AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

Thursday, November 3, 2005
3:58:00 PM EST
Hearing Dave Brubeck, Pennies From Heaven Hi folks -- here's an update on the investigation of comment alert nondelivery.

I just got done working with one of the Alerts people, trying to recreate the nondelivery problem by posting a bunch of test comments on a few different test Journals.

This is the same procedure I used yesterday, when I only got alerts for about half of the comments I left. That's not so good.

Today, with the tech folks watching? 10 for 10, across the board. No problems at all.

This is what makes a problem like this so frustrating. We know it's out there, but we have to be able to reproduce it consistently so they can figure out what's wrong.

As the tech folks reminded me, even a 1% failure rate is unacceptably high (because if something happens 1,000,000 times, a 1% failure rate means it didn't work 10,000 times) -- however, that 1% means that it happens infrequently enough to make it tough to reproduce and diagnose.

Anyway, here's what you can do:

* Please continue reporting comment alert and entry alert problems to me, either in e-mail or in the comments to this thread. (If you just post angry entries in your blogs, I won't know about it....let me know, then post your angry entries in your blogs.)

* Any technical details you can provide would be helpful: time and date, links to particular entries, the type of alert delivery you usually get: online (IM), e-mail or both, the number of comments (that you know of) that you didn't get alerts for.

Thanks -- Joe

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This entry has 18 comments: (Add your own)

• #18 Comment from pesbb1 
  11/6/05 4:27 PM | Permalink

  Aol has the audacity of a existing member to return mail to the sender when knowing the exixting member really exixts.  I know because Aol has done it to me. I am sending this comment telling them I really disapprove the way mail is returned to sender.  I'm not going to mention any names but Aol knows what I mean.
• #17 Comment from smeigle666 
  11/5/05 11:20 PM | Permalink

  OK you need to learn to keep to yourself. No one asked you to play mommy and daddy for the whole of the country!
  Get a life man and let kids be kids. If you think that kids are stupid enough to actualy listen to thos pervs then thats your deal, LEAVE THE REST OF THE WORLD TO THEMSELVES!  
  Bloggs are very good for kids you know. My Dr. actualy TELLS me to have a few so that I can relate to others my age and fell like there is someone to talk to. Ok so some nosie person I don't know once in a while will read it and say something. SO WHAT! you don't notice it!
  Just cause no one likes you and some 15 year olds are getting more action then you doesn't give you the right to try to make everyone elses life as shitty as yours.
  
  So take your "bloggs are bad" idea and BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!
  now I'm going to go write in my blog about how stupid you are CAUSE ITS STILL A FREE COUNTRY AND I CAN!
• #16 Comment from deslily 
  11/5/05 3:47 PM | Permalink

  wow.. you're too young to even know who Dave Brubeck is!! lol  
• #15 Comment from journalseditorEntry Author 
  11/4/05 5:22 PM | Permalink

  Hi Marie...up to this point, what we've generally seen is that owners saw alerts for comments that they posted themselves (which is not particularly useful), but may not have seen comments posted by other people.
  
  That's because blog owners get treated differently by the system.
  
  The true test will be if you see comments that other people post to your blog.
  
  The tech folks bounced a server, though, and things seem to be better, though I have been getting different kinds of error reports from other people. Thanks -- Joe
• #14 Comment from mariebm56 
  11/4/05 5:15 PM | Permalink

  I did a test, I posted 2 entries last night & observed the comments emailed to me with the comments left on my Journal & so far, I have had 100% delivery.
  Looking good!! I will continue to keep track on my "Comment Alerts".
  I had found it to be still a problem since Tuesday.....but after last nights entries, prehaps it is fixed???
  Thank you for keeping on top of this issue.
  ~Marie
  http://journals.aol.com/mariebm56/PhotographsMemories/

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