Please Read Everyone, especially Administrator

[anderson2]

Hi, Everyone, please allow for a small preamble. I am a retired IT exec (20+ yrs), and although I haven't done any coding (I was one an effective C & FORTRAN programmer) or technical work in almost two decades, I decided to have a go at it and help a friend out by trying to implement one of these "great OS products" that I hear so much about these days, and in particular this product.

 

Unexpectedly I have installation problem, which brought me to this forum, and as I search this forum for help, I was disheartened to see so many items go without a response, including my particular item. So I reasoned, given the amazing things we can do as software people, I find it hard to believe that there does not exist a public "forum" that can be managed whereby no item goes without a response, and if the response was helpful, that the one who posted it can then "flag" it as resolved, or that a user can lookup a list of items that have not been responded to, i.e "open items." I would believe, from corporate experience, that such features or modes of operation would find their way into the OS community by now, or is this why many of my former colleagues knock OS applications & the community in general...

 

I encourage all put me in my place if I am slightly off or without basis, the intent behind this diatribe is really to create a better product...

 

...as to my particular problem, I opted to log "session info" (cookies) to "files" instead of "database" during installation and I get an error message about a /tmp library missing...where is this "tmp" library/folder to be placed; furthermore, given the many folders and libraries involved is it so hard to include in the error message more specificity as to where this missing folder/library should be placed (another knock on OS development)...

 

...well, I said enough, and I look forward to any response to my preamble rant or to my specific problem, and I am willing to carry on the conversation in this forum or through email, just try your best to not take things personal and to be respectful...

 

regards,

AC

[♥Vger]

and I get an error message about a /tmp library missing

 

Which is a server error message and nothing to do with osCommerce. It is a bug caused by running PHP in Safe Mode with certain versions of PHP. If you had searched the forum with the text of the error you would have found that it has been asked and answered thousands of times. But here it goes again - go to osCommerce admin --> Configuration --> Sessions and set the pathway to just 'tmp' with no slashes before or after 'tmp' e.g.

tmp = right

/tmp = wrong

tmp/ = wrong

 

You would get that error even if you had elected to store sessions in the database and not in files - because it is a bug with PHP and Safe Mode.

 

I find it hard to believe that there does not exist a public "forum" that can be managed whereby no item goes without a response

 

This is a public forum, for Open Source software - so the people who answer question here (like myself) do so voluntarily without any form of payment and in their own time. With 14,000+ responses I don't think I do too bad a job of responding to people's questions.

 

Vger

[vasttech]

OP: This message is not targeted at you by any means, I am simply responding as to why some people's questions do not get answered here.

 

There are many reasons posts go unanswered here:

 

1. The question or problem gets asked, and most often answered, a hundred times a week, therefore, many of the old-timers here get tired of seeing the same post over and over again. Prior to posting a question people need to understand two things. First, there is a nice button in the upper right that says "Search", try it before posting, your question has probably been answered. Second, look at the knowledge base many of the common setup answers are laid out there in a very nice format.

2. Some people tend to post with an "attitude" that it is the software's fault, that they did nothing wrong, and that someone needs to fix their problem immediately. With over thousands of successful e-commerce sites, including Google, running osCommerce I seriously doubt it is "the software's fault". Most likely it is a simple server configuration error that can be resolved within minutes or by a simple call to your hosting company. Get off your high and almighty post and for once admit that you may be wrong.

3. Following closely on number 2 is the attitude and expectation that their question must be answered. The people that answer questions here do it on their own free time and at their own free will without compensation. So no your question does not have to be answered, but we will kindly help you if we can. Many people have families and lives outside of osCommerce. Holidays, vacations, and other obligations may take them away from answering posts. It could very well be no one actively on the forum knows the answer to your question and you will just have to wait until that right person comes back from whatever they are doing.

4. Don't act like someone should do the work for you. The forums are meant to be a learning/helping tool. Not a place to go to have someone build custom code for you to solve a problem. The forums are meant for osCommerce issues. While many people here have knowledge and work extensively with other programs (i.e. forums or templates), those questions by forum rules are not supposed to be answered here. Also, this is an osCommerce forum, your problem with CRE Loaded needs to be addressed on the CRELoaded forums not here. And, your problem with a template from a certain template needs to be addressed with the template creator. Every template is different and we are not familiar with yours.

4. Okay now that I have gotten off my rant, what most often happens is that the original post falls to the bottom of the pile. This can be especially true on days when there a lot of posts. While bumping is against the forum rules, if your post does go unanswered for several days go ahead and ask again or bump the post. BUT PLEASE, do not fall back to number 3 above and act like someone ignored you and that your question needs to be answered. Most likely it will be answered this time, it just fell past the first 2 pages of questions.

5. Lastly, the participants on this forum are spread across the world and throughout all the time zones. Someone on the eastern coast of the US may not know the answer to your question when you ask it, but someone in London may. Allow time for an answer to be posted. Just because you asked your question 2 hours ago and it hasn't been answered does not mean people are ignoring you. But they could be if you read the above. :)

 

All in all, I do sort of agree with the original poster. The does need to be a little more moderation on the boards. There should also be a sticky post at the top of each forums with some simple instructions for new users. For example, a link to the knowledge base, a couple pointers, links to key posts (i.e. the PayPal IPN Support forum), etc... This would go a long way for reducing repetitive questions here and thus increase a lot of responses. I know personally I don't typically answer the same question more the 2-3 times before I will ignore your post. Do I feel bad? Yes, but I also spent the time learning osCommerce and answering many of my own questions by searching the forums, reading books, and just getting my hands dirty with the code. That is the best way to learn and understand it.

 

One last thing and I will get off my post :)... For newbies, osCommerce is not that hard to learn or understand. It takes time and patience. If you are expecting to have a fully customized, shopping cart with many bells and whistles completed by the end of the weekend, you are going to be in for a big surprise if you have never done any programming before. I can't recommend enough that if you are not familiar with HTML and PHP to go buy yourself a book or two. Believe me that $70-80 spent on the books will save you hours of headaches and much more money then that in the long run. Lastly, don't get discouraged by your lack of understanding. We all started in the same place at one point of time or another and needed to look to others for help. Ask your questions, learn the code. I, and many others, are much more apt to help you if you appear to be genuinely interested in learning the application, even if your question has been asked a million times.

 

Anyway, good luck. I am sorry if this post came across kind of harsh or rude, but I believe many people would agree with at least 1 or 2 of the points I bring up above. If not, oh well, I am not offended and will continue to help others.