug" is causing you trouble. This is better than writing to Customer Support because you can readily link to the specific post causing the problem. Same goes for writing to board staff by email directly. Board Feedback is not for "bugs" but rather for making comments and suggestions about board enhancements and features being added--development issues. Joan **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

Kathy, With all due respect, I think this is yet another RootsWeb/Ancestry.com screw-up. I traced all of the messages on the ROSETO MB back to the beginning--when Ancestry didn't differentiate between types of messages and RootsWeb was still RootsWeb; you know, back in the Stone age. The first messages state that the messages are for the two locales and makes no mention of the surname. Apparently, when our cute little puzzle pieces (GenConnect on RootsWeb) became part of the MyFamilyInc.com group along with Ancestry.com the powers that be didn't look before placing the locale MB in the surname category. I have no intention of arguing the matter. Just stating my observation. Also, among my observations today--the boards aren't working any better than they have been for administrators. I just keep trying. Sooner or later this, too, will pass. And something else will come along. Leona ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathie Harrison" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 12:01 PM Subject: [BAd] ROSETO surname board and abuse of that board > To the ROSETO board admin. You CAN'T change the focus of a > messageboard and especially CAN'T promote it as a LOCALITY board which > it appears that you have for sometime now on that board. LOCALITY > BOARDS can only cover the SPECIFIC LOCALITY and not 2 or more areas. > The surname boards are for SPECIFIC SURNAMES. The ROSETO surname is to > be used ONLY for genealogy of the ROSETO surname and not dozens of > other SURNAMES, CHURCH FUNCTIONS, and PRICES quoted on ROOTSWEB boards > are not allowed. >

Hi Leona, yes I think this is the case but it needs to be reported to staff in order for his messageboard to be placed in the correct category. Otherwise all those posts truly are off topic. All the posts quoting fees, etc are to be deleted. I just don't see how the admin could not have understood this and contacted staff long ago. -- Happy New Year 2008 Take care, Kathie Harrison http://whispers.ancestralwhispers.com/

After reading all these posts about board functions still not working and the "new and improved" Help Desk I have some questions: We are not to send problem reports to [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) any more? We are supposed to go to the Help Pages and email staff from there? Are we still supposed to use the Report Abuse link if we have trouble editing or moving messages? Do we still mark the Report Abuse post ATTENTION STAFF: ? What is the "Board Feedback" link for at the bottom of the board pages? Lou **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

To the ROSETO board admin. You CAN'T change the focus of a messageboard and especially CAN'T promote it as a LOCALITY board which it appears that you have for sometime now on that board. LOCALITY BOARDS can only cover the SPECIFIC LOCALITY and not 2 or more areas. The surname boards are for SPECIFIC SURNAMES. The ROSETO surname is to be used ONLY for genealogy of the ROSETO surname and not dozens of other SURNAMES, CHURCH FUNCTIONS, and PRICES quoted on ROOTSWEB boards are not allowed. Your responsibilities as the admin. for the board are: http://boards.ancestry.com/admin/admininfo.aspx#basic Community Guidelines Don't post any photos of living individuals (other than just you) or anyone else's email addresses without their consent. Don't harass, abuse or threaten other members. Don't post any content that's vulgar, hateful, sexually explicit, illegal or otherwise offensive. Don't post commercial messages, fee-for-service postings, advertising or related links, etc. Don't include identifiable information about living people without their direct consent, or, in the case of minors, the consent of their parent or guardian. This includes (but is not limited to) a person's full name, location or contact information. Don't post anything you didn't personally create. That includes copyrighted material you're not authorized to distribute, email messages, notes in GEDCOMs, etc. Read our copyright policy if you have questions. Don't impersonate any individual, business or other entity. Don't pretend to be an employee or representative of The Generations Network, Inc. or anyone affiliated with the The Generations Network, Inc. family of companies, properties or affiliates. Don't post a "seeking information" (query) message with a non-query (data) menu classification selection. -- Happy New Year 2008 Take care, Kathie Harrison http://whispers.ancestralwhispers.com/

I just went back to check on another problem that I reported on Nov. 1, 2007 ( TWO MONTHS AGO !!!! )and it still isn't fixed either !! The Report Abuse feature on one of my surname boards gets the reply, "OOPS! We can't find the page........" when I click on the SUBMIT button. I reported it two more times since the initial report and got a reply that it was forwarded to the technical team but as of today it STILL doesn't work!! I've reported it again this morning using the "NEW" help pages so I wonder if anyone will pay attention? Marilyn << who is getting extremely annoyed at the long delays **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

I'm still not able to get to the 11 objections on my list after 3 weeks ------------- The boards are only partly working right just yet. My Alerts seems to be back to normal and there boards are now faster and there are fewer of the error messages, but for the most part View Objections is still returning the error message--but occasionally it works and you get the list of objections. It seems to work best for me late at night when fewer people are using the boards, so until it is completely fixed you might try accessing objections at an off-peak hour. Joan **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

I'm still not able to get to the 11 objections on my list after 3 weeks and I've contacted [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) twice without a reply. I also haven't been able to move any messages on my boards and when I try to edit a post, I still keep getting the Error 500 notice. I think the "fixes" are hit and miss. Marilyn ---------------original message------------------ In a message dated 1/5/2008 4:36:24 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I've also cleared my objections. I wrote to the Help Desk (working through their new system) a few days ago when I discovered I couldn't access that any more, since I had not seen any discussion or notification about that not working **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

On Dec 30, 2007 3:50 PM, Beth Perry Johnston <[email protected]> wrote: > Dan, > > I think you'll find that even though you get error messages in the two > examples above, your edit did "take" and your message "posted." > Sometimes it takes a few minutes for that fact to be reflected on the > board. Receiving those error messages has been the cause of many, > many, many duplicate posts on the boards as people, assuming the first > try didn't work, post again and again and again . . . . > > Beth > Beth, Of course, I realize the edits & posts "take" and 99% of the users do exactly as you say. THAT is what makes it such a huge problem. Dan

Beth- Not necessarily. It's a real crapshoot and you have to refresh the page over and over to see whether the changes were made or not--sometimes they were and other times not. You can't just *assume* that they were because it is about a 50/50 chance that they were not. Joan ------------ Dan, I think you'll find that even though you get error messages in the two examples above, your edit did "take" and your message "posted." Sometimes it takes a few minutes for that fact to be reflected on the board. Receiving those error messages has been the cause of many, many, many duplicate posts on the boards as people, assuming the first try didn't work, post again and again and again . . . . Beth **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)

I have a high speed connection and can browse the boards - - as long as I'm not signed in. As soon as I sign in, I get various errors: 1. try to view message: "Error retrieving message" (even though I was *on* that message when I signed in) 2. Search gets -0- results, back out, try again, 5-6 (or more) times before it shows the list. 3. Then change the # of results per page, -0- results, back out, try again and again. 4. Move to "Next" page of results, get -0-, back, click Next again and again (once took 9 retries) 5. The few times I have been able to open a message while signed in, if I try to go into Admin mode, get #1 again. 6. The even rarer times I've been able to get into Admin mode and actually am able to edit a message, get the 500 error when I submit. 7. When I try to post a message (re: how to deal with the errors), I get the "Error retrieving message" banner. Since Wednesday, I haven't been on the boards *once* that they have "works quite well". Dan On Dec 29, 2007 10:13 PM, Donal O'Kelly <[email protected]> wrote: > When the board works, except for being slow, it works quite well. > > I use a cable modem which is very fast, but still to move a message from A > board to B board can take as long as three-five minutes. > > If you are an admin who uses a dial up connection, a move from board A to > board B can take perhaps an hour. GRRRRRRRRRRR. > > So somehow the techs need to make the boards not only work, but work much > faster. > > donkelly > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Guess I've been lucky then.<smile> After the experience of trying to post a message three times, getting an error message each time, then seeing it posted three times on the board (not one I admin), I've only posted or tried to send through an edit once and in due time each has shown up on the board involved. Maybe I should go get a lottery ticket! Beth On Dec 30, 2007 2:31 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Beth- > > Not necessarily. It's a real crapshoot and you have to refresh the page > over and over to see whether the changes were made or not--sometimes they were > and other times not. You can't just *assume* that they were because it is > about a 50/50 chance that they were not. > > Joan > ------------ [snip] -- "There are more molecules of water in a cup of water than cups of water in all the world's oceans. This means that some molecules in every cup of water you drink passed through the kidneys of Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Abe Lincoln, or any other historical person of your choosing." Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse in the Washington Post.

On Dec 30, 2007 1:42 PM, Dan Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: [snip] > 6. The even rarer times I've been able to get into Admin mode and actually > am able to edit a message, get the 500 error when I submit. > 7. When I try to post a message (re: how to deal with the errors), I get > the "Error retrieving message" banner. [snip] Dan, I think you'll find that even though you get error messages in the two examples above, your edit did "take" and your message "posted." Sometimes it takes a few minutes for that fact to be reflected on the board. Receiving those error messages has been the cause of many, many, many duplicate posts on the boards as people, assuming the first try didn't work, post again and again and again . . . . Beth -- "There are more molecules of water in a cup of water than cups of water in all the world's oceans. This means that some molecules in every cup of water you drink passed through the kidneys of Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Abe Lincoln, or any other historical person of your choosing." Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse in the Washington Post.

In a message dated 12/29/2007 10:40:02 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I don't understand how *anyone* is able to use the boards. I'm getting some type of error 75-80% of the time. ------------------ I'm getting so fed up that I'm ready to chuck all my boards. I could be doing other things with my time -- why do I want to spend 2 hours trying to clean up 2 or 3 message threads on dysfunctional boards? We are volunteers after all, and the process should be made simple and easy for us -- not making us spend hours everyday just trying to maintain a few boards. I'm not patient any longer....these boards have been in place for a year and the bugs should have been worked out by now. The whole system has been a boondoggle from the beginning. Lou :-( **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)

On 12/29/07, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just because the format/system is now > similar for both sides doesn't mean you can ask question about one > place at the other. > > Joan > ------------ > BUT IMO, I'm going to always be confused about whether I'm writing "to" > Ancestry OR "to" the RW Help Desk--- HOW will I know which? Does it just > depend on which interface I enter?? > > OR.... Are Ancestry problems now answered by the Help desk volunteer??? > > Judy == The two areas now look SO similar that it will be confusing as to WHICH I'm on. I always have both Anc and RW screens open at the same time. I think Anc/TGN is taking this branding effort too far. RW needs to retain some individuality. Plus, it is NOT easy to find "knowldge base articles" for some links that were on RWs main screen. An example is for links to freepages tools - guestbook edit, etc. J

Judy- The Knowledge Base and email contact you are making with the RootsWeb HelpDesk is for ROOTSWEB questions/issues. If you contact the Ancestry Customer Support people via the Ancestry interface you are seeing a knowledge base and asking questions about Ancestry. Just because the format/system is now similar for both sides doesn't mean you can ask question about one place at the other. Joan ------------ BUT IMO, I'm going to always be confused about whether I'm writing "to" Ancestry OR "to" the RW Help Desk--- HOW will I know which? Does it just depend on which interface I enter?? OR.... Are Ancestry problems now answered by the Help desk volunteer??? Judy **************************************See AOL's top rated recipes (http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)

I don't understand how *anyone* is able to use the boards. I'm getting some type of error 75-80% of the time.

I've had the same problem. When I finally got it reported, the response was "We can't duplicate the problem." Dan On Dec 29, 2007 7:04 PM, Rene' <[email protected]> wrote: > The problem with the article it says that we only have to register once. > I > ve reported problems 4 times in the last 3 weeks and all 4 times I've had > to > register. It comes back and says that my address is registered, but the > form to register is still there. Does this mean that there is a bug, or > am > I to take it that my message went to the help desk? I have not received a > message from help desk to help me to determine which it is yet, has anyone > else had this happen to them? > > Rene' >

Lou, I happened to complain to (what I thought was Ancestry) before I knew there was a "notice" of a change. I gave my Ancestry // RW Name & PW and I did NOT get a message "(This is NOT an account on the rest of the RootsWeb website.) " In the Reply, the usual Help Desk person said they did the change because everyone complained about the Desk not being useful. BUT IMO, I'm going to always be confused about whether I'm writing "to" Ancestry OR "to" the RW Help Desk--- HOW will I know which? Does it just depend on which interface I enter?? OR.... Are Ancestry problems now answered by the Help desk volunteer??? Judy On 12/29/07, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > > In a message dated 12/29/2007 4:51:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > << You have successfully registered within this > Knowledge Base. (This is > NOT an account on the rest of the RootsWeb website.) Following is > your Knowledge Base User ID and password:: > Email Address: [email protected] > Password: XXXXXXXXX > > ----------------------- > OKay, I went to the URL given in the email: > > > http://rootsweb.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/rootsweb.cfg/php/enduser/acct_login.php > ? > p_next_page=myprofile.php > > and typed in my email address and the password they gave me, so I could > change the password to one that I want, and first I got a page that says > my > email address is already > registered but the password is incorrect. So I filled out the page again > and this time I get > a notice that says my email address has not yet been recognized by the > Knowledge Base. > > The article in the rootsweb review says: > > "I talked with some members of the HelpDesk team this week and they are > excited about the new HelpDesk." > > I'm glad the Help Desk team is excited because the damn thing isn't > working for me. All this tweaking around that the "Team" is doing just > makes things more complicated > as far as I'm concerned. >