| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7] > | 'Contact me' link doesn't work Thread poster: Maurizio Varriale
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| Presentation of Connect | May 23 |
The above is the Proz presentation of Connect. We notice the following:
- Adobe Flash Player is no longer supported. Nobody has noticed that.
- We are supposed to reply faster via the Connect platform, which is clearly a questionable claim when some users are never notified, and to read the messages, we first have to leave our usual email interface and go to this odd platform. Furthermore, the first thing I do when receiving messages in Connect is to copy them out into my normal email interface to have a trace and so I can search for them later in my email archive. This can only slow down replies. Proz gives no reason why it should be possible to reply faster than through standard email channels.
- A line fails to wrap and spills out into browser eternity to the right of the screen. Nobody has noticed that.
- If you click on the 'best of the web' link, you end up with a http error screen (copied in here for convenience). Nobody has noticed that.
All in all, this gives me an impression of an abandoned platform. How is this rickety page going to attract any serious outsourcers?
I think one of the problems is that Proz has kept adding one unwieldy extension after another, a bit like a toddler with a bag of Legos, and they have finally lost the overview, finding themselves unable to maintain their jungle.
| | | | Anne Maclennan 
Local time: 03:36
Member (2010)
German to English
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| Reply not possible | May 23 |
Just to add to the saga. I last got a message into my inbox from the "contact" source in February this year. I replied and received a "not possible to deliver" message from the e-mail system postmaster.
| | | | ibz
Local time: 03:36
English to German
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At the risk of making myself unpopular (again): ProZ moderators, where are you? Wouldn't it be about time to show a reaction in view of these embarrassing statements? Can it really be that nobody on the ProZ side has realised all these years that Connect (and other notifications) doesn't work?
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 03:36
English to German
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Do notifications now work also for Connect? What are your plans regarding this program?
(I ask because many of us pay for a membership for features that we assume actually work).
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| Connect messaging should be working correctly as well | May 29 |
Hi all,
The Connect messaging system should be working correctly now as well. As for the plans with Connect moving forward, I wish it were a simple answer, pointing towards making things simpler as Thomas mentioned earlier (why have two or three directories when you can have just one?), but from what I see there are a certain number of members using Connect to source work, so the team needs to learn more about why they are opting for Connect over the newer directory to begin with.... See more Hi all,
The Connect messaging system should be working correctly now as well. As for the plans with Connect moving forward, I wish it were a simple answer, pointing towards making things simpler as Thomas mentioned earlier (why have two or three directories when you can have just one?), but from what I see there are a certain number of members using Connect to source work, so the team needs to learn more about why they are opting for Connect over the newer directory to begin with.
With regards to the frustration expressed here over the whole notifications issue, or rather series of issues, I also wish I had a better answer than the following: They should not have happened to begin with. They should have been resolved in a more timely manner when they did happen. And there's no good excuse for any of that happening again. It is clear that the team as a whole can (and should) do better.
Thanks to those who have reported, tested, and put up with these issues until now.
Jared ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A couple of loose ends | May 29 |
Thanks for your update, Jared. Much appreciated.
There are still a couple of pending issues:
1. Missing notifications for Proz.com messages (not so critical as profile mail and Connect, though).
2. What happened to profile mail replies sent to [email protected]? It was the reply-t... See more Thanks for your update, Jared. Much appreciated.
There are still a couple of pending issues:
1. Missing notifications for Proz.com messages (not so critical as profile mail and Connect, though).
2. What happened to profile mail replies sent to [email protected]? It was the reply-to address in profile mails over an unknown period. They don't seem to have been delivered, so were they simply deleted from the server?
As for the Connect system, perhaps navigation to it could be added to the general navigation. Also, there may be reasons why people use it, but does it need to have a separate email system? Couldn't messages simply be sent through the normal profile mail system? Then you wouldn't need to maintain a separate message platform. Same for the Proz.com messages. I don't see who gains from duplicating mailing functions. This is not the only example of duplicated functions on Proz, by the way, but you must all be aware of that. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Let's see if we can tie them up | May 29 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
1. Missing notifications for Proz.com messages (not so critical as profile mail and Connect, though).
The on-site messaging system is sending notifications. Please let me know if that's not the case for you or if you are referring to something else (I just sent you one to test).
2. What happened to profile mail replies sent to [email protected]? It was the reply-to address in profile mails over an unknown period. They don't seem to have been delivered, so were they simply deleted from the server?
For a brief period while developers were troubleshooting, the [email protected] email was used instead of the usual [email protected]. During that time (a few hours, I believe), it would have behaved in a similar fashion; a profile message would be sent using that address, and the recipient, upon hitting Reply, would have been replying directly to the sender's email address, since bounce-handler is a "no-reply" address used for notification and email delivery. If someone, in response to a profile message email, sent a direct email to [email protected] or [email protected], that email did not get to the sender of the profile message.
As for the Connect system, perhaps navigation to it could be added to the general navigation. Also, there may be reasons why people use it, but does it need to have a separate email system? Couldn't messages simply be sent through the normal profile mail system? Then you wouldn't need to maintain a separate message platform. Same for the Proz.com messages. I don't see who gains from duplicating mailing functions. This is not the only example of duplicated functions on Proz, by the way, but you must all be aware of that.
It's a bit more complicated than that, but I agree! It shouldn't be that difficult to figure out if and when someone has sent you a message through the site.
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Jared Tabor wrote:
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
1. Missing notifications for Proz.com messages (not so critical as profile mail and Connect, though).
The on-site messaging system is sending notifications. Please let me know if that's not the case for you or if you are referring to something else (I just sent you one to test).
Received it, thanks. A notification was not sent the last time we tested it, so this now works again.
Jared Tabor wrote:
2. What happened to profile mail replies sent to [email protected]? It was the reply-to address in profile mails over an unknown period. They don't seem to have been delivered, so were they simply deleted from the server?
For a brief period while developers were troubleshooting, the [email protected] email was used instead of the usual [email protected]. During that time (a few hours, I believe), it would have behaved in a similar fashion; a profile message would be sent using that address, and the recipient, upon hitting Reply, would have been replying directly to the sender's email address, since bounce-handler is a "no-reply" address used for notification and email delivery. If someone, in response to a profile message email, sent a direct email to [email protected] or [email protected], that email did not get to the sender of the profile message.
Already in September last year, a colleague told me: 'In both cases, the Reply-To address supplied by the ProZ mailer was [email protected].' The trouble was that replies were not sent to the sender's email address but to [email protected]. It has been fixed, but any emails sent to that address are thus lost.
Jared Tabor wrote:
As for the Connect system, perhaps navigation to it could be added to the general navigation. Also, there may be reasons why people use it, but does it need to have a separate email system? Couldn't messages simply be sent through the normal profile mail system? Then you wouldn't need to maintain a separate message platform. Same for the Proz.com messages. I don't see who gains from duplicating mailing functions. This is not the only example of duplicated functions on Proz, by the way, but you must all be aware of that.
It's a bit more complicated than that, but I agree! It shouldn't be that difficult to figure out if and when someone has sent you a message through the site.
Apart from the missing notifications and the absence of a navigation path, my gripe with Connect is that I want my business communication organised in one single mail system (in my case Outlook) so I can easily search for and find it again if needed, for example to clarify contractual terms (who promised what?). So the first thing I do when receiving something in Connect is to copy it out into Outlook and reply from there as soon as possible. This just gives me more administrative work and makes it slower to reply without providing any benefit. But strangely enough, the last few Connect messages seem to have been emailed to me in full, which is absolutely fine. I just don't see the use of having several messaging systems, but of course if you change anything, you need to be sure it doesn't break something else.
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In support's reply to my ticket, they also falsely claimed that [email protected] had only been used recently.
Having searched my Outlook archive, I found a reply to a potential client sent on 6 September 2023 to [email protected]. I had not noticed that using the Reply function in Outlook resulted in replying to that dummy address.
Looking at the... See more In support's reply to my ticket, they also falsely claimed that [email protected] had only been used recently.
Having searched my Outlook archive, I found a reply to a potential client sent on 6 September 2023 to [email protected]. I had not noticed that using the Reply function in Outlook resulted in replying to that dummy address.
Looking at the original email headers, I can see that both the From and Reply-to address is [email protected]. I have the hard evidence that Proz's claim that this address was only used recently is false. There is no other email address in the email I can reply to, so I would have to look up their profile and send them a profile mail.
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2023 09:37:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: "XXXXXXXX via ProZ.com" [email protected]
Subject: [ProZ.com mail] Request to collaborate with XXXXXXXX
Reply-To: XXXXXXXX [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Needless to say, I never heard from that client again, but I will contact them now and explain what happened. Who knows if any revenue was lost on that account and how much?
It has been fixed now, but any money lost for users will never be recovered. Proz has admitted that this should have been done better, so we can only hope that the lesson as learnt that some functions are absolutely critical and can result in financial loss for users if broken.
Proz's disclaimers exclude any liability, so the only thing users can do to recover some of the loss is to end their subscriptions, but this will in turn reduce their visibility, so they might simply be shooting themselves in the foot.
[Edited at 2024-05-29 19:04 GMT]
[Edited at 2024-05-29 19:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 03:36
English to German
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| consumer protection laws | May 29 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
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Proz's disclaimers exclude any liability, so the only thing users can do to recover some of the loss is to end their subscriptions, but this will in turn reduce their visibility, so they might simply be shooting themselves in the foot.
Those disclaimers don't protect from European consumer protection laws.
If you offer a service in the European Union, you have to comply with EU law. And if you are aware of a disfunction or a broken service and the like for which people are paying, you need to fix the problem within reasonable time (more years is for sure not a "reasonable time").
[Bearbeitet am 2024-05-29 19:12 GMT]
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Zea_Mays wrote:
Those disclaimers don't protect from European consumer protection laws.
If you offer a service in the European Union, you have to comply with EU law. And if you are aware of a disfunction or a broken service and the like for which people are paying, you need to fix the problem within reasonable time (more years is for sure not a "reasonable time").
Yes, but we are not consumers in relation to Proz, so consumer law does not apply in this case.
| | | | | Let me see what we can do | May 29 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
Already in September last year, a colleague told me: 'In both cases, the Reply-To address supplied by the ProZ mailer was [email protected].' The trouble was that replies were not sent to the sender's email address but to [email protected]. It has been fixed, but any emails sent to that address are thus lost.
I was unaware of this. I can't make any promises, but I believe it should be possible to retrieve those messages. I've just made note in your support request on the matter to that effect. If we can retrieve them, we'll get them to you.
On the Connect messaging side of things, I have requested that Connect messages be listed also from the ProZ.com messaging center, https://www.proz.com/?sp=proz_message , and that new Connect messages also cause that "New" icon to show up indicating new messages. It is not a solution, of course, but a quick and easy first step to starting to bring all of that together in one place.
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Thanks, Jared. As I said in the ticket, I keep copies of all business emails, so I already have a copy of what I sent to that potential client, and I have already told them what happened. The trouble was that it should have been delivered in September last year but ended up on a Proz server or in a black hole, so the client has probably found another solution by now.
A colleague said she sent a reply to a profile mail of mine in December last year, but I never received it.
... See more Thanks, Jared. As I said in the ticket, I keep copies of all business emails, so I already have a copy of what I sent to that potential client, and I have already told them what happened. The trouble was that it should have been delivered in September last year but ended up on a Proz server or in a black hole, so the client has probably found another solution by now.
A colleague said she sent a reply to a profile mail of mine in December last year, but I never received it.
But if you can recover the mails that ended up in the transactions mailbox without being delivered and return them with a message to the senders, at least they will know what was never delivered.
About Connect and other message centres, what I really want is to get rid of them and simply receive messages as emails. What do others think? You also have a chat service, but does anyone use it? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 03:36
English to German
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Thomas T. Frost wrote:
Zea_Mays wrote:
Those disclaimers don't protect from European consumer protection laws.
If you offer a service in the European Union, you have to comply with EU law. And if you are aware of a disfunction or a broken service and the like for which people are paying, you need to fix the problem within reasonable time (more years is for sure not a "reasonable time").
Yes, but we are not consumers in relation to Proz, so consumer law does not apply in this case.
We can take out the "consumer" (I'll check with some guys who know the matter) - there are still laws you have to comply with regarding the services you provide.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 03:36
English to German
+ ...
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
About Connect and other message centres, what I really want is to get rid of them and simply receive messages as emails. What do others think? You also have a chat service, but does anyone use it?
I also prefer emails, possibly with different prefixes (e.g. in the subject or 'From' field), so that you can immediately see of what category the messages are.
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