Please Read: An Important RoadTest Program Change

Hi Randall,

for me, I'm absolut agree with you.

I think that many can be misunderstood  because many of Road Testers are not so fit with the English language.

Me too a bit, because my language is German, so i translate difficult sentences every time with the (e.g. google) translator.

I hope so much all of you can understand me with my jargon mishmash "Kauderwelsch".

If i write here the review is this enough or have i write also via email to an email address?

Because i never have seen some email address what you meant above -  "reviews back to the sponsors."

How goes the review back to the sponsors? - with our review here written in element14 road test, or with an email from you?

Are the sponsors reading here the reviews?

Best Regards

Gerald

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Gerald,

Thanks for asking the question because the answer has to do with an understanding of our internal processes.

So, you go online and complete a RoadTest application.

After the enrollment period of the RoadTest, all the applications are aggregated or put together in a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has additional fields. Such as how many points have you earned as a community member or whether you have submitted all your RoadTest reviews. It is this spreadhseet that will get forwarded to the supplier.

Randall

Hi Randall,

Many Thanks.

That was what did not know - the spreadsheet behind it. I thought this but i was not sure.

So, if I understood: a review written here in element14 (with the quote of the rank table) is the concrete reference for the suppliers.
There is no need to write the review by e-mail. Correct?

Best Regards

Gerald

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Gerald,

That is correct. You only need to complete the review on the form. It will have a star that is half yellow/ half white. That designates it is an official review. that's what we look for.

thanks.

Randall

Randall,

thank you for the helpful information.

Best Regards,

Gerald

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Randall Scasny wrote:

 

To solve the problem, I decided I don't want to go down the road of suspending members from the RoadTest program. Suspensions sound too much like the hard rules of the military. I was in the Navy for 10 years and I didn't like tough rules back then, but I knew they were necessary given the reality of uncomfortable shipboard conditions and potentially dangerous operations we were participating in.

 

But this is a community. It should be a place to have some fun, meet new people, network professionally, be a mentor, or get mentored. Suspending people just is the wrong road to follow.

Hi Randall,

I see where you are coming from but to my mind If a member who hasn't completed a particular RoadTest, hasn't contacted you to tell you in advance of their extenuating circumstances, isn't responsive when you contact them, etc, then I don't personally see the downside in suspending them from the program. There has to be some way to dissuade people from signing up just to get free stuff and if its the price we have to pay to ensure suppliers continue to offer their products for free in exchange for a review then so be it.

I was going to say we don't want a few selfish people spoiling it for everybody else, but sadly it seems it's not a few, for this particular supplier it's 87% which quite frankly is shameful, and those people (unless they have a very good reason why they haven't completed their reviews) should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

Best Regards,

Rachael

I feel part of the problem of an outright suspension in that those selfish people (wether few in number or not) could generate a new account with ease. If you keep them here maybe they won't create a new account. It's a thought and I must admit not a very well thought out one, But there is always the chance of people creating multiple accounts for the larger more interesting road tests or after getting suspended creating new accounts and doing the same thing all over again.

K

Kas Lewis wrote:

 

I feel part of the problem of an outright suspension in that those selfish people (wether few in number or not) could generate a new account with ease. If you keep them here maybe they won't create a new account. It's a thought and I must admit not a very well thought out one, But there is always the chance of people creating multiple accounts for the larger more interesting road tests or after getting suspended creating new accounts and doing the same thing all over again.

 

K

I would hope that there was more to receiving expensive free kit than just a user account on this forum. I would expect there would be some sort of verification of who they are, real name, address, contact details, some form of ID as proof of who they are etc. Much harder to have lots of duplicates of all that information. I also don't think we were talking about suspending their accounts on here, just their eligibility for signing up for road tests.

Best Regards,

Rachael

Rachael,

You have a sound argument. Clearly, it appears some folks consider RoadTests a giveaway program, which it is not. We really need your professional opinions. My concern is perhaps if the delinquent roadtest reviews see they can make up their reviews, they can change their ways. We'll see how things play out. I need to improve the review percentage.

Thanks for your participation in the community.

Randall

I for one agree something needs to be done. I will not apply for a road test if I feel I can not complete it on the given schedule and also If I feel the award would be better served being given to someone else, and even then as was the case with the INA301 I may still post reviews or tutorials to help out the participants, its fun and most of the TMs like to help, it's what we're all about.

I do get bothered though when an applicant gets a nice Scope or Analyzer or other more expensive product and then the next time you hear from them is when the next road test comes up., no review, no posts or anything in between

I think your choice of dealing with this is very generous and hopefully will help weed out the collect and run types, it still won't stop the new members who sole purpose is to get a product and run, for this the only thing I have seen suggested in the past was to put min points limits on the "Better" product so if you have not been participating in the community then you dont get to review the "Big Toys" till you do.

One thing that would also be bad though is if someone just posts a regurgitation of the product specs or simply a box opening, I have seen many instances in the past where the review is well to put it bluntly. Not a review. they go along the lines of "I opened the box...... it was a nice box...... The product looked like its picture and seems to meet the published specification....." you get the idea.

So while I respect you measures, there may need to be more of a "Quality" check of the review, especially if from a very new member with no history of participation. A Post in the Review form does not necessarily mean a review has been done."

That's my 2 cents (Pennies worth )