Broken Attachments in Posts

A few members have mentioned having problems when downloading some attachments in posts. Unfortunately it appears that some attachments have been corrupted during a recent software upgrade. This is a known bug with the software provider, but unfortunately there is nothing they can do to retrieve the broken attachments.

The only thing we can do is report them when we find them in the relevant thread. I will delete them as we go along. I'm hoping it only affects a small number of attachments.

Please report any broken attachments you find.

Apologies for the inconvenience

Thanks,
Simon

Hi Simon,

No risk assesment done before upgrading software ??????

Have a nice day, Okido

Hi Simon,

No risk assesment done before upgrading software ??????

Have a nice day, Okido

Hi Okido,

You’re right. The problem is I am very much in the hands of the software provider. They release new versions of the forums software to add enhancements and to fix outstanding minor bugs from the previous version release, so it is important to keep the software updated.

Every time they release a new version of the software it has many bugs. These bugs are usually reported by users over the initial days following release. The bugs are then compiled and fixed and an interim bug fix version of the software is released. Mostly the bugs are relatively minor; however in this case the problem has caused lot’s of forums owner’s big problems.

I’m guessing the forum software development team are quite small in number, probably around 10 people and therefore QA cannot be perfect. In any project there is a trade-off between time, cost and quality.

I understand that on a very complicated product such as this forum software it’s not until it is released to the masses that all bugs are discovered (would this be acceptable in the food industry?)

Because I understand the above I should stick to my policy of waiting until the bug fix version is released before upgrading. On the one occasion I didn’t - look what happens. Lesson learned!

Regards,
Simon

Dear Simon,

No idea how many broken uploads involved but is it possible perhaps to create a folder listing the items (eg poster / upload file name ++ filed by poster's name / topic whatever . Maybe some people still have the files available on internal / external hard drives and can replace. Maybe also add a mark/link where such occurs in a thread. I know, sounds easy but probably logistically isn't. Some forums sites I hv seen use back up facilities (typically after a major crash [RAID system ??] ) but I presume this is not cheap if involving gross back -ups. No chance to solely back-up uploaded files ? Free on-line stores ??

I find the same problem on web-links that some sites seem to love changing the location of certain web pages quite often, eg Canadian HACCP items (cfia). Problem is that uploading requires more than one click

Rgds / Charles.C

No idea how many broken uploads involved but is it possible perhaps to create a folder listing the items (eg poster / upload file name ++ filed by poster's name / topic whatever . Maybe some people still have the files available on internal / external hard drives and can replace. Maybe also add a mark/link where such occurs in a thread. I know, sounds easy but probably logistically isn't. Some forums sites I hv seen use back up facilities (typically after a major crash [RAID system ??] ) but I presume this is not cheap if involving gross back -ups. No chance to solely back-up uploaded files ? Free on-line stores ??

Dear Charles,

I have been emailed directly by one or two members reporting problems with files. I have also asked members to report broken attachments here (in this thread). Where a member is still active on the forums I can follow up with them to see if they still have the document to reattach. If not active I can do a search of the good old internet. I am also marking in the post where the file was located with “attachment corrupted and removed from post”. I’ve done this twice.

I’m hoping there are not too many files affected (time will tell). I think you’re right though we should log all reported broken attachments onto a spreadsheet or such for traceability. Let’s wait and see the extent of the problem first.

Regards,
Simon