ProZ.com Translation Forums

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Refund

Yasutomo Kanazawa — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 07:29:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Yasutomo Kanazawa
Post title: Refund

[quote]Lingua 5B wrote:

If the site dies off before my membership expires, then ProZ.com owes me a refund.

If you can’t access training pages or job page (for time sensitive jobs and deadlines, because these jobs can’t wait for 7 days to be fixed), then we are losing money on these jobs and are entitled payment for damages and/or a refund.

@Sandra, it takes longer than the coffee-making time. I visit ProZ in short bursts in between my other commitments and projects. This may happen 4-5 times a day. Each of these 4-5 times pages were not accessible. I can’t stay and wait for 5 hours for them to become accessible. In my case, therefore, it takes 24 hours to load a page.

Where can I apply for my membership refund? Do we have any rights here? Is there anything stipulated in the contract we have with ProZ? Are we stupid for not having such a contract? [/quote]

If you access [url removed] and for example, click on "Money back 30 days guarantee" below the "Standard $120 per year", you will find the following link, [url removed] you'll see the "Professional Membership Guarantee" which states how you can get a refund.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | It’s definitely not normal...

expressisverbis — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:28:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: It’s definitely not normal...

It’s definitely not normal for a professional platform to have such persistent technical issues.
Long server response times, pages failing to load, and overall site instability make it nearly impossible to use!
No one has time to waste fighting with a broken platform. If they don’t get these issues fixed, members, myself included, will just take their expertise somewhere that actually works.
And in case of poor security, why should anyone stick around?
I'm losing my motivation to use the site.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Must be tough

Charlie Bavington — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:13:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Charlie Bavington
Post title: Must be tough

Was taking over 30 secs to load yesterday and my linespeed here in London (UK) is not the issue, I think.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I were setting up today, and I decided to spread myself across 3 countries, I'm 100% certain that those 3 countries would not be Ukraine, USA and Argentina.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | What about the data protection implications of this?

Jennifer Levey — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:38:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Jennifer Levey
Post title: What about the data protection implications of this?

[quote]expressisverbis wrote:
Proz staff blame it on crawler attacks and say they can’t fix it quickly.
[/quote]

"Crawler attacks" have, at best, an illicit purpose. Is our data in safe hands? That seems very unlikely.

Recommended reading for anyone here who's concerned about an eventual data breach: [url removed]

JL

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Discontinuing or…

Lingua 5B — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:59:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Discontinuing or…

If the site dies off before my membership expires, then ProZ.com owes me a refund.

If you can’t access training pages or job page (for time sensitive jobs and deadlines, because these jobs can’t wait for 7 days to be fixed), then we are losing money on these jobs and are entitled payment for damages and/or a refund.

@Sandra, it takes longer than the coffee-making time. I visit ProZ in short bursts in between my other commitments and projects. This may happen 4-5 times a day. Each of these 4-5 times pages were not accessible. I can’t stay and wait for 5 hours for them to become accessible. In my case, therefore, it takes 24 hours to load a page.

Where can I apply for my membership refund? Do we have any rights here? Is there anything stipulated in the contract we have with ProZ? Are we stupid for not having such a contract?

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Things look bleak

Christopher Catling — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:35:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Christopher Catling
Post title: Things look bleak

I'm at least glad to know that it's not MY internet connection. I have suffered from several technical issues for months, and things have got steadily worse. I'll be honest, in my experience, this kind of shoddy workmanship normally happens because money and resources are not being allocated to the right places, either because of mismanagement or a lack of funds. It wouldn't surprise me if this trend continues until the site becomes unusable and dies.

I paid for Plus membership mainly to access the training materials and video library, but the video library is basically unusable at the moment, and I mostly get time-out errors for any other page. If they haven't got it fixed soonish, I shan't be renewing my membership.

But despite all this, the thing that rankles most - and I suspect others share this with me - is the complete radio silence from Proz staff when these issues are raised. It's not even like it would take more than a minute to just post something on the forum to acknowledge that people aren't happy.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Right

expressisverbis — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 18:58:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Right

[quote]Zea_Mays wrote:

No, they don't. There are other sites (like a competitor of ProZ, but not TCafé) that use Cloudflare with same annoying verification every 3 pages you open, but the entire site works fine. But problems like this are not new for ProZ, there's an entire forums section only on the malfunctioning of the site: [url removed]
What puzzles is this erratic site behavior. It's like a game of luck if you succeed in reaching a page. How could this be?
Right now the site seems working fine, but for how long? @ProZ: If you changed something in the past few hours - that was (one of) the cause(s).

PS: I just crowed too early - page loading stopped while publishing this post and I had to hit "Reply" again. [/quote]

Proz staff blame it on crawler attacks and say they can’t fix it quickly.
Let's be real, I (everybody) know(s) there are other websites that face or faced before these issues and resolve them much faster.
I wouldn't like to speculate and I'm not even an expert in this matter, but possible reasons can be lack of or insufficient IT resources, the platform can be running on old, outdated systems, which it makes problem-solving slower, and if these issues don't affect their revenue, they might not care enough to prioritize them. These are the only reasons I can think of as to why it's taking so long to fix all these bugs.
Lastly, I'm sorry... but companies or online platforms that care about user experience get them fixed in days, not months or years. I really can't understand it.
I'm afraid that if this goes on for much longer, many of the users/members will start to leave or unsubscribe as paying members, as several colleagues have done in these couple of years.
Their response to my concerns feels like a corporate brush-off rather than a real explanation or problem-solving approach. I don't have much more energy to struggle...

P.S.: It takes ages to open a page... I can go and take a coffee in the meantime, which actually happened today.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | things can be done the right way

Zea_Mays — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 16:06:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: things can be done the right way

[quote]expressisverbis wrote:

in general cyber, crawler attacks or other issues don't usually take years. [/quote]

No, they don't. There are other sites (like a competitor of ProZ, but not TCafé) that use Cloudflare with same annoying verification every 3 pages you open, but the entire site works fine. But problems like this are not new for ProZ, there's an entire forums section only on the malfunctioning of the site: [url removed]
What puzzles is this erratic site behavior. It's like a game of luck if you succeed in reaching a page. How could this be?
Right now the site seems working fine, but for how long? @ProZ: If you changed something in the past few hours - that was (one of) the cause(s).

PS: I just crowed too early - page loading stopped while publishing this post and I had to hit "Reply" again.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Technical issues...

expressisverbis — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 15:34:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Technical issues...

In a thread I started about the various problems this platform is experiencing and in particular on Kudoz, I took the liberty of publishing the response of a support ticket to the staff.
It seems that this is something they can't solve in just a few days or months.
I find that very strange, because in general cyber, crawler attacks or other issues don't usually take years.
I reproduce part of the staff's response below:

"Technical issues: We are aware of the system issues the site is experiencing. These are primarily caused by crawler attacks, which have necessitated stronger server security measures. As a result, we have implemented additional protections, such as Cloudflare verification. While these measures enhance security, they may occasionally lead to errors like the one you encountered or temporarily restrict some accounts from accessing the site.
Unfortunately, I cannot provide a specific timeline for when these restrictions might be lifted. However, please rest assured that we have a dedicated team working to resolve these issues and improve server stability for a better user experience. Our support and development teams are coordinating closely to report and address issues promptly. That said, this is a complex problem that cannot be permanently resolved within hours or even days."

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Furthermore...

Christel Zipfel — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:18:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Christel Zipfel
Post title: Furthermore...

... forum pages have been completely cluttered lately and therefore are anyway illegible, even if by chance you could eventually see them... Anyone else noticed this?

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Same here

Lingua 5B — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 13:48:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Same here

I wanted to report the same issues here. However, it took about half a day to load this page with this discussion thread. Seems like I am paying a rent in a fully broken house. Where does our membership go, to use cheap freelance developers who don't know what they're doing, cheap domains or AI to maintain the house? Can somebody from ProZ provide a word or two on this, please?

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Me too

Katherine Kirby — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:59:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Katherine Kirby
Post title: Me too

Jumping on the bandwagon here to say I'm having the same infuriating issue, web pages are just loading...and loading...and loading. Feels like the dial-up days of the internet. Probably won't renew my membership if this keeps up!

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Variation on a well-known theme: Cloudflare Error 525

Jennifer Levey — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:05:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Jennifer Levey
Post title: Variation on a well-known theme: Cloudflare Error 525

[quote] Cloudflare reported as follows:

SSL handshake failed Error code 525
Visit cloudflare.com for more information.
2025-04-01 11:52:19 UTC

You - Browser - Working
Santiago - Cloudflare - Working
[url removed] - Host - Error

What happened?
Cloudflare is unable to establish an SSL connection to the origin server.

What can I do?
If you're a visitor of this website:
Please try again in a few minutes.

If you're the owner of this website:
It appears that the SSL configuration used is not compatible with Cloudflare. This could happen for a several reasons, including no shared cipher suites.
[/quote]

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | @Zea_Mays

Mpoma — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:27:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Mpoma
Post title: @Zea_Mays

[quote]Zea_Mays wrote:

Just look here: [url removed]

[quote]
Status: Repaired
Time start: 18:00 16 Feb 2011 CET (GMT+1)
Time repaired: 18:00 17 Feb 2011 CET (GMT+1)
[/quote]

@Zea_Mays

This is vaguely interesting ... but SEVERELY off-topic.

There is a real problem NOW, in 2025, which has, according to my experience, in my geographical location, been getting worse over the past 2 months specifically. Other posters here seem to confirm this.

In order to identify the source of the problem, with a view to solving it, it is far preferable not to confuse the issue by mentioning stuff that happened, er, 14 years ago.

Please think instead about starting your own thread on this 2011 subject.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | problem persisting since at least 2011

Zea_Mays — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:16:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: problem persisting since at least 2011

Just look here: [url removed]

[quote]
Status: Repaired
Time start: 18:00 16 Feb 2011 CET (GMT+1)
Time repaired: 18:00 17 Feb 2011 CET (GMT+1)

Some users have reported intermittent problems loading ProZ.com pages, with a browser error like "server not found". A related report indicated being able to access the site, but without any images or CSS styles (causing the page to lose its formatting). The problem was due to a configuration issue with ProZ.com's domain name service (DNS) provider. A fix was applied, and the problem corrected for some users.

Some users continued to report problems accessing the site. Site staff are continuing to work with ProZ.com's DNS provider to completely resolve the issue. [/quote]

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | all needs to be done at least twice

Zea_Mays — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:52:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: all needs to be done at least twice

It's now weeks that, in order to get where you want, you have to do all things at least twice on this site: clicking on a link, reloading a page, clicking the back key, even posting a reply and liking. Sometimes, in order to return to the forums, the fastes way is clicking on the header menu instead of using the back key.
I've never seen such a disaster!

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Worldwide Issue... Ridiculous! Can barely use the site.

David Jessop — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:48:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: David Jessop
Post title: Worldwide Issue... Ridiculous! Can barely use the site.

[quote]Mpoma wrote:

Hello Proz.

I'm in the UK. For about 2 months now your servers have been responding more and more slowly, at least in this location.

At times this makes it extremely painful and annoying to use your site. It happens at all hours of the day. It is erratic and intermittent. But you've definitely changed something and need to correct it.

My STRONG suspicion is that you have switched to a really pathetically substandard (because cheap) ISP for this website. At least for the Europe area.

Please do something about it ASAP. As a professional website you should be monitoring response times. Not from your ISP's "control panel" or whatever, but simply by using multiple computers in multiple geographical areas and determining the reality of trying to use your site for users. [/quote]

I really cannot believe it. I thought it was due to the poor Internet in the developing country in Asia I am visiting. A page on ProZ takes 2-3 minutes to load at times or I get an error and it does not load at all. That is very sad for a website people rely on and are paying hundreds of dollars a year to use! Paying members should be compensated by extending our subscriptions for several months. This should be (have been!) fixed immediately!

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Maybe...

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:37:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Maybe...

... this is one of those things that should be left to AI to accomplish, or has it been the other way around?

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Rest assured

Lieven Malaise — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:08:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Lieven Malaise
Post title: Rest assured

[quote]Philip Lees wrote:
This website is seriously broken. [/quote]

I'm sure "the teams" are working on it (* imagines dozens of people in a large office, heavily focused, making long hours *).

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | A nuisance

ibz — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:04:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: ibz
Post title: A nuisance

It's a disaster ... The site is so slow that it seems dead. And this has been going on for months. Made me laugh to see the poll about the new ProZ.com site. What should you vote if the site isn't even loading?

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Self destruct

Philip Lees — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 05:47:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Philip Lees
Post title: Self destruct

I just got the 524 cloudflare timeout error when trying to visit the discussion page for today's poll, which - ironically - asks: How familiar are you with the new ProZ.com site?

I am also irked by being asked repeatedly to confirm that I'm a human being when I'm signing into the site using my ProZ account.

I think somebody at ProZ must have accidentally pressed the "Self-destruct" button.

Additional note: this is my second^W third attempt to post this. The first time I got the 524 error and my post was lost. This time, I'm keeping a copy.

This website is seriously broken.

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Cloudflare raising Error 524

Jennifer Levey — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 00:08:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Jennifer Levey
Post title: Cloudflare raising Error 524

[quote]Zea_Mays wrote:
A few weeks ago I wrote here on the forums that Cloudflare could be one of the sources of this site's many problems.
Now - surprise surprise - Cloudlfare seems to be ProZ's ISP.
[/quote]

Cloudflare is clearly an intermediary in the chain linking Proz.com server(s) to our browsers. But if the Error 524 messages I've been seeing recently are anything to go by, the root cause of the slow response is the host webserver (under the responsibility of Proz.com and/or the site's ISP), not Cloudflare.

Here's the content of a 524 message I got just a few minutes ago:

[quote]Cloudflare reported:
A timeout occurred Error code 524
Visit cloudflare.com for more information.
2025-03-31 23:26:46 UTC

You - Browser - Working
Santiago - Cloudflare - Working
[url removed] - Host - Error

What happened?
The origin web server timed out responding to this request.

The connection to the origin web server was made, but the origin web server timed out before responding. The likely cause is an overloaded background task, database or application, stressing the resources on your web server. To resolve, please work with your hosting provider or web development team to free up resources for your database or overloaded application.
[/quote]
Communication problems between the host server(s) and Cloudflare are quite likely behind the apparent paranoia that keeps demanding proof that we're human beings.

JL

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!! | Cloudflare

Zea_Mays — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 20:21:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: Cloudflare

A few weeks ago I wrote here on the forums that Cloudflare could be one of the sources of this site's many problems.
Now - surprise surprise - Cloudlfare seems to be ProZ's ISP.
Based on a whois search, their registrar is GoDaddy [url removed] ,
and based on their IP ( [IP removed] ) the ISP is Cloudflare: [url removed]
Note what it reads right of the IP: " [IP removed] - 286 other sites hosted on this server "
(Reverse IP lookup confirms it's proz.com: [url removed] *eiqmgo*_ga*OTc1NTU3ODYxLjE3NDM0NTE4MjM.*_ga_RPLVMKCB3Y*MTc0MzQ1MTgyMi4xLjEuMTc0MzQ1MTgzNi40Ni4wLjA.)

Ping test: [url removed] (sometimes it returns among others compute-1.amazonaws.com addresses as traceroute.)

[Bearbeitet am 2025-03-31 20:34 GMT]

server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!

Mpoma — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 19:01:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com bugs
Topic: server RESPONSE TIMES!!!!
Poster: Mpoma

Hello Proz.

I'm in the UK. For about 2 months now your servers have been responding more and more slowly, at least in this location.

At times this makes it extremely painful and annoying to use your site. It happens at all hours of the day. It is erratic and intermittent. But you've definitely changed something and need to correct it.

My STRONG suspicion is that you have switched to a really pathetically substandard (because cheap) ISP for this website. At least for the Europe area.

Please do something about it ASAP. As a professional website you should be monitoring response times. Not from your ISP's "control panel" or whatever, but simply by using multiple computers in multiple geographical areas and determining the reality of trying to use your site for users.