The numbers on the news site I manage have dropped a lot in the last week, our webstories suddenly stopped appearing in Google discovery, without us having made any changes.
All of our content as of last Wednesday no longer appears on Discovery. The curious thing is that the webstories produced until Tuesday continue to be viewed, and were made following the same standards as those that seem to be blocked.
We adopt all the SEO practices and policies adopted by Google, and we have an average of 3-4 million monthly views on webstories, here is our weekly numbers for January and February in Analytics, there is a big drop in the last week, from more than 90% in views.
Could you help me to know if there was any change in the algorithm, guidelines or if it is an internal problem on the site? We are available to pass on all the information and data necessary to return the situation to normal. Has anyone else felt this change?
We deleted and reinstalled all plugins and ads (Wordpress) to try and improve performance, but that wasn't the issue as the content continued to be naturally indexed. All of our content is not showing on Discovery as of last Wednesday, even with changes.
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It's been three weeks since I applied for the release of the app from the Google Play Console.
It is still under review.
This time it's just a minor display improvement, but why is it taking so long?
I've heard that the coronavirus is having an impact, but this time it's too late, and I can't release the iOS app, which has already been reviewed, at the same time.
Is there something wrong with Google right now?
Am I the only one taking this long? How is everyone else doing?
By default, your app will use standard publishing. Certain apps may be subject to extended reviews, which may result in review times of up to 7 days or longer in exceptional cases.
I suggest to talk with chat support to speed up the review process, since you already exceeded the 7 day review period, they will review it manually and publish it
We have uploaded our game app at Google Play successfully. When we tried to upload a second version, we noticed that our app has been restricted in our country. When we investigated we receieved a message from support team stating that the app indicates gambling and that it doesnt match the ranking of "All Ages". We have got a review from IARC stating that we are not having any issues or relation to gambling.
We contacted support again to resolve the issue, but they stated the following:
"The app contain simulated gambling, or games of chance or skill that are conducive to gambling are prohibited in the above locale"
We have done all necessary measures and took the extra mile and change UX to remove any indication to gambling though it doesnt have at the first place. We are suffering from poor communication with support team, and need a super fast fix. Any Recommendations?
Unfortunately this is nearly unsolvable problem, I've faced this and after more than 1 year of appeals with Google I couldn't convince them that my app does not contain any gambling.
Once they flag your app as a gambling app it is very hard to change it.
I wonder if the community out there can help with this.
We are using Microsoft Dynamics 365 v8.2.2.112, on-premises (not cloud).
The problem is this: millions – yes, literally millions – of Contacts are being created for no apparent reason.
Our users access CRM via an intranet page, but also using the CRM Outlook Plugin.
Since upgrading to v8.2 in January, something in CRM is creating millions of CRM Contacts.
The same Contact is being repeatedly re-created hundreds and thousands of times for the same user. And this happens for multiple Contacts and for multiple users. The end result is that millions of Contacts are being generated. The contact gets created every 5 minutes (approx).
You can easily see the Contacts being created. If you run an “Advanced Search” on Contact order by “created_on” descending order, you can see the same new Contact being generated every five minutes or so, and whose details exactly match the one created 5 minutes ago.
We’ve got about 20 users who seem to be particularly prolific Contact creators. Possibly because of the nature of their role, they add lots (ie dozens) of Contacts to Outlook (but they definitely don’t add hundreds of thousands of the same person!)
I'm absolutely baffled as to why this should happen.
The prevailing view at my company is that CRM Outlook synchronisation is to blame. We use the Outlook plugin widely. We use version 8.2.3.8 of the Outlook CRM plugin. When users sync their Outlook Contacts, maybe it doesn't recognise that the Contact is already in CRM, so regenerates it? We think it's a bug of that nature.
We can’t turn off Outlook synchronisation, because users require it in order to do their jobs. They need to be able to sync Activities, Emails, Contacts and so on.
We've checked all our custom code (C# plugins) to ensure that no Contacts are being create anywhere. We've especially checked the "on create" of Contacts to ensure it’s not creating an additional Contact. No code generates Contacts.
I understand that I am able to turn off users' Outlook Synchronisation filters. But I don’t want to do so as they do need to be able to sync with Outlook. It’s one of the reasons we use Dynamics CRM.
Does anybody know what’s causing this? Has anybody come across this before? What’s the solution to stop this happening? I'm after a root-cause if possible!
Just wanted to keep this post up to date, for the benefit of any other poor souls who encounter this ghastly problem.
We were in touch with Microsoft who have been very helpful (although weren’t able to provide a “silver bullet” solution). The case is ongoing.
The first suggestion was that the problem was down to a customisation, integration or homemade plugin that had got itself into an endless loop, creating CRM Contacts ad infinitum. After searching absolutely every line of code and custom logic, I was able to confirm that the problem is not down to any of our customisations.
What we then did was to examine the Contacts being created on mass. We identified one Contact that was being generated over and over again. We checked its owner, let’s call this owner “John Smith”, and found that John Smith was the one creating this contact over and over. So we checked John Smith’s “Appointments, Contacts, and Tasks” syncing. We did this by “Settings -> Email Configuration -> Mailboxes”, then searched for John Smith’s mailbox. From John Smith’s mailbox, under the “Synchronization Method”, we set “Appointments, Contacts, and Tasks” from “Server-Side Synchronization” to “None”.
After doing this, the mass Contact generation immediately stopped. I’m not suggestion this is the solution to the problem (because we need to use syncing), but I am suggesting that this proves that the problem is down to a CRM bug in synchronisation (and not caused one of our customisations).
So if you’re getting this issue, and you want to rule out your customisations, I would follow these steps (above) to prove that it’s not your code that is responsible. If you turn off syncing for a user, and it stops generating millions of the same contacts owned by that user, I’d say you’ve got the same bug as me.
I think this bug is described in 2 possible places:
“Duplicate contacts are created if the rebuild of ID mapping fails after a test and enable.”: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/4046463/service-update-9-for-microsoft-dynamics-365-8-2-1
OR
“Contact synchronization that uses server-side synchronization causes infinite updates.”: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3203310/update-0-1-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2016-service-pack-1
The suggestion is that we’re getting this problem because we’ve not installed cumulative updates before installing a major version. I can’t agree that we were meant to. We installed the latest version as directed on-line. Obviously we can’t now install the updates which allegedly fix this bug, because we’re on a later version. We went from CRM 8.1.1.1005 to 8.2.2.0112 by skipping 2 cumulative versions (i.e. 8.2.0.0749 and 8.2.1.0176). It is alleged that these skipped versions had a bug fix for this issue in it (see link above), and by not installing them, this issue happened. I can’t really agree that it says anywhere to do this (install cumulative updates before installing a major version). Anyway, that’s the suggested cause of the issue.
Anyway, we’re still busy with the Microsoft guys. I’ll get back to you when there’s a definite course of action we can take. So it’s still work in progress.
We’re planning on deleting the millions of instances of that Contact from the user’s Outlook, then deleting the millions of that Contact from CRM (which has taken a week in a bulk delete), then we’re going to turn on “platform traces” (requiring a registry change), then we’re going to reactivate syncing, and gather the logs, and send them to Microsoft.
I’ll be back when there’s a definite solution.
Updated with a definite solution:
For the sake of completeness and in order to help anybody else who experiences this...
This nightmare was resolved by installing CRM patch v8.2.13.21. [NB We had been on v8.2.2.112] As soon as the patch was installed, the system ceased generated all these Contacts. They stopped being generated to the second!
We're still cleaning up the mess of the unwanted 20 million Contacts which shouldn't be there. But at least the issue is fixed.
I think the lesson is to keep your CRM system up to date in terms of patching!
I faced similar issue in OnLine when we enabled outlook synchronization for Dynamics.
Even we had contacts been created randomly. If you look in advanced find for contacts Created randomly it should be created by System user.
There is user setting in CRM as below and I think in your case Automatically create records in Microsoft Dynamics 365 is set to YES
You will have to change this to No.
For other users you can use XRMToolBox plugin called User Setting Utility and there in you can see every user's personal setting as below
with the same XRM Tool Plugin you can bulk edit user personal setting as well
I'm currently running a Magento Store in Version 2.2.3
I am need of a POS extension that can operate online and offline for when i take physical offline sales in a shop or at an external event.
After trying 3-4 POS extensions already, I have just installed Webkul POS for a few different reasons. It's a one time payment which is very important. It's got a very easy to understand interface and it syncs sales to keep my stock correct when it's connected to my Wifi, but it can also work offsite and store offline orders to be synced when it reconnects to wifi.
However, despite being cheap and easy to use, it's also horribly riddled with bugs and shortcomings. As below:
Offline sales don't sync when the system goes back online
Doesn't work on Safari
Can't show Configurable products
No way for it to process disabled products through the checkout
Crashes fairly regularly
No way to delete unsynced orders (which happens to be all
offline orders)
some other technical bugs which i have reported to their support system.
So without spending crazy money, is there actually any POS extensions which people have found to work well?
So one year on with Webkul POS and I thought I would post an update.
Webkul support worked on and fixed approximately 25 - 30 bugs in the software and despite being a little slow it worked for the most part. Their support team was very helpful in fixed multiple issues.
Whilst planning an upgrade on Magento 2 I asked the webkul support team if their latest version included the multitude of fixes which were completed on my build and if it was compatible with the latest verion of magento and php. Without hesitation, i was told, yes everything will work and they arranged a download of the latest version which we got and installed into our newly upgraded magento 2.3.3
Back to square 1.
All bugs returned and extension was unusable. It simply didn't work. After support refused to look at the issues I paid for extended support and they started to fix bugs. After some bug fixes and getting our heads around the magento Multi Source Inventory, we have got the pos to work or at least function enough to use it.
So here's my current issue. Webkul POS requires it's own source for stock (not sure why it can't use the default one) so now I have my default source which the website uses, and another source or stock qty table that the POS software uses and the 2 stock numbers are completely independent and do not sync.
This means if I sell an item in my shop using POS, my website stock does not update and it is still possible for people online to buy an item that I may be sold out of. This is until I manually adjust the stock.
Therefore in my eyes, the POS extension is totally pointless.
Does anyone else have the latest magento and had the same issue with any other POS systems? I think the MSI in the new magento seems to be causing some similar stock control problems. I can't really justify a monthly payment style POS extension because this experience has made me question if any of them work properly in the latest version of M2.
I may be a bit late to this post, but I know exactly what you mean about Webkul POS. Disappointing and just confusing to use tbh.
Sad truth is if you're not willing to pay for the good stuff, you'll get what you pay for. One-time payment for Webkul is all well and good, but it's got the usability and functions corresponding to that. If you want to experience the really good stuff, you've got to pay for it.
I know people who have had success with Connect POS - https://www.connectpos.com/magento-pos/ - and there's no extra hidden fees that surprise you down the line. A pretty powerful extension in my view cos it's got AI and PWA capabilities. The best option for Magento 2 imho.
Has anyone got any experience with Lightspeed POS? It's currently looking like a front runner to become a webkul replacement for us. I can't really fine too many reviews or any information from any users. We're moving to a new store soon and need something a little bit slicker at a reasonable cost.
I recently had my app certified (first time!) but not automatically published. The game is Easter themed and hence I'd like it to appear in the new list over the Easter period. I need to know how best to achieve this.
According to many posts online, the 'new list' isn't sorted in order of release date but instead, in order of certification date, an automated system, the certifiers choice etc.
Thre are some theories here:
http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/85466.aspx
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6536557/first-time-game-shows-up-way-down-the-list-of-new-free-games-on-wp7-marketplace
Both of these posts are in 2011 and aren't conclusive.
Does anybody know what ACTUALLY happens?
Thank you for any reply.
In my experience, the new apps are changed once per day or in a similar fashion. Again, from experience, you can't do anything to ensure that your application is first. However, I have manually published applications after they have been tested and approved and they were listed in the 'new' category as if they were published that day.
Usually, don't worry because your app will be listed in the first 20 of that 'day' at least once and if you get - or set ;) - some high ratings people will see it.
I found this out the hard way. The plan was to release to a few small markets to get some feedback and then do an update and release to the USA. Well, once the game was released to the USA it was not considered new and did not go into the NEW GAME list. It retained the release date of the initial release to the small markets. And as such, I totally missed out on the new release spike that we all have come to love and enjoy.
Check out Alien Escape
Game Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWE6Dlk6xpc
I have some apps on marketplace already. I can talk from experience. The release after you have published will depend on countries and will delay without fully control. Also if you don't make any advertisement, it will not work with only "keywords on marketplace". I have solved by using my own Webservice and I flagged the app with "LOCKED" view. On EASTERN you can unlock the app by using your Webservice flag and immediately when the app starts, user can use it UNLOCKED.
No other solution is working in time usable way. But I fully like it to have my own app under full control. Also, I have added an "Code behind" for Testers to let them test the app before EASTERN.
Happy eastern