From the ChinesePod factory
ZH site update: Our tech team is still investigating the root cause of the ZH site problem but in the meantime, they have devised a workaround. This is the alternate link in case you can’t access the ZH site: http://advanced.chinesepod.com or you can click on the GaoJi link off of our main website (www.chinesepod.com) and it will re-direct you to the new URL.
Memory Isle (full release): Premium subscribers can now find a new game in the Vocab section. Memory Isle has been improved upon. It now supports users’ personal vocabulary lists (Practice Mode), shows English definitions for words every time the player makes a choice (correct or incorrect), boasts less annoying sound effects, and has various other bug fixes as well. Sorry, the beta version testing period is over, so the only place to find the game now is in the Vocab section.
The ChinesePod forum: Many of you guys informed us about the incorrect character displays in the forum. I just want to reassure everyone that the tech team has been made aware of the problem and will try to get it fixed by next week.
Regrouping at ChinesePod: This week has been a humbling experience for everyone working at ChinesePod. Due to the many unfortunate circumstances in the past few days, we were not able to provide you with the best possible service. We have taken into account all the constructive criticisms we’ve received and have taken extra steps to ensure that we avoid these types of incidents in the future.
Eileen
I’d like to go on record and say that even though these service interruptions coincide with my visit to the ChinesePod offices, it has nothing whatsoever to do with me keeping Ken, Aric, and other key staff members out to all hours and getting them blind stinking drunk.
I swear!
Eileen, regarding the workaround for the ZH site–you can download the mp3 files but not the pdfs.
Next… week?? Try??
Isn’t it just an encoding issue, erase and replace one word in a config file? Haven’t we been here before?
Margaret, if you substitute “advanced” for “zh” in the pdf url it works
Yv
AuntySue has a point. I noticed all the blogs were fixed within 24 hours. It seems the forum always gets the lowest of priorities whenever there’s a problem beyond our control.
Ha, good point Frank, blame it on you! I know you can’t see it, but I am pointing a finger in your general direction (yes, at the sky, as you are on a plane I think), oh yes I am!
Colleen
ZH Snoozing - Is it possible to put about the last week’s advanced podcasts on an internal China link too? TIA.
Bazza,
I don’t know the technical details, but the forums are important to us, and certainly to me. You guys are kicking but over there and you deserve our full support. It’s Saturday but I’ll see what I can do.
Ken
Thanks for the tip, Yv, I’m not very tech-knowledgeable so that will help.
I’d like to add a comment to support Bazza and AuntySue. I don’t know who made the original decision to move the Forum from its original site to the CPod site, but since that decision has been made, I think CPod is obliged to consider the Forum as much as any other element of the site when making changes. Moreover, CPod is run and maintained by paid staffers, while the Forum is run and maintained by volunteers–and Bazza, for one, has put in countless unpaid hours fixing this and that when things go wrong. Thank you, Ken and everyone at CPod, in advance for all you can do to get the Forum back running as it should, ASAP.
I second Delta’s suggestion and your comment (in this blog on December 1st, 2006) that being able to do the following would be invaluable to Chinesepod users:
* track (i.e. follow all of) John’s and amber’s lesson comments
* track Connie’s suppelementary vocabs
* perform a full-text search through the Lesson Comments
When will that feature be made usable?
Well, of course, if not many people need that, or if that imposes too much burden on the web server, implementing that mightn’t be a good idea…
Thanks Ken, it’s probably just because of the previous character problem I feel like that, when we first transferred everything to the Cpod servers, it wasn’t until a few months later when we actually solved all the character encoding problems. I was literally having midnights about it. Since then I’ve dreaded any kind of encoding issues.
(There are still some very old posts on there, that don’t display properly from last time because I never got around to converting all them.)
I really like avoiding work at the office by playing Memory Isle. Thanks for the diversion!