Problem with Display of Special Characters on the Archive

[dawn_felagund]

Important ETA: After some light public shaming of our host on Twitter by Rhapsody (three cheers for Rhapsody!), they magically found the time to address our support ticket. The problem should be solved now BUT if you continue to notice special characters displaying incorrectly or any other unusual issues with the site, please let us know! This problem was caught by a member; y'all letting us know when something's fishy really does make a huge difference.

Also, Many Paths to Tread (MPTT) was having the same issue, which should also be resolved, so the above goes for that site as well. (Rhapsody and I both mod there as well, and our sites share the same host, so our problems tend to co-occur, and reporting a problem on one of the sites triggers a fix on both, when needed.)/ETA

For the past two weeks, we have had an ongoing issue on the archive with special characters either showing up as a question-mark placeholder or not showing up at all. Since our host had just done some upgrades, I suspected that was the cause and hoped that the issue would be quickly and quietly resolved when I submitted a support ticket. Well ... fast-forward two weeks, and I haven't even heard back from the host much less seen a fix for this problem, so I wanted to let everyone know that we are aware of it (and no, it is not just you or just your system!) and that we are actively seeking a solution to the problem. Rhapsody is about to try another, slightly more forceful way of contacting them, so I hope that will light a fire under them to get this sorted.

I regret that this issue has gone on for so long. I know that it is unsightly at best and makes stories with a lot of special characters essentially unreadable. We very much appreciate everyone's patience while we get this sorted, and I hope to have good news to report very soon.

Problem with Display of Special Characters on the Archive

[dawn_felagund]

Important ETA: After some light public shaming of our host on Twitter by Rhapsody (three cheers for Rhapsody!), they magically found the time to address our support ticket. The problem should be solved now BUT if you continue to notice special characters displaying incorrectly or any other unusual issues with the site, please let us know! This problem was caught by a member; y'all letting us know when something's fishy really does make a huge difference.

Also, Many Paths to Tread (MPTT) was having the same issue, which should also be resolved, so the above goes for that site as well. (Rhapsody and I both mod there as well, and our sites share the same host, so our problems tend to co-occur, and reporting a problem on one of the sites triggers a fix on both, when needed.)/ETA

For the past two weeks, we have had an ongoing issue on the archive with special characters either showing up as a question-mark placeholder or not showing up at all. Since our host had just done some upgrades, I suspected that was the cause and hoped that the issue would be quickly and quietly resolved when I submitted a support ticket. Well ... fast-forward two weeks, and I haven't even heard back from the host much less seen a fix for this problem, so I wanted to let everyone know that we are aware of it (and no, it is not just you or just your system!) and that we are actively seeking a solution to the problem. Rhapsody is about to try another, slightly more forceful way of contacting them, so I hope that will light a fire under them to get this sorted.

I regret that this issue has gone on for so long. I know that it is unsightly at best and makes stories with a lot of special characters essentially unreadable. We very much appreciate everyone's patience while we get this sorted, and I hope to have good news to report very soon.