Post your tech glitches, errors, issues, etc. here.

ceanna

This site is being very invasive! I realize you track and that is why I had previously taken most of my personal information out of my profile, and I would encourage others to do the same. A couple of years ago we had to deal with intrusive icons, tracking, and an overreach by BCO, we had to involve the CEO to back off from the changes then made. At this point, it appears we need to directly contact the CEO of BCO again. Moderators please tell us how we can reach this person for this situation.

kathindc

HAHAHAHA, have to laugh at the recommendations listed for me today. Not one of the three are pertinent, yet again. I have VERY little in my profile so I think it will be a cold day in hell before your algorithm comes close to a match for me unless you start tracking us differently. Wouldn’t it make more sense if you are so hell bent on keeping this feature to put a box at the top of active topics for members to opt in for them instead of making us go to our profile to turn this feature off. This is as bad as the articles your system thought would be useful to me when I first joined. I think I only found one informative. Oh, save the telling me to turn it off. I’m ignoring you like you ignore your members

Moderators

Ceanna -- we hear you, and we are sending you a PM.

Kathindc -- we appreciate your constructive suggestions.

MountainMia

Moderators: is the tracking going on whether or not I choose to see the "recommended" results? Are my views and comments tracked for the benefit of some third party?

I have the feature turned off so haven't seen any examples, but I agree with the others who say it is intrusive and unnecessary. There are MANY members here who put in time and energy to reassure newcomers and help them find the resources they need. They do a lot of the heavy lifting for bco, to tell you the truth. But I can't imagine that some algorithm, ESPECIALLY FOR A NEWCOMER with no long search history, is going to come close to helping those with upset at a new diagnosis or questions about treatment options. That is something that HUMANS need to do.

I am editing to say, like a couple of others have, that I've deleted most of my personal information (months ago) specifically because I don't want that kind of tracking or intrusion.

MinusTwo

I agree with Ceanna & KathinDC and Mia and all the others.

But isn't it a very sad thing that we must choose to delete or limit our personal information so it's a) not tracked and b) not available to anyone but BCO members on the discussion boards. It is extremely useful for a new member to see that someone has the same kind of cancer and treatment that they are facing. It lets them know that they CAN get through this. And yes, Mia is right - new members require human interaction. Not an algorithm trying to determine what they need to hear.

ceanna

Moderators, thank you for the PM, but you said nothing you haven't already said here. Turning off this new intrusive feature is not the issue. The issue is WE DON'T WANT THE FEATURE RECOMMENDING THREADS WHICH DON'T IN ANY WAY HELP A NEWCOMER TO BCO. It would be dangerous for a newbie to be directed to a thread that doesn't apply to their situation and would be too long and rambling to be of any help to someone already struggling with a difficult diagnosis.

I asked before and I'll ask again, how do we contact the CEO of BCO?

ceanna

May I ask why this thread has been taken off the "Active Topics" list?

Moderators

Please know that we have heard your views on what you believe to be best for the Community. We fully understand that the steps we take to progress our Community platform will not feel right for everyone, and we acknowledge that it may cause some to look for other platforms to better suit their needs.

The Recommendation tool has been carefully developed and was designed to progressively improve, through use by members and our ongoing technical development. Our Moderators and other staff at Breastcancer.org are continuously monitoring the Recommendations that are being offered and are working hard to see them improve. We continue to ask members to be part of making it work most effectively and we are offering clear steps for those who do not want to participate so they can remove themselves from the process. If you turn the tool off by clicking "Turn Off Recommendations" in "My Profile," your activity will no longer be recorded for this tool. The technology we use is always a supplement to the critical human interaction of our members and Moderators. The Moderators remain an essential part of the value our Community offers. And nothing will ever take the place of our dedicated Community members.

Breastcancer.org is a small, very collaborative team. The CEO is intricately involved in all decisions and communications. To directly share constructive feedback, you can email our team at comments@breastcancer.org.

Once again, we thank you for your patience on this and future changes. We appreciate you being a part of our Community.

--The Breastcancer.org Team

ceanna

To the CEO and all the BCO team: How sad, that BCO does not respect the opinions of long-term members! You don't seem to understand from our comments that we know from our own experiences on BCO that tracking and listing recommended sites will not be valuable to newbies, will probably mislead them, and certainly will waste their time as they try to find answers to questions in long threads they might be led toward. I know when I don't log in to BCO and scroll through the list, the "Recommended topics is often "What's For Dinner" and other similar light threads, that while fun for long-term members, would be of no use to visitors and newbies to BC and are struggling to find answers. Why would BCO NOT want to known for first rate BC information? It certainly doesn't come across as such to a visitor!!!!! If they are new, you haven't yet tracked them so how in the world would your algorithms lead them to appropriate information? This is wrong and could potentially be harmful to the ill-informed. Please stop this practice immediately.

Respectfully, for the sake of transparency, I ask again, why is this thread no longer in the "Active Topics" listing?

kathindc

The Breastcancer.org Team, your response comes across as that of a child throwing a temper tantrum and that of Big Brother as well. You really don't take constructive criticism very well. Enough said.

Moderators

The Glitches thread is not in active topics because it is an evergreen channel to share technical problems directly with the Mods. It is always available, but given the nature of the discussion is technical, we do not need to keep it in active topics. The purpose of these boards is to build community for people with and worried about breast cancer.

As we have mentioned, to send your constructive feedback directly to the team, email comments@breastcancer.org

ceanna

Oh, come on now! The tech glitches thread has previously been in the Active Topics lists--how do you think we originally discovered it? What is an "evergreen channel?" Transparency doesn't seem to be a priority with BCO. I will continue to post my "constructive feedback" and questions here so others can add their thoughts. Thank you.

MinusTwo

Mods: I posted this on TravelText's new thread but it's probably an appropriate question for this thread too.

Mods: I of course had turned off "recommendations" a LONG time ago. Not related to anything I want to see, not valuable, too intrusive.

But here's something I just noticed in the link when I select "my favorites" - as I usually do when I first log on. I don't remember that "my favorites" used to be monitored and I'm not particularly happy about that. When did that start? I assume this is all related to your new recommendations procedure?

community.breastcancer.org/my/topics/monitored

ceanna

I just posted again about the "recommendations" feature on the Anyone finding New Recommended For You feature useless? thread. The BCO mods have now unblocked that thread from the "Active Topics" list, and I am posting here to see if they have unblocked this thread also. Since the stated purpose of this thread created by the Mods in 2012 was: "This thread is intended for members to post all technical glitches, errors, and problems with the site or forums" I find it against the stated purpose that they have hidden this active thread.

Edited to add, yes, it appears this thread is back on the Active List. Thank you Mods for honoring our request on this and resuming its stated purpose, and opposite of what you said on this thread on 5/14.

ceanna

Not excited to visit BCO today and see the banner and left column Topics section in Pink!!! Very hard to read for these older eyes and certainly have grown to hate PINK!!! Is this temporary, I hope???

Also, editing to add to ask where the Logout icon went? I always log out and now it's missing!!! More changes we haven't asked for???

MinusTwo

I have to agree about the pink. It's harder for my old eyes to read also.

Moderators

Okay, thanks for the feedback on that!

Beesie

Yup, just signed in to see if anyone else had commented on the pink. Considering all the threads about how so many of us have come to dislike the "pinking of breast cancer", I'm surprised... ah, no, I'm not!

And agree that it's more difficult to read

MelissaDallas

Menu option three-bar block at top right doesn’t function at all on Ipad with current IOS. Does nothing. Dead. No options at bottom of page to navigate or go back to active topics from bottom of thread. Who tests your software updates? I have to say I am absolutely bewildered over and over by this happening

Moderators

It was all working well this morning. They are working on it

Moderators

Thanks for any and all specifics you can provide!

DodgersGirl

agreeing with posts made today. On an iPhone, the new pink is “electric pink” and dies make the choices like Active Topics, My Favorites, etc harder to read. Tough on my eyes

exbrnxgrl

Yes, the pink is too vivid and makes reading more difficult.

DodgersGirl

also, the Search function doesn’t give you a choice of text within posts vs searching post by member. You are just given a search line that searches texts within posts only. Once the results set is displayed, then I see the old search window where I can search by user.

kathindc

I don't get the sidebar on my iPad so I can't get to my favorites, active topics, all topics, etc. Trashed what I had up and started all over again. Nope not there. Please tell me you tested this on different types of computers, phones, the iPad and whatever other devices that can be used to access your site before making it live. Since I sign in differently when I'm on my iPad, I bypass the announcement page. Was there anything about this change? This site is becoming less and less user friendly.

ceanna

I will never understand why BCO keeps "fixing" things that aren't broken and making things worse!!! Yet another "change" BCO needs to back off from. Again, I ask for answers from the CEO and BCO Chair.

I still can't log out. Why in the world would that suddenly stop working? If you want to keep me logged in, give me the choice, but don't force the issue!!!

exbrnxgrl

Strange, my search function looks the same as it always dis save for the new colors

Moderators

Super helpful information and feedback. We'll be working on it all!

Anonymous

This is a sloppy update. Sloppy in that it was not thought out well or tested on a variety of devices/browsers. The Search link in the menu bar is the same inadequate search feature, but the new Search option at the top is worse. I want to be able to do more focused searching, not have another Search link. 

Anonymous

This is the drop down menu on my phone. Why do you hurt me so?

I would make it smaller, but you removed the resize function some time ago.