Known issues from the latest deploy

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Published:

2011-11-14 12:42:49 UTC

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As most people have noticed, we have had some problems with our latest deploy. We'll address some of the larger concerns in a later post (right now, most of our staff are busy dealing with the immediate issues), but we just wanted to do a quick update to let people know that we're aware of some specific issues and we're working on them:

Mobile display: We had a big problem when we deployed with mobile displays, because the new mobile skins were not kicking in at all. We've fixed the main part of this issue, so the site is now much more usable on a lot of mobile devices; however, we're still experiencing some bugs with mobile displays, causing button overlays, too much white space, and other oddities. We think that the problem is still related to some parts of the mobile stylesheets not being activated properly: we're looking into it.

Some problems in Internet Explorer:
- the commas separating tags are not showing up (some versions of IE) or they are showing up too aggressively, giving a comma at the end of every tag even if it's the last tag in the list.
- Some people are reporting problems replying to comments in IE.

The skins wizard is behaving erratically and inserting code which messes up other things.

If you're experiencing one of the above issues, rest assured we're looking into it. We've already fixed some issues with mobile display, a problem stopping people from bookmarking, the missing OpenID login, and a few other bugs, so if you were seeing something not mentioned on this list, it's worth checking that the problem is still occurring before you get in touch with us.

If you see a problem that's not on this list, do get in touch with Support via our Support and feedback form.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to Support, who have received more tickets in the last 48 hours than they did in the previous 48 days! Despite this massive amount of work they have kept up with replies and right now there are only ten tickets not assigned to someone to be dealt with - GO TEAM! Thanks also to the coders and testers who have worked like crazy to do urgent bugfixes.

Once again, sorry for the problems this deploy threw up: we're working on the immediate issues right now and thinking about future solutions.

ETA: We've received several reports from people who are unable to use the rich text editor. We're having difficulty pinning down this bug since it seems to manifest inconsistently, but we are looking into it. Apologies for the inconvenience.

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bell (belldreams) Mon 14 Nov 2011 05:16PM UTC

Thank you for letting us know the issues and that they're being worked on. :) And thank you to everyone coding & providing support! <3

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1. LucyP Mon 14 Nov 2011 07:24PM UTC
  
  Thanks for your support!
  
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helens78 Mon 14 Nov 2011 06:00PM UTC

It is an incredible relief to see an acknowledgment of the issues, finally; thank you very much for this post.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:22PM UTC
  
  Hi there,
  A belated apology for the delays on communication over the past week or so: unfortunately several people were out of action for one reason or another, so while we have done our best to keep some key information going out on Twitter we haven't been able to do as much communications stuff as we'd like. We realise this is far from ideal; we're working on strategies to prevent similar problems going forward.
  Thanks!
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support / Communication
  
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Carol (Guest) Mon 14 Nov 2011 06:56PM UTC

Hi, when I try to log-in as open ID, Internet Explorer shuts down the Internet. I would join but I can't see how to. Thanks, Carol

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1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 05:30PM UTC
  
  Hi there,
  We're sorry about the problems you're experiencing with OpenID. It sounds as though part of the problem may be related to a common confusion with our OpenID system - you can use OpenID essentially as a password replacement, but you still have to sign up and create an account name (unlike some other sites where the OpenID functions as an 'account'). So, if you're simply trying to log in with your OpenID, you'll need to request an invitation and sign up once that arrives. (Somewhat relatedly, we're actually phasing out OpenID, so we recommend you sign up with an account name and password.)
  However, given that you say 'IE shuts down the internet', something different may be going on here. So, if hitting OpenID is messing with your browser, or if I've totally misunderstood, or if there is anything in the above you need further clarification over please do get in touch with Support, who will be able to help you out further.
  Thanks!
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support staffer
  
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mockerbee Mon 14 Nov 2011 08:18PM UTC

I just wanted to let everyone on working on AO3 how much I appreciate their efforts. The AO3 is the best fannish present that fandom ever recieved. I know that most you are volunteers that are giving up your free time, family time and social lives to bring this wonderful resource to all of us. Thank you, thank you all.
B & N must wonder what going on with my Nook color. I haven't purchased a single book since I found AO3.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:23PM UTC
  
  Thank you! We really appreciate the thanks, and we're very happy you are enjoying.
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support / Communications
  
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Needled_Ink_1975 Mon 14 Nov 2011 08:54PM UTC

I can read on my phone again *chair dances*
THANK YOU!
--Nic

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:23PM UTC
  
  Thanks, and sorry for the glitch there!
  Lucy
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Amalia21_6 Wed 16 Nov 2011 09:07PM UTC

I just want to send out a BIG hug of support for everything you guys are doing. And thank you for making these wonderful stories avable to everyone. I am very grateful.
Thank You.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:24PM UTC
  
  Thank you! We really appreicate it - and we're so happy to know you're enjoying the site.
  Lucy
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MacBeth Thu 17 Nov 2011 03:39AM UTC

I HAVE to use the Rich Text editor, and I can't. I'm using the most recent version of Firefox, and when I hit the button for the RTE, bugger-all happens.
Until you fix it, this site is useless to me. I'm midway through reposting a novel. Left my readers on a cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter I was able to post.

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1. Theodur Thu 17 Nov 2011 06:48AM UTC
  
  I have this same issue, can't really use the site until it's fixed. Would be nice to get at least acknowledgment that you're aware of the issue. :)
  
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2. 1. MacBeth Thu 17 Nov 2011 01:38PM UTC
    
    They are aware of it -- it's mentioned in the ETA at the end of their post. They say they're having troubles replicating it, so can you specify which browser you're using?
    
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  2. 1. Theodur Thu 17 Nov 2011 02:00PM UTC
      
      I see it in latest version of Firefox (8.0) and IE8. I have the same issue when logging in from both my home computer and work computer.
      
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    2. 1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 05:34PM UTC
        
        Hi!
        We think we may have found a fix for this issue - it's still going to take a little while for us to test it and get it out onto the site, but light is on the horizon. Thanks for the extra information, and apologies for the inconvenience in the meantime.
        Lucy
        AD&T/Support staffer
        
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      2. Theodur Mon 28 Nov 2011 04:57PM UTC
        
        Thanks for letting us know it's being worked on, could we ask about any updates on the progress though? :)
        
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        LucyP Mon 28 Nov 2011 05:17PM UTC
        
        Hi there!
        We have a partial fix - it's still causing us problems in some browsers, but we're planning to push the fix we do have as soon as possible, to fix it for at least some people and in the hopes we will then be able to get more targeted information on places where it is still failing. We were hoping to deploy that fix yesterday, but we ran into some issues which delayed us: we're hoping we'll get it out in the next few days, though.
        Thanks for your patience! We know this is a particularly maddening bug.
        Lucy
        AD&T/Support
        
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        Theodur Thu 01 Dec 2011 05:27AM UTC
        
        Well it seems to be working now! Thanks for stomping the bug. :)
        
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MacBeth Fri 18 Nov 2011 12:13AM UTC

ETA: after reading up on what you poor volunteers have been put through, I'd like to drop in again and tell you that you're all awesome, especially the Tag Wranglers and Support. Seriously. I'll be patient and give you time to cope with the coding crap that has been visited upon your heads.
Best of luck.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:25PM UTC
  
  Thanks. Everyone on our teams has been working hard - we appreciate the support!
  Lucy
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sgrio (Guest) Fri 18 Nov 2011 04:27PM UTC

Hi! I had an account with you and I last posted on November 12 2011. I orphan my works because my parents have managed to link this name and my RL email, and they are avid googlers. I'm positive I haven't deleted my account, but it seems to have disappeared. Was it deleted because I orphaned my fics?
I've applied for a new account and am willing to wait, but I was just wondering what had happened.

-Sgrio

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1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 04:04PM UTC
  
  Hi there,
  Orphaning all your works shouldn't have deleted your account (although there is an option to delete your account AND orphan your works at the same time). If you'll drop a line to Support and let them know the email address associated with that account, and the account name, they'll be able to look into what happened for you.
  Best,
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support staffer
  
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Account Deleted Sat 19 Nov 2011 08:42PM UTC

Hia, I still can't view this site properly on my phone.
Just thought I'd mention this because I'm sure I read somewhere that you had a fix for this coming soon - didn't know if you thought it was all fixed now so just thought I'd let you know that it isn't fixed for me.
P.S.
The text in this box is still really small - is this gonna get fixed?

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1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 04:13PM UTC
  
  Hi!
  Thanks for letting us know. We have got a fix for the main issues with mobile viewing (the big problem was the the mobile stylesheets simply weren't kicking in for anyone) but there are still some issues for some devices (full mobile support across the variety of devices there are is complicated!). We're looking into it - what device and browser are you using.
  Yep, we're definitely planning to fix the small text in comment boxes - apologies.
  Sorry for the inconvenience!
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support staffer
  
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2. 1. Account Deleted Sat 26 Nov 2011 03:59PM UTC
    
    I'm using a Blackberry Curve and have tried all three browsers I have on there - the blackberry one, Firefox, and IE, and I'm getting the same result with all of them.
    It's usable, as long as I don't want to filter anything using tags, which instead of appearing down the right hand side of the screen, I can't see at all.
    There are other issues to do with appearance but that's the main problem.
    
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forestgreen Sat 19 Nov 2011 08:56PM UTC

I just wanted to let you know that I like the new look and how many public skins are available. I want to thank you all for the great effort you're putting into this. The AO3 has become one of the places in fandom I love to hang out the most.

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1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 04:13PM UTC
  
  Thanks for the kind words! We're really happy to know you like the new look!
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support staffer
  
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Firerose Sun 20 Nov 2011 02:53PM UTC

Is there any news about when the rich text editor will be restored? I can't use it with any of Mozilla, IE or Opera, and it's stopping me from updating my stories.

Last Edited Sun 20 Nov 2011 02:59PM UTC

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1. LucyP Sun 20 Nov 2011 04:19PM UTC
  
  Hi there,
  We're sorry, we're still having a lot of difficulty getting to the bottom of the problem. We haven't been able to reproduce it consistently (it shows up on all sorts of different browsers, but not all the time) which is making it very tricky to debug. Our coders are doing their best to fix it, and it is high priority for us, but we don't currently have an ETA. :(
  Many apologies for the inconvenience.
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support staffer
  ETA: Almost immediately I posted this, one of our coders had a sudden breakthrough, and we THINK we may have a fix. It's still going to take a little while to test it and get it out onto the Archive, but we're much, much further forward and we'll get it out as quick as we can.
  
  Last Edited Sun 20 Nov 2011 05:32PM UTC
  
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2. 1. Firerose Sun 20 Nov 2011 08:09PM UTC
    
    Excellent! Thanks!
    
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CampCornette69 Mon 21 Nov 2011 11:11PM UTC

Hey guys, loving the site so far, just wanted to say that I've had no browsing issues or any other issues so far with Safari for Windows. If any come up, I'll be sure to let you all know!

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:25PM UTC
  
  Thank you! We're very happy you're enjoying it, and glad to knoe you haven't run into any issues. :D
  Lucy
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Lys ap Adin (lysapadin) Tue 22 Nov 2011 03:42AM UTC

Is anyone going to follow up on this thread? The resounding silence isn't making me feel particularly warm-and-fuzzy about the OTW, and I'm someone who wants to believe in the OTW's commitment to panfandom inclusivity.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 05:12PM UTC
  
  Hi there!
  Sorry we've been slow on responding to comments in these posts - keeping track of this is normally something that I and the other communications folk take point on, and unfortunately a few members of our team have had to take some time out recently, so comments on older posts in particular have been overlooked. (One of the things we're currently working on refining is the notifications system for admin posts, to make sure that comments go to a team rather than an individual so we can ensure things don't fall through the cracks this way.) If you have a question that does get overlooked, then it's always worth resending it via our Support team, who will make sure it gets where it needs to be. We realise this isn't an ideal process - we're working on building up both the tech side and the people side so we can make sure people get answers in various channels, but it's a work-in-progress.
  Happily I see that astolat was able to get to that thread in the time it's taken me to see this: hopefully she's answered your questions, but we'll keep an eye on these posts just in case there are any more comments.
  Thanks.
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support / Communications
  
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2. 1. Lys ap Adin (lysapadin) Wed 23 Nov 2011 04:33AM UTC
    
    Thanks for letting me know.
    
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Maria (Guest) Tue 22 Nov 2011 06:31PM UTC

Please, please fix the font in stories. It's really hard to read when all text in bold>Btw I used Opera 10 and Firefox 3.6 and tried different stories including that I already read.

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1. LucyP Tue 22 Nov 2011 10:51PM UTC
  
  Hi there!
  We're sorry about the problem with the bolded fonts - we're looking into the issue. It doesn't seem to be showing up consistently (i.e. two people can be using the same browser and yet only one can see it) so we're having a little trouble working out a fix, but we're doing our best and we'll fix it as soon as we can.
  Apologies for the inconvenience in the meantime.
  Lucy
  AD&T / Support / Communications
  
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2. 1. Maria (Guest) Thu 24 Nov 2011 07:29AM UTC
    
    Thank you for the fast reply. I'll wait all time you need. Just wanted to be sure you know about the problem^^;
    If it helps - the last story with normal font that I saved is dated 31/10/2011
    
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