What going on with Trains Mag Websites lately??

[Overmod]

Flintlock76

I tried to make a comment a minute or so ago and got a "403" code.

I get these seemingly at random, even when editing my own posts without anything I'd think of as special characters or formatting.

On the other hand, I saw over a minute and a half wait while ad content said it was loading.  And I have stomped on eight separate 'offensive content' ads since this morning...

[Flintlock76]

I tried to make a comment a minute or so ago and got a "403" code.

Forget it, I just don't care about this anymore.

[tree68]

BaltACD

Anyone that thinks Windows 10 is bad, never had to deal with Vista or Windows 8.5

I was fortunate - somehow I was able to miss Windows NT...  I kept my mouth shut and wasn't forced to use it.  It was a nightmare to set up - drivers for virtually everything had to be manually loaded.

My first experience with setting up machines for networks was Windows 3.11.  W3.1 wouldn't do networking.  Like NT that followed it, drivers had to be manually loaded.  No plug and play, for sure.

My advisor at the community college had a daughter who worked for Apple.  She got for him an Apple Lisa - among the first computers with a graphical interface, and my introduction to a mouse and it's accompanying cursor.  Color me amazed!

Of course, today I've got to work with a vendor to straighten out a program for programming a radio I just bought.  His long distance help via email hasn't helped so far.  Hopefully we get that straightened out.

[Convicted One]

Euclid

From what I have read, most people think Win 7 was the best OS ever, and that Win 10 is the worst ever.

I cut my teeth on IBM OS/2, and had a 10 year enterprise involvement with it. Got spoiled.

Windows 7 was the only Microsoft operating system I ever used that didn't feel like a "toy".

Win 7 was on a laptop I bought, and was actually amazed that I wasn't offended  by it.

When they tried to do the windows 8.x thing, I got a bad taste in my mouth quick.

[Electroliner 1935]

Convicted One

It's the web author's responsibility to verify that  his end product works adequately across all current platforms.  Sometimes they assume too much.

As the wire chief used to say, "TROUBLES LEAVING HERE FINE"

[Paul of Covington]

   I've said it before, but I still miss XP.

[BaltACD]

Anyone that thinks Windows 10 is bad, never had to deal with Vista or Windows 8.5

[Euclid]

Convicted One

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing MS Frustration 3.0...it's a common malady.

 

I really do not like Windows. Version 7 was about the only one I really cared for, so that is my back up. When I absolutely MUST use Windows, that's what I fall back to.

Have you considered Linux? The transition is at first  a little bumpy, while you adjust to the new architecture. And Linux help forums are generally festering with misanthoropes who will spend 15 minutes telling you they are too busy to furnish a 2 word answer to your simple question.

But after the burn-in phase it's pretty nice. 

 

As a matter of fact, last summer I did have Linux installed in my old cad computer.  I think it was Ubuntu.  But I have not even turned on that computer since the change.  I just could not face another wall of insurmountables.  The idea was that Linux would be the alternative to Win 10, but as I understand it, the cad programs that everyone uses, including those that I use, will not run on Linux.  What I have been told is that there are lots of people on Linux writing free programs open source for anyone to use, and a lot of those programs are extremely well made.  But even with the cad programs that have to be paid for, the greatest cost is learning how to use them.

 

From what I have read, most people think Win 7 was the best OS ever, and that Win 10 is the worst ever.  With the pre-Win10 operating systems, I would just start the computer and everything is ready to go.  Just get an icon on the desktop and start work.  Now with Win 10, it is like having a roommate.   I hear that they will soon charge people for it like a utility bill.   Now you have to register with an account and sign in about every 15 minutes.  And the instructions to set that up are byzantine.  

[Convicted One]

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing MS Frustration 3.0...it's a common malady.

 

I really do not like Windows. Version 7 was about the only one I really cared for, so that is my back up. When I absolutely MUST use Windows, that's what I fall back to.

Have you considered Linux? The transition is at first  a little bumpy, while you adjust to the new architecture. And Linux help forums are generally festering with misanthoropes who will spend 15 minutes telling you they are too busy to furnish a 2 word answer to your simple question.

But after the burn-in phase it's pretty nice. 

[Euclid]

Convicted One

 

 

Euclid

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here?

 

 

Your point is a valid one, I'm sure that ~sometimes~ the reported problem is on the client (member) side. Over aggressive security (browser)  settings, obsolete cookies, cookies turned off. 

However,  I use MS Windows, and two different versions of linux, which also includes 3 different browsers.

For the websites I frequently visit and for all other random inquiry at other sites, I cannot recall any significant problems.  I also have used two different cad programs for the last many years without any problems.  I held off on installing Win10 because people were warning that some of your programs may not run right. 

 

But I did install it during 11/2019, and both cad programs immediately experienced what seemed like buggy behavior. 

 

With each cad program, a person runs individual commands, each consisting of a few selections and entering.  Any failure of those commands can be caused by inadvertent operator error, which is bound to happen occasionally.  So you just repeat the command sequence, and that usually executes the command successfully.  Often you don’t learn what you did wrong in entering the command steps for the command that failed due to operator error.  But these missteps are infrequent and you get used to that factor. 

 

Also because these command failures are due to operator error, they are not consistently occurring with any one command.  If they were, that would indicate systematic problem; usually being a bug in the program. 

 

Immediately after installing Win10, commands began failing at a vastly higher frequency than before.  This pattern featured commands failing and needing to be done over.  Usually if the problem was operator error, one careful repeat will lack that error, and the command will work. 

 

However, with this sudden increased frequency of failures, one obvious characteristic was the need to repeat the command up to ten times with failure, before it finally worked.  Sometimes regenerating the program fixes the problem.  Sometimes closing the file or even the program and reopening fixes it.  Sometimes closing, shutting down, and restarting fixes it.  Sometimes, just saving the file fixes it. 

 

The other characteristic of this new bad behavior is that it is not confined to any one area in the program.  Instead, it occurs randomly throughout the program on an intermittent basis.  This happens with both cad programs at a frequency of one issue every 5-10 minutes.  So the high frequency and universal failure on random basis began with Win10, and was never there with Win7 or any earlier OS going back many years. 

 

However, diagnosing and fixing the problem, even with paid professional help, leads down rabbit holes with guesswork and trial/error.  There is also a lot of gas lighting and denial coming from software sellers.  They deny issues with the OS because they are powerless to fix them, let alone find them.  If they even acknowledge them, that discourage sales.

 

As you must know, Win10 is fundamentally different than previous versions of the OS.  10 is a work in progress never completed until it is retired.  Previous systems were perfected and done prior to release.   10 is built in a sequence of added “Versions” at about 6 month intervals.  Each new version must be working right, and must work in combination with the previous versions.  I have read about the version upgrades failing to download or install as being a frequent problem. If one fails to download, the next one will get stuck behind it when it attempts to download.  I had one that failed to download, and two more stuck behind the first one.  Then I got popup messages from Microsoft advising that my OS is nearing the end of service and I need to install a modern operating system.  These were urgent, midday warnings, and they did not allow dismissing them.   

 

So I ran the install they offered.  Two days later I got the same message of the need to install.  I ran it again, then two days later, another repeat of the message. 

 

Professional techs were able to get the first stuck versions to install, but never the third one.  They said I could use it up to the future point where the stuck version required mandatory download of the next one.  So they will always advise a new computer or a new version of the software.   In my case, a reseller of one of the cad programs advised that I did not need a new release since mine was still supported by the maker of the program.   Instead, he insisted that I needed a new computer. 

 

I told him the program was running fine on that computer up to the day I replaced Win 7 with Win 10.  He said the problem is that the computer was built when win 7 was current, and it thus will not run the cad program now that Win 10 is current.  More gas lighting. 

 

So last April, I bought a new precision cad workstation computer from Lenovo.  It came with Win 10.  Both cad programs are exhibiting the same buggy behavior that they did with the older Win 7 computer.  The maker of the older program publically asserts that it works with Win 10.  And the newer program is always new because I bought it on subscription. 

 

The symptoms are a kind of roving failure in small, but disruptive episodes, occurring randomly in every command operation.   That pattern is precisely the same in both cad programs beginning the day I installed Win 10 on the earlier computer, and continuing to now with the new computer.  So I have been chasing this problem for about two years.   

[Convicted One]

One other item is worth mentioning...Different (brand) browsers render pages differently.

Chrome might render an upgraded website just fine, Microsoft Internet Explorer too,  While Firefox renders it just enough differently that sloppy coding causes a page to appear wrong (or not at all)

It's the web author's responsibility to verify that  his end product works adequately across all current platforms.  Sometimes they assume too much.

Which, while we are on that subject, there is an old axiom among I.T. that any problem on their end must affect ALL users...they like to think that unless ALL users are complaining...then  any "problems" only scantly reported are necessarily on the user's end.

Until you sort it out that "only Mac users" or "only Chrome users" are experiencing the problem.  

[Convicted One]

Euclid

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here?

Your point is a valid one, I'm sure that ~sometimes~ the reported problem is on the client (member) side. Over aggressive security (browser)  settings, obsolete cookies, cookies turned off. 

However,  I use MS Windows, and two different versions of linux, which also includes 3 different browsers.

And when something that has  been working fine for months, suddenly stops working on all combinations of software  that I try to access this place with....and the problem is only on this site.....it really narrows the field down.

I'm usually not one to complain at the first instance of a problem either.  But after allowing several hours for routine trouble shooting to runn it's course, and nothing improves, regardless of what software I'm using......then it's time to proceed to the next step, post here to see if other users are having similar experiences. 

If others are having the same problem and their just started too...it's extremely unlikely to be a client issue.

[BaltACD]

Euclid

 

BaltACD 

Euclid

So getting back to my point on the previous page, how do we know that any of the buggy behavior experienced on this website is caused by I.T. problems within this website?

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here? 

Because here is here.   

Here is here + Windows operating system.  Buggy behavior can emerge here from causes here.  Or buggy behavior can emerge here from causes in Windows 10.

How do you know the source of the buggy behavior?

Since I have had machines that have operated on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.5 and Windows 10 - and the bugs have shown up in Kalmbach IT operated sites but not the other sites which these machines accessed I would tend to believe the Kalmbach IT operated sites were the problem.  I have not gotten a Windows 11 machine.

If you access 1001 sites and only have 'buggy' operations at one particular site do you feature that the other 1000 sites are the sites that have 'bugs'?

I make no assertions about Kalmbach IT sites operations with non-Windows operating systems, as all the operating systems I have used have been one or another form of Windows.

[Euclid]

BaltACD

 

 

Euclid

So getting back to my point on the previous page, how do we know that any of the buggy behavior experienced on this website is caused by I.T. problems within this website?

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here?

 

 

Because here is here.  

 

 

Here is here + Windows operating system.  Buggy behavior can emerge here from causes here.  Or buggy behavior can emerge here from causes in Windows 10.

How do you know the source of the buggy behavior?

[BaltACD]

Euclid

So getting back to my point on the previous page, how do we know that any of the buggy behavior experienced on this website is caused by I.T. problems within this website?

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here?

Because here is here.  

[Euclid]

So getting back to my point on the previous page, how do we know that any of the buggy behavior experienced on this website is caused by I.T. problems within this website? 

 

In other words, why is it assumed that problems that appear here are caused here?

[Convicted One]

Electroliner 1935

Such hard lifes we now lead.

It's been quite a while since I had a TV with an on-board tuner control.

Last several hjave been ~remote only~, so the broken remote presents unique hardship.

Sorta like a forum having features that no longer function.

[Paul of Covington]

CSSHEGEWISCH

It's a shame that a remote has gotten more complex lately.  I think that you can do everything with your remote except improve the quality of programming.

 

   AMEN, brother!!!

[Electroliner 1935]

Ah, when you had the old turret tuners, you HAD to get up and go to the set to change channels. Such hard lifes we now lead.

[tree68]

Convicted One

A television with a broken remote control is less enjoyable than a television with a fully functional remote,

Back in the day, you had to feed them, too.  Oh, wait, that was us when we were kids...

[BaltACD]

CSSHEGEWISCH

It's a shame that a remote has gotten more complex lately.  I think that you can do everything with your remote except improve the quality of programming.

A broken remote, unlike a broken clock isn't right twice a day.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

It's a shame that a remote has gotten more complex lately.  I think that you can do everything with your remote except improve the quality of programming.

[Convicted One]

Lithonia Operator

Geez guys. Kalmbach makes this forum available at no charge ...

And for that, they deserve our appreciation and accolades....no question.

But at the same time, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect things to at least work the way they are intended to work?

A television with a broken remote control is less enjoyable than a television with a fully functional remote, "free" programming notwithstanding...etc?

[Euclid]

BaltACD

 

 

Euclid

Maybe this general problem is caused by Windows 10.

 

 

I suspect Kalmbach problems have existed in various forms since Windows 95 and probably since Microsoft DOS and will probably exist through Windows Infinity and Beyond.

 

I don't recall the frequency of problems experienced or reported to have been as high in say the era of 2005-2015 as they are now.  People always assume buggy behavior is in their programs, but it can also be caused by the operating system, and then manifest in the programs.  

My conclusion is that if you are having buggy behavior, attempt to document it and define it.  If that is impossible due to a radom, erratic malfunctioning, that strikes in seemingly unlimited ways;  that indicates that the problem is in the OS and not your program.  

Can anybody here document and define the problem that we experience here frequently?  

[ClassA]

I suspect it will require an actual phone call as all of their other support channels do not work. Email, web forms, etc all fail. 

I'll have to carve out time to call. My hearing isn't what it was when I was younger, so I tend to avoid using phones whenever possible. :-/

 

Paul

[Lithonia Operator]

ClassA

It's not just about the forums. My complaint is about the main site with parts that I have paid for access to and they do not seem to care that I cannot access. They took my money and fail to deliver the agreed upon services. 

 

Paul

 

Call customer service. my experience with them has been positive.

[BaltACD]

Euclid

Maybe this general problem is caused by Windows 10.

I suspect Kalmbach problems have existed in various forms since Windows 95 and probably since Microsoft DOS and will probably exist through Windows Infinity and Beyond.

[ClassA]

It's not just about the forums. My complaint is about the main site with parts that I have paid for access to and they do not seem to care that I cannot access. They took my money and fail to deliver the agreed upon services. 

 

Paul

[Euclid]

Maybe this general problem is caused by Windows 10.