Hello Blogsterville! This is my first post here on the 'team' account. As the lead programmer I would like to say thanks for all your patience and support over that past few months of ups and downs. I felt the pain.
Our company picked up this project in the middle of redevelopment by another team. Without going in to too much detail, we had to do major framework foundational renovations at the same time meet deadlines. If I may use a metaphor, it's like buying a partially finished house and realizing the foundation needs to be redone. Granted, we made our own mistakes along the way. Blogster owner made a post in January about related issues here:
http://domainnames.blogster.com/blogstercom-improvements
Today we made a significant update which will speed up moving around Blogsterville. There may still be intermittent sluggishness as there are a few more things to improve, but you should notice a vast improvement in speed.
One of the repaired areas are the notices. If you see the notification bar popping up for old notices, then you know that it is working the way it should now. When you click on the notice it will remove from the notification bar and move to the next notice in the timeline, if there is one. You can optionally manage your notices in bulk from the user center (click on Manage Blog > My Notifications).
Looking forward, there are many more features and improvements in logic coming. There has been requests for friends to be ordered by recent activity on user accounts. That update should be available within the next day.
I would like to personally thank everyone for their communication about bugs and issues. We would appreciate your continued comments, good or bad. Jonathan, my close friend and partner has done an excellent job fielding the information to our development team.
We look forward to your continued support. It's only going to get better!
Best Regards,
Nick Johnson
Blogster, Lead Programmer
55 comments on Major System Fix - Blogster Speed Back on Track
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You have taken me tota lly off blogster. I still can't comment from internet explorer. I tried to log in and y ou said y ou h ad never heard of me. I need my blog back. Jeri Hinkle aka elderjane memorabilia, password wolfman and get my picture back on too.
There was a service attack for a few minutes on one of our database servers. You shouldn't have a problem now.
Nick
I can't log in. You say you have no such user! I got here from an email notification of another blogger's article.
There was a service attack for a few minutes on one of our database servers. You shouldn't have a problem now.
Nick
I enjoyed the blogster of old, but I also realize that change is a part of life..and will try to adapt. If not I will travel elsewhere.
Thanks redwolftimes. What are some of the things you miss about the old blogster? We are interested in bringing back whatever wasn't done by the last team at the same time add new improved features.
Nick,
Lead Programmer
Perhaps a suggestion to reply earlier on comments on this blogsite. A lot of bloggers lefy just because the feel not treated well ( and I myself feel the same, so started blgging somewhere else).
Btw loading this page costed me 23 seconds (and I use broadband), so not too much increase of speed so far.
Robin
I don't believe there was any one thing, I think there was an easier time navigating the site. For those who were not computer wizards (myself included) it was easier for us to come here and write and enjoy the experience. Just a thought from my corner here..thanks or the reply.
I just lost my who;e comment, see what I mean!
The two most useful features in the old Blogster IMO which made it dynamic and lively were the buddy list ordered by user activity, and the visitors link. That is how I knew who was on, and obviously, who had visited me. Without these features in operation, the screen just sits idol. Not a valuable use of time, I must say.
I cannot access my sent mail. I've also sent two Emals, one to Kendall and one to Johnathan and neither have responded.
Thank you.
I continue to receive announcements at the top of the page, over and over, the same thing even after i go to the page. The following announcement continues to apear but there is no such comment.
Someone has commented on your post: Soemthing to save since the last post was deleted upon post updates
I've been getting the same thing - usually for a post that is about a year old! Sheesh.
My major complaint(s) are: 1) Though the picture download is suppose to have been fixed this past weekend all I get when I go to post a picture is the following:
:
'Click a photo below to add to postSorry, there are no images in this folder. Try uploading some.
When you save your post you will have the option to add photos.'
There is no icon to download pictures--click what??? It use to be so easy to download pictures--now I have to go to another blog site, post my pictures then c & p to blogster.
My second complaint--yes, I know you are busy BUT why don't we get answers to our messages?? In the past 2 weeks I've written about 6 different messages and have not received one reply.
We have all been very patient for the past 6 months and no matter what the reason or reasons we are basically be dismissed--that is why so many are going to another blog site.
Look at past comments to 'the team' and/or Jonathan and you will see what we want from the old blogster (the emotioncons), a 'reply' next to everyone's name in the comments so we can answer 3rd person comments, getting the friends situation straightened out, getting the spellcheck working, etc. We aren't asking for ALL the changes overnight but keep us informed at least with a weekly bulletin.
Honestly I started and stayed with blogster because it was easy and fundemental to post a blog--I can do without all the bells and whistles but if I have to go to another site so I can post a blog and download pictures easily and then c & p to put it ere why should I??
Last, but not least, if you want to see what we want/miss from the old blogster just go to greasy.com and see how easy it is--by the way many have left here to go there because it is so much easier.
Sadly, I don't expect a response to this as I haven't had a response from 'the team' in awhile.
martin, have you tried just saving the post first without the pic? If you do that and then go back in in the edit mode, you see the pic download buttons. It's an extra step but it seems to work.
I have left comments on the 'teams' blog a few times and all went without reply, especially on the slowness issue. I just went through my blog and had to sit there and go through the notifications one at a time...from one month ago to one year ago. I also started blogging elsewhere because of the lack of response here and the slowness issue. I hope you folks are able to correct everything here at Blogster.
ok....gotta admit, the uploaded photo problem seems ok now. I stuck two on my test post and they haven't reappeared when I went to write another. Hope it's fixed for good......*crosses fingers....*
And, it does seem faster now writing and uploading pics.
I'll give you guys a qualified thanks for now.....
fuck you.
i just don't care anymore.
i went somewhere else.
i'm only here to erase my past articles.
To: Nick Johnson
Please do something about the opening page. You have to scroll right and left to see it. Should be totally visable when logging on.
I still can't "Reply" to comments, on ANY blogs. This is very frustrating, and seems like a simple fix, and I can't even get a SIMPLE ANSWER.
Comment replies are now working in Internet Explorer 7 as well as Firefox. If you have anyone else is having trouble with comment replies, let us know.
Jonathan Wold
Blogster Development Team
It's not free, silly. Bloggers provide Blogster with content. Contenet attracts visitors. Visitors click on the google links which is how they get paid. Without us, they have no income source. :)
We're the ones giving up our words for free, not the other way around. Writers tpyically get paid to write; bloggers exchange being paid for blog services. If they cannot provide adequate service, why would you give away your words with nothing in return, especially since according to the terms and conditions agreement, once you publish those words here, THEY own the words and not you...
I am new here, can anyone tell me where is the RSS feed of Blogster??
Can anyone tell me what the RSS feed is?....
Again, I repeat, the emoticons not only suck, but they're a pain to retrieve. I've quit using them altogether.
Blogster is not the blogster of old it is true. I'm not leaving and as a result of the "problems" we've had here for the last little while, I now blog on 3 other sites. More viewers, more friends, more discussions. Alls well that ends well. I have a sentimental streak I suppose and will stick with blogster. My main "complaints" are things you say you are going to address soon, visitors button, friends viewed according to activity etc. If I may suggest something you could look in to I noticed on one of the other blog sites how you can click on the page and it zooms in making the print larger, that was a very attractive feature to these old eye's. Good luck "team" and God speed.
While your fixing bugs guys...can you put the little button back on my blog where I can add pictures? Nothing is there anymore after your big fix...
elfie you have to save the post first, then go back in in the edit mode. The photo upload features show up then.
GETTING BETTER.....but
My own traffic ounter tells me a different number of visitors than Blogster indicates. My traffic number has not changed on Blogster in three days yet i have had comments and visitors.
This is a test reply.
Also, after posting a comment, the screen defaults to the top of the page and one must scroll all the way down to read their commnet. It shoulddefault to the point where the comment was made.
I still read posts here and still comment too, but this blogster isnt the blogster i liked anymore. I will stay here but sorry to say, its not the first one anymore. It feels a bit hard to say cause I always liked it very much and it gave me several good friends here. Main problem i think is not replying your users right now. They want to get informed and a simple reply is enough. Still you dont do anything with it (except the first 3 comments on this post) It wont take much time to give a little comment. It just dissappoints me.
We are truly sorry about any lack of replies, but this is all due to hard work on fixing the problems that exists here.
We thank everyone for their patience, and promise to do our best to improve response-time to all users.
Gunnar
Blogster Development Team
Once you click the notification link they just come back later the same ones.
thx for the reply, but despite the hard work you should take time for ur users. It wont take too much time for simple replies. Now it has caused a migration to another blogsite an that cant be the purpose of you all. We are waiting so long now for improvemenst and we dont see or hear anything at all besides some posts of the team (5 in almost 4 weeks). As i said, it disappointed me a lot expected more from the team!
Again, we are sorry for not dealing with it in the best manner, but promise to better this part of the service.
Gunnar
Blogster Development Team
Hey, thanks for fixing the indent thingy. That, along with the speed and the photo upload problem were my biggest complaints. And all have now been fixed, at least on my site. heh
I have no further complaints. At this time. For right now. At present.
Althoooooough, if you guys could find time to bring back the thumbs up/down and eye roll emoticons I promise not to gripe anymore. For right now.
annnnnnnnd, see what you can do about letting us delete old photos from our photo gallery. Currently I can only edit photos on the first page of the gallery. If we can delete old posts, we should have the capability to delete old gallery photos too.
It has sped up a little bit but it is still isn't fast like it should be and bogs out sometimes.
Get the freakin reply to comments back on track like the old blogster had. What are y'all doing? thumbsucking? Get on the ball--you've screwed up the blogster we knew and loved and I'm losing track of my friends--and bring back our old emoticons. And please get rid of the snowdrift logo. I live in South Mississippi--give me some pine trees, or leave the page plain.
Dear Blogster Development Team, I'm sure that you ALL are doing your utmost to please everybody. However, you are falling short in many areas and I'm sure that we have lost many of our most popular blogsters and friends because of it. With all due respect - please listen to the comments and remarks posted here and do something about them.
My current beef is that either all my blogster friends that I subscribe to have left this site or I'm just not being notified of their blogs AGAIN!
I've been tempted to crap out on you guys but am willing to wait a little longer for you to work things out to the satisfaction of us blogsters - because isn't that what it's all about ? Either that or close down the friggin' site!!!!!!
ARE WE EVER GOING TO HAVE THE VISITOR BUTTON RESTORED????? Seems like it would be a fairly simple "fix". I don't know about everyone else's but my "Blog traffic, visitors" button is greyed out. I liked seeing who "stopped by. " Do you even read this stuff??
Still here but getting a little irritated
i can fix these problems with the BATCOMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOOK ME UP
BATMAN
I don't like that we click on someone's post we automatically jump down to the comment section. I would like to read the post before I comment. I don't like the fact you can't see who has come by to visit. The last time I posted pictures they were the size of postage stamps. I haven't blogged in a long time and don't visit much. Not fun anymore. I spend my time elsewhere.
This is an IE-bug, BUT, we do want it all to work properly in all browsers so we will be taking care of it. In the meantime, we are sorry for the inconvenience.
gotta agree with dingledaisy. It's maddening when you click on any post and it goes immediately down to the comment section. You gotta scroll back up to the top. It should take you to the top first so you can read the darn thing.
I just updated an article with new content and it erased EVERYTHING, AGAIN! Now there is nothing!
Why is it that when you click on an article you begin at the bottom and have to scroll all the way to the top? Why not begin at the beginning of an article and end at the end? So much of the old Blogster was vastly superior to the new system. The new Blogster has been a major disappointment which I seldom log into. So many old buddies are also inactive that I don't know if Blogster can ever be restored. It seems that the new management is actively trying to destroy Blogster.
This is an IE-bug, (Firefox users are not affected), but we are working on fixing it.
Gunnar
Blogster Development Team
Why has my account been disabled???? - ductcleaner
We have contacted you directly regarding this.
Gunnar
Blogster Development Team
Here's hoping for an improvement soon
Jen