Intermittent issues on Community platform- missing avatar, feedback score, listings

[sheila@ebay]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to let you know that Khoros is aware of the intermittent issues where avatars, feedback scores and listing have gone missing. I know that this is impacting some users or all users. It's not a fun experience!

There's an issue with one of Khoros' servers. I don't have an ETA on when this will be fixed but I'am pushing to get this fixed sooner than later.

[lacemaker3]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

GOOD NEWS?

This morning I noticed two new posts on the Buying board had the OP's feedback numbers.  When clicked on, one of the usernames was not found?  The other one did work.  Progress or just a test?

Still no avatars though.

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@mudshark61369 , unfortunately, this probably isn't good news.

If I found the correct posts, they were old necro threads, from before this issue started. Users who have not logged in to the community since the issue started, still show the links from the last time they were logged in. One of these OP's has apparently changed their user ID on eBay since they were here.

Both of these threads are from early this year, but they were bumped today by a member who was SPAMMING the boards with links to an off-eBay selling website, probably malware or phishing.

[mudshark61369]

@lacemaker3,

I shoulda known it was too good to be true. Usually, I pick up on the dates, but I was only halfway through my first cup of coffee, and obviously not firing on all cylinders yet.  And the Jeopardy countdown theme keeps playing.

[lacemaker3]

@mudshark61369 , at least the spam posts that bumped those threads are now gone.

[maxine*j]

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@releasethekraken_1 wrote:

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...  We would have issues like this occasionally at my company, and in every case, it was diagnosed and fixed within hours.   All companies deal with this type of issue, and they do it quickly.

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Yes.  Since this began in mid-September and it is now mid-November, I must conclude that the changes were intentional and are permanent.

=

[tev4all]

Put your tin-foil hat on.

The FB whistle-blower has summtin 2 dew wid dis'. 

Expect privacy policy changes in all UAs. early next year. 

[a_c_green]

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sheila@ebay wrote:

I wanted to let you know that Khoros is aware of the intermittent issues where avatars, feedback scores and listing have gone missing. I know that this is impacting some users or all users. It's not a fun experience!

There's an issue with one of Khoros' servers. I don't have an ETA on when this will be fixed but I'am pushing to get this fixed sooner than later.

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sheila@ebay : Please remind whoever's working on this problem that tomorrow is Wednesday and the Weekly Chat, and that we'll be looking for a detailed update from them on where things stand as of tomorrow. Thanks!

[magicjohnsonsvariety]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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sheila@ebay wrote:

I wanted to let you know that Khoros is aware of the intermittent issues where avatars, feedback scores and listing have gone missing. I know that this is impacting some users or all users. It's not a fun experience!

There's an issue with one of Khoros' servers. I don't have an ETA on when this will be fixed but I'am pushing to get this fixed sooner than later.

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sheila@ebay : Please remind whoever's working on this problem that tomorrow is Wednesday and the Weekly Chat, and that we'll be looking for a detailed update from them on where things stand as of tomorrow. Thanks!

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That's assuming someone's actually working on it...

[klhmdg]

sheila@ebay 

Im guessing that since I got a survey on the Community Platform that there is no one working this AND the plan is to update and redo the whole thing...

They were showing a new page layout... LOL

Just more lipstick on a pig instead of fixing what is broke. 

[coffeebean832]

They must be performing the UK tests that were mentioned earlier. This morning a UK poster @*madison confirmed that avatars are starting to appear on the UK boards. He said-

"I had to agree to some kind of authorisation before I could sign in, and then when I signed in my profile pic appeared."

I'm assuming the authorization has something to do with granting Khoros permission to access certain data from your eBay profile. Can we get more info on that sheila@ebay?

[*madison]

I've just signed into ebay Australia, I didn't have to agree to anything first, and I can see my profile pic on the community boards.  Most of the posters still have blue circles though at the moment.

@coffeebean832 

[coffeebean832]

I went to the UK forum and took a screenshot of the authorization page. Just as expected- it's authorization for third parties like Khoros to access your publicly available eBay info like avatars, etc.

The "act on your behalf" link takes you to a page that says this-

[*madison]

The authorisation I had to agree to today might just be a UK thing, because it's not the first time I have had to do it.  I had to agree to some authorisation every time there was a change on the boards. @coffeebean832 

[coffeebean832]

@*madison- I think in the US I've only had to agree once- the first time I signed in to the boards. UK has stricter privacy laws than we do so maybe that's why you have to re-grant access each time.

[lacemaker3]

@coffeebean832 , thanks to you and @*madison for the tip off.

Here's a preview. This is what I saw when I logged on to the eBay UK community:

Since that is only talking about sharing eBay account data with the Community (which they have been doing without asking for years) I clicked on the I agree button.

And, my profile on the eBay UK community is showing my avatar, my feedback #, and the View listings link, back to normal.

[sheila@ebay]

Hello everyone,

I want to share an update on this issue along with some good news!  First, good news: Khoros has created a fix for the avatar issue that has passed our quality check and we have cleared for deployment. In the last few days we launched the patch to the French, German, Italian, Indian, Australian, Belgian (both French and Dutch speaking) UK eBay Communities. This patch resolves the missing avatar, feedback score and listing link issue. 

Although, this patch resolves the problem, there are still some challenges that we’re working on trying to fix (more on that in just a moment).

You might be wondering when you’ll see the patch here? Because the .com Community is the largest one on the site, I am having us tread carefully so nothing else breaks. That’s why we deployed to many smaller eBay Communities, and based on their success I’m confident about rolling the patch out to our community in the coming days. While I don’t have a specific date to share now, please know that it’s right around the corner! 

Once the fix goes live, you might come across a ‘Grant Access’ interstitial page when you log into Community. Here’s a screenshot from my test environment.

This fix is dependent on Community members logging into the Community, so if you see missing avatars, feedback scores and listings once deployed, it’s because they haven’t logged back in yet. 

Some of the links on this page aren’t functional and I’m working on getting that resolved currently.

The biggest takeaway from this is to remember that the ‘Grant Access’ screen is a legitimate page, and is part of the ‘handshake’ between eBay and Khoros as you move from the Marketplace side of things (eBay) to the Community side (Khoros). While it is an extra click that occasionally will present itself (it does not happen each time I log in), it was more important to me to get a fix for the avatar issue implemented prior to upcoming code freezes instead of waiting until mid Q1 for the same patch only without an interstitial screen. 

I will update this thread again once the patch for .com has been deployed. Thank you for your continued patience.