What a complicated registration process

[cvcalhoun]

@Ify 194742 wrote:

Obligatory first post. I consider myself fairly adept at technology however this process has me clicking all over the place. Register for the forum, confirm the forum email account, post here, join the Strava group, authorize Freezing Saddles, clicked on another separate registration form which has another email confirmation. All the random questions are sort of annoying. The things we do to ride our bikes.

~ Ify

I absolutely agree that it’s incredibly complicated–and I wrote it. The problem is, it’s the only way we can get all the information we need to make this work. There are really five components:

1. You have to be a forum member and to have made at least one post, because the game was developed by forum members in part to foster camaraderie among forum members. What’s a “forum member” is obviously open to interpretation, but requiring registration plus one post is a pretty low-level requirement. Also, because all information is posted on the forum, we want to make sure that contestants are at least familiar enough with the forum mechanics to know how to post questions, etc.
2. To get the back end to be able to count miles, we have to have Strava to collect the miles, Strava clubs to show who is in which team, and authorization to allow Freezing Saddles to read Strava information.
3. To be able to notify people of team assignments, events, etc., we have to be able to e-mail them. (Not everyone reads the forum daily.) And to get our e-mails to get through spam filters, we have to have the double opt-in process (clicking on that second e-mail) that drives everyone nuts.
4. We need information to make team assignments. In part, this is to balance out those who ride a lot with those who don’t on each team. Hence the questions about last year’s mileage and what you normally ride. In part, it’s to allow people who want to be on local teams to do so.
5. The contest is run by volunteers, so we need a volunteer sign-up.

Obviously, if you just want to ride your bike and not compete, you don’t have to do any of this. But if you want to compete, the questions are far from random. The only one not specifically related to the game is the one about coffee clubs. It is not mandatory (your form will go through without it), but is intended to let people know the coffee clubs exist, as another way of fostering camaraderie.

[elizsnyder]

;)I had to dislike the post. Sorry Ify. Jumping through hoops makes it feel even better when you get in. After f-ing up my first year attempt and not getting on a team…believe it or not made it sweeter each follow on year that I was able to navigate the registration. It’s FREAKING AWESOME! It is EXACTLY like how it feels when you go out to climb on the bike, it’s raining, forgot the rain jacket, tire is flat, wait, do I have a nice dress jacket for work in my pannier? I have a presentation at work at 10am!!, oh crap, imma gonna be late, but I am not giving up…I will RIDE TO WORK! I refer you to rule #5 and rule # 43 https://www.velominati.com THANK YOU CVCALHOUN AND ALL THE VOLUNTEERS who make this stuff happen!!

[BobCochran]

Hi Ify,

I feel your pain, I think the process is complicated. With that said, I just live with it, because it is only a few minutes for me to do once a year. Then I can enjoy the good life of just going out there and racking up the winter miles.

One thing I do want to stress is that if you visit these forums a lot you will quickly discover there is a wealth of bicycling knowledge and experience here. Forum participants do a whole range of things bicycling and it is fascinating to read many of the posts. Photos in many posts are real treasures.

Thanks so much

Bob

[G-Daddy]

I was so upset by the process I almost asked for a refund. At the very least I think the people who run this thing should have their pay docked.

So I read in the sticky we’re not allowed to ask to be on teams with certain people. Are we allowed to ask to *not* be on teams with certain people?

ETA: another THANK YOU to the volunteers who make this possible! I know from direct experience that navigating Strava’s UI is no ride in the park, and it’s simply AMAZING that we’re able to benefit from the infrastructure that’s been put into place here.

[Jessica Hirschhorn]

That’s just how I roll.

No really. The first year I was so freaked out by the Forum I entered my ONE message and was done. I never looked at it again.

My second year was slightly better but I was a Team Captain (Motto: “Look at me. Look at me. I am the CAPTAIN now.”) and started to actually learn to do things like , oh, I don’t know, REMEMBER MY FORUM password from week to week.

Now is my THIRD YEAR and I have somehow become a FORUM PEST, posting a lot more. Even volunteering a pointless prize!

You can DO it Ify! Not to overshare, but I totally registered for FS202 and verified my e-mail while, ahem, powdering my nose.

Looking forward to seeing everyone out there.

As Nadine says, “The ONLY good thing about WINTER is Freezing Saddles”.

[Judd]

@Ify 194742 wrote:

Obligatory first post. I consider myself fairly adept at technology however this process has me clicking all over the place. Register for the forum, confirm the forum email account, post here, join the Strava group, authorize Freezing Saddles, clicked on another separate registration form which has another email confirmation. All the random questions are sort of annoying. The things we do to ride our bikes.

~ Ify

Imagine how annoying it is to volunteer your time as a captain, only to find out that someone on your team didn’t read any of the rules, misses information because they don’t have a forum, can’t interact with team mates on the forum, can’t be reached because there’s no valid email address, can’t play because they don’t have a Strava account, aren’t showing up on the leaderboards because they didn’t join the Strava group, aren’t showing up on the leaderboard because they didn’t authorize the Strava app, and then can’t be reached again because they mistyped their email address when registering…

Lots of clicks? Yep.
All required to make the game work? Yep.
All based on hours wasted by volunters time trying to track down participants? Yep.

[LuisFilipe]

Yeah. Fourth? Fifth? Time here doing FS and I believe I have done all the clicking needed but not sure if I am indeed officially registered. How does one know?

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[cvcalhoun]

@LuisFilipe 194861 wrote:

Yeah. Fourth? Fifth? Time here doing FS and I believe I have done all the clicking needed but not sure if I am indeed officially registered. How does one know?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As to you personally, you are registered. As to anyone in general, you know you are registered if you receive two e-mails–one confirming your registration, and one asking you to click on a link to confirm your e-mail–and you click on the link in the latter one.

If those two things have happened, you are registered. It is likely, but not 100%, that you have completed all the steps you need to in order to compete. For example, although we have instructed you to authorize Freezing Saddles to read your miles, we do not have any way to ensure that you actually have done so before you submit your form. Similarly, we ask whether you have posted on the forum, but we have no way to keep the registration form from going through if you say you have but you actually haven’t. However, if we discover that you have failed to do those things, we have your e-mail, and can hound you until you do them.

[Jessica Hirschhorn]

You should have gotten a confirmatory e-mail.

[scarabini]

hi all – trying again to post something so i can register for freezing saddles. hoping it works this time (or maybe my posts arent getting approved?

[Hancockbs]

@cvcalhoun 194837 wrote:

I absolutely agree that it’s incredibly complicated–and I wrote it. The problem is, it’s the only way we can get all the information we need to make this work. There are really five components:

Obviously, if you just want to ride your bike and not compete, you don’t have to do any of this. But if you want to compete, the questions are far from random. The only one not specifically related to the game is the one about coffee clubs. It is not mandatory (your form will go through without it), but is intended to let people know the coffee clubs exist, as another way of fostering camaraderie.

Did not intend to dislike this post and “dislike” that I can’t remove it.

[Nadine]

@cvcalhoun 194837 wrote:

I absolutely agree that it’s incredibly complicated–and I wrote it. The problem is, it’s the only way we can get all the information we need to make this work. There are really five components:

1. You have to be a forum member and to have made at least one post, because the game was developed by forum members in part to foster camaraderie among forum members. What’s a “forum member” is obviously open to interpretation, but requiring registration plus one post is a pretty low-level requirement. Also, because all information is posted on the forum, we want to make sure that contestants are at least familiar enough with the forum mechanics to know how to post questions, etc.
2. To get the back end to be able to count miles, we have to have Strava to collect the miles, Strava clubs to show who is in which team, and authorization to allow Freezing Saddles to read Strava information.
3. To be able to notify people of team assignments, events, etc., we have to be able to e-mail them. (Not everyone reads the forum daily.) And to get our e-mails to get through spam filters, we have to have the double opt-in process (clicking on that second e-mail) that drives everyone nuts.
4. We need information to make team assignments. In part, this is to balance out those who ride a lot with those who don’t on each team. Hence the questions about last year’s mileage and what you normally ride. In part, it’s to allow people who want to be on local teams to do so.
5. The contest is run by volunteers, so we need a volunteer sign-up.

Obviously, if you just want to ride your bike and not compete, you don’t have to do any of this. But if you want to compete, the questions are far from random. The only one not specifically related to the game is the one about coffee clubs. It is not mandatory (your form will go through without it), but is intended to let people know the coffee clubs exist, as another way of fostering camaraderie.

Thanks for everything you do for us! Yeah registration is kind of a pain but omg it must be so much more of a pain for you!

I hope you’re feeling the love & support here…. [emoji3590]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nadine]

@elizsnyder 194840 wrote:

;)I had to dislike the post. Sorry Ify. Jumping through hoops makes it feel even better when you get in. After f-ing up my first year attempt and not getting on a team…believe it or not made it sweeter each follow on year that I was able to navigate the registration. It’s FREAKING AWESOME! It is EXACTLY like how it feels when you go out to climb on the bike, it’s raining, forgot the rain jacket, tire is flat, wait, do I have a nice dress jacket for work in my pannier? I have a presentation at work at 10am!!, oh crap, imma gonna be late, but I am not giving up…I will RIDE TO WORK! I refer you to rule #5 and rule # 43 https://www.velominati.com THANK YOU CVCALHOUN AND ALL THE VOLUNTEERS who make this stuff happen!!

Ah hahaha this comment is the BOMB! I’d never made that connection before, but you’re absolutely right – registration is a pain but worth it in the same way as a hard obstacle filled ride…. And completely woo-hoo when you’ve made it up the hill! etc…
I mean through the process….[emoji16]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cvcalhoun]

@Hancockbs 194902 wrote:

Did not intend to dislike this post and “dislike” that I can’t remove it.

Yeah, the forum is weird like that. You can both like and dislike the same post, but there appears to be no way to remove either one if you have an errant mouse click.

[Nadine]

@Jessica Hirschhorn 194852 wrote:

That’s just how I roll.

No really. The first year I was so freaked out by the Forum I entered my ONE message and was done. I never looked at it again.

My second year was slightly better but I was a Team Captain (Motto: “Look at me. Look at me. I am the CAPTAIN now.”) and started to actually learn to do things like , oh, I don’t know, REMEMBER MY FORUM password from week to week.

Now is my THIRD YEAR and I have somehow become a FORUM PEST, posting a lot more. Even volunteering a pointless prize!

You can DO it Ify! Not to overshare, but I totally registered for FS202 and verified my e-mail while, ahem, powdering my nose.

Looking forward to seeing everyone out there.

As Nadine says, “The ONLY good thing about WINTER is Freezing Saddles”.

I love this, Jessica!
You are a great storyteller.
And it’s true – freezing saddles is the only thing I like about winter.

So grateful for all the volunteers who jump through the complicated hoops all the time so we can have something to make winter fun! [emoji3590][emoji2186][emoji106][emoji2187][emoji3587][emoji2186][emoji3587][emoji2187][emoji944][emoji2186][emoji12][emoji2187][emoji1][emoji323][emoji2186][emoji322][emoji2187][emoji482][emoji2186][emoji1635][emoji2187]

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