Forum Testing Update

[Rickp 28,475]

1 hour ago, tommc23 said:

I know this isn’t testing related but it started with the testing threads for me now it is all the threads. It never takes me to the last unread post anymore it will take me to a random spot sometimes on the last page sometimes not. It was only on the testing pages now it is site wide.

The same happens to me.

[Peaksy68 4,961]

@GolfSpy_APH @GolfSpy_THV Just posted another comment in the Sub70 driver thread. Last comment I could see was by Bens197, which was the last one when I commented on Saturday. After posting a comment, I could see about 10-15 new comments after Bens (not including my comment from Saturday. 
 

Now for the weird bit. When I went back to check Bens full name, his was the last visible comment again.
 

I commented again and took a screenshot while in the thread and after leaving and going back into it to demonstrate. 
 

After comment

 

After going back into thread

 

 

[GolfSpy_THV 1,329]

2 hours ago, Peaksy68 said:

@GolfSpy_APH @GolfSpy_THV Just posted another comment in the Sub70 driver thread. Last comment I could see was by Bens197, which was the last one when I commented on Saturday. After posting a comment, I could see about 10-15 new comments after Bens (not including my comment from Saturday. 
 

Now for the weird bit. When I went back to check Bens full name, his was the last visible comment again.
 

I commented again and took a screenshot while in the thread and after leaving and going back into it to demonstrate. 
 

After comment

 

After going back into thread

 

 

That is screwy for sure. We'll have our Dev investigate and thank you for providing screengrabs. These are immensely helpful when trying to convey any issue since explaining it, even on video chat, is a bit confusing.

[fixyurdivot 16,505]

Might we consider reversing the Official Testing forum format such that the current tests in progress and sign-up's are on the main page and the archived/completed tests are in the link?  Or, better yet, how about two seperate sub forums?

Probably in the minority here but, prior to the changes, I found it much easier to stay current on all testing; current and follow-up's on completed.  

[GolfSpy_APH 7,054]

1 hour ago, fixyurdivot said:

Might we consider reversing the Official Testing forum format such that the current tests in progress and sign-up's are on the main page and the archived/completed tests are in the link?  Or, better yet, how about two seperate sub forums?

Probably in the minority here but, prior to the changes, I found it much easier to stay current on all testing; current and follow-up's on completed.  

I'll check, but I don't think it can be separated like that. 

I know I've mentioned it before in this thread, but the new testing platform is basically a separate site to the forum. This is why all the old tests (pre new systems) are in a separate tab. 

The new system has a better search function as well and will enable you to also sort by a star rating system. With this it will catalog a lot of tests and have ways to sort them down the road. 

I'll check in, because i do know that we will need to change the title from current tests to something else in the future, but unless a full new page is built for archiving I'm not sure how that will work. In any case I'll pass along the feedback. 

Also just want to see what you mean by main page? Do you mean forum or recent content? 

[fixyurdivot 16,505]

40 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I know I've mentioned it before in this thread, but the new testing platform is basically a separate site to the forum. This is why all the old tests (pre new systems) are in a separate tab.

I missed this detail.  

 

42 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Also just want to see what you mean by main page? Do you mean forum or recent content? 

For me, the same page as the CCC5.  Seeing which topics (tests) are trending and where the surges in interest in discussions is taking place is the aspect I miss. It's like they've become the back pages of the newspaper instead of today's headlines... OMG, did I just carbon date myself or what ?

[GolfSpy_APH 7,054]

19 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

I missed this detail.  

 

For me, the same page as the CCC5.  Seeing which topics (tests) are trending and where the surges in interest in discussions is taking place is the aspect I miss. It's like they've become the back pages of the newspaper instead of today's headlines... OMG, did I just carbon date myself or what ?

They shouldn't be on any back pages. All the tests show up anytime there are posts in the Recent Content stream by default. So maybe there is a setting that we are missing on your account that could be causing that change or to not appear. 

I should also add that all the CC5 club reviews will take place in the testing page. 

[fixyurdivot 16,505]

11 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

They shouldn't be on any back pages. All the tests show up anytime there are posts in the Recent Content stream by default. So maybe there is a setting that we are missing on your account that could be causing that change or to not appear. 

I should also add that all the CC5 club reviews will take place in the testing page. 

Perhaps that was a bad analogy.  It's just that they are no longer all together where, whichever ones are today's hot topics (current or archive), are readily seen. I don't think I've made any unique account settings changes?

[GolfSpy_APH 7,054]

1 minute ago, fixyurdivot said:

Perhaps that was a bad analogy.  It's just that they are no longer all together where, whichever ones are today's hot topics (current or archive), are readily seen. I don't think I've made any unique account settings changes?

Okay I think I understand a little more. The reason all the tests are not together are because this new platform runs separately to the forum which is why they have the new sign up method and so on.

With this all tests from this year forward will be all together in the new area.

All others 2020 and prior will be in the other past tests. Unfortunately there isn't really a work around with this unless we created all new threads for every single test that we have ever done which well frankly I won't be doing. 

[fixyurdivot 16,505]

7 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Okay I think I understand a little more. The reason all the tests are not together are because this new platform runs separately to the forum which is why they have the new sign up method and so on.

With this all tests from this year forward will be all together in the new area.

All others 2020 and prior will be in the other past tests. Unfortunately there isn't really a work around with this unless we created all new threads for every single test that we have ever done which well frankly I won't be doing. 

Makes sense.  Thanks Jamie.

[Lacassem 16,131]

6 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Might we consider reversing the Official Testing forum format such that the current tests in progress and sign-up's are on the main page and the archived/completed tests are in the link?  Or, better yet, how about two seperate sub forums?

Probably in the minority here but, prior to the changes, I found it much easier to stay current on all testing; current and follow-up's on completed.  

Yes I have struggled this year keeping up with all the testing. I have also been testing so have definitely been focused on that but following along is a little more difficult right now compared to last year. Could be a getting used to it thing. Much cleaner right now though compared to when it first was starting.

[GolfSpy_APH 7,054]

Hello all! 

Hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays so far and been able to enjoy time with family and friends. Myself @GolfSpy_BOS and @GolfSpy_CS  are getting to work on the testing site to do some continued updates and help smooth things out in preparation for next testing season. Our goal is to get this section more user friends and functional as to hopefully erase the mass issues which we had last season at roll out and afterwards. 

With this a few things which have been added and changed.
1. Rating systems for reviews and all review templates have been changed to a star rating system (this partially leads into the next change). The biggest part we had added in from last years start system is the inclusion of half stars. You will see this in the reviews moving forward.
2. As requested somewhere we have enabled a new dropdown menu in the search function which will separate by year. Example being all last years will be under 2021 and this next season will be searchable with 2022. This should help organize reviews moving forward. 
- We do encourage the use of testing search function as well as some suggestions on how we can improve it. I should also note there is a status drop down with all tests which are open for signups and all that have had their signups closed. One thing I would like to see is if we can have that drop down include our titles for reviews (signup open, signup closed, testers announced, test in progress and final reviews) so they are searchable within those categories. 


As the mod team we all understand the frustration that came with this new system and are happy with the progress it has made since its launch. That being said we know there are still areas we can improve. For one I am trying to find a good spot to highlight the reviews on both the main forum page and recent content. 

I do want to also add in if (readers and testers alike) find any bugs or issues please let us know and we can pass them along or work to try and fix them ourselves. 

On one last note we have recognized that engagement in reviews was down last year. We do know this and ran the numbers compared to previous years and think there are a whole perfect storm of reasons why. That being said the Mod Testing crew (myself, Tony and Bryan) are looking at a few different options to make the reviews cleaner. This we are hoping to achieve by making the review tab more for the actual reviews and having introductions (the longer and more in depth ones) and unboxing in the actual comments with them linked to in the review itself. This way those reading and wanting to see the review have simpler access to the review itself and those who want to read the other sections can easily do so via links in the review. 

So with that let us know your thoughts and we look forward to working with the community to improve and make this one of MGS best testing years yet!

 

[EasyPutter 1,963]

18 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Hello all! 

Hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays so far and been able to enjoy time with family and friends. Myself @GolfSpy_BOS and @GolfSpy_CS  are getting to work on the testing site to do some continued updates and help smooth things out in preparation for next testing season. Our goal is to get this section more user friends and functional as to hopefully erase the mass issues which we had last season at roll out and afterwards. 

With this a few things which have been added and changed.
1. Rating systems for reviews and all review templates have been changed to a star rating system (this partially leads into the next change). The biggest part we had added in from last years start system is the inclusion of half stars. You will see this in the reviews moving forward.
2. As requested somewhere we have enabled a new dropdown menu in the search function which will separate by year. Example being all last years will be under 2021 and this next season will be searchable with 2022. This should help organize reviews moving forward. 
- We do encourage the use of testing search function as well as some suggestions on how we can improve it. I should also note there is a status drop down with all tests which are open for signups and all that have had their signups closed. One thing I would like to see is if we can have that drop down include our titles for reviews (signup open, signup closed, testers announced, test in progress and final reviews) so they are searchable within those categories. 


As the mod team we all understand the frustration that came with this new system and are happy with the progress it has made since its launch. That being said we know there are still areas we can improve. For one I am trying to find a good spot to highlight the reviews on both the main forum page and recent content. 

I do want to also add in if (readers and testers alike) find any bugs or issues please let us know and we can pass them along or work to try and fix them ourselves. 

On one last note we have recognized that engagement in reviews was down last year. We do know this and ran the numbers compared to previous years and think there are a whole perfect storm of reasons why. That being said the Mod Testing crew (myself, Tony and Bryan) are looking at a few different options to make the reviews cleaner. This we are hoping to achieve by making the review tab more for the actual reviews and having introductions (the longer and more in depth ones) and unboxing in the actual comments with them linked to in the review itself. This way those reading and wanting to see the review have simpler access to the review itself and those who want to read the other sections can easily do so via links in the review. 

So with that let us know your thoughts and we look forward to working with the community to improve and make this one of MGS best testing years yet!

 

Using hotlinks from an icon perhaps that is intuitive as the thing to click would enable a jump to reviews and the "meat and potatoes" of the information intended for quick access.  It would make it simple to jump to those meaningful parts.