Just found and signed up for OP and went Ascendant for month to month. However, in sending invites to my members, none have received them to date.
Reading through the forum post here, it appears that you are having challenges with email. I'm not sure what the issue is; coding, authentication, spam, sending limit reached. Just wish to now how to work around the invites manually.
Do I just give them the sub-site, they create an account (free or ascendant) and they will be added to my campaign?
I had two new players start in my campaign and (with some difficulty) got it to work out. They have to sign up and then you can invite them by PM. The problem is that the site can be quite bewildering for new players, but if you email them separately and tell them to accept the invite, which they will find in their PMs (by clicking the ENVELOPE symbol in the top) and waiting a few seconds (because OP is still very "clunky"), then you should succeed.
Alex has not yet commented, but if you are having any problems with that, I know he will be glad to help/
Hopefully, the notification issue is going to be sorted quite soon.
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Let me preface my comments by saying that the following is not said in frustration but as someone observing the situation and understanding human nature from the perspective of a business degree.
I feel the need to reinforce Twig's statement above, regarding the statement made in the last tech update (from the 11th). For two years the community has heard statements such as "soon", "coming any time", and even "sometime next week". When a delivery deadline was presented last week, I felt that the community should support the current dev team that provided a firm deadline. That said, however, it should also be pointed out that the community also endured incessant failures to deliver with the previous dev team. If the new owners are serious in their commitment to the site and this community, delivering a solution *today* (as per their own established deadline) is a vital first step in rebuilding the trust and relationship that others damaged.
As KVP has repeatedly said, the improved communication is great but the powers behind the scenes needs to deliver on their commitments and fix things that are hindering important functionality - and has been doing so for far too long.
The CEO statement is all well and good, but words require actions to show proof. This community has endured lip service for far too long. Yes, that is not the fault of Kaleidoscope, but unless they show themselves to be different, the community has no reason to view them differently. Their understanding of the real issues may be recent, but from an outsider's perspective they have had months to come to this realization. Did they not bother to investigate the situation? Were they directly lied to about it? Does it even matter? If the new dev team can show a dedication to providing service to the community and delivering on their promises - which includes fixing things that are broken - I would wager that the community will be happy to move on from the past. Until they do, however, they will continue to live in the shadow of the previous ownership's failures. I'm not saying that this is right or appropriate, it just simply is. Until they can distinguish themselves positively, most people won't see them as any different regardless of what they may post on a blog. Some of us may understand the more difficult intricacies of an acquisition, but at some point that defense falls hollow as time and due diligence allows for change and overcoming such obstacles.
Status update was posted, been very busy as of late as I am picking up some additional responsibilities here. I'll try to address some comments soon, sorry for the delay!
I would like to say "Thank You" for showing us progress via actually fixing or implementing something. I.e. the email notifications.
For so long (many many months) there was nothing but reassurances and "plans".
Although the email fix is in result to a recent issue, it shows there are actually people working on fixing things. I had gotten to the point where I was not to sure about that.
Updates are appreciated, but I just want to say that I feel that the future goals are not what I personally feel should be addressed.
There are over 80 pending issues that are in the help desk queue, and I feel that those issues should get fixed before the Kickstarter stretch goals are.
I realize that one of those goals has to do with the issue of YouTube videos, but there are other issues that have had more updates/participation from the users that are much older that should be taken care of.
Just my 2 cents.
I am not an Ascendant member and not very engaged on the OP beyond updating my campaign site.
My use of the OP is pretty basic as a repository for player-known information so they can easily access it from anywhere. During game play, the players occasionally have the OP up to reference things. But, in large part, it is not necessary for us to play. I am a bit old school and don't trust technology... as it has failed me in the past (my sheets of paper never fail me, though!).
However, with that being said, I have watched the building frustration of "regular" OP users and the huge loss of Ascendant members who simply left after the disastrous Reforge.
If I had an Ascendant account, or paid into the Kickstarter, I would have two basic questions:
1) In the last six months, has anything really functionally improved on the site?
2) Where did all of the money from the Kickstarter go?
I would be pretty upset if I paid money for the Kickstarter and broken promises. One would think, with the money from the Kickstarter, they could rebuild the OP site on a better framework or have repaired things by now, yet neither of those things happened... but the money went somewhere...
I hope things improve and get corrected. In the meantime, I will continue to rely on my trusty binder.
Myyth Realm: Legacy
https://myyth-realm-legacy.obsidianportal.com/
Campaign of the Month April 2013
So, after a flurry of activity to fix one issue (which is not completely fixed, as some still have the same issue with email invites) things have returned to the complete lack of attention.
Still 100s of tickets open.
Still there are things broken that have been for years.
Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of the Reforge- we still don't have half of the items promised, and we still have things broken that were never repaired, 2 years later.
The only reason I have not left is the effort to move my 1000+ page wiki is herculean, but right now I really regret not starting 2 years ago, because it would be moved and I would not have wasted all of this time trying to get both previous owners (16 months) and current owners (8 months) to do the things that were promised.
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
Sorry folks, just got delayed with working on some thing to enhance our abilities to process through all these issues. I am finishing up a news drop presently and am hoping to have that out today. Some of the tasks I was working on recently ate up my time and kept me away a little bit.
Ya. I mentioned that in my shadows post and the YouTube one. If it was something not done by OP, which is how I'm leaning, then they better leave it alone.
KillerVP, you are far from the only one who is frustrated here. And IMHO, anyone who backed the Reforge and earned free subscription time should get it again because the time they had was wasted on unfulfilled promises.
Keelah Se'lai,
Keryth
"Shadows Over New York":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shadows-over-new-york
"2013 Campaign of The Year":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/2013-coty-shadows-over-new-york/
"Campaign of the Month July 2013":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/shadows-over-new-york-julys-campaign-of-the-month/
From the Status Update on the Blog dated 08/26/2015:
OP REFORGED: KICKSTARTER UPDATES
Speaking of new content, I have some news about the as of yet to be delivered stretch goals from the Kickstarter. We have all been patiently awaiting the release of the updated File Locker and the Natural Editing. Tech let me know that these are actually all set to go as soon as we can push an update. So, once those technical issues I mentioned above are cleared we should be seeing these items get rolled out to the site. On a personal note, I think I am most excited about the natural editing, but that might just be me.
Status: Completed, awaiting resolution of technical issues above.
I have been holding back my frustration about the issues this site has been having, but things seem to be getting worse.
A little bit about me:
1) I have been a member of this site since 2009.
2) I pay for 3 Ascendant accounts for myself and two of my players (who also GM for time to time). That’s $15 per month that I pay for this site.
3) My wife and I both backed the reforge at the Armored Ascendant level. That’s a total of $150 we gave to the reforge.
4) I am also a Campaign of the month winner for June 2013.
5) I have be active with the community on and off over the years.
I am mentioning all of this to show that I have worked hard to support this site and to see everything falling apart breaks my heart. I have been patient and waited to see if these issues will be resolved, but so far very little has been done. In fact things are getting worse.
We still have email issues, 502 Bad gateway errors (which prevent me from using the site), Youtube videos not working, the Website running very slow, and much much more. Now to top things off the Forums are having issues. I have to say that I am very disappointed in what the new company has done. The newest issue with the forums should not even last a few hours. Any other proper company would jump on it immediately and get it fixed, instead of waiting.
These problems have to be fixed and fixed now. I don’t know if the problem is a lack of manpower or if the new company simply doesn’t care about the site and its users. If it’s a manpower issue, then hire more people and GET IT DONE! If it’s an issue of Apathy, THEN START CARING.
The honest truth is that these issues will be resolved in one of two ways. 1) The company can put the resources in place to get this done. Start putting money into the site (Hire more programmers who are not just part timers) and fix the issues. Or 2) All of the members will slowly leave and all of you revenue will go away.
My wife and I have given over $2,000 to this site (through Membership and the Reforge donations). Looking at the number of Ascendant accounts you have, plus the money you received from the reforge, there should be no reason why you can’t invest in the site to get all these issues resolve professionally and quickly.
Stop blaming the past. This is your site now. If you really care about the site, then fix the problems. If you have part time programmers that cannot dedicate time to supporting the site, then fire them and hire some full time programmers to fix things. There is NO REASON THESE ISSUES SHOULD BE LASTING THIS LONG.
I realize that this post of mine is going to be ignored, but I cannot stay silent any longer. I realize that you do not listen to your customers and may not even care that we are upset and cannot use your site to the degree we pay for. So the only recourse I have is to talk with my Wallet. If these issues continue to occur, then I will simple have to cancel all three of the accounts I pay for and recommend to my other friends that they do the same.
Maybe if you lose your revenue you will see what a disaster this site has become.
Kettle
"Rise of the Dead":https://rise-of-the-dead.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Campaign of the Month June 2013
I for one have to agree with Kettle on his points. I love this site but it's slipping into the same lack-of-support we had with the previous owners. Big promises, with bread crumbs here and there, and now it takes me posting a new forum asking for a tech update after not seeing one for a couple of weeks (again big promise of WEEKLY tech updates). Now again we're at 2 weeks tomorrow since last posting (Oct 27).
This is extremely unforntunate that I probably won't be renewing my membership. Can't see paying for a site that has so many bugs.
Oh, and now I'm seeing numerous errors lines on the forum's webpages:
(at the top)
Strict Standards: mktime(): You should be using the time() function instead in /home/obsidianportal/forums.obsidianportal.com/releases/20111102030424/library/Framework/Framework.Functions.php on line 682
(then about 30 of these lines before I see the forum catagories)
Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/obsidianportal/forums.obsidianportal.com/releases/20111102030424/extensions/Textile/classTextile.php on line 1002
Comments
Just found and signed up for OP and went Ascendant for month to month. However, in sending invites to my members, none have received them to date.
Reading through the forum post here, it appears that you are having challenges with email. I'm not sure what the issue is; coding, authentication, spam, sending limit reached. Just wish to now how to work around the invites manually.
Do I just give them the sub-site, they create an account (free or ascendant) and they will be added to my campaign?
Good luck finding the issue.
~Jahad~
I know I started my new supers campaign about 2 months ago and had no problem inviting people with the OP internal invites. hope that helps
I had two new players start in my campaign and (with some difficulty) got it to work out. They have to sign up and then you can invite them by PM. The problem is that the site can be quite bewildering for new players, but if you email them separately and tell them to accept the invite, which they will find in their PMs (by clicking the ENVELOPE symbol in the top) and waiting a few seconds (because OP is still very "clunky"), then you should succeed.
Alex has not yet commented, but if you are having any problems with that, I know he will be glad to help/
Hopefully, the notification issue is going to be sorted quite soon.
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
Just trying to help out.
I feel the need to reinforce Twig's statement above, regarding the statement made in the last tech update (from the 11th). For two years the community has heard statements such as "soon", "coming any time", and even "sometime next week". When a delivery deadline was presented last week, I felt that the community should support the current dev team that provided a firm deadline. That said, however, it should also be pointed out that the community also endured incessant failures to deliver with the previous dev team. If the new owners are serious in their commitment to the site and this community, delivering a solution *today* (as per their own established deadline) is a vital first step in rebuilding the trust and relationship that others damaged.
As KVP has repeatedly said, the improved communication is great but the powers behind the scenes needs to deliver on their commitments and fix things that are hindering important functionality - and has been doing so for far too long.
The CEO statement is all well and good, but words require actions to show proof. This community has endured lip service for far too long. Yes, that is not the fault of Kaleidoscope, but unless they show themselves to be different, the community has no reason to view them differently. Their understanding of the real issues may be recent, but from an outsider's perspective they have had months to come to this realization. Did they not bother to investigate the situation? Were they directly lied to about it? Does it even matter? If the new dev team can show a dedication to providing service to the community and delivering on their promises - which includes fixing things that are broken - I would wager that the community will be happy to move on from the past. Until they do, however, they will continue to live in the shadow of the previous ownership's failures. I'm not saying that this is right or appropriate, it just simply is. Until they can distinguish themselves positively, most people won't see them as any different regardless of what they may post on a blog. Some of us may understand the more difficult intricacies of an acquisition, but at some point that defense falls hollow as time and due diligence allows for change and overcoming such obstacles.
Just my two cents on the matter.
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
For so long (many many months) there was nothing but reassurances and "plans".
Although the email fix is in result to a recent issue, it shows there are actually people working on fixing things. I had gotten to the point where I was not to sure about that.
Again, thanks.
Unconquered Kingdoms, July 2016 CotM
There are over 80 pending issues that are in the help desk queue, and I feel that those issues should get fixed before the Kickstarter stretch goals are.
I realize that one of those goals has to do with the issue of YouTube videos, but there are other issues that have had more updates/participation from the users that are much older that should be taken care of.
Just my 2 cents.
Just trying to help out.
My use of the OP is pretty basic as a repository for player-known information so they can easily access it from anywhere. During game play, the players occasionally have the OP up to reference things. But, in large part, it is not necessary for us to play. I am a bit old school and don't trust technology... as it has failed me in the past (my sheets of paper never fail me, though!).
However, with that being said, I have watched the building frustration of "regular" OP users and the huge loss of Ascendant members who simply left after the disastrous Reforge.
If I had an Ascendant account, or paid into the Kickstarter, I would have two basic questions:
1) In the last six months, has anything really functionally improved on the site?
2) Where did all of the money from the Kickstarter go?
I would be pretty upset if I paid money for the Kickstarter and broken promises. One would think, with the money from the Kickstarter, they could rebuild the OP site on a better framework or have repaired things by now, yet neither of those things happened... but the money went somewhere...
I hope things improve and get corrected. In the meantime, I will continue to rely on my trusty binder.
Myyth Realm: Legacy
https://myyth-realm-legacy.obsidianportal.com/
Campaign of the Month April 2013
Still 100s of tickets open.
Still there are things broken that have been for years.
Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of the Reforge- we still don't have half of the items promised, and we still have things broken that were never repaired, 2 years later.
The only reason I have not left is the effort to move my 1000+ page wiki is herculean, but right now I really regret not starting 2 years ago, because it would be moved and I would not have wasted all of this time trying to get both previous owners (16 months) and current owners (8 months) to do the things that were promised.
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":https://a-god-rebuilt.obsidianportal.com
Just trying to help out.
I flip flop between optimistic and feeling like killervp does.
I mean, I'm still hopeful, and still "I Want To Believe" X-files style. But then my management mindset kicks in and I see danger signs everywhere.
I dunno.
Unconquered Kingdoms, July 2016 CotM
Just trying to help out.
Just trying to help out.
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
KillerVP, you are far from the only one who is frustrated here. And IMHO, anyone who backed the Reforge and earned free subscription time should get it again because the time they had was wasted on unfulfilled promises.
Keelah Se'lai,
Keryth
"Shadows Over New York":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shadows-over-new-york
"2013 Campaign of The Year":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/2013-coty-shadows-over-new-york/
"Campaign of the Month July 2013":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/shadows-over-new-york-julys-campaign-of-the-month/
Just trying to help out.
OP REFORGED: KICKSTARTER UPDATES
Speaking of new content, I have some news about the as of yet to be delivered stretch goals from the Kickstarter. We have all been patiently awaiting the release of the updated File Locker and the Natural Editing. Tech let me know that these are actually all set to go as soon as we can push an update. So, once those technical issues I mentioned above are cleared we should be seeing these items get rolled out to the site. On a personal note, I think I am most excited about the natural editing, but that might just be me.
Status: Completed, awaiting resolution of technical issues above.
Just trying to help out.
A little bit about me:
1) I have been a member of this site since 2009.
2) I pay for 3 Ascendant accounts for myself and two of my players (who also GM for time to time). That’s $15 per month that I pay for this site.
3) My wife and I both backed the reforge at the Armored Ascendant level. That’s a total of $150 we gave to the reforge.
4) I am also a Campaign of the month winner for June 2013.
5) I have be active with the community on and off over the years.
I am mentioning all of this to show that I have worked hard to support this site and to see everything falling apart breaks my heart. I have been patient and waited to see if these issues will be resolved, but so far very little has been done. In fact things are getting worse.
We still have email issues, 502 Bad gateway errors (which prevent me from using the site), Youtube videos not working, the Website running very slow, and much much more. Now to top things off the Forums are having issues. I have to say that I am very disappointed in what the new company has done. The newest issue with the forums should not even last a few hours. Any other proper company would jump on it immediately and get it fixed, instead of waiting.
These problems have to be fixed and fixed now. I don’t know if the problem is a lack of manpower or if the new company simply doesn’t care about the site and its users. If it’s a manpower issue, then hire more people and GET IT DONE! If it’s an issue of Apathy, THEN START CARING.
The honest truth is that these issues will be resolved in one of two ways. 1) The company can put the resources in place to get this done. Start putting money into the site (Hire more programmers who are not just part timers) and fix the issues. Or 2) All of the members will slowly leave and all of you revenue will go away.
My wife and I have given over $2,000 to this site (through Membership and the Reforge donations). Looking at the number of Ascendant accounts you have, plus the money you received from the reforge, there should be no reason why you can’t invest in the site to get all these issues resolve professionally and quickly.
Stop blaming the past. This is your site now. If you really care about the site, then fix the problems. If you have part time programmers that cannot dedicate time to supporting the site, then fire them and hire some full time programmers to fix things. There is NO REASON THESE ISSUES SHOULD BE LASTING THIS LONG.
I realize that this post of mine is going to be ignored, but I cannot stay silent any longer. I realize that you do not listen to your customers and may not even care that we are upset and cannot use your site to the degree we pay for. So the only recourse I have is to talk with my Wallet. If these issues continue to occur, then I will simple have to cancel all three of the accounts I pay for and recommend to my other friends that they do the same.
Maybe if you lose your revenue you will see what a disaster this site has become.
Kettle
"Rise of the Dead":https://rise-of-the-dead.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Campaign of the Month June 2013
Just trying to help out.
This is extremely unforntunate that I probably won't be renewing my membership. Can't see paying for a site that has so many bugs.
(at the top)
Strict Standards: mktime(): You should be using the time() function instead in /home/obsidianportal/forums.obsidianportal.com/releases/20111102030424/library/Framework/Framework.Functions.php on line 682
(then about 30 of these lines before I see the forum catagories)
Deprecated: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is deprecated, use preg_replace_callback instead in /home/obsidianportal/forums.obsidianportal.com/releases/20111102030424/extensions/Textile/classTextile.php on line 1002
I hate this.