Doncaster Rovers online.

[ForsolongaRover]

I think it’s time the media team got round to providing more than just a picture (or half of one) on the OS in the section featuring the club’s players. I really don’t go for slick presentation which is about all you can say about this new site which seems difficult to navigate and very short on what you really want to know.

The previous version did not abound with useful information, but this one has nothing at all on the “Teams” except a picture of the player and “related news”, something which looks promising at first sight, but is the same for all of them and is just general current club news, so hardly “related”.

Surely such information as date of birth, height etc., plus length of contract is absolutely central to our needs. It contrasts with the elaborate detail of all the ancillary data about club staff, some of whom ought to take a look at the OS and ask themselves whether they’ve got the priorities right.

Under some of the pictures, non-defenders, is a section labelled “Overview” with a host of data headings about aspects of performance which would be interesting if they were not all followed by 0! I should be embarrassed if this were my responsibility. Having included it, there should be functionality to populate it automatically and it looks like another flaw in the site’s development. Perhaps no one at the club has noticed.

We shouldn’t have to rely on Wikipedia to discover basic information. If I want appearance and goal scoring data I have to go to external sites. Surely putting as much as possible on the OS encourages a greater interest in the club for people less committed than “us lot”. There is so much football data around, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to gather together what is out there and related to our club.

If all this is somewhere on the OS I have never found it in which case it needs to be more obviously sign-posted.

One question might be “Are disproportionate resources being devoted away from the flagship.” If you explore the sheer volume of data with limited appeal to Rovers fans included there, I think it is a fair point.

[ForsolongaRover]

I think it’s time the media team got round to providing more than just a picture (or half of one) on the OS in the section featuring the club’s players. I really don’t go for slick presentation which is about all you can say about this new site which seems difficult to navigate and very short on what you really want to know.

The previous version did not abound with useful information, but this one has nothing at all on the “Teams” except a picture of the player and “related news”, something which looks promising at first sight, but is the same for all of them and is just general current club news, so hardly “related”.

Surely such information as date of birth, height etc., plus length of contract is absolutely central to our needs. It contrasts with the elaborate detail of all the ancillary data about club staff, some of whom ought to take a look at the OS and ask themselves whether they’ve got the priorities right.

Under some of the pictures, non-defenders, is a section labelled “Overview” with a host of data headings about aspects of performance which would be interesting if they were not all followed by 0! I should be embarrassed if this were my responsibility. Having included it, there should be functionality to populate it automatically and it looks like another flaw in the site’s development. Perhaps no one at the club has noticed.

We shouldn’t have to rely on Wikipedia to discover basic information. If I want appearance and goal scoring data I have to go to external sites. Surely putting as much as possible on the OS encourages a greater interest in the club for people less committed than “us lot”. There is so much football data around, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to gather together what is out there and related to our club.

If all this is somewhere on the OS I have never found it in which case it needs to be more obviously sign-posted.

One question might be “Are disproportionate resources being devoted away from the flagship.” If you explore the sheer volume of data with limited appeal to Rovers fans included there, I think it is a fair point.

I may not be especially popular with those of you who disapprove of criticism of the club, but I had reason to go onto Colchester United's Official Site today and saw that the User Interface depicting their playing squad was identical to the Rovers' one which I refer to above. The difference was that all the playing data was entered plus a useful biography. I then went back to the Rovers OS to see if they'd updated it and found that when you clicked on the player's picture all that came up was a black page with a white squad number at the top. So now there's nothing at all apart from the number!

Perhaps Rovers' media department don't bother to glance at what comes up in these threads; I don't dispute that Liam Hoden cares, but what about those whose job it is to maintain the website?

Quite apart from this, someone at the club should surely have noticed. The data disappearing might have been the untended result of some other technical action, but that would suggest inadequate Impact Assessment and no structured testing process. Even so, has no one within the club been on the site and noticed what has disappeared?

They advertised this new Provider as a leader in the sector, but the User Interface and what can be deduced of the Maintenance/Change Processes seem notably inferior to the previous system.

You wonder if anyone at the club takes any responsibility for monitoring the content! Surely biographical information about the players is an important element of what the club should be presenting online. Perhaps the Shadow Board will take it up.   

[jamesrover17]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

[silent majority]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

[Upton Rover]

I used the fleetwood site, better commentary

[graingrover]

 Try to find on DROS the statistics for the number of games each player has played per competition this season , his goals , his assists . Average home attendance ? Some basic house keeping is unattended guys !

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Try to find on DROS the statistics for the number of games each player has played per competition this season , his goals , his assists . Average home attendance ? Some basic house keeping is unattended guys !

Quite agree. There doesn't appear to be a stats page like we would get towards the back of a programme, which is always great for 'at a glance' results, scorers, appearances, attendances etc.

[ForsolongaRover]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

[arkseyrover]

I raised the lack of stats being available eg our goalscorers and appearances some years ago which (as well as the league table which is easily available everywhere) is basic information for the supporter. So hopefully something might get done now

[silent majority]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

I wasn’t talking about the OS, so I have no idea.

[ForsolongaRover]

 

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

I wasn’t talking about the OS, so I have no idea.

I’m not in the centre of the VSC, but I would have thought that a functional club website is essential to supporters. You seem dismissive and I thought this would be an issue which the VSC and the Shadow Board would regard as a matter of concern.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

I wasn’t talking about the OS, so I have no idea.

I’m not in the centre of the VSC, but I would have thought that a functional club website is essential to supporters. You seem dismissive and I thought this would be an issue which the VSC and the Shadow Board would regard as a matter of concern.

I guess it would be an issue for the shadow board to pursue with the club if they aren't already, plus I'm guessing the club will have already got some feedback directly. We were told when the new site was launched, it was still under development and there would be additions further down the line.

Have you emailed the media team or the shadow board?

[BobG]

And, of course, this thread was started by SM for a single, specific purpose.

BobG

[ForsolongaRover]

And, of course, this thread was started by SM for a single, specific purpose.

BobG

I started this thread Bob.

Since the website is a common resource, the comments of a single reader/fan will not necessarily make the desired impact which is why I published my views. We are encouraged to make the Shadow Board aware of our concerns and again, this seems a suitable way to present them and gives an opportunity to set out the reasons and to hear opposing views when they exist.

If the club do not have the resources to monitor what is being said on here - and perhaps it is an unreasonable expectation - I have assumed that it would be valuable source of material for the Shadow Board and the site sponsors, the VSC.

[BobG]

You did FSLAR. Apologies. I clearly got confuddled. Sorry

BobG

[DonnyBazR0ver]

And, of course, this thread was started by SM for a single, specific purpose.

BobG

I started this thread Bob.

Since the website is a common resource, the comments of a single reader/fan will not necessarily make the desired impact which is why I published my views. We are encouraged to make the Shadow Board aware of our concerns and again, this seems a suitable way to present them and gives an opportunity to set out the reasons and to hear opposing views when they exist.

If the club do not have the resources to monitor what is being said on here - and perhaps it is an unreasonable expectation - I have assumed that it would be valuable source of material for the Shadow Board and the site sponsors, the VSC.

That's fair enough and this forum is good for discussing things and gathering others opinions etc. Members of the Shadow board might pick things up from here too, or as Derek recently did, ask forum members about the Match Day experience. That said, having been involved before, it's easy to get swamped with issues/emails behind the scenes so we shouldn't assume everything we mention on here will get picked up. This is why I suggest contacting the Shadow Board, who work independantly from the forum and the VSC, or the Club directly to check if this is work in progress etc.

[silent majority]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

I wasn’t talking about the OS, so I have no idea.

I’m not in the centre of the VSC, but I would have thought that a functional club website is essential to supporters. You seem dismissive and I thought this would be an issue which the VSC and the Shadow Board would regard as a matter of concern.

I am dismissive because you quite clearly have misread what I've written.

You should do yourself a favour and stop misinterpreting what people write so that you can have a collective dig.

[silent majority]

And, of course, this thread was started by SM for a single, specific purpose.

BobG

I started this thread Bob.

Since the website is a common resource, the comments of a single reader/fan will not necessarily make the desired impact which is why I published my views. We are encouraged to make the Shadow Board aware of our concerns and again, this seems a suitable way to present them and gives an opportunity to set out the reasons and to hear opposing views when they exist.

If the club do not have the resources to monitor what is being said on here - and perhaps it is an unreasonable expectation - I have assumed that it would be valuable source of material for the Shadow Board and the site sponsors, the VSC.

That's fair enough and this forum is good for discussing things and gathering others opinions etc. Members of the Shadow board might pick things up from here too, or as Derek recently did, ask forum members about the Match Day experience. That said, having been involved before, it's easy to get swamped with issues/emails behind the scenes so we shouldn't assume everything we mention on here will get picked up. This is why I suggest contacting the Shadow Board, who work independantly from the forum and the VSC, or the Club directly to check if this is work in progress etc.

These aren't in the Shadow Board remit though Baz.

We should be very clear, the Fan Led Review and the recommendation for Shadow Boards was in order to follow and monitor the strategic direction of the clubs board, and as part of that the supporters trust would be an integral element.

It should be horses for courses, the SB is not necessarily the right vehicle for everything club related.

[ForsolongaRover]

Being from the younger 'tech savvy' generation, its always upset me how little anyone cared for the official website, apart from the parts you need to pay to use, funny eh.

I refuse to believe its not an afternoons work for one of the team to run down the players profiles for example and update them, some of them have last years headshots.

If you go on the youth team section its completely empty.

Which is one of the reasons for the creation of our Virtual Museum. We want everything in one place, somewhere that 'Everything Rovers' means something. Somewhere that even when us 'oldies' are gone something remains as a living breathing site that will encourage and inspire younger generations to view and explore.

So, SM can we expect the club to take a critical look at the OS and fill in the blanks and try out the customer-facing services and make them work more easily?

I wasn’t talking about the OS, so I have no idea.

I’m not in the centre of the VSC, but I would have thought that a functional club website is essential to supporters. You seem dismissive and I thought this would be an issue which the VSC and the Shadow Board would regard as a matter of concern.

I am dismissive because you quite clearly have misread what I've written.

You should do yourself a favour and stop misinterpreting what people write so that you can have a collective dig.

Do you really think these personal comments are helpful?

The Virtual Museum initiative seems a good one, but the bread and butter information-supply and supporter services to which we subscribe need improvement now.

I have read relative portions of the Executive Summary of the Fan-led Review and the impression gained (and indeed the underlying objective) is for them to represent the Supporters in every aspect of their relationship with the club owners. Problems with the OS are fundamental. I cannot imagine that the Shadow Board would shrug off concerns such as this with the words “I have no idea” which I hope cannot be interpreted as the VSC’s official reaction.

[ravenrover]

Am I right in thinking SM is not a member of the Shadow Board?