Confusion about split server

[dsLawsd]

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 !!

[Georooney]

It seems bizarre that I can only see some of my friends online. I have to keep switching back and forth between servers to find them. Please make this seamless asap!

[Georooney]

So how is it that when I first log in, I can see some (but not all) of my friends who are playing in the relaxed room. Furthermore, I can jump to their table to kibbitz without the need to move to the casual server.

 

I think I will be going back to the old Flash Player BBO site until this gets straightened out. At least there I can see all my friends all of the time.

[Georooney]

I can appreciate that BBO needed to do something in a hurry to prevent the overloaded server from going down. For that, I'm grateful.

 

My hope is that they will eventually integrate the two servers in such a way that friends can see and chat with each other independent of which area they may be in.

 

As difficult as it may be, consider the alternative! :)

[sfi]

My hope is that they will eventually integrate the two servers in such a way that friends can see and chat with each other independent of which area they may be in.

From what I have read, there is no doubt BBO is working to do just that. This confusion can't be good for them either. Already they have released new versions for mobile devices, so give them a bit of time.

[chmtc]

Hi,

Just a suggestion to BBO admins :)

It could be very profitable to consider a migration to a Cloud solution for the BBO application with principal advantages :

- no more adware investment nor management. Just focus on the application

- improved availability

- improved elasticity

- auto-scaling and load-balancing facilities

- pay only what you you use

 

Consider for example AWS solutions

 

Best Regards

[paulg]

Hi,

Just a suggestion to BBO admins :)

It could be very profitable to consider a migration to a Cloud solution for the BBO application with principal advantages :

- no more adware investment nor management. Just focus on the application

- improved availability

- improved elasticity

- auto-scaling and load-balancing facilities

- pay only what you you use

 

Consider for example AWS solutions

 

Best Regards

If scaling BBO was purely down to the provision of hardware infrastructure then this would appear attractive.

 

Unfortunately, as has been explained in many places, it is not.

 

Pushing cloud marketing is not helpful.

[BillHiggin]

Solution...for those of you who cannot contact friends when in Casual etc.

When you first log on (or at any time) go to bottom right of the 'People' tab and check the SHOW OFFLINE button to ON, make it orange.

Now you will see all your contacts, in alphabetically order, those off line will be marked with red buttons, those online with green, those online and playing with yellow.

You can send a message to any of your contacts now, regardless of where they or you are.

 

Tried it! Like it (almost).

 

I would be alot happier with the split server situation if I could see this list but without the actual "offline" entries. Perhaps time has caused by "following" list to bloat somewhat, so the inclusion of actual offline entries means I must scroll a lot to scan it all (I remember the older windows version that would display everybody in a list that was so huge that it might as well have shown nobody).

[westwind3]

Surely the simplest solution is to just move the Main Club to the Competitive Server and charge it just like the Robots , 1$ ( or more ) a week to host a table. That will keep the casual crawlers out, and still the nearly-free ethos of BBO .

 

The Main Club IS competitive, it always has been,you will see "real" not "BBO" WORLD-CLASS players there.

 

And yet we have Solitaire and BridgeMaster and Bidding Practise in the Competitive section ,bizarre !!

[tibaba]

cuando cliqueo informal y quiero invitar a un amigo a jugar ellos aparacen como desconectados anes de cliquear informar los veo concectados y cuando paso a informal desaparacen

[zander1124]

How do I find out what version I am using n my Mac.

[hrothgar]

How do I find out what version I am using n my Mac.

 

If you use the url www.bridgebase.com to connect to BBO, you're using the latest release

 

if you use something like https://www.bridgebase.com/client/currelease6/bbo.php?cb=5UditqEZw6 then you're using the Flash version

[johnjo42]

What is confusing is that there are now two Acol Clubs. One on the new server under "casual" and the original one on the old server which is only accessible to people like me using the old Windows software (which I very much prefer). So instead of there being over 150 tables in the club there were only 30 or so in the "old" club and over 100 in the "new" club.

[hrothgar]

Much as I prefer the Windows version and the Flash versions to the new HTML implementation, I am starting to wonder whether BBO should deprecate them

[normw]

when I click casual, it doesn't take me to the casual server? On my phone it did, but on my desktop, I was left in limbo.

[Kleopatra0]

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.

 

 

I do apologise, I didn't mean to be rude or nasty, just pointing that the new solution is not perfect. Actually we should be grateful that BBO exists. As humans we tend to be always unsatisfied...

[barmar]

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

None of these things have anything to do with the split between the casual and tournament servers. They seem to be complaints about the HTML version.

[barmar]

Consider for example AWS solutions

We use AWS and Heroku for some of our services.

 

Redesigning the main server to run in the cloud would be a huge project. It's just not designed in that way. The casual/tournament split we did last week took a week of programming, and as can be seen it leaves much to be desired.

 

A totally new architecture in the cloud would be even more incompatible with the old clients.

 

We do have plans to make more incremental changes, splitting things up into more micro-services. But it can't be done all at once.