Tech Group Report 31.08.12

Freegle Tech Report August 2012
Messages 9751-10034
Members 92

If anyone is interested in this stuff you are welcome to join us, even if you are technically challenged. Non techie mods who are willing to try out the new stuff are always appreciated.

Important!

Join now box -

This will be withdrawn at the end of September.
We will be contacting those we know of, but not all who use it are listed. if you have it on your Yahoo page please remove it and the moderator link which controls it or contact freegledirecthelp @ yahoogroups.com for someone to do it for you. Especially if you would like the Direct link in its place..
This is the one attached to Edwards app, and adds the member straight to the members list, not the previous one some used, which just acts as a normal Yahoo join button.

General

There’s a way for users to say that they do not want to be tracked eg by Google analytics :http://donottrack.us/ This is supported in IE9+ and FF9+. This "Do not track" option will probably be on by default in IE10.
We will aim to respect this setting at our website and Direct when inserting Google Analytics tracking. When done we will describe this option at http://www.ilovefreegle.org/about/disclaimer.php

ILovefreegle.org Website

The Reps have agreed we should have a supporters page on the main site to reward people who support us with their time or money (if they wish - it’s optional).
We discussed the format. Donors will be listed in a random order. A draft is at http://ilovefreegle.org/supporters, but there remains work to do to implement this.
They will need to be able to check with someone who can verify the donations and Central membership for any moderators who wish to be included..
Sheila (Stevenage) has volunteered so far if anyone else wishes to please contact vounteering @ ilovefreegle.org. .

 Direct/Facebook

a .We now have an option on Direct for members and moderators to post community events. They appear in the right side column after they have been verified from the owner address.
This is switched on for all groups, but is opt-out in the settings. See http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Freegle_Direct_Moderator_FAQ#Events for details.
b. The Post page now has a Category field. It will fill in what it thinks the item category should be, but the user can then modify it if they think it's wrong. This will improve item categorisation by getting the users posting via FD to do some of the work.
c. As many of you will know a prototype of membership approval was set up on volunteer groups. In this prototype, only 7% of views of the approval form went on to result in applications, confirming the view that approval forms (as used on some Yahoo groups) significantly put off potential members. Given the effect this would therefore have on group growth, this feature was discontinued.
d.The posts displayed on FD have been made a bit curvier as we are told curves are in at the moment.
e. We were asked if we should clear a bit of screen space in FD by replacing the “My Settings” tab with a cog as is increasingly the convention? Only a couple of comments, from mods not keen on the idea. Perhaps you have an opinion?
f.It was suggested that we have heading of swaps and loans etc. for those groups that allow them.
This was discussed, and most were strongly opposed, as it has already been decided that Swaps are not allowed on Freegle groups, and loans are discouraged.

g.Edward asked for catchy items we can include in the “save from landfill” weights. Sheila (Stevenage) has checked the list of weights and added a whole bunch of new ones.

Message Maker

A member had a problem posting via the Yahoo message maker “.Sorry: this error occurred: TypeError: Object expected”. Chris contacted the user. The problem did not show on their other computer, so they are happy now.

 Yahoo stuff

a. Join now box - This is being withdrawn at the end of September. If you have it and want it removed and replaced with Direct links then contact freegledirecthelp @ yahoogroups.com .
b. The Freegle logos uploaded to newer groups seem to have been flaky loading over a few days last week. However there were reports of this on non-Freegle groups, so this was a Yahoo problem.

Problems Fixed

a.There was a connection between Mearns Freegle and North Shropshire on the Digests. Fixed when reported.
b. 500 Internal Server Error reported. Server was rebooted
c. Members got multiple reminders to repost an item.
There was a bug which meant that it didn't match one TAKEN against
multiple OFFERs so was still sending out reminders. It should be fixed now.
d. A moderator noticed she appeared to have suddenly become a member of and posted to various groups.
e. A moderator reported photos not showing on posts on DIrect. Links only working on emails not on Direct.

Problems outstanding

a.. Member complaints are still coming in that they are unable to reply to FBuser emails using the reply button. The g is still being missed off .org on long addresses. Edward has been told that Yahoo have found the fault and will fix it in the next few weeks. Worth being aware of, as members just need to add the g when it is missing to enable them to respond.
b. A mod received emails from two members who clearly received an admin. She is unable to find either of them in the group, either in the member list or in the logs as ever having joined.
Another mod with a similar problem got this reply from Yahoo.
“It appears that the database for your group went out of synch, resulting in some subscription-related requests not being fully processed. This issue sometimes occurs in groups with more than 400 members. I have reset the group’s database and I can now see that the member has been listed in the Members list”.
c.Two mods reported that their Direct postings seem to be picking up the wrong group. It should default to the last on used.
d.Map giving some groups the wrong distance. This is the same underlying problem as c.

Questions raised and answered.

Q. Weights of some items seem a bit weighty.
A. The weights we use are based on the Furniture Reuse Network estimates, with some modifications and additions. The offending item was removed from the Digest tweets and replaced with “flippers”
Q. A moderator questioned the different joining methods of Direct and Facebook. Sometimes an email address has to be verified sometimes not.
A. If they join using a sign-in method which allows us to trust the email address, then it doesn’t need checking by us.
Q. I know we can delete messages and re-map them
Can members FD members do this ?
A. They can delete their own and map any.
Q.When someone reposts an offer, effectively it needs to cancel the original offer which will never get a Taken. Perhaps this has already been taken into account?
A.If they repost via the reminder link or the app, it should already do this. It ought to also do it if you repost manually, but it doesn’t yet..
Q. A group owner has blocked lots of individual countries from being able to view her Facebook page. What problems does this caused?
A. It will stop anyone from viewing the page who has picked up a non UK email address. Students, immigrants. May also stop those accessing while on holiday.
Q.I can’t see the Sidebar with my post on, on Facebook
A. It only works on Direct as Facebook use the sidebar bit for adds.
Q. Can we have an option to keep Please|urgent|desperate| out of the subject line.
A. Yes I will add it at some point.
Q. Photo option does not work always on the message maker on Yahoo page.
A. Yes it needs a faster connection than just an ordinary mail so it is designed not to work, if the page takes longer than 3 secs to load. Often it is okay on a refresh though.
Q..Direct postings seem to be picking up the wrong group. How does it decide.
A. It should default to the last group you posted to.
Q. Can I hide my name which is taken from my gmail account and is appearing on my DIrect posts.
A. Yes you can chose to hide your name in “my settings” or you can change your gmail settings via the settings "cog" in the top right of your gmail page..
Q. Is there a way for the screen to say a simple message like 'Message has been sent.' rather than it being blank or leaving it filled in but not being able to click on the 'Freegle It!' button? Whichever screen you land up on, it can be a tad confusing.
A. It should either clear, or a pop up asks if you want to republish on Facebook depending how you are logged in.
Q. Messages that are moderated together are being posted on Facebook together in one post. These are messages from different members.
A. Yes, messages moderated close together are put in one post, to stop Facebook from blocking our app when members get fed up and decide to block them..
Q. I have a member who we ban every time we catch her with a new id. She has now
posted with a Facebook ID, so how do I ban her from there?
Either sync your Yahoo group via the plug in, or put their details in the Direct/Facebook group settings. (Advanced options)

Jean
01.09.12
Freegle Tech

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