[BillHiggin]

Perhaps I will get used to this, but it is not going well.

I am seeing a sudden reduction in people showing as online from my friends/following list. I thought that by switching between "competitive"/"casual" that I would see the lists for both servers, but it does not change. I normally hate those who immediately gripe about any change, but this one has me bamboozled.

[diana_eva]

 BillHiggin, on 2020-May-13, 12:10, said:

Perhaps I will get used to this, but it is not going well.

I am seeing a sudden reduction in people showing as online from my friends/following list. I thought that by switching between "competitive"/"casual" that I would see the lists for both servers, but it does not change. I normally hate those who immediately gripe about any change, but this one has me bamboozled.

If you refresh the right hand side panel the list will update.

Currently the list of friends is not visible in both servers. You see who is on main BBO server when you login, and who is on the Casual server when you click Casual.

This is not a very bad thing, because you now know that everyone else who is not in Casual will not be able to see you and join your table.

The list you see while you are in Casual, tells you that those people you are seeing there can join your table, and can be invited.

For a set game, advise all your friends to:

1. Use the latest version of BBO, either on web or for the mobile apps. It's version 5.6.
2. Click the Casual button before you set up the table, so that you can invite each other.

[westwind3]

It is even more bizarre !!

This server "switch" only happens on the HTML version (5.6). All'newbies' are automatically on this version
Most 'oldies', say members for over a year, are on the Flash Version ( which, rightly so, will be retired at end of 2020 ) , or even the Windows version.

So, if a "newbie" logs in and decides to maybe play in the Relaxed Club ( or the Main club) , then they are switched to the Casual server. So now they cannot see their 'oldie' , experienced BBO members, and the endless confusion begins.

The 'oldies' are still on the Flash version. And of course they don't have a clue what is the difference between HTML5 and Flash, and of course they don't know if they are on version 4.x or 5.x ( BBO is the only software in the world that does not tell you what version number you are using ) .

Hence more confusion , 'oldie' tells 'newbie' friend you are not logged on , no I am , yes , you are not !! Brilliant.

The Main Bridge Club has been the " heart & soul " of BBO for the 15 years that I have been a member. You log in , see what friends are on-line, some maybe are kibbing a team match, invite a table. Now if you start a table, you can end up having to make a mobile call to ask them to switch.

And if they are on Flash version, well , they cannot move to the Casual server anyhow !! , totally bizarre !!
So now exit your table and ask them to set up a table , or make another mobile call !!

For now, the 'oldies' do not seem to be screaming at this crazy change, but that is because they are mostly still on the Flash version.
So if they start a table , they can see all their friends , many of whom might be e.g. kibbing a JEC match, ( except 1 or 2 who might be on 5.6 on the casual server ), and invite as before.
Everything looks fine , they are not screaming at BBO

BBO , we do understand that servers need to be upgraded , but this is NOT THE WAY TO DO IT . Invest in hardware, test and prepare, and THEN do a clean switch over with minimal down-time

Stay safe all !!

[diana_eva]

 westwind3, on 2020-May-14, 03:06, said:

Most 'oldies', say members for over a year, are on the Flash Version ( which, rightly so, will be retired at end of 2020 ) , or even the Windows version.

Players on older versions are, in total, less than 10% of the users.

It doesn't mean that they should be ignored, but deploying a solution that services 90% of the users is not as bad as the users on older versions seem to believe.

We will continue to integrate the two servers and make the experience smoother, but as we explained in several other places, an immediate solution releasing pressure on the main server was preferable to a slower but more perfect solution, at this point.

In the end, old or new users, the symptom of overload was "cannot login".

I think 100% users prefer to be able to login in the first place, and this server split made it possible.

[MRTRUB44]

When logging in to BBO, could you please display the software version after
"Bridge Base Online Home"
When I login (through windows) I get a bridgebase.com/v3/ displayed as the address - I hope that does not mean I am back on version 3.
This is standard good programming practice, and has been for decades. Also, it is very easy to do.

[paulg]

I have started a topic at https://www.bridgeba...sual-explained/ that contains a video with my understanding of the split server solution and the practical impacts. My club members have found this more useful than the BBO explanation although this is probably because they watch my stuff rather than read BBO News!

I won't link the video here in case additional comments arise from it in that thread.

[diana_eva]

 MRTRUB44, on 2020-May-14, 04:10, said:

When logging in to BBO, could you please display the software version after
"Bridge Base Online Home"
When I login (through windows) I get a bridgebase.com/v3/ displayed as the address - I hope that does not mean I am back on version 3.
This is standard good programming practice, and has been for decades. Also, it is very easy to do.

You are using the latest version of the web client. The version number is shown on the splash screen briefly, but if the site loads fast it's likely to miss it.

[pilowsky]

So when I use Chrome and see "https://www.bridgebase.com/v3/" in the browser tab. Which version am I using? BBO link on Chrome

[Kleopatra0]

 diana_eva, on 2020-May-14, 00:02, said:

If you refresh the right hand side panel the list will update.

Currently the list of friends is not visible in both servers. You see who is on main BBO server when you login, and who is on the Casual server when you click Casual.

This is not a very bad thing, because you now know that everyone else who is not in Casual will not be able to see you and join your table.

The list you see while you are in Casual, tells you that those people you are seeing there can join your table, and can be invited.

For a set game, advise all your friends to:

1. Use the latest version of BBO, either on web or for the mobile apps. It's version 5.6.
2. Click the Casual button before you set up the table, so that you can invite each other.

Yes, everything you say it's true Diana, but let's say I joined a tournament that will start in about 12-13 minutes. Meanwhile I would like to join a table or watch some friends that play casual. Then I will not be able to be taken to my tournament when the time will come! Which is not very convenient. Am I right Diana?

[norm5733]

I recently joined BBO in common with friends at my bridge club. Due to the age of my computer(XP), I can only use the old flash system, but since May 11th, despite the efforts of all my friends, no play invitation can reach me. It's clear from what I read here and from trying to use your Help address that nothing can be done. I can still drop in on strangers' games, but not my friends! Can't wait for the clubs to re-open!

[westwind3]

Admin says only 10% of members are on older versions .

Main Club Bridge was always the heart & soul of BBO , you played a while , kibbed a while , played some Speedball , teams , paid a lot of BBO$
Now you cannot do that without doing somersaults.

Look at the table hosts, I took a quick sample of 10 table hosts , every one of them was in the "main" server , only way they can do that is by starting table from the Flash version ??
So clearly the members who supported BBO over all these years , still prefer the old way.

Yes BBO , please upgrade the hardware , but get it done very quickly, put a date on the integration

stay safe

[letitrock]

Hi Diana

You say to ask your friends to come to the casual area before opening a table so you can invite them. This dose work sometimes, but sometimes when they try to come into casual their name doesn’t appear. If I send an invite it says they are offline when they obviously are not. I go back and say come to casual, they say I am there I can’t see you! Frustrating and annoying I understand it’s a capacity issue why this has been done, but please try and join us all back together. Its like some can only use the small half of BBO and some the big half. We need all joining back together.....please.

Kind regards.

[diana_eva]

 Kleopatra0, on 2020-May-14, 05:23, said:

Yes, everything you say it's true Diana, but let's say I joined a tournament that will start in about 12-13 minutes. Meanwhile I would like to join a table or watch some friends that play casual. Then I will not be able to be taken to my tournament when the time will come! Which is not very convenient. Am I right Diana?

You are right, and this is all far from perfect...

It's inconvenient to have to jump back and forth between servers.

Sorry about that. It's not perfect and we are aware. Our team is working on better integration.

[ISIRTA]

The switch has been an absolute disaster. I have had a number of players who have not received invites to a table. The solution seems to be to set up a new player id. Reminds me of the old saying if it ain't broke don't muck around with it.

[hrothgar]

 ISIRTA, on 2020-May-14, 07:35, said:

Reminds me of the old saying if it ain't broke don't muck around with it.

Since you like quotes: here's another "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt"

The system before the split servers was badly broken
Yes, there are going to be some bugs putting the new system in place

Welcome to the world of software development

[DouglasAB]

very confusing. I can not invite a friend this week . Message says he is not logged on.

While he is ?

Solution please ?

[mycroft]

Yes, it was totally broken. People couldn't log in for minutes at a time, couldn't start tables, free tournaments had to be killed "at random" to allow revenue-making games to run,...

And this is not permanent. "For right now", you have to hit casual, you have to ensure all your table is in casual, and it will work. Right now, it's worse, because some phones haven't updated, some have, and some don't have an update yet (out of BBO's hands). Some people are getting the last 6 months out of a massively insecure version of the software (not that *it* is insecure, but it's on Flash, and *that's* insecure) because they don't like the changes (*). And those players won't be able to get to Casual. And that is a serious problem.

But eventually:

• everyone will have the new version (or be on Flash and learn that their sunset date is now June 1 instead of December 1)
  
• BBO will figure out a way to link the two servers such that people can be seen (and can transit) between servers seamlessly
  
• Capacity increases, and other fixes will mean that some of the other restrictions can be relaxed and still have the company offer free bridge because that's the goal (and it's in their best interests as far as making money is concerned, too)
  
• The HTML client will get a bunch of the niggling issues that make it frustrating fixed, and we'll get used to "WTH did they put *this* feature again?"
  
• more problems will be found for us all to yell at BBO about...

If I sound like a paid BBO shill, well, look at my history. I'm sure Barmar has wanted to drown me in the back slough more than once, and some of the comments I have made to Fred were - I hope polite. But BBO really is, obviously, doing what they can to handle a 100% increase in traffic in two weeks, and the needs of 1000+% more *paying clients* two weeks after that.

"But I don't care about all of that. Why am *I* inconvenienced?"

(*)And I don't like one change I just found out by playing under the new client. All the way back to day 1, when I typed into BBO, it went into the chat bar if nothing else had focus. Now, I have to move my mouse and click on it. Can this, eventually, be fixed?

[westwind3]

Mr ( or Madam secretary )
can I add a few more little niggles
1) The UNDO button , that should be right up on the table beside the claim button, impossible now to hit an immediate, obvious misclick.
2) Why only list events with a 2-hour window. In the past ( and I must reveal myself now as PC version user ) , would commonly book Speedball , many hours ahead
3) The bidding panel N S E W why not put the names in , even if it truncates to 4 characters. How many times do I have to do a double-take , who bid what ?
4) The claim button , instead of "I claim 7 of 9" , making it quite clear that 2 are conceded, you get "I claim 7" and now you have to carefully do some math.
5) Please put BBO "time" on the window bar. Instead of trying to figure out if 2PM Speedball is my local 7 or 8 , I will know it is in 40 minutes time

Do you have the ear of BBO ,if you add these to your wishlist

[kibsbobs]

 westwind3, on 2020-May-14, 03:06, said:

It is even more bizarre !!

This server "switch" only happens on the HTML version (5.6). All'newbies' are automatically on this version
Most 'oldies', say members for over a year, are on the Flash Version ( which, rightly so, will be retired at end of 2020 ) , or even the Windows version.

So, if a "newbie" logs in and decides to maybe play in the Relaxed Club ( or the Main club) , then they are switched to the Casual server. So now they cannot see their 'oldie' , experienced BBO members, and the endless confusion begins.

The 'oldies' are still on the Flash version. And of course they don't have a clue what is the difference between HTML5 and Flash, and of course they don't know if they are on version 4.x or 5.x ( BBO is the only software in the world that does not tell you what version number you are using ) .

Hence more confusion , 'oldie' tells 'newbie' friend you are not logged on , no I am , yes , you are not !! Brilliant.

The Main Bridge Club has been the " heart & soul " of BBO for the 15 years that I have been a member. You log in , see what friends are on-line, some maybe are kibbing a team match, invite a table. Now if you start a table, you can end up having to make a mobile call to ask them to switch.

And if they are on Flash version, well , they cannot move to the Casual server anyhow !! , totally bizarre !!
So now exit your table and ask them to set up a table , or make another mobile call !!

For now, the 'oldies' do not seem to be screaming at this crazy change, but that is because they are mostly still on the Flash version.
So if they start a table , they can see all their friends , many of whom might be e.g. kibbing a JEC match, ( except 1 or 2 who might be on 5.6 on the casual server ), and invite as before.
Everything looks fine , they are not screaming at BBO

BBO , we do understand that servers need to be upgraded , but this is NOT THE WAY TO DO IT . Invest in hardware, test and prepare, and THEN do a clean switch over with minimal down-time

Stay safe all !!

I agree. In my circle this has caused a good bit of confusion. But when you know, and you just want to play 4 friends, it's fine. However: Let us rather be thankful that BBO is trying very hard to keep up with an extremely difficult situation.

[GG_Bridge]

I soundly agree with all of westwind3's "niggles" and could add that the table view when not using card pictures is absolutely awful .. and the solution is not an easy "just use pictures" as one yellow suggested. For players like myself, who are working at learning to count a hand .. shapes are so much clearer. I can hardly figure out what's going on when I try to use the table with those huge bidding icons in the middle of the board.

Besides which, BBO, is taking this opportunity to kill of the clubs that they've been hoping to get rid of for a couple of years. It can't be a priority now, but I certainly hope BBO will re-establish the clubs ability to function privately at some point. It's depressing that all of these new players that wouldn't have had anything to do with online playing until they were forced .. are now the top priority in all the programming .. cutting the long time members out of the equation.

Sad situation .. that doesn't seem to improve... also now that we have 2 servers, why is the mid-day ban on free tourneys not yet lifted.