The waitlist is gone and has been replaced by a better and more useful tool!

In the past, the waitlist was not automated: I didn't want people to get moved from the waitlist to the main roster without knowing about it. So I asked Andy to design the system so I could contact folks individually and confirm that, yes, Bob will take the now-open spot for tonight's skate. As you can imagine, this was rather tedious micromanagement.

The other problem was that I had to keep checking the waitlist. Constantly. Take a nap on Friday evening and wake up to see I have three sessions with one open slot and a bunch of folks on the waitlist. Or even for sessions days ahead. I've heard many of you express frustration-- "I'm first on the waitlist and there are two open spots, am I in or what?"

Or the reverse happens: someone cancels an hour before icetime and I waste time calling three people on the waitlist only to hear "I forgot... I made other plans..." Argh, and on to the next person on the list, as the clock ticks and more people make alternate plans.

Clearly, things need to be managed better.

The new system is the best way to fill an open spot: just sign up for the notification, for as many sessions as you want. No charge.

From the FAQ

7e. How does the Notify List work?
When someone cancels from a full session, everyone who signed up for the notify list will receive an e-mail. This is your prompt to log into the JMS website and sign up to take the spot.

While signing up for the Notify List does not debit your account, you should make sure you have funds in your account to cover the icetime signup fee if you receive a notification message. Google Checkout can take 20 minutes and other people from the Notify List will also be trying to sign up for the same spot.

Being on the Notify List is not a guarantee that you will play. Do not just show up at the arena.

7f. So, I'm on the Notify List. How do I know if a spot opens?
Wait for the e-mail. Do not just show up at the rink!

I can't predict cancellations. They happen when someone has car trouble or gets sick or has to work late or gets injured. As soon as someone cancels, the automatic Notify List will send an alert to everyone who has asked to be notified about the session.

7g. How do I cancel from the notify list?
Log into the system, and click Manage Notifications, on the splash page, top right under "Member Links."

7h. I think I signed up for the Notify List, how can I tell?
Log into the system, and click Manage Notifications, on the splash page, top right under "Member Links."

With the Notify List, skaters AND goalies will not have to wait for me to inform them of an open spot. I won't be calling folks who already made other plans. I'm very excited--this change will benefit everyone.

The only significant change is that there is no longer any priority derived from when people signed up for the list. Given the hardships (significant time lag to contact people based on list position, having to start over when they have made other plans, programming the whole mess), I decided to abandon the numbered waitlist and move to a simpler method that just fills the spot--skater or goalie. The new system also benefits the bottom line: I've lost no small amount of money because I was calling skaters, in order, to fill a spot, only to run out of time and then hear later that someone far down the list was dying to play. Argh again.

The new system is evolving and we appreciate your patience and feedback. Post comments here; we will be monitoring the discussion and responding as we're able. We're already thinking that the goalie portion of the Notify List may need to be tweaked to benefit their special circumstances, so watch for continued developments and improvements as we tweak the site to function better and better.

And of course it would never have been done without the genius of Andy Baird's programming, the man behind the scenes who never gets enough credit for how awesome the JMS website is.

I like the idea !!

One thing comes to mind in my situation. I'm not constantly on the computer to check if I have email but I still really want to play. Is it possible to have the system designed to send out an alert to a text pager or cell phone, which would prompt me to check the JMS site and get signed up?

Just a thought !!

Thanks,

Paul

I like this, and it does make a lot more sense than the waitlist, but
i have a (hopefully simple) request:
Can you show how many people are on the notify list?

With the waitlist, if i was first or second on the waitlist i'd feel as though i had a pretty good chance of getting to play, but if there were 5 people on alright i could go ahead and make other plans. With the notify list as it is, I have no idea how many people I'm in competition for spots that open up.

The same concept came in extremely useful as a goalie. For example one day i was
signed up to play goal but just was feeling run down. Unless I was on deaths
door I would never bail as goalie leaving an empty net, but since I could see
someone was waitlisted to play goal in my game, I felt comfortable cancelling
so the waitlisted goalie could take my place. If you had some kind of "notify list
count", that would provide similar information to a goalie faced with the same
sort of dilema.

Thank you,
Johnny

Most cell providers allow you to send email messages to your phone as text messages. They are often limited to 160 characters so you might not get the whole message, but it’s better than nothing. The trick is getting the emails. JMS appears to currently be setup to allow for only one email address, and when you sign up for the list this is the email address used. So, at this point it’s all or nothing…unless you have a way to do advanced filtering with message forwarding. Outlook will do it for you as well other mail clients and possibly some of the web mail clients.

Thanks for the warning, I should have included something like this the first time.

ATT: phonenumber@txt.att.net
T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

Johnny: I think you'll find that the number of people on a notification list is less of a factor, because it's an even playing field so to speak -- the first who clicks on the email gets it.


SMTP to text message receive lower priority and carriers do not guarantee timely or even any delivery of messages. Also, two way texting is more challenging as it depends on the mobile subscriber's plan/carrier as to whether or not they can respond.

I've been looking into a few of the cheaper SMS text message API's so you could get something like this on your mobile phone:

"There is now a spot open for Level 3 at Fogerty this Friday. Reply with '1' to confirm your spot or '2' to remove yourself from the notifylist"

Or something to that affect. I think that would be the ideal setup.

I read all of this and I didn't see it answered but if it was I apologize. If a skater cancels late and someone on the Notify List takes the spot, will the cancelled skater get his/her credits back.

~Lee

I would assume the same policy applies as it has in the past for cancellations that Barb had to handle manually.


7c. I canceled, where is my refund?
If you canceled less than 48 hours before icetime, whether you receive a refund or not will depend on whether or not someone fills your spot.

I guess I should have been clearer, I was more curious if that was automated as well, or does the person need to contact Barbara for their refund.

~Lee

OK, I get the issues you face trying to manage this. But, this is worse for some of us, OK, at least me. With this new approach I/we have lost all feedback on the queue waiting for a game. I used to be able to judge this and make informed decisions on whether to hold out hope or not for the filled up. game. So, I would suggest you consider the following improvements:

1. Ability to see total number of people on waitlist before I jump onto it; and, during while waiting. I can't tell what kind of high or low backlog I'm up against for the game I/we want. If I/we know the waitlist is large, i.e., our odds of getting in seem lesser, I/we might just sign up for a less favorable game situation (e.g., other date, time, location...), or pass and make plans with friends and family rather than hopelessly holding out for a very full backlog game.

2. How about an option in our profile for those of us willing to commit to a waitlist notice without having to respond. So, if my name is next to be notified, you don't ask me to get back to you (inconvenient for me and unreliable for me - I/we have a day job and can't always respond immediately), you assume I'm in and I'm committed to paying ('cause my profile says so and I have money in my account) without even a response. People with their profile set this way get an email that confirms "they are in" - now it's done automatically for both you and us.

As always, thanks for considering.

In reply to Ross:

1. It matters less how many are receiving notifications; what matters is if you are on the list or not. To put it another way, there may be 200 people on the notify list for one spot, but they are ALL sent the e-mail at the same time and they ALL have a chance at getting on the list. It doesn't depend on how many others may have indicated an interest in the spot, it matters if you choose to take it.

The number of people on the notify list has nothing to do with the main factor of cancellations--which is uncertainty. When someone's car will break down. When she has to work late. When the kid gets sick. These things are not predictable and by shortening the time between when someone cancels and when interested skaters know about availability, we're IMPROVING how informed people are, not reducing it.

Also, there is a difference between people on a wait list and people on a notify list. The latter have indicated they'd like to hear about when a spot comes open, but not all are chomping to sign up. The waitlist was also misleading--many a Friday night I would call the first two or three people on the list only to be told they had already made other plans. And so the waitlist's reflection of the actual situation was marred as well.

2. No way... I can tell you from working the admin side of JMS that this would result in TONS of people saying "I didn't NOTICE I clicked the 'I'm in anyway no matter what' button, and you charged my account but I didn't KNOW so I didn't play and I want my money back!"
Trust me. This would happen, a LOT, and I would either have to lose money or be a hardass and say tough noogies. No way.

3. While I realize some folks have difficult schedules, the very best way to make sure you're in for a session is to sign up early. I post MTWH on Tuesday nights and Fridays are listed on Saturday morning.