I figured this would be easier than going to each page trying to get an answer. With many choices this year it's not an easy vote.

What are your thoughts on the PDGA website? Is it fine? Does it need to be changed?

I appreciate your time!
Brett Comincioli
IL State Coordinator

I figured this would be easier than going to each page trying to get an answer. With many choices this year it's not an easy vote.

What are your thoughts on the PDGA website? Is it fine? Does it need to be changed?

I appreciate your time!
Brett Comincioli
IL State Coordinator

Thoughts:
The website is the heart and soul of what reflects the PDGA. The forum used to be lively. The resources were invaluable for education. With these resources, it often takes more than three clicks to find the page I want. The ratings/competition is the only thing keeping it afloat despite the wicked lag time.

1) downtime.
Based on the time it takes to load this website, at times I wonder if it's running off several old PC's in someone's garage. Since the migration to the "new" website, timing has been sporadic. This is no excuse after 2+ years now. I wonder how all of this data is being stored and replicated (for having a reliable backup) There is a need to reconsider the current outsourcing, services of the hosting facility, and so on. With the increase in tournament data and transactions while still dealing with "downtime", there is a need to revisit the hosting facility and their "on-call" staffing. Paid members should not deal with this downtime.

2) the model of dgcoursereview
We need to look, nay - recognize, the success that dgcr has channeled with the course review section. There's a reason why website has exploded with user generated contents while pdga has crawled with this aspect.

3) Certain parts of the site could be more accessible or visibility could increase.
I would love to see a poll from TD's and then the general users in the past 1-3 years to compare what parts of the website are prioritized for them. For ex: The rulebook and "results" from tournaments are the top two choices for me. If I type in "rules" in the search function at the top right - I have to scroll all the way down to "documents" before I am able to find the rulebook. I like the neat classification feature but it needs work. If I type in "rulebook" in the search function, I am unable to find it. I would love to see more TD generated "stories" about their event, even the C tier in the middle of nowhere. Some staple "interview" questions for these TD's to fill out online may generate more readable news. The TD's are the vital cog in the PDGA machine. I hope that we can find a way to increase recognition for their hard work and share the stories of what has been done for john and jane to read.

-Kent Schafer
PDGA #22662
DDGA #87

cevalkyrie:

Here are some excerpts from post #4 on my thread, where I discussed this issue at length.

The website, as we all know, is a mess. It is often intolerably slow, both on entry and on navigation within the site. It kicks us out for no reason. It is festooned with ads that have spread malware and which are programmed to perform an amazing variety of obnoxious behaviors. The PDGA (not Ciphent) controls website content, so our administration could fix the ad problem. But they do nothing. If anything, it gets worse.

The website contract was not put out for a bid. IT Committee members Theo Pozzy and David Gentry recommended Ciphent in the early summer of 2008, and the Board went along. What has become of these guys? Neither has, to my knowledge, ever had anything to say about what went wrong. Pozzy, in an interview in September 2008 (http://www.1000rated.com/2008/09/new-pdga-web-site/), spoke glowingly about Ciphent and the website's bright future. In 2010 he ran for the Board and lost narrowly. This year, of course, he could get on the Board without even running for it [As we now know, he IS running for it]. Gentry's star has actually risen considerably. The administration recently created a new IT staff position, and appointed him to it. There was no open search, of the sort done to find Gentry's replacement as Tour Manager.

Solution: The first step must be to identify the problems. Neither Pozzy nor Gentry seems likely to admit that there are any, let alone identify them. So we need to hire an independent party to do this. Many of the members who have posted about website problems are obviously knowledgeable in this area, and could suggest capable consultants.

Secondly, we mustn't throw good money after bad. We should put this contract back in the competitive marketplace by issuing an RFP (which is what we should have done in the first place).

In the meantime, if Gentry knows anything about IT he knows exactly what needs to be done to fix the ad problems. If his new position gives him the power to do it on his own, he should do it. If not, he should let the Board know what needs to be done, and they can instruct him accordingly.

I figured this would be easier than going to each page trying to get an answer. With many choices this year it's not an easy vote.

What are your thoughts on the PDGA website? Is it fine? Does it need to be changed?

I appreciate your time!
Brett Comincioli
IL State Coordinator


Brett,

I want to first say that I do not know that much about how web sites work nor will I pretend that I would know the first thing about what would need to be done to make this site work better.

Now, my thoughts are that the idea behind what I think this web site could be capable of is very good, however in my mind this site is running at a level far below its potential. so in that regard I guess I have answered the both of the next questions, I don't believe it is fine, since it could be so much more and yes I am sure many things about it could and probably should be changed.

In my limited knowledge and from my personal use of the site, I find myself sometimes being frustrated with the speed and downtime of the site. Do I know how to make it better? I don't have the knowledge to "fix it" myself, but I do know that when I don't have a certain ability and need to get something done, I find the person(s) that has an abundance of that knowledge along with the desire to use that ability and put them to work. However, we have to remember the knowledge and ability to do something does not always make them the best candidate to do the job, the willingness to do a great job and be accountable for their actions is something that I feel they must also have.

I hope this addresses your questions. Feel free to ask others as you feel the need.