Smugmug updates/releases and e-mail; A Question:

flyingdutchie

When smugmug has major anouncement or new releases (such as the last 8/11 release), is it possible to get an e-mail notification out before this happens?

I was checking my site on 8/11 and saw that the newest release removed all my styling. I fixed it, but i did not get any notification (before or at 8/11) that such a new release was about to be applied....

Does smugmug send out such e-mails? If so, why didn't i receive one?

All my e-mail options are set to 'yes', except statistics and upload status. I'm a power-user, not a pro-user.

Thank you,
-- Anton.

rainforest1155

Yep, I also would like to have this everytime you roll out a release. Even though this wasn't that much of a change for most of the people, but this time it actually affected me and if I hadn't checked it the very same night I got home, my site would have looked screwed up for a long night.

Thanks,
Sebastian

Andy

Thanks guys. We will investigate the possibility of an opt-in or something like that, for such occasions. Can't make any promises though, as sometimes the releases are quick fixes or updates. We really take our "no spam" policy seriously.

That said, thank you for the suggestions, as always, your time and input is really appreciated!

flyingdutchie

andy wrote:

Thanks guys. We will investigate the possibility of an opt-in or something like that, for such occasions. Can't make any promises though, as sometimes the releases are quick fixes or updates. We really take our "no spam" policy seriously.

That said, thank you for the suggestions, as always, your time and input is really appreciated!

Thanks Andy,

But isn't the mail-preference option 'smugmug news' already available for this purpose?

Andy

flyingdutchie wrote:

Thanks Andy,

But isn't the mail-preference option 'smugmug news' already available for this purpose?

Yes. But you'll notice that we don't currently have an option to opt-in for "release updates" to the service. I will discuss with the team but again, no promises as many releases are worked on, QA'd, and delivered in a very rapid manner - like hours even, while you are sleeping and onethumb isn't

Thanks Anton!

flyingdutchie

andy wrote:

Yes. But you'll notice that we don't currently have an option to opt-in for "release updates" to the service. I will discuss with the team but again, no promises as many releases are worked on, QA'd, and delivered in a very rapid manner - like hours even, while you are sleeping and onethumb isn't

Thanks Anton!

But we've seen problems with users that were affected by changes in smugmug's functionality. The 8/11 change was not unique in this way.

It is just good software-engineering practice to inform customers of pending changes that may affect them. Even if the fix and QA takes no more than an hour, but the fix will seriously affect (a small percentage) of paying users, the bug/fix/enhancement should be scheduled to be released... not just released.

Of course, certain changes may have unexpected consequences for some customers with unique configurations/setups. It is hard to avoid these situations and mistakes can be made.

But it seems that no effort is made at all to notify users ahead of time. This is especially important for online-services where users can modify the behavior of the product or expect a certain (even buggy - and the user implemented workarounds) behavior of the product. User can not opt not to install, since the product runs centrally on a server.

A simple e-mail containing upcoming fixes/enhancements may save smugmug's developer-team from fighting fires. Or it may even help suggest alternative ways to fix a certain issue.

All gripes aside: Smugmug still rocks!
-- Anton.