The DAZ Magento Store Fiasco – Some Constructive Criticism
bohemian3
Posts: 1,026
As a Web Developer I feel your pain. These things are not easy. Here’s a little constructive criticism:
1) Communicate. Get a short list of key fixes, set dates you’re going to have it fixed and stick to it. Explain why you can’t if you miss your fix date.
2) Get some hot fixes out to let people know you’re working on it. E.G. previously purchased items. This should be a no-brainer – a little PHP or a little SQL. I’m not buying anything until this is fixed because I’ve bought a lot here. And there’s a fix for it on Magento’s site: http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/238458/#t340479
3) Did I mention communicate? When you went live the forum and store was down for a week! With no communication. What was that?
4) When Netflix F-ed up big time their CEO sent out an apology. You might want to think about that.
5) How difficult is to display my name and not someone else’s when I log in? This is programming 101. Because I just love going to a store or bar I frequent all the time and having them call me by the wrong name. This is a huge red flag to me as a software developer that something is majorly wrong.
I’m normally not a hater, but I’m really hating the forums. I used to duck in a couple of times a day and I’m to the point now to where I don’t bother. Too hard to find what’s new, what’s fresh. I enjoyed seeing fellow users grow in the contests, get their work out there. Share. Have fun. Joke. I loved the audacious renders. Not seeing any of that any more because I can’t make heads or tails out of the sort order for forums.
DAZ has an incredible user and fan base. Don’t disenfranchise them.
I wish you luck.
p.s. Just noticed Magento has a "Latest Posts" option in their forums (assuming they're using their framework) http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/
in their forums. Get on the phone. Find out how they do it.
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Comments
:-) Oh damn! and I bought the frog cuz' I thought I needed it. (just kidding)
Seriously, I tried to buy Aiden, but couldn't. Can't remember why anymore, I gave up in frustration....
#5 is most likely not a problem with "programming" or magento. The setup is using Varnish Cache Manager to speed retrieval of the pages. Getting VCL (varnish control language) right can be a real problem. In the case where the VCL isn't "quite right" the manager will pull the wrong cache and display wrong information.
Not that any of this has any bearing on the feelings of the masses. Just a bit of technical info from someone who's been there, and done that... E-commerce systems are not an easy thing to get right in the best of situations. This was far from the "best of situations" to start with.
I don't envy DAZ's web team.
Kendall
Well, in all fairness, Aiden could require the frog if he wants a princess to kiss him and turn him into a handsome price.
Seriously, the required products are correct on my end but I could not resist
Edited: And yes, I wrote price, not prince since he is no longer a dollar. ;)
So the VCL issues would also be responsible for the semi-random wishlist entries we see?
And I gotta go with you an the web team -- they've got to be stressed out a bit by now.
If the web team hasn't taken up drinking, now is probably the time.
I wish them the best.
Truer words are rarely spoken. I think DAZ needs to hire Bohemian3 Pronto.
I'm sort of casting this post upon the winds, as I've no idea if I can ever find this thread again.....
I know what you mean. I can never find my old posts.
Someone asked me for help. I responded, but have no idea IF they saw my post or if it helped them.
The only way I can keep track of a conversation is to keep the thread on the page and refresh it from time to time (works until I get kicked out of the system).
I'm getting thread notifications now, so someone must be doing something back there. Hopefully more fixes will follow soon. :)
yep misc. fixes are popping up hear and there.
I think the link in the notification email just brought me to the first unread post, rather than the start of the thread. If that's the case - well done the web team.
Yep the ebot links are working properly now. Take you directly to the post and not the top of the page.
...I still like to know how Rendo pulled off their update with nary a hiccup.
There were a few at Rendo; I recall the Quick Reply in the Forum wouldn't work with Firefox for a while, but that was probably the worst one... ;-)
Look at the top of these forums for "View New Posts". Same thing without a pretty little graphic.
Anybody know what the old forum software was? If it was premade forum software and not fully coded in-house then there might've been a bridge to pull SQL data from the old forum's database to the new, retaining all data. I did that when I switched the software for my FPS clan's site from PHPNuke over to SimpleMachines.
Granted though, the forum quirks imo are second rate compared to the store issues. I don't pump cash into the forums, but my cash is played with in the storefront.
phpbb
And there seems to be a beta of a phpbb import for ExpressionEngine around but I guess the DAZ devs didn't want to risk it messing anything up, what with the size of the old forum and the creaking mess it already was.