Questions, bug reports, requests for documentation, and anything/everything else related to using the EAASI platform
How to get help
Documentation
The EAASI User Handbook is your first source for answers to most questions regarding use of the EAASI platform:
https://eaasi-user-handbook.readthedocs-hosted.com/_/sharing/EOs8D598cw5xmC213l7QJdAiZsyOejes?next=/en/v2021-10/
This is a “magic link” exclusive to EAASI Research Alliance members and partners - you must copy and paste it into your URL bar (apologies - Discourse’s link rendering automatically strips out the “sharing” part of the link, so I can not offer a direct link here!)
It is also embedded directly into the EAASI web interface if you click on “Get Help” on the Dashboard.
(Once you click through to the User Handbook using the “magic link” once, your browser should cache that you are authenticated for the rest of your browsing session. But if you close your browser or want to send the Handbook link to another user at your organization, you will need to use the magic link, or else you will just receive a log in page for Read the Docs!)
Access to the EAASI User Handbook is an exclusive benefit of membership in the Software Preservation Network and the EAASI Research Alliance; please do not share widely beyond your member organization.
Forum support
The User Forum is broken down into categories for general announcements, software/tech news, and exclusive areas of discussion for members of the EAASI Research Alliance and its partners in the AusEAASI network. You are welcome and encouraged to start a discussion thread or ask a question anywhere it seems relevant - but if you are specifically looking for support or technical assistance with using v2021.10 of the EAASI platform, please start a thread here in the Support section of the Forum for quickest response.
What will happen when you open a support request
A member of the EAASI development team headquartered at Yale (likely @ethan.gates) will review and respond to your question or support request as quickly as possible. Depending on the problem, they may need to request additional information to properly triage and provide the best assistance available.
Depending on the problem, the EAASI development team may triage and determine that the issue is unique to the EAASI Research Alliance’s particular hosted deployment of EAASI, made available as an exclusive benefit for U.S.-based members of the Software Preservation Network and the EAASI Research Alliance. In that case, the EAASI development team may directly loop in Notch8, the Software Preservation Network’s U.S.-based software hosting provider (@support_at_notch8) to assist and troubleshoot further.
If server downtime or disruption in service is necessary to resolve an issue, Notch8 should notify the user community by alerting the @us-hosted user group on the Forum.
Please be aware that the v2021.10 EAASI codebase deployed by Notch8 is no longer under active development and will only be supported for EAASI Research Alliance members until the “Next-Gen” version of EAASI is ready for production use. Suggestions for the Next-Gen EAASI roadmap based on your experience with v2021.10 are welcome, but there will be no updates to the v2021.10 code - including bug fixes.
If your problem is due to a bug in the code - whether known or unknown - the EAASI development team will work with you to find a work-around or alternative solution to fit your needs, as best as able.
Starting a support request
New threads in the Support category of the Forum are auto-populated with a brief template asking for a description of the problem, whether it is replicable (i.e. if you are encountering the problem repeatedly and consistently), and the urgency of resolving or finding a work-around to the problem. Please fill out this template to the best of your ability!
Closing support requests
For legibility’s sake, issues/topics in the Support Center will auto-close after 2 months of inactivity. If two months have passed since the last reply, the topic will be Closed and locked to further replies, regardless of whether a Solution to the issue has been successfully marked and confirmed or not. Users who wish to re-open a thread that has been Closed should open a new topic/request but link back to the original thread in the new question, if possible.