Best way to inform FS software engineers / IT professionals of a widespread issue?
Can't seem to locate an email address for FS technical people. (Chat is down today, 29-Sept, at 10 AM EST.)
For the past three days, the FS homepage does not render on web-browser FireFox. No issues on Safari, Chrome, Tor, Opera, others. This issue was first reported on a Facebook group devoted to FS users. I replicated the problem and have been keeping an eye on it.
Tried:
- Clearing FS cookies using the FS method for doing so
- Turning off all FireFox extensions (I only have a few)
- Assuring FireFox and my operating system are current
- Restarting my computer
- Trying all of the above twice
The issue is a serious one; the home page does not render except for the very top menu bar. Everything else, shows "trying to load" spinning wheels.
Answers
-
Are you referring to the Portal? At this time the Portal is only working on Chrome. Below is the link for the Tech support community.
To find the community, click on Groups, click on search groups and type in TECH, you will then see a icon for Tech Support North America, click that. Double check top of page to see if you need to sign in, then select join. In the future you can look in My Groups for support.
Family History Center Technical Support (North America) — FamilySearch Community
1 -
There was another topic from a few weeks ago about Firefox issues
Firefox not succesfully opening FamilySearch https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/376349#Comment_376349
1 -
I do not have any issues with firefox. version 92.0.1 and windows 10.
1 -
Thank you all for the suggestions. @genbug08 I assume by "portal" you're refering to an intranet and/or some sort of utility that LDS members use. This would not apply to me if that's what that is.
So far, the issue is persistent, but Chrome works fine. It's a slower browser in general, and though I much prefer FireFox for a litany of reasons, I'll happily use Chrome while this issue persists.
@MaureenE123 TY for pointing that thread out. They are indeed referencing the same issues concerning pages rendering on there too. I'll alert the IT folks at FS after figuring out the best path to do so.
Thanks all!
1 -
@Ryan W. Noyes You are absolutely right. The FS home pages just spins and never loads in Firefox. We'll get it reported to the engineers. Meanwhile, you can still use Firefox. Just click one of the menu items at the top and jump to the part of the site you want to use. Thanks for reporting the issue!
1 -
I haven't had problems using FS in Firefox
0 -
There are absolutely issues on Firefox, I first noticed around v.91 or so. It began with the source linker a month ago. Today, the FS landing page won't even load.
I installed Firefox 78 (ESR) and it worked fine, for a few days then pages stopped loading properly again - source linker, merges and finally the landing page was all spinning wheels. I've downgraded again to ESR 68 and am hoping for the best.
1 -
This issue seems to have been fixed very recently, perhaps even today, as I just checked again with Firefox a day or two ago. Now behaving normal again. TY to FamilySearch engineers for addressing this!
0 -
Given that this was a reproducible problem, and it is now fixed. Is there any kind of technical description of what the actual problem and fix was ? Do the web team have a public "releases" list showing what was fixed in successive releases ?
I ask because I would prefer to use Firefox, but cannot for reasons probably entirely within my control, just unknown.
0 -
@LDS Search Test, I've been using Firefox for FamilySearch (and everything else) this whole time, with no problems.
0 -
@Julia Szent-Györgyi Which OS and which version of Firefox ?
0 -
I'm on Win 10 and whatever version's current (94.0.1 right now). (My spouse bugs me incessantly about updates, even though I have the browser set to just shut up and do it, so between the two of them, I have zero chance of getting behind.)
0 -
@Julia Szent-Györgyi OK. Well that could be why you and I don't have the same experience. We're not using the same item. I'm using MacOS 10.11.6, and I have a number of versions of Firefox to work with, but still haven't managed to configure one that works with FamilySearch without issues. If I ever do, I'll be sure to post a note explaining what I did. The fact that it works with Chrome means that it's not a machine or OS issue. It must lie within Firefox, it's configuration or it's add-ons, and/or the add-on configuration. Fixing It is a low priority right now, but I would like to see a technical brief about known issues and fixes so that I might get a clue.
0
