Forum:Service Interruptions - Please (please!) post....something

I am about ready to give up on wikia. Today I lost another significant edit to a server reset. I am not expecting wikia to be perect. On the other hand, since wikia users work for free providing the content that allows the company to sell ads, I do expect to be kept up-to-date at least as well as a paying customer.

(1) Please post something (anything) that shows that your teams (tech, support, customer service, ...) are aware that wikia is not providing the same level of service currently as it did a few weeks/months ago.

(2) Please let us know if you have an expected-time-to-resolution or need us to just bear with you.

(3) Please provide daily updates, even if nothing changes; this lets us know that you are on top of the technical problems and that you care about the user/customer experience while those issues are resolved.

(4) Please apologize publicly for the inconvenience.

(5) These posts should be accessible easily from the main portal and from any of the wikis. (Since very few people know about the water cooler.)

It takes very little to reset expectations; I am sure you would prefer your customers to be rooting for you rather than becoming angry and frustrated that things seem to be getting worse. I doubt that doing any/all of the above will take more than a few staff-hours of effort.

Many thanks.

&mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 17:26, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi, TEF. Sorry that you've had a couple of frustrating experiences with editing on Wikia recently. Just letting you know that I've passed this forum along to certain members of Wikia Staff. In the future, if you are continuing to experience persistent problems with editing on Wikia, feel free to contact Wikia's Community Team directly via Special:Contact. Take care, Greyman  [[Image:Logo-Sysop.gif|15px|This user is a Central administrator]] Talk &bull; Email 18:17, 13 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Greyman. I have sent 2 emails and received a reasonably prompt response to the first (the 2nd was sent today). I thought that posting in a more public area might encourage a public response and/or others to agree/disagree with my sentiments.  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 22:05, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Like I said, I passed the forum along to certain Wikia Staff members. I did this so that they would be made aware of its creation so they can reply if they feel it is needed &mdash; as it says at the top of the forum pages, "Wikia's forums are a place for the community to help other members. Staff do visit, but if you require staff help, please use Special:Contact to be sure of a reply." Because of that, I wanted to make sure it was seen by staff. Cheers, Greyman  [[Image:Logo-Sysop.gif|15px|This user is a Central administrator]] Talk &bull; Email 23:33, 13 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Also, please see here. Greyman  [[Image:Logo-Sysop.gif|15px|This user is a Central administrator]] Talk &bull; Email 00:43, 14 April 2009 (UTC)


 * That link is exactly what I have been hoping to see. My suggestion is that wikia staff broadcast that link to users and/or make it easier to find from the main page. Wikia has taken great pains to keep things running smooth and ensure that things run better in the future; I think they should be proud of those efforts rather than hiding them in a forum obscure to most users. In other words, the problem isn't getting the staff to respond to me; IMO, the company needs to get the word out to the community at large (which is why I posted here, rather than relying on email alone).
 * Greyman: I appreciate your taking extra time to ensure that staff saw my request (hence my thanks above).  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 01:08, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
 * When you are writing an important article, anything, before clicking the publish button, try to make an habit of selecting all and pressing CTRL+C. That way, unless there a power outage where you live right at that moment, you'll never loosing anything again.
 * It's what i do most of the time (even here in the forum). — TulipVorlax 01:31, 14 April 2009 (UTC)


 * A useful tip, which was previously unnecessary. I tend to make incremental changes and then preview (so that a substantial portion of the edit is available in cache). I also tend to copy large edits to a text file (in case of a computer issue). So, yes, I shouldn't forget to backup my work.
 * Work-arounds do not exist, however, for database locks, for periods of outage, or for the general frustration felt by people who have not managed to find the performance issue link at the water cooler. (I searched the help site, the main page, and even used google to see if there was news related to the issues &mdash; until I was pointed here and I posted, I couldn't find any information.)  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 02:11, 14 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Why was it so important to find an information like that ?
 * In my two years on Wikia, there's always was problems like thoses, more or less.
 * And you know what ? Every bigs web sites in the world suffer from problems like that.
 * It seems that nowadays every one want all things to be the easiest and fastest, without any problems, like in a dream.
 * But we're in reality. And when an internet community grow like Wikia has grown lately (maybe you're not aware ?), it normal that performance drop. Or atleast until the administrators update the hardware and sometimes the software too.
 * And no need in treathening to stop contributing. Wikia can survive without you. (I'm referring to the first sentence on the page.)
 * I'm not saying that you should go away. But every now and then some user come in this forum making the same treath, for one reason or another.
 * Most wikian that comes in the central forum do it because they know someone might be in need of some help.
 * And when we can, we help them.
 * No, we're not staff, not volonteer staff and not gifted wikian. We are normal users just like you. We're in the same boat. We are all suffering with blanks pages now and then or loosing someting from time to time.
 * We understand your anger. But since we come here often, we know that Wikia staff are doing their best.
 * — TulipVorlax 07:22, 14 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I was frustrated because, for all appearances, Wikia was unaware of the issues and was not doing anything to address them. Companies that stop being able to manage growth or peak-load issues tend not to last much longer. Wikia contributors can devote their limited time to any of a number of sites, so wouldn't it be unfortunate if people turned away from this site because they thought that daily outages of 5-10 minutes and database locks of over an hour were part of the status quo?


 * I would think that Wikia would want to publicize the current efforts, especially since they appear to have matters well in-hand. And especially since it's so easy to keep people informed.  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 10:13, 14 April 2009 (UTC)


 * There have been and my guess is there will still be efforts for keeping the people (community) inform but there is no consistency on the process..., They have the Help:Talk Page Messaging, mail list, this wiki, i remember there was a blog somewhere externaly (for when wikia crashes), in monobook there is a wikia wide msg on MediaWiki:Shared-News_box or MediaWiki:News_box i dont remember which one very well and finally the IRC. --


 * I personally have found regardless of whether it's a Wikia site or not - sometimes one's own internet might go down - before submitting any forms (for email, for forums, for here), copy the entire thing to the clipboard (On Windows, control+A to highlight everything, control+C to copy). That way, you're safe! -- LordTBT Talk! 22:04, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Like i said Lord... After about 8 years of participating here and there on the internet, it's normal to at least having learned that (i'm talking about me here). But still, sometimes, i dont do it. And it always when you dont that a bug happen. Lol ! — TulipVorlax 08:38, 17 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Many modern browsers (at least Firefox) let you to go to the previous page (go back in the browser history) without reloading the page, so if you preview/save and wikia crashes, you can hit the back button, copy the content of the edit window and save it, and re-submit the page without losing your work. --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 14:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I appreciate the work-arounds. (For a variety of reasons, when the server resets, my firefox loses the cached edit.) However, my point (which I made poorly) isn't that I was losing edits.


 * Wikia (currently) is suffering from systemic uptime issues; the powers-that-be have chosen not to make clear the company's efforts to address the problems. I think this is a shame because (a) those efforts sound comprehensive, timely, &amp; effective and (b) my post is the tip of the iceberg (for each user like myself who is patient enough to post a request for information, there are likely dozens or even hundreds who are already visiting other sites).  &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 15:18, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

(re-indent) Following up. I wanted to publicly acknowledge an excellent step by the Wikia community team: today's proactive broadcast message regarding the planned database lock (and read-only status of the wikis) is a great way to manage people's expectations. It let's everyone know when and for how long. Thank you. And please continue to keep us informed. &mdash; Tennessee Ernie Ford ( TEF ) 07:50, 20 April 2009 (UTC)