More maintenance!!

@Alishah - Yes, we are actively working on an auto save feature.

AWESOME NEWS!!! The hub link is working again! Wahoo! Thank you!

I see an editing option is available for comments; if a delete option is available I'll delete the prior post about the hub link. :-)

Postscript:
You know, even Blogger and Gmail and Yahoo save automatically as you work. Why can't this platform be programmed to function the same way? Why are users at constant threat of flat losing everything they've worked so diligently to achieve? :-(

Dear Tech Support, welcome to the doorstep of hell.

Because sometimes a picture truly is worth a thousand words, I have uploaded a print screen image to show you what happened to me just moments ago when I thought, finally, after two days of trying, I was about to successfully upload my June 22 newspaper cover story for Egypt's Presidential Election. To view the image full size, click on it after the page opens. http://aishahsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/06/dear-tech-support-welcome-to-doorstep.html

Once again, the editing form becomes the deal breaker.

Thanks so much. :-(

Additional Notes

Could an option be provided in the user settings allowing members to elect whether or not they want their city to be visible to site visitors?
People have a general idea of where I am, but I purposely do not specifically identify my city of residence as a matter of privacy, however, once on an update to my profile in order to clarify an issue regarding my press pass, after the settings were saved, suddenly my city was appearing publicly.

Also showing publicly in a Google Search as a result of the same issue (press pass), a prior update now publicly reveals my given name vs. the name that I prefer to use publicly (as in pen name). Now, regardless of the fact that the profile was reverted back to just "Aishah Schwartz" -- Google grabbed the prior edit and won't let go. Another privacy infraction.

On a final note: I live in Egypt -- not the U.S., U.K. etc. where the postal systems tend to be consistently reliable; on the contrary, if you get snail mail delivered to you in Egypt, you're nothing short of damned lucky. And yet it blows my mind that a UK-based company (Demotix) uses a company in CANADA to print press passes and somehow, in the 20th Century cannot provide an option, at user/member expense made optional in the check-out area of PayPal when paying for the press pass, to allow for secure delivery via DHL or FED-X, etc. I'm aware that this particular item is not necessarily a tech issue -- but I've been writing internally about it for months...and still do not have my press pass. And no, I do not want a refund. I want my press pass.

As a matter of maintenance, for as far back as I can remember, every single email notification I have ever received from Demotix that included links to comments or new posts by people I follow, etc., has been delivered with dead links. I've reported the issue countless times. Sure would be nice if someone could get to that. Below are some examples of what I receive: (links do not customarily include THREE backslashes after the http:)

- Polish fans after losing to the Czech Republic - Wroclaw Read more
http:///./news/1284160/polish-fans-after-losing-czech-republic-wroclaw
http:///./news/1284160/polish-fans-after-losing-czech-republic-wroclaw

- Clashes between fans and security by the gates of Wroclaw Fan Zone Read
more
http:///./news/1284172/clashes-between-fans-and-security-gates-wroclaw-fan-zone

- Counting the votes after the election - Cairo Read more
http:///./news/1284383/counting-votes-after-election-cairo --

- Reverend Al Sharpton leads thousands in march against stop-and-frisk Read
more
http:///./news/1284621/reverend-al-sharpton-leads-thousands-march-against-stop-and-frisk

And even if you copy and paste the "link" all one gets is this:

Oops! Page Not Found

Sorry, the page you were looking for could not be found.

Greetings Demotix.

For the second day in a row, in an attempt to fulfill the request of Demotix as received in an email communication a few days back, wherein it was set out that you were looking for photographs of newspaper front page headlines, which I secured for both the 22nd and 23 of June -- ultimately I was unable to upload them.

Let me tell you what I have noted from attempting to both the Desktop Uploader and FileZilla (FTP) -- it seems that my pass code is only being accepted by the server on a one-time use basis only. For example, I opened Desktop Uploader (which I have always used successfully in the past) and my pass code was rejected. If I went to my dashboard on the Demotix website and reset the pass code, then tried to open Uploader again, I got in. But, for example, as in the case tonight, the program indicated it would take 305 minutes to upload my photos on my 3G USB Etisalat connection. I said to myself, hmm. I have two stories to publish and will get nothing done at that rate. So I exited to log out of my USB connection and connect to the Wi-Fi from the building where I live. When I tried to log into Uploader again; FAIL.

So then I went back to try and upload via the website. I have also always previously been able to successfully upload via the website. However, tonight, not EVEN attempting to upload all 25 photos at once but just beginning with praying to get even one photo uploaded, the upload of a single file failed -- again.

Incidentally, another issue with loading from the Website is that as the photos upload from the top of the list down the editing form begins to process. All the photos will be uploaded and half way down the list the processed editing forms, the remainder of the forms will fail to load, forcing the user to exit. And the result of that is starting again on entering tags, story, etc., (I am a multi-tasker) because the stuff you've already entered doesn't save and you can't save in draft unless the captions have been entered. So there the user is; screwed again.

Refusing to give up, tonight I decided to try FTP.

I downloaded FileZilla.

I entered the required information. To my surprise, successfully logged in. Selected my photos. The upload process started. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Again, an issue with my pass code.

What has become crystal clear, as previously stated, is that my pass code is somehow a one-time-use code subsequently rejected when tapped into a second time. If I reset the code, it will work again one time, and one time only.

I didn't mind getting out of the house today, it was hot as hell outside, but I always manage to have pleasant encounters with people along the way that make the effort to chase after a story all the more worth while. But it is rather anti-climatic to do all that work and them come home to find oneself unable to upload photos.

For the record there is a marked difference between the headlines of Friday and Saturday in that many headlines were declaring that SCAF would basically act within the full force of the powers they have assumed in making sure that after the announcement of the winning presidential candidate on Sunday -- they will have zero tolerance for anything or anyone that threatens the security of the country. Namely, of course -- protesters.

I can't see there being any winner on Sunday, and I expect that things are going to get messy. Even last night in the Red Sea coastal city of Hurghada, where I live, the vehicle of a Freedom & Justice party campaign member was torched (per management of the restaurant beside the street where the incident occurred). I snapped a few photos of the scene for a third story that won't seem to get published in a timely fashion. Sad for that.

Life, like the news -- goes on.

I am certainly no Dorothy Lange, but I was and remain willing to make the effort to be a participant.

Regards,

~Aishah Schwartz

P.S. From 18 news journals that I photographed on Friday and Saturday, one of them, not so coincidentally(?) an English language publication, contained an interesting subliminal message from Shafiq; published it on my blog since I couldn't get it uploaded here. http://aishahsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/06/cairo-presidential-election-subliminal.html

Keep up the good work! Obviously you have a number of frustrated contributors at present, but for my part, I'd like to say a big thank you for all the work and on-going effort all you guys put in to trying to improve the site. I've been a contributor for two years now, and things have improved MARKEDLY since I started!

hi, i would like to inform that you can see the numbers of views with firefox but not with google chrome
regards

Agree with Lawrence and Karim, but you try joining AP, AFP or Reuters...... BTE Nat-West, RBS etc, one of the biggest banks in the UK (if not Europe) has had an IT crash that has lock out most of it's customers for a couple of days! The troubles with Demotix are VERY minor compared to the problems of Nat-West and RBS so let's get it into perspective.

1 For their size and resources Demotix are doing very well.
2 most of you complaining would have ZERO chance of registering with any professional agency.

Can't even begin to count the ways I am thoroughly put out.

Hi Alex, I have just got the same message: Please, make sure you attached at least one picture to your story.

Obviously these are issues due to the migration, and the more people try to log on and upload the more these issues will become obvious. .

Maybe it will be more helpful if we only reported the issues here and not just complain about them. I tend to agree with Karim about complaining.

best Lawrence

stop critical guys, if you want speed go to AFP and Reuters, but they themselves do not want.

Please, make sure you attached at least one picture to your story.
IMPORTANT: We now have a new, simpler system for FTP uploads - learn more. You can also upload by email and download the Demotix Uploader.

Upload your news
1. Your story * Required fields
Hints and Tips
Title
Your title should be informative, snappy, and eye-catching.
Add the city or town after a dash at the end.
Example: Protesters call for release of hostages held by FARC - Bogota

Summary

this I have all the time after time after time there is somebody I can talk to ?

WOW. uploading now is 2 times slower then before!!!! I'm trying to complete the story for 40 minutes !!! and I still can't . It is really big step BUT BACKWARDS !!!

guy's question I down load now for +- 3 hours my storry.
first it dint run atall 2
by uploabing and sending it dint see my photos and gat a mesage of you have to down load minimal 1 photo?? but i dith 25 photos ?? now again it take a jear to down load my photos ??
here everything is oke

improve the system ???every time there are improvements it work more last than before

Congratulation for your speed !

We went live to the new servers at 9am and just now (9:30am) we've opened up logins again.

Our tech team is on super high alert at the moment, so if you do spot anything strange, images not loading, pages broken etc. Please do email support@demotix.com with "NEW SERVERS" as the subject line.

9:30 on the 21st you say..... ok lets start a sweep stake for when it comes back in 15 minute increments from 10:00 on the 21st to 09:30 on the 24th :-)

BTW Sod's Law also says that The Story Of The Year will happen at 05:05 on the 21st UK time. You just know that this down time is going to stop your Pulitzer Prize.

Good Luck with it.. Alex. We know you and the team will do your best and hopefully the community will be understanding if it does not go 100% to plan.

thanks for the update Alex. a good opportunity to rethink our own workflow and contribution. best Lawrence

Nice to hear that. The site has been difficult to use in the past couple of months and hope it works a lot better this time. Even when uploading via FTP I've had to save a draft then return to the story and select the images from the FTP - which often appear twice despite one upload. Lets hope also sales will improve with the improved site!