[Small rant] I understand that VOD requests can be frustrating for the admins, and that duplicates can swamp the system. But it would also be nice if tickets that are not requests but bugs would be correctly read
Got a panel because I ended up being fed up with my account seller that dodged my first requests when their links went down, and then doesn't seem to understand to not overcrowd their domains, which was annoying. And I do not want my family to call me every week because the links went down. Since I've got a panel, all works solid. I didn't use cheapnames for a domain but another service that also allows anonymisation, but now everything works smoothly. Pre-curating bundles is also nice and is easier on the TV Box. And it's a super good thing that the team made it possible for users to curate themselves. Easier and better for everyone!
Anyways, my rant isn't about the good things. Otherwise it would not be a rant. Even if it isn't really one, I'm not expecting much and I'm happy now with how everything rolls.
I just got a Telegram message that there are too many duplicate VOD requests, and that there will be penalties for those that aren't able to search if content is already uploaded. Totally understandable. But in the defence of the panel users that submit those tickets, I have the feeling the ticketing system isn't that well managed.
First of all, there is no tool in the panel that allows to search in the Categories of Live TV and VOD. I am not reselling anything (panel use for friends and family), but I can understand that if you want to be a super reseller, you transmit your VOD requests as a ticket. And there is no built in tool that allows to search for stuff that is uploaded, or already requested. Granted, that would be extra work to implement it while the admins have probably other things to do. It is also not that big of an issue, but it would suck to have people submitting request to resellers, and then have the resellers punished.
But in the meantime, before such a search tool would be implemented, you can always use your pc to check with a 3rd party tool. If it runs smoothly, it won't take long to check if something is online. For those that want to check with their pc without going on a 3rd party website, have a penguin as a pc mascot, or that also have issues with the 8k windows app, I'd recommend IPTVnator, which is FOSS. The only issues right now is the internal player and VOD (so I had to enable mpv as an external player), and that the xtream links have to be in the wd-card format, despite it being your own domain.
A second issue, and my main one actually, is that I have the feeling that the tickets aren't being read correctly at all. I submitted 2 tickets recently, and I really tried to make it as short and simple as possible (so not like I'm doing now):
One for a documentary that was wrongly listed as the HD version of a series. Gave the series info, screen-shotted the issue. Received a generic answer that they will look for sources. But nothing about it being wrongly listed. I do not take it personally. If I'm not happy with the SD version that is uploaded, I can always go elsewhere for that series. And it's not like I'm paying a super premium either for this service.
Multiple apps (windows and android) would not work at all. They would open, but when I tried logging in, I got a message that the credentials were wrong. I panicked a bit, double checked if there was no trickery with my panel and an accidental password reset from my side, but it would still not work. I opened my AdGuard Home portal that blocks unwanted dns requests, and lo and behold, the domains that the apps were pinging were blocked. But not on accident. The domains used by Strong for some of their apps have been flagged and are on the HaGeZi blocklist's. They have also been flagged by Bitdefender. In other words, it won't be long before those domains will be blocked by other instances, which will lead to having those apps not working with error messages that the login and password are wrong, leading to panic messages by buyers, people filling the subreddit with "is Strong down", ect... I didn't go that into the details, just mentionned the issue and the apps being blocked, and since I did not know under what to file it, I just put it as a good old "question" ticket. Got a reply with really bad formatting that sent me flashbacks of forums of the 2000's, telling me to get a custom domain (yes I have it, but your apps don't ask it, do they?) and to get on the general telegram (which I already have, but it's not like I'll open tickets through that, do I?). So basically, my ticket wasn't even read.
So basically, we are being asked to limit the tickets submitted for VOD because they swamp the whole system, while the ones we make are not being read, nor considered at all. But hey, we are all in this together and we have all a part to play! I can find solace in the fact that the tickets are being handled the same way as those of my local TV provider, so that adds to immersion experience! Again, I don't really care that much, nor take really offence. But this leads me just to not try to be helpful and stop filling tickets at all.
- Also, why Telegram and not Signal as a messaging system? Telegram is still susceptible to information seizure by some states because of the logs and the backend, Signal is way harder to penetrate on that level.
End of my rant, thank you for your attention to this matter, written with tiny fingers.