Discussion: We need a better way to communicate during on-going competitions

[xxbassplayerxx]

This has come up time and time again... You're about to run a benchmark for a competition but you find there's some sort of quirk and you need an official response.

 

Right now, there are three options:

1. PM a moderator
   
2. Post in the official thread
   
3. Submit your bench anyway and hope for the best
   

 

And this is how it usually goes:

1. PM doesn't receive a response... and even if it does, it's private. How is that going to help anyone else that may run into that issue?
   
2. There is no unanimous, official response in the thread. If there is a ruling, it's usually days or weeks late. Things can get a bit hostile in there too.
   
3. Submitting and hoping for the best is all fine and dandy until your result is removed after the competition is over.
   

 

I propose we formalize the process... give a place for questions, rulings, and announcements that can be reached and is highlighted on the OC E-Sports page...

 

Example:

 

 

 

Even if you don't like my mock-up, please suggest alternatives. We really need to improve communication on this stuff. If you're lucky enough to get an answer on something, no one else will see it unless the crawl through threads and stumble across it.

[Johan45]

That's a great idea xxbassplayerxx, things were a bit frustrating to say the least. I agree a central spot to sbmit and display issues/solutions/rulings would make things much easier.

[websmile]

We could also ask people to check the rules and the hardware they use before they ask - some don´t bother at all - but I agree that a kind of mailbox at oc sports page would make things easier, especially for people who want to get a quick overview on issues that might turn up at rules. But it will not solve the issue that people don´t read the rules and then complain that results are blocked or removed, because they simply do not bother to ask... if someone is unable to check if the hardware he uses fits the rules, best communication will not help

[Leeghoofd]

Like I mentioned in the chatbox we might add the admin(s) who's moderating the competition. Like a POC (Point of Contact) for all of your urgent questions... As mentioned don't expect to get a reply straight as sometimes we have to cross check with Christian Ney and lord Massman

[Rasparthe]

There will always be people that just refuse to read the rules and waste time but I think this suggestion would be a valuable tool, not only for competitors but the mods to see in one easy spot exactly what the open issues are. Some members, even due to language issues, can't read through 100 forum posts to see if the issue has already been brought, sometimes they don't even know its an issue. There have been .... a few... occassion where the rules for a stage were vague or even contradictory, so I think that this can help highlight these things.

 

Great idea!

[Marquzz]

Very good idea!

 

And while you're at it, scrap the OC esport page and redo it. It's not much that is good with that site. It's almost impossible to get an overview over big competions like Team Cup.

[Massman]

Very good idea!

 

And while you're at it, scrap the OC esport page and redo it. It's not much that is good with that site. It's almost impossible to get an overview over big competions like Team Cup.

 

What specifically would you like to see?

 

Of course we won't "scrap" the site and dump all the effort/time spent on it, but improvements are always on the table

[Marquzz]

What specifically would you like to see?

 

Of course we won't "scrap" the site and dump all the effort/time spent on it, but improvements are always on the table

 

Of course not, I'm just over-annoyed

 

Well, if I use the Team Cup as an example this are the things that could be approved:

 

1. The main page is ok, but there should be timers that shows when stages closes, so that you don't miss it. Would be great to have a overview of all stages as well on this page.

 

2. Under each sub-competitions page the overview could be better and show when each stage are finishing. Now I have to click through every stage which leads us to

 

3. The timers on the stages doesn't work. Most of the time they don't update when I go through the stages but instead showing the last stage I visited. I have to refresh the page to see the correct timer.

 

4. The site is also from time to time quit slow

 

They red line through all this is better overview, I've been clicking around alot. I even created my own document to have better overview, I don't think that should be necessary.

[xxbassplayerxx]

Of course not, I'm just over-annoyed

 

Well, if I use the Team Cup as an example this are the things that could be approved:

 

1. The main page is ok, but there should be timers that shows when stages closes, so that you don't miss it. Would be great to have a overview of all stages as well on this page.

 

2. Under each sub-competitions page the overview could be better and show when each stage are finishing. Now I have to click through every stage which leads us to

 

3. The timers on the stages doesn't work. Most of the time they don't update when I go through the stages but instead showing the last stage I visited. I have to refresh the page to see the correct timer.

 

4. The site is also from time to time quit slow

 

They red line through all this is better overview, I've been clicking around alot. I even created my own document to have better overview, I don't think that should be necessary.

 

It would be nice to actually have a link to the TC on the OC E-Sports page as well. Whenever I want to navigate, I have to go back to HWBot to open the right pages.

 

[Marquzz]

It would be nice to actually have a link to the TC on the OC E-Sports page as well. Whenever I want to navigate, I have to go back to HWBot to open the right pages.

 

Yes, that too. Now I actually navigate by editing the address bar in the browser.

[Splave]

I think all the mods should post their cell phone numbers

[xxbassplayerxx]

We'll just hack their iCloud accounts. HWBotgate!

[GENiEBEN]

Don't tempt me

[trodas]

CPU-Z must be used for all Intel and AMD Low Clock Submission (this means XP must be used!!)

 

This is not entierly true, as latest CPU-Z hapilly run on Windows 2000 SP4 But I used WinXP to avoid possible troubles anyway. Just saying...

[Massman]

I like the feedback very much! I don't have a clear idea of how to implement the features and build the tools ... more mockup could help. So far, these are the items I wrote down:

 

- appoint a specific contest moderator, who is announced on the contest page and can be contacted via mail/pm/chatbox(?)

- add a section for ruling announcements and issues

- better overview of the competition stages with timers

 

As for the timers not working: that's a bug we need to look at. Browsing speed should have improved a lot since it launched a while ago, but can be improved still.

 

They red line through all this is better overview, I've been clicking around alot. I even created my own document to have better overview, I don't think that should be necessary.

 

If you don't mind, can you share that document? It would be helpful to get a better understanding of how you use the site and what are the most important links/pages.

[websmile]

I have no icloud account - happy hacking

Timer issue resolved and board for overview of questions and solved requests would be nice, but questions about rules that have to be cleared normally lead to the rules being updated or being made more specific when the topic was cleared with the staff, so until we upgrade new features, re-checking rules from time to time can help avoid problems

[Marquzz]

I like the feedback very much! I don't have a clear idea of how to implement the features and build the tools ... more mockup could help. So far, these are the items I wrote down:

 

- appoint a specific contest moderator, who is announced on the contest page and can be contacted via mail/pm/chatbox(?)

- add a section for ruling announcements and issues

- better overview of the competition stages with timers

 

As for the timers not working: that's a bug we need to look at. Browsing speed should have improved a lot since it launched a while ago, but can be improved still.

 

 

 

If you don't mind, can you share that document? It would be helpful to get a better understanding of how you use the site and what are the most important links/pages.

 

I'm not at home atm. But it's not a complicated document, just a list basically, with all stages, what hardware is needed and when they end.

 

But ultimately I would like to see a more useful "Team site" so that the members could see which competitions the team is submitting to atm, and members could enter what they got under each stage. Also a discussion area.

[xxbassplayerxx]

I like it a lot

 

EDIT: Like CN does here: http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=147273

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by xxbassplayerxx