List of what is currently wrong with the forum

Unknown said:

I am shocked that any organisation could get this whole affair so completely wrong, 

I have worked for 4 decades in IT and this barely registers as bungling to be fair to them.

Yes they messed up but I have seen most companies make the mistake from time to time, even ones with a competent IT team.

All it takes if for one admin to leave the company who had their email registered for the certificate issuing service for the site in question and when the organisation renew the certificate when it is due (they only last for a number of years) then the certificate is sent to an email that may not exist or no-one is able to access it.

When that happens on a weekend like it does here then there is nobody about in the certificate company to call to sort it out so the site goes into "unsecured" mode over the weekend. That does not typically imply there is any real risk unless you use it for financial transactions.

This is a minor to middling issue in IT terms as there is no real risk to us, just inconvenience.

I can see it would upset some of the more sensitive people here which is why I'm trying to explain the context of what is happening so they can reassure themselves.

Nexus11 said:

So, admim. Is this site really safe??

A VERY good question........I am most certainly becoming VERY worried about this point.  I raised this point to the community manager very soon after the "upgrade" happened and it was clear there was bungling.

I haven't had the courtesy of a response.

Makes you wonder!!!!!!!

Unknown said:

Just a sign that someone, somewhere in the NAS paid staff (with some seniority) cares, would be nice.

It's meant to benefit us but in the end, I wonder whether it's becoming detrimental.

Absolutely !

100% ! 

Sorry.....I've decided that my "bothering" is misplaced.

This is a shadow of what I feel and originally posted.

What the AF is the point.

Very well said !

.

I Sperg said:

Actually it is not at all "Awesome".

I Sperg said:

I mean, can you name ANYTHING that has improved? Any change that has made it more "Autistic friendly"??

I agree.

Although I get what others are saying about it being a free facility, it is nevertheless important that it's maintained properly and considering that its users are a group of people especially prone to stress, it really shouldn't be allowed to be the major stress trigger it is.

Just a sign that someone, somewhere in the NAS paid staff (with some seniority) cares, would be nice.

It's meant to benefit us but in the end, I wonder whether it's becoming detrimental.

I'm not talking about the security certificate thing that has happened today especially, but just all the problems that have arisen or magnified since the update.

It should be fit for purpose.

I don't think this made it clear who I was agreeing with. To clarify, I was agreeing with Iain

I agree. As someone who's job it is to build systems like this, I could immediately tell that someone somewhere let something lapse with the site certificate. There are humans behind all these things you don't see, and humans make genuine mistakes and for the most part are not actively trying to sabotage things or annoy people on purpose.

It may look intimidating, but this is actually one of the more minor things that could go wrong with a website and can be fixed easily.

Nothing on the internet is really "safe". 

1. Whenever & whereever you post you become a BROADCASTER, your posts are read by complete strangers some of whom are definitely bonkers in the head, which is one danger.

2. Nearly everything you write is being scanned and incorporated into databases whcih if not immediately are eventaully accessed by:

a: criminals: 

b: advertisers:

c: governements:

None of whom are working FOR YOU.

3. Sites like this where a particualar type of user are corralled into one space are an "information goldmine" for anyone who has a particular interest in that demographic  Holding that information on in house servers poses a challenge for the best IT teams, but putting that information "on the cloud" is about as ANTI-SECURE as you can get

The internet is like a motorcyle or an aeroplane to me, (a danger that I accept in exchange for the view or speed), and posting my thoughts I see as a brave or stupid act depending on how you look at "danger". 

I agree.We live in a digital age now.

Actually it is not at all "Awesome".

As a bona fide skint person I ONLY use free to use resources and this one is hands down the worst that I have ever encountered.

I've encountered worse IT back office competency in the NHS but that was not a free to use service and has it's own unique challenges in terms of how it is run..

WIth this platform I feel more like an experimental subject than a client. 

I'm a bit busy right now, but am considering doing a bit of an investigation into this debacle. I'd like to know who runs this charity, what it's cash flow is and most importantly, who takes care of the I.T. 

If  one bloke like the one who runs the 90 servers that comprise the freecycle network can deliver many years of seamless service to a vast base of users like they have how much money is being chucked away on this upgrade?

I mean, can you name ANYTHING that has improved? Any change that has made it more "Autistic friendly"??

Well it's worrying. I had a very bad experience last year when I gave a delightful someone the benefit of the doubt. Anything screaming security issues makes me concerned now. Because guess what, you are the one who gets tarred with the same brush if you get scammed. 

So, admim. Is this site really safe??

New beginning said:

This situation is disgusting.

That is a bit of a strong reaction.

They are a charity so have limited resources to spend on this sort of tech and from the forum upgrade we know the management are not exactly on the ball.

Considering all this is a free service we receive it is still pretty awesome.

This situation is disgusting.

I have this too ! Thank you for posting this as I was very concerned.

My reaction is

“what the ****?”

This is unbelievable for such a website especially when it concerns people like ourselves.
I want to add that this is not good…not good at all and what is NAS going to do to resolve these frustrating and serious issues.

This is just a mess up by the people who administer the site (not really the admins, more the server engineers) where they made a mistake when updating a bit of software called a certificate to the site.

It is what allows us to have a secure connection to the site and I suspect they either let it expire or had a problem applying the new one - a pretty common issue to be fair to them and one that is normally fixed fairly quickly with much flapping going on behind the scenes trying to work out whose email the certificate was registered under.

This was probably part of the post upgrade housekeeping.

Just so we don't automatically conflate a "new set of weirdness" in our devices at the moment with this particular forum and the recent changes on it, I have noted that a number of wholly unrelated websites and places that I need to access on the internet have all been going through some noticeable changes of late.

I seem to remember that I read somewhere in the press recently that everyone has been told (in no uncertain terms by the government and 'industry bodies') to update and tighten generalised cyber security protocols.  I think that some of the anomalies we are experiencing when visiting this site on our various devices are NOT necessarily to do with the recent forum changes.

I just thought I would mention this for good order.

Yup, that’s it