The Head of Product & Tech Team have been good enough to keep me updated this evening since the problems arose which some of you suffered.
As of now, it would seem to be fine.
The earlier issues are being investigated, & in doing so, an oddity was apparent, which some of you may have noted;
At the top right hand corner of the Lobby Page, there is always a "number online/number seated" sign.
It looks like this (this was a moment ago, @ 22.37).....
4556 Online2103 Seated
That was running at expected levels - including the 8.30pm Freeroll which maxed out at 2,500 - until just before 9pm, when it spiked up to 12,000 Online. That's far in excess of any previous high, & certainly did not represent "seated", just "online". (Clearly, the normal number would be seated).
That number spiked, then fell, in quite a short period.
Investigations are continuing into this, & a full tech review will take place on the morning.
With everything seemingly stable as of now, not much more can be achieved tonight.
For those who paid to enter MTT's, SNG's or DYM's & your Tables would not load, Sky Poker will deal with these justified complaints as fairly & quickly as possible. If you were amongst that group, please send an e-Mail to Customer Care & it will be addressed soonest.
They also asked me to pass in their sincere apologies to those who were affected or inconvenienced.
My problems with connectivity seem to be okay now and although I was knocked out I did get into the freeroll.
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Tikay for all his hard work whilst this issue has been going on. There is so much negativity around various issues which is such a shame but you always manage to stay calm and reasonable even when I know most of us would be a little miffed to say the least.
I know it is annoying when money is on the line but you know what there are worse things at sea at they say. Have a great evening and gl on the tables.
I wonder if the 12,000 on-line was due to the "free" freeroll at 2030. Maybe lots logged on to try to enter only to find it had already maxed out, hence to sudden spike? Posted by VespaPX
No, it was not that. The numbers Online at 8.30pm when it began were exactly in line with players playing on site, including the 2,500 in the Freeroll.
It was not until just before 9pm - 8.58 I believe - that the numbers suddenly, & almost instantly, spiked to 12,000. Almost immediately, that number started declining, & quite rapidly & was soon back at expected & correct levels.
The whole thing was unfortunate, of course - bad for the customers, bad for the business.
As an insight, it was raised to High Priority, & the whole Tech Team were mobilised to investigate & resolve. I don't usually get to be part of these processes, or e-Mail chains, but I was on this occasion, as they had been asking me earlier to liase with the players on the earlier "Virgin Media" Mobile problem (now safely resolved).
At first, I thought the resolution of that may have been part of the cause of the later problem, you know, fix this thing & a collateral problem surfaces, so I remained in dialogue with them all evening. Between 9pm & 11pm, 25 e-Mails went back & forth. Some were just keeping me informed, others were asking me to request info, from players, try & explain what was happening, & of course, apologise for any inconvenience.
I actually thought the idea of me giving the players regular updates during the evening, whilst things were "hot", was a really good thing - I did it on Sunday afternoon, too, & also with the Mobile problem. I thought it worked well (such as it could under the trying circumstances).
So it was a bit......frustrating to see someone - who had clearly not read them - simply say "tl:dr". (Too Long, Didn't read".) I don't get cross too easily, but I did think that was a little........unfortunate.
And here's the weird thing. Whilst all that was going off, dual threads about both connectivity & Freeroll complaints, I was playing (or trying to, lol) a DYM session on a 7 year old steam driven laptop. I played 31 DYM's, in batches of 5 or 6, in 4 hours, & never had a single problem, it was smooth as silk, & there were no more "AWAY" players than normal. These things seem very user specific.
Anyway, best push on, there's some debris to clear up.
In Response to Re: Problems with connection? : No, it was not that. The numbers Online at 8.30pm when it began were exactly in line with players playing on site, including the 2,500 in the Freeroll. It was not until just before 9pm - 8.58 I believe - that the numbers suddenly, & almost instantly, spiked to 12,000. Almost immediately, that number started declining, & quite rapidly & was soon back at expected & correct levels. The whole thing was unfortunate, of course - bad for the customers, bad for the business. As an insight, it was raised to High Priority, & the whole Tech Team were mobilised to investigate & resolve. I don't usually get to be part of these processes, or e-Mail chains, but I was on this occasion, as they had been asking me earlier to liase with the players on the earlier "Virgin Media" Mobile problem (now safely resolved). At first, I thought the resolution of that may have been part of the cause of the later problem, you know, fix this thing & a collateral problem surfaces, so I remained in dialogue with them all evening. Between 9pm & 11pm, 25 e-Mails went back & forth. Some were just keeping me informed, others were asking me to request info, from players, try & explain what was happening, & of course, apologise for any inconvenience. I actually thought the idea of me giving the players regular updates during the evening, whilst things were "hot", was a really good thing - I did it on Sunday afternoon, too. So it was a bit...... frustrating to see someone - who had clearly not read them - simply say "tl:dr". (Too Long, Didn't read".) I don't get cross too easily, but I did think that was a little........ ungracious . And here's the weird thing. Whilst all that was going off, dual threads about both connectivity & Freeroll complaints, I was playing (or trying to, lol) a DYM session on a 7 year old steam driven laptop. I played 31 DYM's, in batches of 5 or 6, in 4 hours, & never had a single problem, it was smooth as silk, & there were no more "AWAY" players than normal. These things seem very user specific. Anyway, best push on, there's some debris to clear up. Posted by Tikay10
Really gutted tonight. I've registered for the £11 Turbo, the £5.50 mini, the £5.70 UKPC game and NONE of the tables will load All I get is a pop up box on each table window saying "Communication Error - sorry, there has been a problem with your game". Reload tables - exactly same message on each table - yet the rest of the internet is working absolutely fine on my computer - Hotmail, Facebook, BBC news etc. I've also regged for the priority freeroll - but again the table won't open. Very very annoyed after a long day at work and looking forward to these games. Can't get through to CC on either chat or phone. Hopefully I'll get full refund tomorrow - but of course how can I get refund of the enjoyment of playing the prio freeroll? Also the £52 UKPC semi is due to start at 9.15pm - I doubt that will load either but I can't unreg for it as I won entry via satellite earlier. Posted by IrishRose
Morning Rose, & this is also addressed to anyone else who experienced the same problems. Fortunately, there does not seem to be too many who suffered in this manner, but there were undoubtedly a few.
As I wrote last night, if you had registered for a MTT or SNG, & were unable to load the Table, please WRITE to Customer Care, & they'll sort it as fairly as they are able. "Write" because they are still very busy from other, mainly non-poker stuff, arising from Sunday, so the queues may be lengthy until they've cleared the backlog.
Refund for missing an evening's enjoyment? Not really possible, but the Business certainly apologises. In an ironic twist, they stuck on a "thank you, we are sorry for Sunday" £5,000 Freeroll last night, & that caused more negativity than the original problem......
It's ALWAYS bad when these things go off, there's no getting away from it. Truth is, it's the internet, & it's a very very complex beast. It does not happen often, but there's no getting away from it - it will happen, here & on every other busy online gaming site - from time to time. It just will.
I think we have all learned a few things along the way though, & I thought the idea of keeping everyone updated as we went along was a definite improvement on previous situations.
Anyway, have a good day, all of you, & enjoy your poker tonight.
, was a really good thing - I did it on Sunday afternoon, too, & also with the Mobile problem. I thought it worked well (such as it could under the trying circumstances). So it was a bit...... frustrating to see someone - who had clearly not read them - simply say "tl:dr". (Too Long, Didn't read".) I don't get cross too easily, but I did think that was a little........ unfortunate . Posted by Tikay10
Many apologies Tikay. I (as I think others were) very frustrated last night.
In Response to Re: Problems with connection? : Morning Rose, & this is also addressed to anyone else who experienced the same problems. Fortunately, there does not seem to be too many who suffered in this manner, but there were undoubtedly a few. As I wrote last night, if you had registered for a MTT or SNG, & were unable to load the Table, please WRITE to Customer Care, & they'll sort it as fairly as they are able. "Write" because they are still very busy from other, mainly non-poker stuff, arising from Sunday, so the queues may be lengthy until they've cleared the backlog. Refund for missing an evening's enjoyment? Not really possible, but the Business certainly apologises. In an ironic twist, they stuck on a "thank you, we are sorry for Sunday" £5,000 Freeroll last night, & that caused more negativity than the original problem...... It's ALWAYS bad when these things go off, there's no getting away from it. Truth is, it's the internet, & it's a very very complex beast. It does not happen often, but there's no getting away from it - it will happen, here & on every other busy online gaming site - from time to time. It just will. I think we have all learned a few things along the way though, & I thought the idea of keeping everyone updated as we went along was a definite improvement on previous situations. Anyway, have a good day, all of you, & enjoy your poker tonight. Posted by Tikay10
Hi Tony
Thanks for the response. I do of course realise that it's not possible to refund for a missed evenings enjoyment - but at the time of posting I was extremely heated You should be aware that the shortest female on the site probably also has the shortest fuse lol.
I would like to send my thanks for the effort you put into this forum. Being the bearer of bad news is never easy - but at least you keep us as updated as you can which is always preferable to silence. I'd also say that whatever you're paid (unless it's on par with a Man United footballer )is nowhere near enough for the dedication you put in.
Thanks Mick, Phil, Pads, & Rose, & others who have been very kind.
I DO understand the frustrations. I do.
I gather I'm getting beaten up pretty bad on Facebook & amongst Skype groups, but that's ok, I don't subscribe to either, & I don't really bother, if they can't say it to me to my face, here, then it means nothing.
I really do think that the last few days showed the benefit - if there can be a benefit when problems arise - of keeping you all informed.
I was given responsibility for this Forum about 9 months ago, & I changed a few things, which nobody seems to have noticed. For starters, I don't close threads. Ever. Delete the odd post, yes, but don't close threads. It's good to talk, & if you know the Company line, it helps. Threads used to be closed daily. I think that was wrong, so I changed it. The flip side to that is that players (very few, but some) are taking advantage of that, & overly abusing the Forum, & Sky Poker. Does not seem right to me.
I'm contracted to work x hours per week, but I'm not fussed, I work far far longer, & I enjoy it. Love this place, & the people here.
I start at around 6am, work until early afternoon, (much of my work is not forum related - UKPC planning etc & other stuff), then have a daily walk to clear my head of all the negativity, & as I've got some health issues at the mo, & that's followed by my "gym session".
Then, in the evening, glory be, I play poker. I love it to bits, can't wait to start, every night. I try to "clear the desk" first, so I can sit down, chilled, & play poker with a bunch of nice people. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy the evenings, its such an escape from all the days aggro, sarcasm (which I positively loathe) & nonsense. Peace at last.......
I try not to look at the Forum whilst playing, but if the fires start burning, someone usually alerts me via the Chat box. And I groan a bit.....
I 6 table PLO8, which is quite a complex game, & my mental dexterity is not quite what it was, so I have to concentrate to the max.
You should see me 6 Tabling, taking a phone call from the Boss (4 or 5 the last few evenings), reading all the e-Mails about the incident, posting them on the Forum to keep everyone updated, tables binging & bonging, good friends chat box typing "did you know you are away on 5 tables mate?" ..... I'm telling you, it's at the very limit of my abilities.
When I have to Forum Post or take a business phone call mid session, I always click the "AWAY" button. It's the right thing to do.
On ONE occasion last night, I forgot to click it on ONE table.
And guess what?
Mr Smartypants posts this.....
"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
You get frustrated at times? So do I. My frustrations are different to yours.
I positively loathe these cliché things.....
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
????????????
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or any combination. That's even worse.
So when my little man typed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz last night, it was hard to resist replying. I managed though, & I'm glad. A game later, I busted him. Very first hand. BOOMIO. I'll be honest, I did a little fist pump. oioi. So he had some spare time to zzzzzzzz....
Sometimes it's best to say nothing, keep schtum.
Right, work to do, UKPC stuff to sort, this that & the other.
A quick side story to end on. I'm contracted to work x hours per week, but I'm not fussed, I work far far longer, & I enjoy it. Love this place, & the people here. I start at around 6am, work until early afternoon, (much of my work is not forum related - UKPC planning etc & other stuff), then have a daily walk to clear my head of all the negativity, & as I've got some health issues at the mo, & that's followed by my "gym session". Then, in the evening, glory be, I play poker. I love it to bits, can't wait to start, every night. I try to "clear the desk" first, so I can sit down, chilled, & play poker with a bunch of nice people. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy the evenings, its such an escape from all the days aggro, sarcasm (which I positively loathe) & nonsense. Peace at last....... I try not to look at the Forum whilst playing, but if the fires start burning, someone usually alerts me via the Chat box. And I groan a bit..... I 6 table PLO8, which is quite a complex game, & my mental dexterity is not quite what it was, so I have to concentrate to the max. You should see me 6 Tabling, taking a phone call from the Boss (4 or 5 the last few evenings), reading all the e-Mails about the incident, posting them on the Forum to keep everyone updated, tables binging & bonging, good friends chat box typing "did you know you are away on 5 tables mate?" ..... I'm telling you, it's at the very limit of my abilities. When I have to Forum Post or take a business phone call mid session, I always click the "AWAY" button. It's the right thing to do. On ONE occasion last night, I forgot to click it on ONE table. And guess what? Mr Smartypants posts this..... "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" You get frustrated at times? So do I. My frustrations are different to yours. I positively loathe these cliché things..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ???????????? !!!!!!!!!!!! Or any combination. That's even worse. So when my little man typed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz last night, it was hard to resist replying. I managed though, & I'm glad. A game later, I busted him. Very first hand. BOOMIO. I'll be honest, I did a little fist pump. oioi. So he had some spare time to zzzzzzzz.... Sometimes it's best to say nothing, keep schtum. Right, work to do, UKPC stuff to sort, this that & the other. Posted by Tikay10
I became a temporary flag bearer of Team Moan last night. Not about connection issues which I had been suffering since Sunday, but just a personal frustration on missing out on the £5k freeroll due to it reaching its max entry over an hour before KO.
I didn't go as far as to suggest how unfair it was that others were in and I wasn't, or suggest ways of operating them that would guarantee me a place in a future event as that is not my place. It was a little ironic that the reward for connection issues was itself hampered by connection issues, but hardly scandalous.
Keeping an online business going 24/7 with peaks in demand and the challenges of those up to no good is extremely difficult and there will always be issues when systems availability isn't perfect.
Anyway big +1 to the support for your efforts to keep the community informed, especially when sacrificing your own enjoyment to keep that going.
As for zzzzzzz.....
The sites own "House Rules" do actually encourage the use of zzzzzz....Not sure that's great advice, but it is there.
"
Be Patient & Polite
On the flip side, if a player at your table is using all of their time bank when in a hand every time, please address the issue in a polite way. Most of the time a short string of 'zzzz' in the chat box will work. Sometimes the delay is not under the player's control, but they may appreciate you letting them know as often a lagging player will actually think it's the whole game, not realising it's their fault.
Comments
Hi,
The Head of Product & Tech Team have been good enough to keep me updated this evening since the problems arose which some of you suffered.
As of now, it would seem to be fine.
The earlier issues are being investigated, & in doing so, an oddity was apparent, which some of you may have noted;
At the top right hand corner of the Lobby Page, there is always a "number online/number seated" sign.
It looks like this (this was a moment ago, @ 22.37).....
4556 Online2103 Seated
That was running at expected levels - including the 8.30pm Freeroll which maxed out at 2,500 - until just before 9pm, when it spiked up to 12,000 Online. That's far in excess of any previous high, & certainly did not represent "seated", just "online". (Clearly, the normal number would be seated).
That number spiked, then fell, in quite a short period.
Investigations are continuing into this, & a full tech review will take place on the morning.
With everything seemingly stable as of now, not much more can be achieved tonight.
For those who paid to enter MTT's, SNG's or DYM's & your Tables would not load, Sky Poker will deal with these justified complaints as fairly & quickly as possible. If you were amongst that group, please send an e-Mail to Customer Care & it will be addressed soonest.
They also asked me to pass in their sincere apologies to those who were affected or inconvenienced.
I did get into the freeroll.
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Tikay for all his hard work whilst
this issue has been going on. There is so much negativity around various issues
which is such a shame but you always manage to stay calm and reasonable even when I know most of us would be a little miffed to say the least.
I know it is annoying when money is on the line but you know what there are worse things at sea at they say.
Have a great evening and gl on the tables.
Nannypat66
It was not until just before 9pm - 8.58 I believe - that the numbers suddenly, & almost instantly, spiked to 12,000. Almost immediately, that number started declining, & quite rapidly & was soon back at expected & correct levels.
The whole thing was unfortunate, of course - bad for the customers, bad for the business.
As an insight, it was raised to High Priority, & the whole Tech Team were mobilised to investigate & resolve. I don't usually get to be part of these processes, or e-Mail chains, but I was on this occasion, as they had been asking me earlier to liase with the players on the earlier "Virgin Media" Mobile problem (now safely resolved).
At first, I thought the resolution of that may have been part of the cause of the later problem, you know, fix this thing & a collateral problem surfaces, so I remained in dialogue with them all evening. Between 9pm & 11pm, 25 e-Mails went back & forth. Some were just keeping me informed, others were asking me to request info, from players, try & explain what was happening, & of course, apologise for any inconvenience.
I actually thought the idea of me giving the players regular updates during the evening, whilst things were "hot", was a really good thing - I did it on Sunday afternoon, too, & also with the Mobile problem. I thought it worked well (such as it could under the trying circumstances).
So it was a bit......frustrating to see someone - who had clearly not read them - simply say "tl:dr". (Too Long, Didn't read".) I don't get cross too easily, but I did think that was a little........unfortunate.
And here's the weird thing. Whilst all that was going off, dual threads about both connectivity & Freeroll complaints, I was playing (or trying to, lol) a DYM session on a 7 year old steam driven laptop. I played 31 DYM's, in batches of 5 or 6, in 4 hours, & never had a single problem, it was smooth as silk, & there were no more "AWAY" players than normal. These things seem very user specific.
Anyway, best push on, there's some debris to clear up.
As I wrote last night, if you had registered for a MTT or SNG, & were unable to load the Table, please WRITE to Customer Care, & they'll sort it as fairly as they are able. "Write" because they are still very busy from other, mainly non-poker stuff, arising from Sunday, so the queues may be lengthy until they've cleared the backlog.
Refund for missing an evening's enjoyment? Not really possible, but the Business certainly apologises. In an ironic twist, they stuck on a "thank you, we are sorry for Sunday" £5,000 Freeroll last night, & that caused more negativity than the original problem......
It's ALWAYS bad when these things go off, there's no getting away from it. Truth is, it's the internet, & it's a very very complex beast. It does not happen often, but there's no getting away from it - it will happen, here & on every other busy online gaming site - from time to time. It just will.
I think we have all learned a few things along the way though, & I thought the idea of keeping everyone updated as we went along was a definite improvement on previous situations.
Anyway, have a good day, all of you, & enjoy your poker tonight.
Perhaps 1 person at Customer Care could save a lot of time by being proactive on here in the way you do.
In the meantime, you remain the number 1 reason to play on here-thanks
Thanks Mick, Phil, Pads, & Rose, & others who have been very kind.
I DO understand the frustrations. I do.
I gather I'm getting beaten up pretty bad on Facebook & amongst Skype groups, but that's ok, I don't subscribe to either, & I don't really bother, if they can't say it to me to my face, here, then it means nothing.
I really do think that the last few days showed the benefit - if there can be a benefit when problems arise - of keeping you all informed.
I was given responsibility for this Forum about 9 months ago, & I changed a few things, which nobody seems to have noticed. For starters, I don't close threads. Ever. Delete the odd post, yes, but don't close threads. It's good to talk, & if you know the Company line, it helps. Threads used to be closed daily. I think that was wrong, so I changed it. The flip side to that is that players (very few, but some) are taking advantage of that, & overly abusing the Forum, & Sky Poker. Does not seem right to me.
Anyway, as Marsellus said, we cool.
On with the fun.
A quick side story to end on.
I'm contracted to work x hours per week, but I'm not fussed, I work far far longer, & I enjoy it. Love this place, & the people here.
I start at around 6am, work until early afternoon, (much of my work is not forum related - UKPC planning etc & other stuff), then have a daily walk to clear my head of all the negativity, & as I've got some health issues at the mo, & that's followed by my "gym session".
Then, in the evening, glory be, I play poker. I love it to bits, can't wait to start, every night. I try to "clear the desk" first, so I can sit down, chilled, & play poker with a bunch of nice people. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy the evenings, its such an escape from all the days aggro, sarcasm (which I positively loathe) & nonsense. Peace at last.......
I try not to look at the Forum whilst playing, but if the fires start burning, someone usually alerts me via the Chat box. And I groan a bit.....
I 6 table PLO8, which is quite a complex game, & my mental dexterity is not quite what it was, so I have to concentrate to the max.
You should see me 6 Tabling, taking a phone call from the Boss (4 or 5 the last few evenings), reading all the e-Mails about the incident, posting them on the Forum to keep everyone updated, tables binging & bonging, good friends chat box typing "did you know you are away on 5 tables mate?" ..... I'm telling you, it's at the very limit of my abilities.
When I have to Forum Post or take a business phone call mid session, I always click the "AWAY" button. It's the right thing to do.
On ONE occasion last night, I forgot to click it on ONE table.
And guess what?
Mr Smartypants posts this.....
"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
You get frustrated at times? So do I. My frustrations are different to yours.
I positively loathe these cliché things.....
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
????????????
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or any combination. That's even worse.
So when my little man typed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz last night, it was hard to resist replying. I managed though, & I'm glad. A game later, I busted him. Very first hand. BOOMIO. I'll be honest, I did a little fist pump. oioi. So he had some spare time to zzzzzzzz....
Sometimes it's best to say nothing, keep schtum.
Right, work to do, UKPC stuff to sort, this that & the other.
^^^^
Behave sonny Jim.
Be Patient & Polite
On the flip side, if a player at your table is using all of their time bank when in a hand every time, please address the issue in a polite way. Most of the time a short string of 'zzzz' in the chat box will work. Sometimes the delay is not under the player's control, but they may appreciate you letting them know as often a lagging player will actually think it's the whole game, not realising it's their fault.
^^^^
Yeah, seen that, which, I think, as written 9 years ago by my mate Dave Bland.
It just seems such a cliché, such lazy thinking, so unoriginal. Surely these guys can do better than that, instead of just being sheep?
When a player is slow to act, there is often good reason. Dare I say connectivity issues?
Not exactly the best time for Mr Never Had an Original Thought In His Life Sarcastic Sam to pipe up, is it?