At least with digital, there’s a trail. Still, those portal glitches drive me nuts...
Totally get where you're coming from. Digital's definitely made things easier for tracking—no more wondering if someone lost your paperwork behind a desk somewhere. But yeah, those city portals can be a nightmare sometimes. Ever get halfway through an upload and the whole thing crashes? Makes you want to just hand-deliver a stack of forms, honestly.
Still, I’d take the occasional glitch over driving across town just to find out I’m missing a signature or the form’s outdated. At least with digital, you can usually fix things from home. Curious—have you ever had them actually lose a digital submission? I’ve heard horror stories but haven’t had it happen myself.
Guess it’s all about picking your poison... but I’ll take portal headaches over wasted gas and ink any day.
I swear, those portals have a sixth sense for when you’re in a hurry. I’ve had the “upload failed, try again” message more times than I can count, usually after I’ve spent 20 minutes scanning some ancient blueprint that barely fits in my scanner. But yeah, at least you don’t have to play detective when something goes missing—there’s usually some record, even if it’s buried in a weird sub-menu.
Funny thing, I actually DID have a digital submission vanish once. Sent in a permit app, got the confirmation email and everything… then two weeks later, the city says they never got it. Turns out their system “auto-archived” anything submitted after 5pm on Fridays (??). Had to re-upload the whole thing. At least I didn’t have to reprint everything, but still, talk about a facepalm.
Curious if anyone’s tried those new “one-stop” permit sites some cities are rolling out. Are they actually less glitchy, or just a new flavor of headache?
Those “one-stop” sites are popping up around here too. I’ve used a couple, and honestly, they’re a mixed bag. Some are smoother than the old portals—fewer weird timeouts or random logouts—but you still run into odd bugs, like forms not saving or attachments vanishing into the void. At least you can usually track your submission status without having to call three different departments.
I do miss being able to just walk into the office and hand someone a stack of papers, though. If something was missing, they’d tell you right there. Now it’s a waiting game, hoping you didn’t miss some hidden required field that kicks your app back a week later.
Still, I’ll take digital over hauling blueprints downtown any day. Just wish these systems would stop “updating” every other week... half the time it feels like we’re beta testing for them.
Dragging a roll of drawings through the rain is a special kind of misery, so I’m with you—digital’s better in that sense. But man, the “surprise error” pop-ups are getting old. Last week, my file uploaded fine... then disappeared into cyberspace. At least with paper, you could see the stack and know it existed. Now I just cross my fingers and hope the system gods are feeling generous.
I hear you on the digital headaches. I’ve had my fair share of “where did my file go?” moments—one time I uploaded a whole set of plans, got the confirmation, then two days later the city said they never got anything. Had to start over. At least with paper, you could physically hand it to someone and watch them stamp it. There’s something reassuring about that, even if it means lugging around a giant tube in the rain.
But here’s what I’m wondering: does anyone actually trust these online portals? I mean, do you keep backup copies on a thumb drive, or just hope the cloud doesn’t eat your work? I’ve started screenshotting every upload confirmation, just in case. Feels a bit paranoid, but after losing hours of work, I’m not taking chances.
Is it just me, or does “progress” sometimes feel like more work than the old way?
