HOW do I report a BUG with BROKEN Church Email Newsletters?

[Astounding]

The Church's email system for things like "Share Light" messages/newsletters is BROKEN in that it is sending valid MIME multi-part email messages, one containing a PLAIN TEXT version of the message, and a second part containing an HTML version of the message. The PROBLEM is that the PLAIN TEXT part is EMPTY except for white space and a single period (".") character.

This means that ANYONE receiving such messages using an app or email client configured to prefer PLAIN TEXT will see an essentially BLANK MESSAGE!

The Church REALLY needs to FIX THIS ASAP!

I've attached screenshots of what the most recent Share Light message I personally received looks like in the Thunderbird email client when preferring PLAIN TEXT. I've also included a screenshot of the message's RAW SOURCE data. In both I have redacted (in white) some HEADER information and outlined in RED the problem area that needs FIXING.

I don't know how to report this to the proper technical team who handles outbound bulk email creation and delivery for these newsletters/announcements/etc.

Thanks for any pointers as to how to REPORT THIS BUG to the right folks at the Church.

Sincerely,
Aaron Gifford
St. George, Utah

[russellhltn]

I'd suggest the feedback link on the main website.

[Astounding]

Yes, I did search. Sadly, all my searches led me nowhere useful.

[Astounding]

And I have used the main feedback link on the main web site. But sometimes that feels like dropping a bug report into a black hole, where after an initial thank you message confirming it has been received, I don't ever really know if it has reached the email delivery technical staff who need to know about the problem.

[lajackson]

I don't know how to report this to the proper technical team who handles outbound bulk email creation and delivery for these newsletters/announcements/etc.

That would be the guy who is credited with doing everything else at the Church website, probably because he does. I think there might be two of them.

As already has been mentioned, Feedback is the key. And yes, all feedback makes it into the cue for prioritization by his priesthood leaders. But since they still let him go to lunch, some things take a while longer than we would otherwise hope.

[Astounding]

Sadly, it appears email messages from the Church are still broken. Here's the most recent one I received today, subject "Recent Single Adult Face to Face! Learn from Leaders How to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ" as attached screenshots, one showing how the empty message appears (just a single period character) and the other showing the raw email message's source code and the broken part of the multi-part MIME message structure that needs to be fixed.

If anyone here knows anyone working in the Church's back-end email system,. please point them to this message thread. I will send yet another bug report via the Church website Feedback option too.

Hoping this gets fixed soon,
Aaron Gifford
St. George, Utah

How the message appears to users with email apps configured to prefer PLAIN TEXT:

Screenshot_20210624_141100.png

The raw email message source:

Screenshot_20210624_142250.png

[BrianEdwards]

I expect most everyone who participates in the Forum empathizes with your desire for this to be fixed, many of us have had similar types of issues over the years that we've strongly wished would be addressed, and some things still don't work correctly even after a few years of persistent feedback. But from what I understand, the fact is that the Church employees who are over Tech Support are stretched pretty thin (as is the case with most For-Profit companies as well). Obviously when something like this happens we feel the pain because we understand how it impacts others. And the dual options of "Online Feedback" and "Report to your Priesthood Leader", aren't necessarily always satisfactory...

[Astounding]

"...Tech Support are stretched pretty thin..."

Working in the technology field, I know exactly that very issue! My TO DO list is ever-growing and never completed. They have my sympathies.

[russellhltn]

My sense is that the church's development team is smaller than what you'd expect for an organization of it's size.