The effing Eforms site is down...

Gunbuggy · Dec 5, 2020

Tried venting to my fiancé but she doesn't care. So I figured I'd vent here.

Effing ATF's outdated POS platform, probably running on old sh*t tier servers with years of dust in the ports, is down again. Seems like every time I do a e-file form 1 I have at least one issue. This time it's literally telling me that it cannot connect to the host server. I get halfway through and it locks up on me then about 10 mins later shows the "cannot connect to host server" pop up. Doesn't save any of my info either, even when I hit save after every step.
With all the money we give these a-holes every year, don't you think they could at least update their system? New servers? Better platform? Maybe something from the early 2000's!?

It's running off of 90's technology. As far as today's standards go I should be able to have this thing completed start to finish in 5-10 mins. I already don't like giving them my info and this just makes me want to never file another stamp again.

Is there a ton of you jerks filing as many form 1s as humanly possible right now or what?! Can you guys go spend time with your family so I can get this done?!

Rant over.

CountryGent · Dec 5, 2020

I've used it a number of times. Some smooth as can be, others minor hiccups, and one was a god damn dumpster-fire of technical issues. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not, having dealt with the stunning degree of incompetence embodied in Federal information systems. (I do recall filing an eForm like a day before 41F went into effect. I returned the following day to see how spectacularly it would fail and go down, which it did and then some. :s0112:

)

Anywho, sorry to hear of the woes. Here's hoping you can get your form submitted soon.

Gunbuggy · Dec 5, 2020

CountryGent said:
I've used it a number of times. Some smooth as can be, others minor hiccups, and one was a god damn dumpster-fire of technical issues. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not, having dealt with the stunning degree of incompetence embodied in Federal information systems. (I do recall filing an eForm like a day before 41F went into effect. I returned the following day to see how spectacularly it would fail and go down, which it did and then some. )

Anywho, sorry to hear of the woes. Here's hoping you can get your form submitted soon.

Just a headache. If this was truly the America our founding fathers envisioned, I could have this SBR with a can on it and have no need to pay off Uncle Sam to own it. Mehhh

SonicBlue03 · Dec 5, 2020

I normally do mine on Wednesday evenings after their all day maintenance window. No problems.

Gunbuggy · Dec 5, 2020

SonicBlue03 said:
I normally do mine on Wednesday evenings after their all day maintenance window. No problems.

Good advice. This might be the first time I've ever done it on a weekend. Could be why?

SonicBlue03 · Dec 5, 2020

Gunbuggy said:
Good advice. This might be the first time I've ever done it on a weekend. Could be why?

Possibly. I think you called it when you highlighted that they've been running on old tech. I highly doubt they designed their systems to handle the volume they're getting, and they very likely don't have the ability to scale up even when they continue to redline on capacity.

I feel bad for the developers. They're probably all old COBOL guys and gals, with a smattering of FORTRAN. I'm sure any IT interns that work for BATFE ultimately give up their major and switch to Liberal Arts.

GWS · Dec 5, 2020

I switched from Chrome to Explorer and my troubles went away.
Maybe try a different browser.

SonicBlue03 · Dec 5, 2020

The browser suggestion is a good one. Old EOL systems often don't find themselves compatible with newer browsers. So yeah, I'd use IE or even Netscape if you still have an old set of 3.5"s lying around. Probably will work fine with either.

*Note - IE, *not* Edge. They are very different.

edzz · Dec 5, 2020

SonicBlue03 said:
Possibly. I think you called it when you highlighted that they've been running on old tech. I highly doubt they designed their systems to handle the volume they're getting, and they very likely don't have the ability to scale up even when they continue to redline on capacity.

I feel bad for the developers. They're probably all old COBOL guys and gals, with a smattering of FORTRAN. I'm sure any IT interns that work for BATFE ultimately give up their major and switch to Liberal Arts.

If it's like when I worked for GE a lot of the IT staff likely come from the Liberal Arts dept. Ever try to explain esd to one of these idiots.

Member 53328 · Dec 5, 2020

It's a government system. There is no way it can be flawed..... I had a ton of issues the first time using the site. Deleted my draft and started another on chrome and it went smooth. Just waiting on approval now.