So You Think Active Rain Is Broken.....
Liz and Bill share their thoughts and insight on Active Rain and on some of the glitches we have been encountering and some of the fixes that can be done to work around them.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
So You Think Active Rain Is Broken.....
Aaaaack! I got up this morning and suddenly Active Rain didn't behave the way I thought it should!! What do I do???
Well it's both complicated and simple at the same time. Maybe it's you and maybe it's the Rain. It's not like Active Rain never has performance issues, although personally our experience has been almost uninterrupted over the last months. The Ruby Rails transformation and other behind the curtain tech magic seems to be doing the trick, BUT there is still the occasional glitch.
So back to what can you do (assuming the curtain display on the Home Page isn't up and telling you they're working on the site).
First, let's try to make sure it's Active Rain and not your PC. Can you access other websites besides AR? No? Then go beat your modem senseless reset your Internet connection. All better now?
Okay, you can connect to other websites, but AR is still a no go.
- Try a different browser. Go to IE, Firefox, or Chrome or Opera or whatever it is you Apple folks use, just try on a different browser. Sometimes glitches are browser specific.
- Maybe try clearing your cookies/cache/temporary Internet files for your browser. Some old code may be acting wacky.
- Check the Active Rain Facebook page. Chances are someone will be commenting there if there's something widespread going on.
Maybe it's server specific and most other folks are okay. That can happen, as far as I can figure, our server assignments don't necessarily work by geography or name. Maybe a balance by workload/use? I don't know. Not a software/hardware geek, just a system user and abuser! If it's a server issue, the key thing is getting a report in to Active Rain to let them know. They can't fix a problem they don't know about.
Options:
- Call 1-888-643-3837. Now as you know, Active Rain isn't some mega company with 50 people in a Seattle call center and another 100 in Bangalore. Limited staffing, so sorry but you're probably not going to catch a live human outside of semi-normal Pacific Standard Time operating hours. They're NOT going to be there Christmas Day, the 4th of July, Saturdays and Sundays.
- Post a comment on the Active Rain Facebook page we mentioned earlier, especially if Active Rain is completely down.
- Use the Feedback Contact Form (click the link, assuming this is a tech issue and not an uptime issue)
- Email Bob (Bob@ActiveRain.com) or Kerrie (Kerrie@ActiveRain.com). They'll forward the issue to the right person if they can't fix it themselves.
- Try reaching out to some of your AR Friends. They just may have the solution for you.
But BLiz, I did that and they didn't respond/fix my issue!! Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Report your issue again (wait longer than 10 minutes though!). I've never been behind that curtain, but I'm betting they get QUITE a few requests. You've seen the REALTOR® ranks and you know some are VERY tech savvy, and others...well they're learning, everyone has to start somewhere. So the AR Staff is daily dealing with the really complex issues all the way to the not so complex. And they've got to keep on smiling the whole time! Can't say I envy them that, do you??
One last piece of advice to save you some headache. Don't rely on the Active Rain blog editor to compose your posts. You're web connected and if the connection breaks, your hard work and literary masterpiece can go POOF at the same time your blood pressure goes BOOM! Personally we're fans of Firefox's Scribefire add on. But Google Docs, Word, etc. can serve the purpose. Use whatever works for you and then bring it to AR and make your final tweaks.UPDATE: Another potential glitch people have with posting photos. AR doesn't accept photos greater than 1 MB in size. You won't get a "file too big" error message (at least you didn't use to), it just won't work. Check your file size and use a resizing program (PixSizer, ipiccy.com, etc.).
And chances are if the site is down, it won't stay down all that long. There are plenty of people that have posted daily for years, so obviously the opportunity is there. And besides, does getting upset fix it any faster? Take a proverbial chill pill and a couple of deep breaths, it'll be better soon!
Keep on Blogging,
Liz and Bill aka BLizThe Liz Spear Team
Elizabeth & William Spear
RE/MAX Elite: Ask for us by name if you visit the office!
Two locations: Lebanon & Mason, OH
Liz direct: 513-265-3004
Bill direct: 513-520-5305 Fax: 866-302-8418MailTo: Liz@LizSpear.com Our Website: Warren County Ohio Homes
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