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User
Posted 08 Sep 2025 at 17:17

Hi all,

Please accept my apologies for the ongoing intermittent 502 error we are experiencing on the community. Our developers are actively working on fixing this issue but it is proving to be complex and difficult to resolve.

I understand and appreciate all your frustrations as I too use the site every day like many of you.

I will keep you updated on our work to resolve the issue and thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Best wishes,

Carol
Digital Manager

Prostate Cancer UK

 

 

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 18:31

Cheers, Patrick.

On behalf of the Community, I'll send her an email.

Edited by member 02 Oct 2025 at 18:55  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 22:22

I have already sent messages to her and the chair of the trustees a few days ago, but please do.

Thanks Chris 

Edited by member 03 Oct 2025 at 07:47  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 08 Sep 2025 at 19:21

Carol , you gave me the same reply 3 months ago. I have emailed the chair of the trustees and don't be surprised if you get embarrassing questions from elsewhere. 

I don't care if you decide to kick me of the forum, it will save me leaving, as someone posted the other day they don't come on here very often because of the technical issues. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 29 Sep 2025 at 00:23

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi all,

Please accept my apologies for the ongoing intermittent 502 error we are experiencing on the community. Our developers are actively working on fixing this issue but it is proving to be complex and difficult to resolve.

I understand and appreciate all your frustrations as I too use the site every day like many of you.

I will keep you updated on our work to resolve the issue and thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Best wishes,

Carol
Digital Manager

Prostate Cancer UK

Hi Carol,

Three weeks have passed since you posted this and our intermittent 502 visitor, now appears to have taken permanent residence and brought a friend, 503 with it.

Using this site is now like wading through treacle. The problem has been going on for months. Are we making any progress in evicting the troublesome tenants?

I'm quite understanding, but the fault and time it's taking to eradicate it, would try the patience of a saint.

Like a lot of others on here, I work hard to try and help and support folk. However, the tools for the job have become so poor, I'm considering withdrawing my labour. I'm pretty sure a lot already have.

Edited by member 29 Sep 2025 at 12:39  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 07 Oct 2025 at 11:38

I've just received an email from the CEO's executive assistant, stating the Laura is away but will respond when she returns

 I will keep you all updated.

User
Posted 20 Oct 2025 at 11:53

Hi, all.

I've just recontacted the CEO to see if there's any update. I got this email reply from her executive assistant.

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for your email. I’m very sorry to hear the problem seems to be worse – in what way have you noticed it’s worse than before?

I have an update for you. Laura asked me to investigate it and I have shared Carol Jones’ reply with Laura, so she is aware of the issue too. I meant to email you at the end of last week – thank you for the prompt.

Carol Jones advised that we have had an intermittent 502 error issue on the online community recently which we are working on resolving with our developers.

Carol said it has proved to be a complex and challenging issue to fix so I understand why members are feeling frustrated about the issue, but we are doing everything we can to get this resolved. There is a test version of the platform which is being thoroughly checked which we are hoping will fix the 502-error issue. Depending on how successful the tests are, we would hope the problem will be resolved in the next 2-3 weeks. We are also working on longer term options for the online community platform.

In the meantime, although it’s not ideal, Carol suggests that if you encounter an error page, refreshing the page seems to resolve it.

I very much hope there will be good news about a resolution to the problem soon. As you say, Carol is doing her best to address the issue.

Please do let me know if the issue remains a problem beyond the time when we are hopeful it will be resolved.

All best wishes,

Katie 

A very similar response to the ones that we've been getting for the last few months. A bit like, "The cheque is in the post." 😉 Anyway, fingers crossed, things might improve. 🙂

Edited by member 20 Oct 2025 at 12:10  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 20:41

Stay on your soap box Jim and I'll get you a megaphone.

Someone, somewhere needs to listen

Edited by member 21 Sep 2025 at 20:43  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 16 Oct 2025 at 13:25

Hi, Chris.

Just a  quick report update.

There's nothing to report.

The errors are getting worse it's taken me 10 minutes to post this!

Disgraceful.

User
Posted 16 Oct 2025 at 18:43

According to Allister (Alathays), a well-respected member and IT specialist, sadly lost to PCa, said this new version of this forum was very poor from it's inception and would never be satisfactory. How right he was.
" alathays
Posted 01 Sep 2014 at 22:34
There is a much more fundamental problem here and no amount of bug fixes will address the issue http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif. The current design is not fit for purpose and proposed modifications will only alleviate, not solve the problem. I have spent over 20 years in the IT sector, half of which was in BT as a Siebel CRM (customer relations management) and Web Commerce designer. This is awful and I would have had my nuts roasted if I had ever presented this as a functioning design http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif. Who captured the business requirements and who transcribed those requirements to the developers? They ought to be ashamed http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif

Nil desperandum
Allister"

Allister was so frustrated that he developed his own PCa website. I don't know how this went as I stayed with this one. For anybody who is interested, this was a long thread relating to what was the new format. https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t9779-LOG-your-web-issues-here

 

Edited by member 17 Oct 2025 at 02:41  | Reason: to highlight link

Barry
User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 19:58

Software developer myself. Some of these issues can be pretty difficult to diagnose and fix  Even when you have done that you need to test to ensure that the fix does not brake anything else before final release to production 'live'

Having said all that this issue as Chris correctly points out has been going on for some time, I think that community updates would perhaps be helpful as to the current status of the investigation.

I have said this before, this underlying forum engine is very out of date. Its look and feel may well have been designed by members on here, however it feels old and clunky. The level of customisation built on top of the original software is likely half of the problem. However the software and of course the developers are costly. I guess it's a case of where do you want to spend the funds that PCa has? Although I would strongly support a refresh and the purchase of more standard off the shelf software, with only minor customisation which would likely lead to lower costs in the medium term.

I will get off my soap box now.

 

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 20:46

Jim , get back on your soap box , in a message to me carol said she would keep us updated. Carol provided a great service to this forum for many years, not sure what has gone wrong. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 29 Sep 2025 at 00:54

Well said mate , I spend more time looking at error 502 than I do looking at posts , this forum is going to lose some valued members like yourself if it isn’t resolved , I personally am pretty new to this club that I wasn’t happy about joining but have had some good help off people who are or were in a similar boat to me , I now have some experience that I can hopefully help others with but I’m at the stage now where I really can’t be bothered to keep navigating the 502 issue and will call it a day on here before long 

 

User
Posted 01 Oct 2025 at 11:49

I just wonder how many people are being put off and therefore being seriously impacted by this issue. I know I am using the site less and less, with a number of my attempted posts being lost, and sometimes I cannot even access a post even after several attempts, it is so frustrating. This is a very serious problem, because the site is an invaluable resource for many people who want to use it to discuss and research their own very serious and worrying health concerns. Unfortunately, for all Users this site has become almost unworkable and in effect currently largely unavailable.

In my old world in IT, in everywhere I've worked, I am sure that this scenario would have been managed as a Major Problem with the appropriate high priority focus and urgency.

Disappointed,

Spongebob  

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 17:34

Agree with all the above, this site should support so many of you lovely lads, but sadly it doesn’t. I’m no tech but even I know it ain’t working right. 
This charity is there to support men with PCa and enable them to support each other, it’s sadly failing men with this disease. 
I cannot believe there is no solution in this day & age, I won’t rant, but come on get it sorted. 
Leila 

 

 

 

 

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 12:27

I loved the idea of the place to have a chat when you set it up. Not contributed to it myself but many forums that I am part of have such an area. However they are not in a single post. Some one posts a thread under the forum 'The Pub' and those who want to contribute do. 

I strongly believe the sense of community and support is just as important as having a factually based forum. You can definitely have both. 

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 19:00

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
Conversations can be split and this could be tried to test the theory. The first time I reported the 502 issue was in may this year, perhaps the pub post reached a theoretical limit. The 502 seems to be back with a vengeance for me today.

Hi, Chris.

When Lyn was posting, she had a huge conversation going about the three men in her life with PCa. I seem to remember that it was split into 3 parts. Perhaps that was done to prevent IT issues.

As others have said, the forum is very poorly constructed. For instance, why are the posts for which you've been thanked, all recorded on your statistics page. Mine take up more space than pub/chat thread, and that seems completely unnecessary. As for the search engine, it's often as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike. 

You can write what I know about IT on the back of a postage stamp, but I know enough to realise that the IT on this forum must be substandard.

Edited by member 17 Oct 2025 at 20:49  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 20:48
I know I’m over 60 and completely non IT trained but I struggle to get on the site and when I do I have to re log in to see who has posted ! Sometimes it’s hard work ,and I must admit I leave the forum without reading . I’ve posted on several occasions and it’s been denied for I don’t know what ! Hopefully it can be resolved as soon as possible many men / partners need help, reassurance and advice .

Best wishes to you all

Debby

User
Posted 20 Oct 2025 at 13:49

Adrian, definition from the web.

"intermittent

/ˌɪntəˈmɪt(ə)nt/

adjective

occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous or steady.

"intermittent rain"

 

Hardly intermittent in my view, the only thing missing is ,the standard corporate reply we take out customers concerns seriously. Thank you for chasing this up. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 22 Oct 2025 at 09:19

This issue is such a shame. I for one, would definitely use this forum and post more regularly if it were not for this 502 error. As a now retired IT analyst, having worked for a large well resourced company with a multi skilled IT team, such issues would be given priority and generally resolved within a short period of time. I can only assume, that as a charity with limited resources, the IT team do not have the necessary tools, skills or funds available to resolve the problem. 

Show Most Thanked Posts
User
Posted 08 Sep 2025 at 19:21

Carol , you gave me the same reply 3 months ago. I have emailed the chair of the trustees and don't be surprised if you get embarrassing questions from elsewhere. 

I don't care if you decide to kick me of the forum, it will save me leaving, as someone posted the other day they don't come on here very often because of the technical issues. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 08 Sep 2025 at 20:16

That would be a real shame Chris as your support to others goes above and beyond and this forum would be a poorer place without you

 I made a thread about it. A few days ago as I wasn’t sure if if everyone was experiencing the same to the degree that I am but it seems so ,  it can be so frustrating especially if you have written a lengthy post and it gets lost 

User
Posted 08 Sep 2025 at 21:41

Hi Carol, 

Like Chris and others  I am very frustrated as the site is sadly lacking, and a poor advert for the charity. A lots of these lads get a lot of support here, and for them to have to battle with the site inconsistencies of the poor technology along with the other difficulties they are living with is on my opinion a poor show. In this day and age. 
If this charity is to offer this site then it should ensure it works correctly. 
My husband doesn’t use it, but asks me what’s going on and my feedback is now negative. 

Come on PCa UK get it together! 

Carol this is not personal to you, I’m sure you are feeling similar frustrations too. 

Leila 

 

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 18:29
I've just joined today but I am also getting the 502 error. Site feels very slow and buggy.

Having to refresh some pages to eventually get them to load but is obviously off-putting for a new user (or any user) specially given the circumstances most are in.

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 19:58

Software developer myself. Some of these issues can be pretty difficult to diagnose and fix  Even when you have done that you need to test to ensure that the fix does not brake anything else before final release to production 'live'

Having said all that this issue as Chris correctly points out has been going on for some time, I think that community updates would perhaps be helpful as to the current status of the investigation.

I have said this before, this underlying forum engine is very out of date. Its look and feel may well have been designed by members on here, however it feels old and clunky. The level of customisation built on top of the original software is likely half of the problem. However the software and of course the developers are costly. I guess it's a case of where do you want to spend the funds that PCa has? Although I would strongly support a refresh and the purchase of more standard off the shelf software, with only minor customisation which would likely lead to lower costs in the medium term.

I will get off my soap box now.

 

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 20:41

Stay on your soap box Jim and I'll get you a megaphone.

Someone, somewhere needs to listen

Edited by member 21 Sep 2025 at 20:43  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 21 Sep 2025 at 20:46

Jim , get back on your soap box , in a message to me carol said she would keep us updated. Carol provided a great service to this forum for many years, not sure what has gone wrong. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 22 Sep 2025 at 00:44
I joined in 2008 when we had a platform that I and other members found worked OK. However, the Charity decided they wanted a new platform that would serve a wider group. This is the present one which had numerous bugs. These were gradually sorted out and worked reasonably well eventually, but there were still some problems years later. and now the 502 error. This Charity is involved with research projects and I wonder how much credence potential investors might have in a charity that can't even provide a reliable forum for men who need support. and are directed to it. A new platform is needed and PDQ. What is in the offing?
Barry
User
Posted 22 Sep 2025 at 11:42

I do appreciate the difficulty in trying to fault find and fix software issues on a live forum. This forum becomes such a vital resource (and it is only going to have more demand in the foreseeable future ) so it is almost impossible to contemplate it it going off line for any significant period for long term maintenance/repair  - so it remains - sort of working - intermittently it seems.

There are off the shelf platforms which have good technical support because of their  wider use (even free or paid for) so the main cost is hosting and ensuring security protections or backups.

The other alternative is to build a new platform alongside and gradually migrate users over to the new - but that all takes time, money, testing  and considerable trial and error.

 

Edited by member 22 Sep 2025 at 11:48  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 22 Sep 2025 at 14:09

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
This Charity is involved with research projects and I wonder how much credence potential investors might have in a charity that can't even provide a reliable forum for men who need support. and are directed to it.

I totally agree, these continuing technical issues are making the forum virtually unworkable. It reflects poorly on PCUK. I know that there are cost considerations, but people using the forum help generate funds. Many buy PCUK merchandise and sponsor other forum users, raising funds for the charity.

User
Posted 22 Sep 2025 at 14:14

Ironically I just got the email notification of a new post to this thread , by yourself, Adrian
and guess what? When I clicked the link in the email to be taken to your post in this thread
it instead went to the 502 error page.
Had to refresh to read, then post this.

Edited by member 22 Sep 2025 at 14:15  | Reason: added words

User
Posted 29 Sep 2025 at 00:23

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi all,

Please accept my apologies for the ongoing intermittent 502 error we are experiencing on the community. Our developers are actively working on fixing this issue but it is proving to be complex and difficult to resolve.

I understand and appreciate all your frustrations as I too use the site every day like many of you.

I will keep you updated on our work to resolve the issue and thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Best wishes,

Carol
Digital Manager

Prostate Cancer UK

Hi Carol,

Three weeks have passed since you posted this and our intermittent 502 visitor, now appears to have taken permanent residence and brought a friend, 503 with it.

Using this site is now like wading through treacle. The problem has been going on for months. Are we making any progress in evicting the troublesome tenants?

I'm quite understanding, but the fault and time it's taking to eradicate it, would try the patience of a saint.

Like a lot of others on here, I work hard to try and help and support folk. However, the tools for the job have become so poor, I'm considering withdrawing my labour. I'm pretty sure a lot already have.

Edited by member 29 Sep 2025 at 12:39  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 29 Sep 2025 at 00:54

Well said mate , I spend more time looking at error 502 than I do looking at posts , this forum is going to lose some valued members like yourself if it isn’t resolved , I personally am pretty new to this club that I wasn’t happy about joining but have had some good help off people who are or were in a similar boat to me , I now have some experience that I can hopefully help others with but I’m at the stage now where I really can’t be bothered to keep navigating the 502 issue and will call it a day on here before long 

 

User
Posted 01 Oct 2025 at 11:49

I just wonder how many people are being put off and therefore being seriously impacted by this issue. I know I am using the site less and less, with a number of my attempted posts being lost, and sometimes I cannot even access a post even after several attempts, it is so frustrating. This is a very serious problem, because the site is an invaluable resource for many people who want to use it to discuss and research their own very serious and worrying health concerns. Unfortunately, for all Users this site has become almost unworkable and in effect currently largely unavailable.

In my old world in IT, in everywhere I've worked, I am sure that this scenario would have been managed as a Major Problem with the appropriate high priority focus and urgency.

Disappointed,

Spongebob  

User
Posted 01 Oct 2025 at 13:26

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
this site has become almost unworkable and in effect currently largely unavailable.

It is as dysfunctional as my post-op penis. 😞

User
Posted 01 Oct 2025 at 14:16

Probably the CEO is too busy, spending her reported salary of £90k+ to bother about the people she should be helping. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 17:34

Agree with all the above, this site should support so many of you lovely lads, but sadly it doesn’t. I’m no tech but even I know it ain’t working right. 
This charity is there to support men with PCa and enable them to support each other, it’s sadly failing men with this disease. 
I cannot believe there is no solution in this day & age, I won’t rant, but come on get it sorted. 
Leila 

 

 

 

 

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 18:11

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
Probably the CEO is too busy, spending her reported salary of £90k+ to bother about the people she should be helping.

To be fair to Laura Kerby, she probably isn't even aware of the forum fault. I searched for an email address for her, so I could bring the problem to her attention, but I couldn't find one.

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 18:27

There's one on this page - it's mostly connected with safeguarding but looks like her general contact-


https://prostatecanceruk.org/about-us/policies/whistleblowing/

Chief Executive
Laura Kerby
Laura.Kerby@Prostatecanceruk.org
020 3310 7215

 

Edited by member 02 Oct 2025 at 18:28  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 18:31

Cheers, Patrick.

On behalf of the Community, I'll send her an email.

Edited by member 02 Oct 2025 at 18:55  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 02 Oct 2025 at 22:22

I have already sent messages to her and the chair of the trustees a few days ago, but please do.

Thanks Chris 

Edited by member 03 Oct 2025 at 07:47  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 07 Oct 2025 at 11:38

I've just received an email from the CEO's executive assistant, stating the Laura is away but will respond when she returns

 I will keep you all updated.

User
Posted 07 Oct 2025 at 18:39

Adrian have you noticed it is only the forum that is affected, unless someone tells me otherwise. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 16 Oct 2025 at 13:25

Hi, Chris.

Just a  quick report update.

There's nothing to report.

The errors are getting worse it's taken me 10 minutes to post this!

Disgraceful.

User
Posted 16 Oct 2025 at 18:04

Adrian, I have only had a handful of 502 errors in the last week, but the site seems extremely slow at times. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 16 Oct 2025 at 18:43

According to Allister (Alathays), a well-respected member and IT specialist, sadly lost to PCa, said this new version of this forum was very poor from it's inception and would never be satisfactory. How right he was.
" alathays
Posted 01 Sep 2014 at 22:34
There is a much more fundamental problem here and no amount of bug fixes will address the issue http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif. The current design is not fit for purpose and proposed modifications will only alleviate, not solve the problem. I have spent over 20 years in the IT sector, half of which was in BT as a Siebel CRM (customer relations management) and Web Commerce designer. This is awful and I would have had my nuts roasted if I had ever presented this as a functioning design http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif. Who captured the business requirements and who transcribed those requirements to the developers? They ought to be ashamed http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif

Nil desperandum
Allister"

Allister was so frustrated that he developed his own PCa website. I don't know how this went as I stayed with this one. For anybody who is interested, this was a long thread relating to what was the new format. https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t9779-LOG-your-web-issues-here

 

Edited by member 17 Oct 2025 at 02:41  | Reason: to highlight link

Barry
User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 11:02

Read Allisters post before as an interested IT professional. Yes this site has been designed incorrectly. The categories (forums) make zero sense to me. This means everyone posts under the same one. Given the same questions come up again and again it should be easy to come up with sensible forums within this site.

For instance

Decision on treatment, RP, RT, SRT, Chemo and of course the standard introduce yourself and The Pub. Not exhaustive but you get the picture.

What we have now are massive threads with all manner of useful information but totally uncategorised.

One thing that would be lost if this was set up in a more standard way would be what I call the story threads. This is where members continually add to an initial post. I think these types of post do create a sense of community and provide some level of support and comfort. However The Pub does perhaps help in this regard. As an aside these monster threads could well be part of the issue we are experiencing.

 

 

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 11:58

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
One thing that would be lost if this was set up in a more standard way would be what I call the story threads. This is where members continually add to an initial post. I think these types of post do create a sense of community and provide some level of support and comfort. However The Pub does perhaps help in this regard. As an aside these monster threads could well be part of the issue we are experiencing.

Hi, Jim.

Thanks for your professional input. I know nothing about IT.

About two years ago I started the 

 https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t30284-A-place-to-have-a-chat

Or the virtual pub, which it is now know as.

My reasons for starting a chat area are in the opening post. I still maintain a less formal area is needed on the forum. This place is much less dour than it used to be.

However, recently I've been concerned, that  because it has become so large, over 1,200 posts, it's caused IT issues. If that is the case it should be removed.

In the past, there has been debate over whether the forum should be limited to specific prostate cancer issues or should be open to areas where those affected by it can have a general discussion about how they are coping. As one poster put it, are we losing a factual resource by turning it into social media platform. Personally, I think the two are not mutually exclusive.

The question is. Is the forum IT capable of dealing with both?

Edited by member 17 Oct 2025 at 12:47  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 12:27

I loved the idea of the place to have a chat when you set it up. Not contributed to it myself but many forums that I am part of have such an area. However they are not in a single post. Some one posts a thread under the forum 'The Pub' and those who want to contribute do. 

I strongly believe the sense of community and support is just as important as having a factually based forum. You can definitely have both. 

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 14:31

Adrian , not sure if there are any other conversations with 1200 posts. The Search facility fails as usual to return the requested info, so I can't see how large other conversations have been. Conversations can be split and this could be tried to test the theory. The first time I reported the 502 issue was in may this year, perhaps the pub post reached a theoretical limit. The 502 seems to be back with a vengeance for me today.

Thanks Chris.

 

 

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 19:00

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
Conversations can be split and this could be tried to test the theory. The first time I reported the 502 issue was in may this year, perhaps the pub post reached a theoretical limit. The 502 seems to be back with a vengeance for me today.

Hi, Chris.

When Lyn was posting, she had a huge conversation going about the three men in her life with PCa. I seem to remember that it was split into 3 parts. Perhaps that was done to prevent IT issues.

As others have said, the forum is very poorly constructed. For instance, why are the posts for which you've been thanked, all recorded on your statistics page. Mine take up more space than pub/chat thread, and that seems completely unnecessary. As for the search engine, it's often as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike. 

You can write what I know about IT on the back of a postage stamp, but I know enough to realise that the IT on this forum must be substandard.

Edited by member 17 Oct 2025 at 20:49  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 20:48
I know I’m over 60 and completely non IT trained but I struggle to get on the site and when I do I have to re log in to see who has posted ! Sometimes it’s hard work ,and I must admit I leave the forum without reading . I’ve posted on several occasions and it’s been denied for I don’t know what ! Hopefully it can be resolved as soon as possible many men / partners need help, reassurance and advice .

Best wishes to you all

Debby

User
Posted 17 Oct 2025 at 21:29

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
As others have said, the forum is very poorly constructed. For instance, why are the posts for which you've been thanked, all recorded on your statistics page. Mine take up more space than pub/chat thread, and that seems completely unnecessary. As for the search engine, it's often as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike.

There won't be a separate copy of them there, so they won't be taking up any space.

As for search, it's all searchable by Google (except the bios). There's no point trying to invent anything better than that.

User
Posted 18 Oct 2025 at 00:06

Hi Andy.

As I've said, I haven't a clue about IT.

I don't understand what you mean by copies of thanked posts not taking up space. On our respective statistics pages, I can view every post that you've been thanked for and that you've ever thanked. You can view every post that I've ever been thanked for and I have thanked. Does storing all that information not 'take up space?'

What is the IT difference between storing thousands of thanked posts on our statistics pages and thousands of posts in conversations. Apart from one is irrelevant and apparently won't slow the forum down, and the other is relevant and might slow it down? 

Yet when viewing a conversation, we can see all posts on it that have been thanked, apart from our own. The only way we can do that, is to trawl through pages of our previous thanks. It seems a ridiculous system to me.

As for our little search box being 'Google powered' it seems far less efficient and reliable than the Google I'm used to. You mention bios. Is it a Greek island? Kos it's all Greek to me. 🤭

What in your opinion, is causing the site to be so slow and plagued by errors?

I've just had to side step 4x502 errors, whilst posting and editing my IT ignorance. As we're in the early hours, presumably we can rule out heavy forum traffic for the cause of the fault?

Edited by member 18 Oct 2025 at 01:02  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 18 Oct 2025 at 00:36

There will only be one copy of each post. The fact you can find a post in more than one place doesn't mean there are multiple copies of it.

Not being able to see your own post number of thanks always struck me as a bug. I could think of no design reason for it.

Bios = Biographies, which are not visible to Google since google isn't logged in.

No I don't think the search is currently google powered.

Just go to normal google, and in the search bar, prefix your search with
site:community.prostatecanceruk.org

Edited by member 18 Oct 2025 at 00:37  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 18 Oct 2025 at 01:06

Cheers, Andy.  You should have been a teacher, mate 👍

 

Edited by member 18 Oct 2025 at 01:17  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 18 Oct 2025 at 08:56

Andy , I tried your prefix to find text within posts and it didn't seem to work. 

On a different topic while looking for other conversations that had more than 1200 posts, I went into my conversations. Trying different options from 8 hours to All,it didn't seem to bring up all the conversations I have posted in. 

There are many flaws in the different search options, I have reported some but they never get rectified. A typical error is, a search will show there are say four pages of matches but it only let's you go into one page.

Added, got into recent conversations, select one month, it shows there are three pages ,select page two or three,it only shows page one

Thanks Chris 

Edited by member 18 Oct 2025 at 11:36  | Reason: Added example

User
Posted 20 Oct 2025 at 11:53

Hi, all.

I've just recontacted the CEO to see if there's any update. I got this email reply from her executive assistant.

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for your email. I’m very sorry to hear the problem seems to be worse – in what way have you noticed it’s worse than before?

I have an update for you. Laura asked me to investigate it and I have shared Carol Jones’ reply with Laura, so she is aware of the issue too. I meant to email you at the end of last week – thank you for the prompt.

Carol Jones advised that we have had an intermittent 502 error issue on the online community recently which we are working on resolving with our developers.

Carol said it has proved to be a complex and challenging issue to fix so I understand why members are feeling frustrated about the issue, but we are doing everything we can to get this resolved. There is a test version of the platform which is being thoroughly checked which we are hoping will fix the 502-error issue. Depending on how successful the tests are, we would hope the problem will be resolved in the next 2-3 weeks. We are also working on longer term options for the online community platform.

In the meantime, although it’s not ideal, Carol suggests that if you encounter an error page, refreshing the page seems to resolve it.

I very much hope there will be good news about a resolution to the problem soon. As you say, Carol is doing her best to address the issue.

Please do let me know if the issue remains a problem beyond the time when we are hopeful it will be resolved.

All best wishes,

Katie 

A very similar response to the ones that we've been getting for the last few months. A bit like, "The cheque is in the post." 😉 Anyway, fingers crossed, things might improve. 🙂

Edited by member 20 Oct 2025 at 12:10  | Reason: Additional text

User
Posted 20 Oct 2025 at 13:49

Adrian, definition from the web.

"intermittent

/ˌɪntəˈmɪt(ə)nt/

adjective

occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous or steady.

"intermittent rain"

 

Hardly intermittent in my view, the only thing missing is ,the standard corporate reply we take out customers concerns seriously. Thank you for chasing this up. 

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 22 Oct 2025 at 09:19

This issue is such a shame. I for one, would definitely use this forum and post more regularly if it were not for this 502 error. As a now retired IT analyst, having worked for a large well resourced company with a multi skilled IT team, such issues would be given priority and generally resolved within a short period of time. I can only assume, that as a charity with limited resources, the IT team do not have the necessary tools, skills or funds available to resolve the problem. 

 
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