At bad times I put on the minimum to complete the observation as quick as possible then come back to edit in the text.
I only ever put really brief observations on now for the same reason, which is a shame. However, I have to say the site has been behaving much better for me over the last few days - havenāt really had much hanging at all. I was thinking maybe the maintenance had fixed some bugs - but clearly thatās not the case for everyone.
1 Like
Yes, I try to do that but get caught in a loop - iSpot wonāt do anything, fails to log me out, then I eventually get a fresh page open to start by logging in againā¦and so it goes. Today I tried three times to add an obs, added on third attempt as the hanging up and trying to fix loses me the data input beforehand. Thatās with the desktop Mac. If Iām using our iPads - should be really good for comfortably reviewing observations - or my phone, thereās no fix to apply other than to give up for the time being and wait.
Iām learning to get more out of mine now and have started a second ERICA showcase - planning to delete those from the first if duplicated.
PLEASE ask if it would be possible to allow formatting - line breaks and the old option of easy linking - not sure of the term, but you could click something simple like (here) to link.
Then on the UCT Bolus herbarium site ( not user friendly otherwise) allows me to open in a new tag, save. copy the link and also cite.
Although an even better site is the Swedish one I use https://herbarium.nrm.se/search/specimens/
Thanks
The grant application that went in last week, if funded, is likely to significantly improve showcases potentially including formatting. Wonāt know for some time though.
1 Like
sorry to be a bore but isnāt it more important to retain Users than improve the facilities?
Guess whoās watching the decline just now
Just to give my 2 cents towards this thread.
This is a research project, and for the work to be completed, funding is needed to cover development time and other elements (maintenance, hardware, etc). But there are no plans for the site to be taken offline.
We would love the opportunity to generally overhaul the website to make it more stable and improve general features, in turn improving retention numbers, but time equals money.
However, when applying for funding, the bids have to fulfil certain criteria to try to win them. And to do this, it normally requires adding new features to tick the boxes, as bids are not won in the case of just wanting to āmaintainā a website, as it were.
At least this is how I understand it, as Iām not directly involved in submitting for funding.
We are aware of the issues and are trying to resolve what we can within the ageing framework. Fixing one thing could result in 5 new errors. So we have to pick our battles carefully.
The updates made the other week were just environment and library updates, which have no direct impact on the user side of things. They are just routine things we need to do quarterly.
We do really appreciate people who are still persevering with the website, and we hope one day we can get it back into functioning smoothly.
Thatās a useful insider statement, thanks @Moose
Might (could?) the OU granters be made aware that iSpot could be a National Treasure (again)? That it is for ANYONE who wants a suggested ID and wisdom from real and experienced people, perhaps receive some praise for their photography and observation detail and style? All in a chatty and friendly way?
The site is stuffed full of oft-inaccessible photos of almost every species in the UK, along with supporting comments and ID notes.