Forum down Monday morning, missing posts

[John E Davies]

Does anybody know what happened? The forum has been very slow for a few days, and it and the Oliver Trailer pages were down for quite a few hours Monday morning, and one of my replies completely vanished (in the “Water quick connects” thread).

 

Disturbing .... the host server doesn’t seem to be either fast or reliable. There have been a lot of issues in the past. What’s going on?

 

Thanks,

 

John Davies

 

Spokane Wa

[Overland]

Not sure. Topgun mentioned that Jason was working on updates so some things may have gotten lost in the process. Looks like one of my posts is missing too.

[Maverick]

There is a lot of issues with the Oliver Forum; Oliver should get someone in to handle the problems or take it off line.

[Trainman]

At my age I can't remember if I posted something or not, so I wouldn't know where to start looking for it.

 

 

 

trainman

[topgun2]

I do not know the exact causes of the recent "hiccups" with the Forum other than there has been work going on to try to clean up some of the "code" and to try to speed it up a bit. However, I do believe that the Oliver people that are working on our Forum are highly capable and hard working (not so dissimilar from most, if not all, the other Oliver folks). These people are well aware of the limitations and issues that are present in the platform that is being used for the Forum. However, it is highly unlikely that we will get a new platform anytime soon due to the fact that most (if not all) the Oliver companies are presently using this software for their needs and we are only a very small part of that rather large picture.

 

Even though we have some "problems" from time to time and our "search" function has never been all that great, it is hard to argue about the price and the lack of advertisements. Oliver is well aware of the benefits to the Company and to each of the Oliver Travel Trailer Owners that our Forum provides. But, they must balance that with the potential costs and disruptions to the total company that a switch to another software platform would cause.

 

Bill

[John E Davies]

Bill, they should also consider the effect of a shoddy website on loyal members who may eventually get so unhappy that they just leave and never come back. There is NO excuse for sloppy, slow and unresponsive code. Losing posts is irresponsible. Of the many dozens of websites I use routinely none are even a tenth as bad as this one in terms of access. I have no problem with ads or a reasonable membership fee if the revenue would make the system work right.

 

A professional website is a company’s front door to the world, it needs to present as good an image as possible, to attract and embrace new customers and keep the old ones coming back. It needs street appeal. The forums are where people come to learn, to see if they want to buy an Ollie. This forum door is unattractive and all too often hard to get through or completely stuck..... it sometimes gets cleaned and grease on the hinges. But I think it should be replaced with a new one.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[topgun2]

John -

 

I assure you that Oliver is aware of the issues with the Forum at the highest levels.

 

While I am not, nor have ever been, an IT guy even I understand that using a tool for a job that it was not designed for can cause both problems and limitations.

 

Certainly losing posts is not desirable and I do know that there are backups of the Forum (in fact, it is highly likely that reverting to these backups is what caused the loss of some posts and PM's over the past day or so).  However to think that these backups are done every instant of every day is probably not realistic.  When an issue happens that does not allow for an easy fix in real time, I can only assume that the most recent backup that is known to not have this issue is used to then restore the Forum to that "stable" point.  Therefore, I would just as certainly not call this action "irresponsible".

 

While I do not routinely visit the "many dozens of websites" that you seem to, I would have to agree that the ones that I do visit are generally more stable and have features that make them a bit more user friendly.  However, I can only assume that these sites use platforms that were specifically designed for the kind of use that makes them so user friendly.  As I understand it, the platform that we are on is only an "offshoot" of the general software that Oliver uses for the rest of their operations.  Thus the issues that we experience.

 

Again, the current platform does not allow for external ads (as far as I know).

 

Even with the limitations that the Forum has, it is still the best source of information regarding our Olivers for the travel of like minded folks, modifications, warranty technical service bulletins, classifieds, general Oliver oriented discussion, etc..  As with all the other things "Oliver", I'm sure that as the Travel Trailer division continues to grow, our Forum will get better.  We, the first owner's have a unique opportunity to be a constructive part of this growth.  And, as with virtually all growth, there will be some growing pains.

 

Bill

[SissyBoyFloyd]

 

Even with the limitations that the Forum has, it is still the best source of information regarding our Olivers for the travel of like minded folks, modifications, warranty technical service bulletins, classifieds, general Oliver oriented discussion, etc.. As with all the other things “Oliver”, I’m sure that as the Travel Trailer division continues to grow, our Forum will get better. We, the first owner’s have a unique opportunity to be a constructive part of this growth. And, as with virtually all growth, there will be some growing pains.

 

Bill

 

 

Hear, hear!

[HMD1056]

And I was hoping Monday morning the site was down because they were adding the Oliver Elite III!  You know the one that is 25' X" long and has a separate shower in the bath?  And a queen bed?  That one.  But alas, it is only in my dreams.  Other than that, I believe this site is fabulously done, well maintained, and a joy to visit.  Is that Sam Elliott's voice in the video?  Sounds like him.

[topgun2]

Thanks for your comments about the Forum.

 

Alas, no Ollie III (yet), but start thinking about what you would like an Oliver "app" to look like (i.e. what functions would you like it to have - trip planner, service department scheduler, the ability to order Oliver swag, distance log, check lists, etc.).  There will be a post on this subject soon.

 

Sorry - no Sam.  But he is a local (TN) person that sure does sound a bunch like Mr. Elliott!

 

Bill

[SeaDawg]

...

But alas, it is only in my dreams. Other than that, I believe this site is fabulously done, well maintained, and a joy to visit. Is that Sam Elliott’s voice in the video? Sounds like him.

Iknow! Sounds like him, for sure! A voice twin, likely.

 

Sherry

 

[SeaDawg]

PS, holding out on upgrading for the rear patio/ hot tub model. Just kidding. That was a joke a decade ago here.

But, a girl can dream...

Sherry

[hobo]

Since my life doesn't revolve around being able to get onto the Oliver Forum, I find it to be quite acceptable.  It's been there when I actually needed it.

 

There are other much larger forums that I frequent more than the Oliver forum and each of them have had their "bad days" too.   I still find them useful.

 

I personally am thankful for what we've already got.  Improvement is always good, and I'm sure within reason, Oliver will address user concerns as they always seem to do.

[hobo]

And I was hoping Monday morning the site was down because they were adding the Oliver Elite III! You know the one that is 25′ X” long and has a separate shower in the bath? And a queen bed? That one. But alas, it is only in my dreams. Other than that, I believe this site is fabulously done, well maintained, and a joy to visit. Is that Sam Elliott’s voice in the video? Sounds like him.

 

What video are you speaking of?  I am intrigued now.

[SeaDawg]

This video, Hobo. It came out last year.