Site Status Update

[TampaYankee]

Birthing a website is similar to birthing a baby or colt, it seems. While I haven’t had the fortune to give birth to the animate, praise the gods, I am learning about birthing an interactive website. As in natural birth, Labor can be fast or not so fast, excruciatingly painful and frustrating or not so much.

This Labor, my first in the online area with remote participants and servers, has impressed me as not of the fast-and-not-so-painful type. We are talking a nine pound baby birthed by a 90 pound mother, I think.

We have had our share of startup issues – some biggies and some not so. The biggies:

Site Performance: Caused by some unbounded loops in the code. That always makes for a self-absorbed system with no time for external requests, no matter how hot the hunk making the request. We are hopeful that all such pesky bugs have been laid to rest.

Unreliable Email Performance: Cause still unknown at present but with the extermination of the loopy bugs, our efforts have been concentrated on this major issue. The site is heavily dependent on email for so many reasons. Until this problem is resolved we recommend the use of maleescortreview@gmail.com for email contact.

Firefox Compatibility: We have observed and we have received a number of complaints associated with this browser. Personally, this browser had me locked out of the forums as a poster over a week. We have people working on the compatibility issue. In the interim we recommend use of Explorer. Safari for Mac Users seems problem free as well.

The not-so-biggies… there have been some nuisance bugs that have thwarted users and admin alike. For example, the text entry box on the Contact Us page doesn’t suffer special characters well, spaces and periods excluded. The error message fails to shed much light on the nature of the error other than the system is unhappy. We are working on that shortcoming. Other shortcomings in design or implementation have been discovered and fixed or are in the process, or are scheduled on a priority basis.

We apologize to all for the inconvenience and frustration. We, as admins, have shared in that frustration as well. Hopefully, we will get the remaining two biggies resolved in the next few days. Until then we will endeavor to use workarounds to add escort profiles and to process reviews.

Clearly we are still in Labor but we are breathing well, as per the recommended exercises, and we continue to push. Hopefully it will go very fast after the shoulders emerge completely.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We hope it will be rewarded by an end product of excellent quality.

The MER Management

[Guest eastburbguy]

[TotallyOz]

I think a lot has to do with the version and the system. I use Mac OS with all the newest versions. I cannot get Firefox to work with many sites as it seems to store cookies in an odd way.

I have no problem with other browsers on Mac exp. Safari.

I also use Firefox on my Toshiba. It works fine as well but I have to log in and out 2 times before it recognized me.

Thank you for your patience guys!

Oz

---Life is here, life is now. Life is soooo short... and sex is just too delicious! Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Champagne and Strawberries in one hand, Diet Coke and Godiva Chocolate in the other, a personal bottle of Eros, A BOX OF TROJAN MAGNUMS, and a good Cuban cigar in the your pockets (ALL partially used), a wallet ALMOST empty of currency but noticeably used from the rainbow colors of THE SEVERAL bills THAT REMAIN from a multitude of countries and cards charged to the max from the joys of life, body thoroughly used up, OLD AS TIME ITSELF, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO - what a ride!---

[Guest straycat]

Just a heads up that earlier today I was unable to post using IE from a different computer. I was receiving the same errors that I had experienced from this computer while using Firefox v1.5 ... but as I mentioned this time it was IE.

The issue was I log into the site, then log into the forums. I attempt to make a post however, when I click the post message icon I'm taking back to the forum sign on page.

I know others have mentioned an issue with Firefox but this was the first site related issue I've had with IE.

Not complaining just trying to make certain the programmers are aware there still seems to be a glitch.

[TotallyOz]

The programmers are having a hard time integrating DCForum with the site. It is not as easy as other software programs would have been. It has taken about 50% of their time for the site build which is a great loss. We choose this as we thought it would be easier for members familiar with the software and it has threaded views. I am beginning to think it was a mistake and to try another program totally.

[TampaYankee]

We have determined that AOL is rejecting an inordinate amount of our emails at their gateway. The error message states in essence that at least one URL in our email is objectionable. We have been on the phone with the AOL postmaster. They have reviewed our email and determined that there is nothing that should have activated this filter. They are investigating on their end and are supposed to get back to us. So we wait.

We are investigating gay.com and hotmail.

A few samples for gay.com indicates that the same gateway filtering may be active. We are enlarging our test sample to obtain definitive results. If any gay.com members are experiencing problems please let us know.

We have seen very little hotmail data but they have a reputation for similar filtering. We need more information before we can draw any conclusions for this site. If any hotmail members are experiencing difficulty please contact us.

Except for the occasional Bulk Folder exile, Yahoo does not seem to be an issue with respect to gatway filterng, as far as we know. If anyone is having problems other than Bulk exile please let us know. For exiled email please select the email and mark "This Is Not Spam'. And keep an eye on the Bulk folder just the same.

[TampaYankee]

Several Firefox users have reported problems regarding the inability to login to the forum and post. We also have two Explorer users reporting the same difficulity.

The issue stems from our desire to have a single login for access to all free site content and to post access in the forums. DCForum+ is a stand-alone package with its own login procedure that is intended to run independently of any other software. It could be considered a 'separate site'.

Our single login design requires that 'we' perform invasive surgery on DCForum+, deactivate or 'go-around' some of its functions without loosing or clobbering other functions. In general, how well or easily this can be done depends on how well the 'nerves' can be seen, traced from their origin and then clipped off or joined to a sympathetic nerve in the site software. In software terms, how well the code is layed out by function and how easily it can be traced and interfaced to external code.

After a long bout of initial surgery on the patient, several returns to the 'OR' have been made to perfect the result. To date the result has fallen short of the goal with only partial success, and for some that is intermittent.

Our engineers have been pursuing doggedly the problem. From the noises coming out of the shop in the back, it seems that this software is not the most tech-support friendly. I choose to understate the tech support mood. I won't relate the comments, but it suffices to say that the language is fit for neither women nor children, nor men of mild manner.

There is no sign of a postive prognosis at this time. Thus hard decisions have to be made. We only have three options it seems:

1. Stay the course. This is unacceptable because it excludes members of the community from active participation in the forum.

2. Run up the white flag of surrender. Fall back to a dual login procedure -- one for the site and one for the forums. Cumbersome, but it preserves the benefits of the DCForum+ software, namely threaded topic messages and an clean well organized easy-to-read layout IMO.

3. Search out new directions. Replace DCForum+ with alternative software that achieves the desired goal of a single login procedure.

Earlier forays didn't show a wealth of altenative threaded-forum software packages.

Linear forum software makes up the vast majority of what is out there, and some pretty nice stuff is available. However, unless users take adequate care in their posts to identify who they are addressing, linear message board architecture can make it difficult to determine who is responding to whom. It can be likened to reading a transcript of a conversation among multiple parties in a room, a format devoid the benefits of different vocal patterns and tones to distinguish the particpants remarks.

Our strong preference is for threaded forum software that associates those having an exchange in the room. However, we have to deal with the terrain as we find it. Access to all members takes priority over the exact layout, and sadly the ease of readability, of the forums.

We are evaluating alternatives to DCForum+ -- threaded and linear architectures. Concurrent with this evaluation we continue to pursue a fix to our current single-login process. Hopefully a breakthrough can be made but we are not placing all of the eggs in that basket. Short of that success, which seems unlikely at this point, we are left with Options 2 and 3. It is our impression that most members dislike a dual login procedure. Thus we are leaning to Option 3. Given the availability of alternatives, the probability favors the linear architecture message board. That is not our preference but it is the reality.

Please feel free to offer comments and suggestions or recommendations for candidate message board software.

We apologize to those who have been locked out and we are taking steps to rectify the situation. Thank you for your patience.

The Management

[Guest BostonGuy]

TY:

I think you risk the future of this fledgling site unless you solve the technical problems soon. I understand that sounds like a no-brainer. But the window of opportunity for introducing a new site after making it public is fairly small. If a site's target audience perceives a site as difficult, cumbersome or lacking in value, the site will lose a large part of that audience forever. They just won't bother to come back.

So far:

1) There have been a fair number of periods when MER was simply unavailable. This seems to still be recurring, at odd intervals.

2) There have been periods when the site's performance was so bad that I simply went elsewhere before the first page ever came up. This seems to have ameliorated but did happen to me once yesterday.

3) Posting has been difficult or impossible for most people. I found a workaround for myself (described in a different thread) but only because I was determined to figure out what was causing the odd technical behavior I was encountering. I'm not certain that most non-technical visitors would bother.

The result of these problems, from a user point of view, has been to make MER a site that is difficult to get to and, once you get to it, difficult or impossible to use. That's precisely the opposite of what you want. I'm certain you are well aware of this. But pointing these out is important to the point I'm going to make.

Hindsight is 20-20, of course. But one could argue that you never make a site public until it is totally ready for visitors. You guys are smart and experienced, so I'm guessing these problems have blindsided you. Nevertheless, they're here and aggravating your visitors.

Having said all that, here is my point: solve the problems in the fastest, easiest way so you can get MER up and running. This means:

1) Keep the DCForum software. All of your visitors already know how to use it. Right now, that feeling of ease of use and familiarity is something you sorely need to be attached to this site in the minds of your visitors. Also, as you point out, it's threaded. If you move to non-threaded software (ala ATKOL), people who are used to the forums at M4M will see it as a big step backwards.

2) Accept a double login. From the outside looking in, you are spending a lot of time chasing a small benefit (a single login) while allowing that chase to completely compromise your entire site. There have been days here when there were only one or two posts. That's a quick way to kill the site. Put the programmers to work on finding a solution to the double login, if you really want that -- but have them work on a test site. In the meantime, get the real site up for business. People simply will not care that they have to login twice so long as that is clear to them.

3) Accept that the value you are trying to offer right now -- at least in my mind -- is competition to M4M's forums. This is of value to people who want to post to an escort-related forum but won't post to M4M because they don't like the management. I'm not certain how large this crowd really is but, for MER's sake, I hope it's large enough to sustain readership. Some people may choose to post in both sites. I find this a dubious proposition and one that the "revolt" site tried and failed with. I do understand that this site will be better organized, offer more civilized conversation, offer other content, etc., etc. But, for right now, it comes down to the forums, which basically aren't working. So solve that problem like the existence of the site depends on it and address other things only after the forums are working well.

When you really get down to it, there are a lot of escort-related sites on the Internet and the number keeps growing. There are lots of places to go to see escort pictures and search for escorts and more and more of these are starting to offer escort reviews. M4M is the review site that most people know. Unless M4M disappears -- a possibility, but one I discount and something you shouldn't count on -- they will be your big competition.

Management at M4M has made some big mistakes. One of those mistakes has been to remove most of the reviews. That single step eliminated a large part of the value of the escort review portion of M4M. MER can benefit from those mistakes. But M4M may get its act together. Who knows, maybe they'll decide to post all the back reviews? My point is that you could easily find the non-forum part of your offerings grouped together in the minds of your visitors with similar content offered by a variety of other sites.

But the forums are different. The only other true escort-related forums that I know of are the ones at M4M. And some people won't post there. So that's something you can take advantage of today to start building value for this site. So get the forums working, today if possible, and put everything else off the table until the forums are working cleanly.

Hey, you asked. :-)

BG

[Guest straycat]

I've had limited experience with fusetalk forums. They're easy to use offer threaded views and one step integrated login.

Here is a list of their features.

http://www.fusetalk.com/products/features.cfm

[Guest eastburbguy]

I commented earlier that I use firefox exclusively and have experienced no problems here.

FWIW, I'm still using firefox 1.0 (haven't upgraded to 1.5). Could that explain things?

[Guest straycat]

>I commented earlier that I use firefox exclusively and have

>experienced no problems here.

>

>FWIW, I'm still using firefox 1.0 (haven't upgraded to 1.5).

>Could that explain things?

It pretty much explains everything The people who seem to be having the most issue using Firefox, like myself, are using v1.5

[Guest Barry]

There's quite a bit out there on problems with FF 1.5. It's clearly not just with this site or the DCForum software. Here's a link.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showAr...cleID=175007152

Barryl

[TampaYankee]

Two things you never want to be first on the block with:

A new model automobile and a new software release. The first wave of users is just the second wave of beta testers! Ummm... sorta hitting close to home on that one.

[Guest BostonGuy]

LOL... yes... it's a good thing we all like you so much!;-)

BG

[TampaYankee]

BG,

Thanks for your sharing your perspective and comments. I agree with much... most.... ummm... probably all that you said. We haven't exactly followed the standard commercial software development model, that I worked by for three decades. Costs would have been prohibitive IMO. Even without the cost issue, distributed development has presented its challenges.

Without knowledge of the specific problems encountered I'd probably do it all over the same way. Only because in our developement environment we did not discover the most severe problems in a small sterile inhouse test environment and in our small-sample beta test. We needed a critical load factor, critical database population and diversity of unanticpated user behavior. This was necessitated, in part, by the broad scope of our site -- maybe too broad for a smooth startup in our time frame.

I agree there is a limited window of optimal opportunity. We do the best we can. Hopefuly we will slay our dragons soon and offer worthwhile value to the community.

The MC performance has been problematic and must be addressed. That is why we are considering alternatives. My preference is the single login option with DCForum -- if we can get it to work. My personal fall back preference is the double login with DCForum. I am willing, as a user, to pay the price for the extra login because i think the forum layout is worth it.

However, as site adminstrators we have to consider the preferences of our users. To date more have expressed preference for a single login. It wasn't presented exactly as an either-or proposition. It wasn't anticpated that way at the time. Nevertheless, that is the prevailing opinion sample at the moment. Part of the motivation of my post was to solicit comments regarding perference. You made yours and I am appreciative for the response in general and more so for the particular response as we agree. That makes at least 2 for option 2.

I did ask and your comments have not fallen on deaf ears. Thank you for offering them. They help to shed light on where we are and how we got there. I think it is important to keep the community apprised of what's going on and why. Startup problems, and everyone has them to some degree, are bad enough but trying to keep the user base in the dark about them, igoring them -- the problems publicly and the users -- is much worse IMO. Thus the other motivation for my post.

Thanks again for the on-point comments.

TY

[AdamSmith]

Here's another vote in favor of double logins, if that's what it takes to stick with DCForum.

[Guest eastburbguy]

BG, I have to comment that I have had virtually no problems with site performance, and zero problems with posting.

Since the site went live, I have encountered only a small handful of occasions when the site didn't load - hell, that happens with established sites all the time.

As noted elsewhere, I use Firefox 1.0 as my exclusive browser. Also, I typically do not visit the site until late afternoon or early evening Central time.

Finally, I agree that initially at least, ease of MC participation will help to build a critical mass of viewers. But over time, as the listings grow and the reviews build up, that will drive far more traffic than the MC, just as it does with HB. Add to that the planned additional features, and I think management has a winning plan.

Let's just hope that the site ownership's pockets are deep enough to get there. ;-)

[Guest BostonGuy]

TY:

You're welcome, of course, even though I'm not sure you got exactly what you asked for. :-) :-)

But I think you've got it precisely right: keeping customers abreast of problems and solutions that are being sought for them is a far, far better way of going about things than keeping people in the dark. With your approach, customers can become part of the solution and, in the process, are more patiert for the final outcome.

That presumes, of course, that there is a final outcome in some kind of a timely basis. :-)

With regards to the double login: that's the kind of thing that is really hard for people to respond to until they see it in practice. I strongly suspect that if you had a main page that had a link that said "log into the forums" and another that said "log into the main site", 98% of your visitors would find it clear as a bell and no trouble whatsoever.

A few people will be bothered by it. But a few people will be bothered by any solution. When the available resources aren't the size of IBM's, I always tell people to get the maximum bang possible with the available bucks. That usually translates into getting a lot of things working pretty well, rather than one or two things perfectly and a lot of things not at all. There's often time later to start perfecting things -- and often you don't know what the perfections should be until the customers get their hands on the actual project.

Regarding the size of the beta (alpha?) test and not having a critical mass that pointed to the current crop of problems: don't sweat it. It happens to all of us sooner or later. Once, when heading up a large IT operation, we had a critical problem that only showed when large demand was placed on an online system. Once the demand showed up, the entire system would start to crawl and then restart, at which point lots of people would log back in and the cycle would start over. We eventually solved it, of course.

But a friend who worked for the same company told me "You don't make a lot of mistakes. But, boy, when you do make one, a lot of people know about it!" :-)

It will all work out in the end. I have confidence.

BG