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Index of Subjects Thank you, Richard, for responding to my e-mail. I tried responding last evening but Chebucto was apparently experiencing problems. I finally just gave up. I will try again now. I appreciate you are all volunteers, that is commendable, but you have also expanded your service to install wi-fi in seniors’ buildings in the last few years, again commendable in principle, but at times it has been at the expense of the central service. Each start-up in these locations has had its own share of technical difficulties. In my opinion (from afar) as an organization you have stretched your monetary resources and in particular your volunteers too far. Volunteer burnout is the expected result. This is a Board governance issue that should have been addressed at the outset and needs to be resolved now before you lose Chebucto Community Net. (Let me explain further if I seem uncharitable. I belong to a senior’s co-operative. As a Board member I saw the benefit and advantage of installing w-fi in our three buildings for 70 units. It made economic sense for low income seniors to collectively pay for a technician to do the installation and collectively negotiate and pay for the required line from the cable company to service the wi-fi. We did this successfully, quietly on our own, before Chebucto Community Net took on its laudable projects. I admit it was a bit galling to hear Chebucto on occasion promoting itself and claiming their project(s) was a first but it was also irritating to have the Chebucto Community Net go down for extended periods while volunteer technicians were clearly preoccupied with the senior’s complex wi-fi installations. That problem seems to be ongoing.) You have my sympathy (up to a point) but an unworkable system serves no one’s interest. But to address some of your points: *** Address books are available in list form and can be sent to members that request them. I did request my address book in the earlier ignored e-mail. I'm still waiting. And a list form is not as useful as the old system that was indexed alphabetically and had one group link to all 250 plus cyclists. I have my own saved list form that I fortunately had as back up for the cyclists, I lost all the others pending your/ Chebucto’s retrieval. I use my list form now and copy and paste it every time I send an e-mail to the cycling group, however, it means every time I have to update or delete an address, I have to scroll through the whole list to find and correct the address. This is workable but not optimal. *** lost one entire important file completely which kept a history of all my e-mails to my cycling club, including all the ride directions to club members for a decade or more, it never resurfaced along with other files when you went to the Horde system, and you continue to be unable apparently to provide a “sent file†with the new system. (Surely a “sent file†is a pretty basic requirement for any server.) Fortunately for me, my weekly posts to the cycling club were valued by the members. Several of them kept their own copies of all my ride description posts (e-mails) on their more reliable servers and have made them available to me. I ended up having to pay a tech to transfer them back to word files but I now have workable copies. Not as good as the originals in my original Chebucto file but good enough for me to rework them etc, *** As I am unfamiliar with this, I will have to allow office staff to address this. The “sent file†issue mentioned above is a technical issue. I simply don’t have one in Chebucto since the introduction to the new Horde system. Chebucto does not provide it as an option. Mozilla Thunderbird did but now it no longer does either. I don’t find that acceptable. *** Hmm, that storage should be available. Are you speaking of mail storage or file (webspace) storage? I certainly don’t have mail storage if I don’t have a “sent fileâ€. Not one that is visible or useable for me. If I have file (webspace) storage I no longer trust Chebucto to add any new online files. If I ever receive my old address book that may be my first attempt to add a new file. I do have some of the original recovered files but again I have been reluctant to trust Chebucto to add to them. And any e-mail sent to me with links, the links are inoperative on any received Chebucto e-mails. *** I am unaware of this problem. Might you give an example? Frankly no hyperlinks sent to me on Chebucto can be read. They are no longer highlighted, they are just straight text. Even the e-mails I send out to the cycling club that include hyperlinks, like a GPS map of the ride, come back to me in my Chebucto e-mail copy that I send to myself as just text. If I go to my parallel Mozilla Thunderbird account, the hyperlinks are there. One particular problem I had recently was I purchased tickets to a concert tomorrow evening that were sent to me via a hyperlink to my chebucto e-mail. I could not open them on Chebucto but I could open/ read them on my Mozilla Thunderbird account but they had to be printed. I don’t have my own printer. I went to my local library only to discover they don’t have Mozilla Thunderbird and I didn’t have the authority or feel comfortable trying to download Thunderbird Mozilla on a public system. What to do? I had tried earlier forwarding my Chebucto e-mail to a friend who agreed to print for me but for some reason despite the correct address the Chebucto e-mail bounced back as undeliverable. She never got it. Finally, I resorted to opening a Gmail account on my own computer and forwarded my Chebucto e-mail to the new account. The hyperlink was included in the forwarded Chebucto e-mail and operative. I then went to the library, opened up the Gmail account which allowed me to print out the tickets. It was all very frustrating I think you will agree. Why can I not view hyperlinks, any hyperlinks, on Chebucto! Anyway, thank you for listening and responding. I have other suggestions I could make like a dedicated/designated volunteer who will update the scroll or the tweets when there is a problem with an explanation and a possible timeline when the problem will be fixed. This doesn’t have to be a tech, just somebody who is informed and can type. This is just good public/client relations, housekeeping if you will. We on this end can go days without any response or explanation following a lapse in service. I could make other suggestions but I am sure you are all too swamped with technical issues to listen at this point. You are in crisis. I understand that but if you don’t get your house in order, I fear Chebucto will fail. After some 20 odd years that would be a shame. Sandy Quoting Richard Bonner <ak621@chebucto.ns.ca>: > On Thu, 17 Oct 2019, ar688@chebucto.ns.ca wrote: > >> I have written you an e-mail already in response to your earlier >> notice regarding payment for my account. You have apparently >> ignored that and now are threatening to cancel my account in 7 days. > > *** Those account notices are automatic. > > As for being ignored, being a not-for-profit organisation, > Chebucto is staffed by volunteers. We recently have lost a number of > them due to illness, a spouse's car accident, and retirement. > > Apologies for not responding in a timely manner, but getting new > volunteers is very difficult, as is getting them trained -- all > while trying to put out technical fires. > > >> As I have stated in my earlier e-mail, I would continue to make my >> payment as a Chebucto Plus member, even though I dont seem to be >> receiving many of the advantages of being a member, but your Papal >> payment option is not working. Paypal says the problem is on your >> end. May I suggest rather then sending me notices to pay up or else >> you fix the damn problem! > > *** The problem is indeed at CCN's end, and it is being addressed, > but with the premature failure of the mail system, and with a > pending move to a new location, the remaining volunteers are swamped. > > >> Trying to phone the office, which according to your website is only >> open Tuesday and Friday, 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM is to say the least >> restrictive > > > *** There are simply not enough office staff available. > > >> but given that you havent the time or the courtesy to respond to an >> e-mail at any time, what are the chances you will answer a phone >> call? > > *** I am not with the office staff, so I cannot answer this. I can > say that with the loss of two of them this past year, it has put > undue pressure on the remainder. > > >> As a present, apparently soon to be cancelled Chebucto Plus member, >> I am provided a service which ever since the melt down that >> required the move to the new Horde system, without any notice to >> members... > > *** A new system was being readied to replace the older system > which is no longer being supported by its provider; unfortunately, > the old system failed before the new was ready, so the new had to be > implemented immediately, and now bugs must be fixed during the time > the system is being used by members. This makes for a longer and > very difficult changeover. > > >> has denied me access to my address book, > > *** The new system cannot import address books from the old. This > is the way of new software; it seems that the writers care little > for backward compatibility. Address books are available in list form > and can be sent to members that request them. > > >> lost one entire important file completely which kept a history of >> all my e-mails to my cycling club, including all the ride >> directions to club members for a decade or more, it never >> resurfaced along with other files when you went to the Horde >> system, and you continue to be unable apparently to provide a sent >> file with the new system. > > *** As I am unfamiliar with this, I will have to allow office > staff to address this. > > As I use CCN's PINE and still have my address book and files, > have you tried accessing PINE to see what historical information > might be available there? > > >> So much for providing added storage as part of my Chebucto Plus membership. > > *** Hmm, that storage should be available. Are you speaking of > mail storage or file (webspace) storage? > > >> And any e-mail sent to me with links, the links are inoperative on >> any received Chebucto e-mails. > > *** I am unaware of this problem. Might you give an example? > > >> To say the new Horde system is cumbersome is to be polite. So, far >> it has pretty much been a disaster. > > *** I am not a fan of it, either. However, I have been able to > find most of what I need to use it. > > >> I have to cob together my Mozilla Thunderbird Account together with >> my basic Chebucto Account often just to read a typical e-mail. And >> that doesnt even address things like it takes 3 steps to remove an >> e-mail. > > *** True. > > >> I am not a happy camper but I have continued to hope that you will >> eventually sort out the problems. I appreciate you are all >> volunteers and I have continued to support the Community Net >> philosophy but frankly the service you are presently providing me >> is subpar. > > *** We all agree on this. There are dedicated personnel doing what > they can, but with full-time jobs and/or personal lives, and being > shorthanded, it is taking too long. > > >> And when you cant even fix your online Paypal link, > > *** As I understand it, it is not the link, but something else. > > >> or have the courtesy to respond to an e-mail, > > *** It is difficult to both work on the system and answer members' > correspondence. > > >> but have the brass to threaten to disconnect my service because of >> you own failures . > > *** This response is automated; at this point, I doubt that your > account will be cancelled because Office is aware of the issue. > > >> I think you need to think how you are treating your loyal members. > > *** This has been discussed, so CCN is informed regarding what is > happening. > > >> Fix the Paypal link and I will renew my membership! > > *** I will pass this on to both CCN Office and technical. > > Again, apologies on behalf of Chebucto. > > Richard Bonner > Chebucto User Help
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