Fixes and issues - an update for members, September 2020

3 minute read time.

Hi everyone,

We want to say a huge thank you for your continued feedback and your patience since we upgraded the Community.

We have been escalating all issues that have been reported and we are listening to all of the feedback we’re receiving. It has been really helpful for us to understand how you feel the site is working and what we can do to improve.

We know the Community is a lifeline for many of our members and we know how important it is to be able to reach out to get support.

Below is an update on where we are with some of the issues on the site. If you have any questions about the below then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on community@macmillan.org.uk.

1. Email notifications temporarily disabled

Last week, we had to temporarily disable email notifications. This is because we had reports of email notifications being sent out multiple times to single users.

We are still investigating what caused our email notification to be sent out multiple times. However, we have now been able to re-enable email notifications. If you continue to have any problems receiving these, please do let us know.

2. Private Messages

We are aware that there are a few different issues when it comes to using Private Messages. These seem to be most present when using a small screen size.

We have identified a fix for some of these issues which will help with spacing on the page and should mean that PMs are easier to use.

This fix is in the form of something called a ‘burger’ menu. You can see how this looks below:

 Image of the Community homepage with a new menu icon circled in red

As of tomorrow, 29th September, this will be present across the whole site when using mobile.

All other PM issues are continuing to be investigated.

3. Being unable to upload images in certain groups

Some users are reporting that they cannot see an upload option in some groups when wanting to upload an image. We’ve included a screenshot below of what this looks like.

 Image of the upload an image screen. Image on the left has no 'upload' option. Image on the right has an 'upload' option. 

 

We believe this is related to a permissions issue. We have a suggested fix for this and we are going to test this in our testing environment. If this is successful, we will release this fix on to the site.

4. Reply button not fully responsive

Sometimes the reply button doesn’t work as it should – when users select ‘reply’ the text box does not appear. This issue is intermittent and has been difficult to investigate as we cannot always reproduce it.

We have had to refer this issue to another team for further investigations.

5. Time stamps are off

Time stamps are currently off by an hour – this is most noticeable when using PMs. This can be resolved by changing your personal settings. However, we are investigating a fix for this where we can make this change on a site-wide level. This means users won’t need to change their settings individually.

6. Groups list and friendship list – not displaying all items

This is an issue when users go to their profile and look at their groups, or their friends, and they cannot see all of their groups or friends.

It is still under investigation. We have a temporary workaround for this which means users need to scroll to the very bottom of the page and more friends will be loaded.

We hope the above is useful, and gives you some further information about where we are with some of these issues.

Please note this isn’t an exhaustive list of everything we’re working through. We will provide more information soon.

Best wishes,

Ellen 

Anonymous
  •  ,

    Hello Margaret

    Thank you so much for commenting here, the Tech team are currently looking at all the issues with uploading image. We'll let you know if we need any further information.

    Thanks so much for your help.

  • Hi Ellen

    This inquiry from me is only my thoughts and queries, no one has asked me to ask s particular question. I may be showing my ignorance in the computing world but I'm certainly not ignorant of computer sciences, I studied a course with the Open University in computers and how to use them, software, hardware and history. My final course for my BA was entitled "The environmental web". I'd like this to be an open question for the rest of the members here.

    I would like to know, if what was carried out in August was an upgrade, why there are so many problems. There is a series of different faults that affect some people but not others. Some have only one or two problems, some can't log in to have the chance of experiencing problems!  In my own case I had to get a new email address so that I could carry on communicating with the community. Before that, Tvman2 was born out of frustration. 

    Many members have communicated that MacMillan online community has bought a system and is trying to integrate it with the one that we used to have. I'd like to ask if this is true? Is this what constitutes an upgrade? There are more knowledgeable people than me who have suggested that.

    So what is the future for this upgrade? Do we limp from one catastrophe to the next, then go round again and again... At what point does someone stand up and say a terrible choice has been made? 

    I am one of the voices clamouring for success and hoping that this post will be in vain and number of fixes will be found over the weekend (as long as the fixers are working on a weekend lol). 

    I can't believe that there could be another group of people who have a site for support and be facing so many obstacles just to place a support post. I am also a member of the MDS support group and I can categorically state that their site runs as smoothly as a Rolls Royce. Despairingly, I'd compare this site to a Lada. Believe me I hate criticising this MacMillan site because there is so much good running through it and I am so sorry to do so. When I worked, my business relied upon loyalty to me and me alone but should I have given bad service I would have lost custom which would have hit me in the pocket. I'd love there to be a site we could all be proud of and in a way that is true, but it is the members that we are proud of. It's just the medium to convey that support and pride that is at fault. I can't see the point of wanting to post support when as last week I struggled 14 times to post and on the 15th occasion I was successful. It's just a total waste of time sometimes and really we could open up a WhatsApp group and do better there. 

    I'm one of the members who is considering throwing in the towel and unless there is a dramatic improvement I am going to have to. It has gone on too long. 

    I'd like you Ellen, or Tom or whoever to answer the questions at the beginning of this message and be open and truthful. We're in the dark. I appreciate the efforts that you have put into explaining some aspects but really there's too much we don't know and a few answers and explanations would be most welcome and appreciated.

    Thank you

    Tvman

  • Frustratingly I have tried to amend some wording in my last post but when I click on more, I get 3 choices: delete, flag to moderator and cancel. 

    I want to edit the post! 

    Tvman

  • Could you please introduce an opt out choice to the pop up about -'you've used a word... samaritans ' etc, I have no idea what item of my vocabulary trips this and I suppose this is the idea, but frankly it's just another annoyance. Yes, if I was experiencing domestic violence or suicidal ideation or something, I would reach out. One of my friends in the street is a Sam. and every toilet door has the local services posted on the back, which is excellent. But this just gets in the way of the mutually supportive use of the bladder cancer forum I come on here for. 

    Thanks

  • I'd like to add my voice to that. 

    I was faced with the same wording, I was quite shocked and don't know what set that off when I wrote a post. Was that sent to me in error? I went through my post with my wife beside me in bed!

    Very worrying if that's an error, it needs to be fixed.

    Tvman

    PS No one from admin has responded to the questions I asked in my post 3 days ago. I was not just complaining, I was sincere with my questions so please Ellen, Tom or someone else from admin listen and respond. 

    Thank you

    Tvman