And so, Vocal Media, it comes to this.
Brand new firewall provider, oh bliss!
Unable to save story, unexpected token,
Service misplaced, trust broken.
Sorry user, you have been blocked,
Can't tell you why, don't seem so shocked.
A dozen attempts to save each new story,
Incomprehensible messages flashing before me.
So what's this verse for, why do I write?
It's not just to tell you the service is shite.
This is a plea to take care when reviewing
Technical services, security renewing.
To friends here on Vocal I'd just like to say
This could be goodbye, now, I might go away.
It's been so nice knowing you, sharing our stories
Thanks for the poetry, thanks for the memories
O ~ o ~
Having been locked out of Vocal on my iPhone, I am concerned I might be locked out on other devices. Don't know if it's just me, a technical problem, or a new security software regime in place to slow everything down and give us a headache.
Got my iPhone reconnected and was going to do some writing at a local library but kept getting the Verifying message...
Tried several times without success so decided to drive home. Left if verifying and it was still stuck on the Ferris wheel icon when I got home. This is the equivalent of the Microsoft hourglass and, frankly, it is rubbish. Not only is it irritating and unhelpful to me, I have just posted some stories to social media that nobody is going to read now, as they are not going to wait "a few seconds" (aka 20 minutes) while some rubbish security software runs round in circles.
No doubt time will tell whether this is a permanent feature, now, of using Vocal or just what the IT people like to call a glitch - which translates to lack of planning, like of forethought, rubbish software supplier, no contingency planning, and blatant disregard for your customers.
Just wanted to make sure my friends on Vocal are aware that if I do not reply to any comments you leave on my stories it is not because I am being rude but might be because I am unable to access my Vocal account.
If I decide to go elsewere for my online publishing, I will be sure to let you know... if I can.
Then again, perhaps it will all get fixed soon. Perhaps someone from Vocal could explain.
Thanks for reading
Ray
About the Creator
Raymond G. Taylor
Author living in Kent, England. Writer of short stories and poems in a wide range of genres, forms and styles. A non-fiction writer for 40+ years. Subjects include art, history, science, business, law, and the human condition.
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Comments (17)
Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
So irritating - I hadn't checked my iPhone app until reading your story. Sad they have all these technical issues.
That first day was a nightmare. It continues to be an irritation, constantly having to refresh the page to be verified. Hopefully it will get better. Blessings, Ray.
My iphone app is locked out too😢
It's happening to all of us, unfortunately. But nooooo, please don't ever leave 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Sounds like you are having way more trouble than I am, Ray. To date I’m mildly annoyed but able to use my mobile and my computer. Hope it’s resolved quickly!
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Hoping and praying that things pick back up soon. Would hate to see you go.
IT IS CLOUDFLARE! IT IS HORRIFYING! I NOW WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE FOR VOCAL. BUT WILL UTILIZE SUBSTACK BECAUSE I CAN SHARE MY STORIES TO MY GRANDKIDS AND FRIENDS WITH SUBSTACK IF I CANNOT GET INTO VOCAL. Peeps are not gonna sit and stare at a circle circling or blocking me or anyone else. HORRIFYING!
It’s been an ongoing issue for a week now, Raymond. Justin posted about it on TS Board. I’ve been blocked as well, but if you reload or logout of the app and login again, you should get unblocked. I know it’s frustrating but please don’t leave, I have faith that it will be resolved soon.
I’m the other way round. I can access vocal on my phone but not on my computer…. Weird?!
OMG please don’t go! I’ve had the same problem. It’s horrible. I’ll be in the middle of reading a story then can’t scroll down and get the same annoying message! This should get top story and someone from vocal should comment with an explanation on when they’re freaking fixing this!
If they keep the verification software I may not be able to continue everything here on vocal because I have friends in Turkiye who enjoy receiving a translated copy of certain poems pages, and the verification system will not let Google translate through. I could just send my friends the poem in a document but they enjoy seeing the comments from the readers in Turkish. So this is a big problem for me.
I share your pain! 😣 It's to protect the servers from the Denial of Service attack, which seems to be ongoing. The bots are slowed down by the verification stage. It's a workaround which lets us legitimate humans access the site, albeit with some inconveniences.
I dealt with this yesterday! Was nervous to try today, but it worked thankfully. Loved the poem!
Nice poem! It flowed with ease and conveyed the point precisely. Secondly, I do believe the glitch with saving stories is temporary. It has to be. No one is going to continue dealing with having to copy an entire draft, refresh the page and paste it because the save feature won't do its job. It's so annoying... Whatever their latest cyber-attack was, they are still working through it. But I'm definitely with you...This is Shite!!!
I too have been getting the 'verifying you are human' too as well as those red squares saying invalid token or please refresh page when writing a comment or publishing a piece. Good job.
Don’t go! I had similar issue the other day.