Reporting Technical/System Problems

Technical Team or Userhelp?

The technical team is responsible for system maintenance and enhancements. This group is not responsible for providing user support. Victoria Telecommunity Network uses the Unix operating system and many of the technical team members rarely use DOS/Windows/Mac software (or the dial-up modems) on a regular basis.

.....If you are expecting a reply..... contact Userhelp

When is a problem NOT a problem... ;-)

Often, problems experienced by users are related to unavailable resources ...sometimes here on Victoria Telecommunity Network but more often on other computer systems connected to VTN through the Internet. Usually these problems are temporary and will be resolved within a few hours or a couple of days. These might be caused by...
- system maintenance (OTHER sites _do disappear for hours or a couple of days sometimes ...;-)
- documents being moved or revised
- networks busy (Internet connections to other sites 'time out'
- too many users logged on to an Internet ftp site
- etc...
If you can't access Usenet - News, (or some other often used service)... you can assume that the Technical Team already knows! The technical team is large enough (and active enough) that problems like this are identified VERY quickly. Within a few hours of a system problem there will usually be mention of it in the VTN newsgroups (unless the problem is with news... ;-)
This does not necessarily mean that it will be fixed in the next ten minutes...;-)
Questions that begin... "Why don't we have......" usually have several components including:
- Policy - does this impact on the mandate?
- Resources - will this cost us money or place a drain on system resources?
- ...and finally Technical.
If the policy and resource issues have not been resolved inquiries should probably be directed to the board. You can send mail to: VTN-board@victoria.tc.ca

Real Problems...

If you have identified a bug or an alarming or persistent problem... please report it to the techteam volunteers.

Before you ask the question!

It is in YOUR interest to provide as much detail as possible with respect to the problem including your:

software versions equipment and communications settings... (especially for connect, upload, or download difficulties)
the activity you were involved in... (step by little step... ;-)
the details of the system response... ( EXACTLY what did that error messages say? etc..)

OK let's ask the office. Mention that you feel this should be sent to a member of the techteam and it will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

In some instances, a member of the techteam will contact you for additional information. In other instances, there will be discussion in one of the VTN-[newsgroup(s)]. In other instances, you comments will be placed on the 'ever-growing' to-do list and will show up as a system enhancement in some future version of Lynx.

Thanks for your interest!