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

gb2115

I was just on a website (dental fear central) that has the option of toggling the screen to a dark background, so you can pick light or dark. It's wonderful! Is there any chance of adding that feature to BCO?

ceanna

Ms. Wohl.

Your 3/15 post (below), the announcement page, sending out emails announcing the new release (thankfully I did not receive), and the release note page currently dated 3/11, certainly shows (as one person has named) a tone-deaf response from BCO. I guess we're supposed to be grateful you're even finally responding? When are you as CEO, and the board chair Jane Hollingsworth, going to take responsibility and address how BCO got into this terrible, ill-timed mess, AND tell us when we can expect a fully working site again?? I hope it's not months from now as your earlier post stated it would take to work out the issues!

Since we're now at DAY 16 and the moderators have repeatedly told us to add our tech problems to this thread since the tech team is monitoring it, now you're telling us to report them through the outdated "release notes page?" Why? To hide our comments/problems from a public thread? That makes me just want to see more comments on this thread. It would seem much more helpful to us to know someone else has already reported a new problem with the dysfunction here rather than spend our time duplicating the effort in trying to get this mess back to a workable site.

ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND RESPECT

Mar 15, 2022 04:35PM moderators wrote:

We are sorry you have had to endure the bugs and glitches over the past weeks. We're continuing to do our best to get the site running the way it should and to see that we are most productively communicating with everyone in the community. The best path to accomplishing this is for you to submit bugs using the form on our release notes page. We will continue to communicate updates through the release notes page and mod's announcement box. Thank you.

Hope Wohl
CEO, Breastcancer.org

SandraDublin

I'm not sure this was reported but my diagnosis and treatment details completely disappeared from my profil and when i go through the process I am unable to select numbers e.g ER%, so I skip this but after completing the lengthy process it doesn't save and all reentered details lost. I am on apple software iOS v15.3.1 on iPhone XR.

I would on state as someone who works in IT as a software testing manager I am surprised on the number and severity of the issues upon your go live, as a user and recent joiner it is becoming very frustrating.

DivineMrsM

* It is still impossible to open any pages in a separate tab. Here I tried opening the threads with new content from My Favorites:

^^^ You can see that all four pages errored. In the old format I don't recall ever once this happening.

* It is still impossible to click on a previous page without getting an error.

* When logged in and going to a thread that has new content, I am taken to the very end of the thread, not where I last left off. This is a problem. If the very last post starts on a new page, but there are previous new posts on the previous page, I am unable to click to get into that page because ERROR!

The old format always took me to where I left off, even if there were dozens or pages of posts after that. Then I could read all posts in order.

ParakeetsRule

A lot of it is hit or miss, which makes it really difficult to fix. Separate tabs works fine for me. And until this evening, it always took me to the end of the thread! That just changed for me today. There are still a lot of annoying issues and broken stuff but I've been able to post pretty regularly so that's good.

wrenn

I'm adapting. It's like being stuck with an old 15" black and white TV with no remote and only 2 channels. Would hate it but use it.

GG27

still terrible, you wait up to 5 minutes to see if one of your threads will open, then nope, site is down. I'm done.

DivineMrsM

When I read the CEO's statement it says the new update has caused issues for “some" members. Why would it only be some? If I have a new ipad and great internet spead, why am I affected but Susie Q over there is not?

I think something was mentioned about the.sign in and it was fixed but not on my end. There is still no straight forward way for me to do that. I do not see anywhere where it says “SIGN IN!" smiley face emoticon!

Also, do I have to be on a laptop to get good service here? For every single other thing I use the internet for, I access it through my iPad. Shouldn't this website and forum work across all forms of devices? Maybe I'm just not holding my tongue right or maybe I gotta shift the weight over to my right foot? There is still too much frustration with accessing the forum. My faith and trust in bc.org has been fractured and no one really seems to care. I guess that's on me, tho, right? Everything else gets pulled out from under me, I shoulda seen this coming.

zogo

I think it would be appropriate for the mods to announce the name of the company the rebuild "Tech Team" works for. That way we can all be sure not to hire them if one of our companies has a similar need.

ParakeetsRule

Unfortunately, websites don't simply "just work" on everything. Things work different for different people depending on their device, their operating system, their network, their browser, their internet connection, and it also depends on how old a device is or what version of an OS and browser we're using, and even specific browser settings. It also depends on the types of codes a site is built with, what version the code is, and how the codes interact with everybody's different devices and browsers.

It's not the same as in the business or tech world where they have tons of money and teams of in house developers. It's way more complicated and time consuming to do this stuff for nonprofits on a slim budget with limited time and resources. I know, because I've been there myself. Multiple times. It sucks. You do the best you can and hope one day somebody donates a million dollars earmarked for "aging website overhaul" which, newsflash, they never do.

My eyes are about to explode from the blinding white background and tiny text and I can write a whole book while I'm waiting for pages to load. But let's try to be patient and kind. It's not any more fun for them than it is for us.

ruthbru

Besides being so slow that I can hardly stand it, this is what happens when I try to go back a page to see what someone has said previously:

"Our site is currently down.

The Breastcancer.org community site is currently down. Please be patient as we work on the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience."

celia088

This new site is truly awful to use. I have to log in every time i come here, now that i can finally log-in. It is so over-organized that it is actually totally chaotic. Nothing about this site is intuitive. I cannot open threads, and this software is so slow that you have to wait and wait to see if the thread will eventually open. There is way too much scrolling involved to be able to read anything or go anywhere, and when you are reading in a thread you can't see the prior post....scroll, scroll, scroll, ACK!!! Horrible!!! If you are trying to get donations (which is obvious with "donate" buttons everywhere on this site), you are not likely to get them since the site is just way to hard to use.

goldie0827

I have to dim my screen to view this site, as the brightness hurts my eyes. My eyes are very sensitive to light due to medications for stage IV cancer. Also to eliminate the blank space to the left, click Ctrl and tap the + key. It enlarges the screen and the posts go all the way across the screen, instead of just to right. It also enlarges the font. I am on a laptop only, so don't know how this would work on any other devices.

Sadiesservant

Thx Parakeets. I agree, we need to be kind as nobody would choose to create this disaster. But it continues to sadden me as the days drag on. The unfortunate thing is that this site has become an integral part of the lives of so many of us as we try to cope with this disease. In the last 24 hours I have learned that a dear member passed from the In Memorial thread. Did she try to post in the last few weeks? How many others are facing worsening health but don’t have the energy to battle the never ending glitches? Another long time member who is a wealth of information for clinical trials and cutting-edge research has not been posting because of the issues. And a member just commented on a stage IV thread how few people have been posting. I can guarantee the didn’t “get better”. It’s so sad…

LW422

A friend was diagnosed denovo Stage 4 yesterday and I recommended that she join this forum. I hope she doesn't get discouraged, trying to navigate this mess.

As for glitches, my signature diagnoses and treatment info has disappeared and no matter how many times I try to re-enter, it remains blank. Also, my username used to be in caps "LW422", so that it's not mistaken for "IW422." I'm unable to fix that, either.

AliceBastable

On the plus side, I was still logged on when I opened the site today! But based on recent events, I'll assume it was a fluke until it happens consistently.

moth

At this point I would accept the glaring white & the weird dispay if topics actually loaded I still can't really use it on mobile devices - constant issues with login/white pages etc. On Win 11 laptop I usually access the site fine but then cannot actually open topics & yesterday lost several replies to the "site is down" msg. I mean, c'mon.

I'm sure we've all noticed there are no new people, very few posts to respond to, no newbs needing to be talked off the BIRADS ledge... members who are struggling are also likely not posting. This is depressing now

debbew

Apparently, the stark white design is inclusive and readable. That's news to me:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90731551/the-new-breas...

The article also identifies the web builders responsible for this incredibly ugly fiasco. A quick peek at their own website shows that the new BCO is right in keeping with their style. Why would anyone choose them?

https://work.co/

I also saw a press release crowing about the site update a few days ago. Amazing.

wrenn

What is this? Is it supposed to be cartoon breasts with eyes?

Disturbing image.

Traveltext

Wow, you do have to put aside a fair bit of time to make a post. Site loading speed is very important to all users. Thanks @debbew for posting the tech company details. They are proud to be associated with BCO but obviously need to walk the walk. A bit prematurely, they say:

“The team at Work & Co understood the need and delivered a new digital experience that beautifully represents the varied experiences of people with breast cancer."

I’m pretty sure the biggest problems arise from them trying to port all the old code into the new platform. BCO is such a behemoth of a database that this work should all have been done before flicking the switch to the new site and leaving us all as correction proofers. Sounds like there’s no backup to revert to, which is too bad. Time is of the essence here BCO, so please chase work.co until they deliver as promised

AliceBastable

Ewww, what is that thing on Wrenn's post? Nasty.

My earlier login ease was indeed a fluke. Now it took longer than ever to get my saved info to load, and it flipped me back to the useless home page. Mods, nothing has really improved, and when one part slightly improves, two get worse. I used to pop in here four or five times a day, maybe more, to check on posts. Now I see it as a chore, with "Do I REALLY want to go through this?" running through my head, as I check in maybe twice. I'm retired, but if I was busier, I wouldn't bother at all.

voraciousreader

not sure if anyone noticed or even cares…but I do….has anyone noticed under the column of latest topic, it no longer mentions the date that the thread began and by whom. All it says now is …latest topic and the name of the last person to post. Furthermore, when you click on a thread that you have read before and want to begin by reading where you left off, it now zips down to the most recent post, so I need to scroll up to find where I left off…frustrating, waste of time

and….i don’t know which is worse

the display which is

A

W

F

U

L

or….

the loading time of each thread which is

P

A

I

N

F

U

L

L

Y

A

W

F

U

L

Sadiesservant

Oh, okay, now I see. Thank you debbew for pointing us to the company. I can say, they have certainly “transformed" the service BCO provides (unfortunately not in a good way).

So, based on their description, the purpose behind the transformation was to provide easier to navigate information tailored to where you are in your cancer journey. News flash Mods, that information is available from virtually thousands of sites, links, etc. You seem to have a complete disconnect in terms of where this site provides value.

When I joined BCO after being diagnosed as metastatic, I think I read, at most, two of the articles/links available. For awhile I received a notification of information that may be of interest to me. Meh…. rarely was there enough substance to be of any real help. When I want to understand the complexities of the disease I go to journal articles.

What was extremely helpful and what continues to drive me to the site over and over are the experiences and learnings of other members who have supported me as I have dealt with side effects, guided me as I have contemplated treatment decisions and been there for me when I just needed a shoulder. We don't always agree but we respect each other's views and are always there when times get tough. That is the biggest value BCO brings which, unfortunately, appears to have been disregarded in a desire to point people to a bunch of pretty limited resources. Now that's depressing.

voraciousreader

warning….snarky comment ….

DH was a Wall Street systems analyst who worked the back office. His job was to make systems operate smoothly and by that I mean all those trades were made and got settled promptly. When new software was brought online, you can be sure it was tested and tested some more and proofed and STILL tested AND SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATED..because…any errors, mistakes or heaven forbid times when the system was down meant they would lose money and clients AND HEADS WOULD ROLL.

what is going on here would never fly on Wall Street. Whoever was given the task to update this website should be fired. They failed miserably.

and that logo…geeze. Awful. Who ever chose that graphic should also be fired

wrenn

Well were we ever suckered. This is nothing like what BCO professes to be. WOW

ceanna

I was a little optimistic when I logged in quicker tonight than able to in the past few weeks, but then also quickly noticed it went downhill from there!!! DAY 17 and still no real improvement other than a font size increase. Still hard to use with the stark, white background and gray text, but larger font!

debbew, thanks for the heads up with the work.co website. What disturbs me is that they posted all this "wonderful news" on March 15, knowing full well our Community here on the threads is still trying to cope with a non-working website and unable to serve the very people BCO claims to reach. What really disturbs me is that BCO CEO Wohl is quoted way too prematurely saying:

"A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming, frightening, and confusing," said Hope Wohl, the organization's CEO. "Treatment decisions often need to be made quickly – and decisions need to be informed by trusted resources. An essential question we ask ourselves every day is how quickly can we get critical information to the people who need it most? This new platform is the answer."

New simple-to-navigate sections include: "Newly diagnosed"; "In Treatment"; "Finished my treatment"; "Living with metastatic disease"; "Concerned about my risk"; and "Caring for someone." The Breastcancer.org community offers peer-to-peer support, while content addresses all facets of breast cancer —and takes into account diverse learning styles— through medically-reviewed articles, videos, photo galleries, checklists, and episodes of The Breastcancer.org Podcast. Topics cover a wide-range of issues like breast cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, managing life and relationships during and after cancer, health equity, and more.

Added Wohl: "From the start, the vision for redesigning the Breastcancer.org website has been driven by our mission to help everyone affected by breast cancer. The team at Work & Co understood the need and delivered a new digital experience that beautifully represents the varied experiences of people with breast cancer."

Said Lauren Shapiro, Group Design Director at Work & Co: "We were able to leverage Breastcancer.org's strong relationship with users, especially those traditionally excluded from access to health literacy, to learn from their expertise and experience navigating challenges. This informed design and engineering decisions including how we structured the site, transparently collected data, and aesthetic choices like prioritizing legibility and high-contrast."

Ms. Wohl, how is this platform/website the answer when even those of us with experience here can't access and navigate? While the "Learning" section might be working okay, the "Community" side of BCO has yet to be reliable for 17 days!!! You say the BCO mission is to help "everyone affected by BC." We have not been helped!

Lauren Shapiro, of Work&Co paints such a glowing picture of something that does not exist here. Shapiro has definitely harmed "BCO's strong relationship with users."

So, for at least the fourth time in the past 17 days, I ask, when is someone going to take responsibility for this fiasco and tell us when we will again have a readable, working "Community?"

Cowgirl13

Get this (from the article above) "Eventually, Breastcancer.org hopes to go even further, and allow you to import your own medical chart into this system. By referencing your specific health data, it could annotate your treatment with even more specific and specialized content, such as pointing to new experimental trials that your hospital might not be involved with." Somebody in dreamland needs to get out of the clouds and put your boots on the ground....and fix this. After reading this I can't imagine what will be next.

Wonderland

Thanks for posting those 2 links, debbew. Work&Co loves a near empty, white, glaring page! And it appears they thought we would also.

That logo...........looks like a happy amoeba. I like what Aliceb called it: Nasty! I had to go and look at all of them. That particular one is for the "Caring for someone" section. It is an outline of 2 heads with noses so when you put them together they (subliminally) look like breast with nipples. How cute. Not. I believe eyes were purposely not used to create this allusion. The artist needs to see my foob without an areola or nipple to understand that I don't think the logo is appropriate.

Beesie

The Fast Company article is shocking. Shocking enough to get me to post, despite my self-imposed exile.

There have been quite a few posts excusing BCO for this fiasco because BCO is a poor non-profit with a small budget. But if I was managing a non-profit, I would search around to find a high-end company willing to do the work pro-bono or at a reduced rate. BCO has an excellent profile and reputation as a charitable organization, and I wondered if they'd done this. Seems that was the case. Work & Co appear to have done the work for publicity (they seem to be milking this) and probably a large charitable donation tax write-off. I guess BCO didn't need to hire the low-on-the-totem pole IT guy after all. And if that's the case, how do they explain the lack of functionality? And how do they explain a design that is so out of touch with their user base? Sure, the old IT system was outdated, but surely Work & Co wouldn't design and implement a site redesign without taking into account the IT capabilities and upgrade requirements.

It appears that everything we've been told has been a lie. This wasn't a change necessitated by outdated systems. This was a major site redesign, done with full intentionality. The needs of breast cancer patients who are members of the BCO discussion board, for whom their connection with other patients is a lifeline... we've been thrown under the bus.

Oh, and that graphic of the two breasts... or is it two people... or is it someone smiling... it's inappropriate and it's awful. It shows up almost every time I change pages, and I cringe every time I see it.

wrenn

BCO is a business and the sales pitches we have been getting since this started are part of their job. I think it would have been more respectful/legitimate/honest to say they were taking it in a new direction and giving notice. Really sneaky and of course we have to option to just walk away but for some that is a HUGE deal. Relationships have been built.

COLD