Change in news functionality

If you post news from V3, then you will get an alert which takes you directly to the news item (for members in V3):

(V2 does not understand these new alerts so it continues to use the old ones that take you the main news page instead.)

@tedenby21

If you wish to reach your members, you can:
1) Post on group notes, but it may be pushed down to another page before members log in and many ignore group notes be settings or clicking "ignore all"
2) Send a news, but as you have seen after change, only 0.4% ses those news
3) Which leaves you with: PM members individually.  It is very time consuming and be sure to individualize each message as to not get caught in spam filter. If you are not a premium member, you may need to put some delay in between each message.

Hopefully, once news has been fixed, you can use those again. They used to  be effective in reaching your groups members.

@VirtualKnightJoakim

Thanks. Let's hope the staff gets this fixed soon.

I just checked in V2. If you click "view" which takes you to the list of news, not the actual news item, the alert goes away. Even though you have not seen the actual news yet.

I am a techie. But first few month after April change to news, I always clicked on group name as I do for group notes alerts and never found the news. Now, since I am member of 10 groups, I often click "ignore all" and lose the news that way.

The statistics is pretty clear, only 0.4% of members see any news item with current functionality which pretty much render the feature useless.

I asked chrka about the news function as well, he said I could post this again along with the notation at the end as well: 

I actually posted something in that thread (#388)

But let me check first that we're talking about the same issue. This is what happens when I post news in a test group of mine (let me know if this is different from what you're seeing):

First, my members get an alert like this

Clicking on that alert takes them directly to the news article:

Now, for this to work, you have to create the news from V3. Also, this kind of alert will only show up for members using V3 unfortunately (since V2 doesn't know about them). If you post news from V2, or if you're reading it on V2 it will work as before. (No direct link to the actual article. just to the news listing)

Chess.com has deployed a fix to the news functionality. It requires admin to generate news from V3 and members to see from V3 to work. It is a good first step, but we hope just a first step as it does not appears as effective as old, pre April functionality.

Improvements:
- Deep link to news item from alerts area
- New title is displayed
- Group section has been moved up to just after friends request section

Remaining Challenges:
- No special alert or counter for news. When you login and see 10 alerts, it could just be for group notes chatter.
- If you click "ignore all" to get rid of your group notes alerts, it removes the news as well (but not the friends request). I think news need to be excluded from "ignore all" so you have to inidvidually take action, just like friends request are.

Recommendations:
- Alert count to be, say, 25/1 instead of 26 ... 25 non-items alert, 1 news alert.
- Have one section for Club News and another for Club Activity (group notes). List Club News section first.
- Exempt news from "ignore all" (just like friends requests)

Screenshot (current fix):
Without scrolling around, you do not know if there is a news item or not. Depending on your amount of alerts, you may miss before you click "ignore all:.

It may be a radical idea, but accepting/declining your friend requests would bring those alerts to the top!!

Regardless, if you are member of many groups, a news item can be flooded and lost among all the group notes alerts?

Easy to ignore

.... and lost when you click "ignore all"

I almost would like count to be, say, 25/1 instead of 26 ... 25 non-items alert, 1 news alert.

Admin used to use news for a last call to arms for an important match... or invite to a prize competition before a deadline... some visual clue and urgency is required.... to make a news alert as effective as a PM.

For me, a news made by an admin is much more important than a random group note post and, yes, more important (or as important) a PM.

I am getting hacked off with all this....it is probably not financially viable to fix it......along with all the VC glitches we have to put up with and as for v3......it has a long way to go before i use it....👎

First of all this is not a fix. We have to get new members into V3. Many many are still in V2. And its Ironic when you think about how to get the news to them that they have to use v3.. when they dont read the news.... lol

Then we all understand the point that news have to come through PM cause many members need to be fed by a Shovel. not a spoon. 

I've been trying V3 in my youtube recordings. Its ok. But still tough to navigate

Please stay on topic.

Chess.com is not fixing V2 anymore, so please focus on desired V3 fixes (and be specific and constructive). Any comments to my recommendation to make news-as-alert as effective as news-as-PM?

New Fix Recommendations:
- Alert count to be, say, 25/1 instead of 26 ... 25 non-items alert, 1 news alert.
- Have one section for Club News and another for Club Activity (group notes). List Club News section first.
- Exempt news from "ignore all" (just like friends requests)

Well said DW!  V3 has a long way to go before I use it...

+1

How can I focus on fixing something or even know what needs fixing when it is too awkward for me to use....on my phone....:-)

VJK I was quoting Rune. I was just saying that I have been trying V3 but am not satisfied. And yes DW, V3 does have a long way to go.  

Is it too much to ask chess.com staff to revert to ~March 2016 version of chess.com?  Surely they are taking backups of the code base...

Then, they can play with V3 on chesskids.com and come back to chess.com when they feel V3 is ready for a good late-beta test run through by admin and premiere players alike?

Probably:-)

Aaah so chess kids beta tested it...that explains a lot: : -)))