Hi all, It has been a demanding period. Id like to first offer my sincere thanks to everyone for being supportive over this time. As promised I will now give a detailed update on how things are after the Builder upgrade, what we are doing now and our plans for the future.
First thing to discuss is the ratings into the builder. We were inundated with requests to introduce backdated ratings as a criteria to the System Builder. We believed this had been achieved, however the ratings created for the past were not calculating correctly and unstable in a live environment when using temporary tables etc and as such we have had to remove them. It is going to be a huge task to resolve but we will be find a way. I regret that we have to take them off but there is no other choice. If you did save a system using the ratings, I apologise for any wasted research time.
We have increased the number of races in the Ratings Machine backtrack area to 750 and there is also a new area within My Systems where you can apply Ratings specifications to daily qualifiers. As an example you could set up system criteria for Top Weights in Handicaps and then request to be shown only the Top Rated for any of your ratings sets who also match this criteria.
The rest of the Builder is now functioning fine and we have got all the pre 03 races back in there for users of the Major Races area. The increase in Fullset Extra will hopefully keep going, it now stands at 10. The digger will soon be in line with the rest of the Builder and go back to 03 as it now goes as far as 2004.
There is a new daily report based around official ratings, for anyone interested. I mention it as we receive a lot of requests based on this type of research.
As things now settle down, we are going to perform a complete review of the site, in relation to layout, user-friendliness, help and maximising potential. At each stage we will be adding in upgrades that are pending. It is worth noting this will not cause anywhere near the amount of hassle as upgrading the System Builder does. In fact it should all progress without any disruption whatsoever.
The way the site has developed over the past year or so, is that I have received requests for functionality, added it in where possible and in all honesty neglected to maximise the site set-up to ensure everyone is fully aware of what can be done and how to do it. I should be spending far more time making the site illustrate to users how to make the most of the facilities, how to investigate potential angles effectively and setting things up to suit their needs. This will now become a priority.
The approach I have taken till now of responding to user requests for the benefit of all will continue as that is what HorseRaceBase is built upon, but it is utterly obvious to fully realise the potential of the site we must make these things easier to reach for the benefit of all.
As an example we have received numerous mails from people asking where the next days cards are. This is my fault and the site should be set up in a way where such a common request is immediately identifiable. The point really I am making is we have so much stuff available and so many options, it just needs to be laid out better and more user-friendly.
Our other priorities for the near future include the Ratings backtracking functionality, finalising some very important new data and introducing a way of easily combining different areas of the site.
Over April you will hopefully see a dramatic improvement in the site, please do continue to offer feedback, requests and suggestions.
Cheers Chris
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Scream
Hello I could scream in frustration but will just get to the point. Basically we got really far into the upgrade and it then failed at about 3:30. Parts worked, other parts didnt. We have identified another issue which has to be rectified and its going to take a while for the table required to run. As with last weekend, the proper thing to do is ensure you have normal service for the day and therefore we have switched everything back. If at all possible we will try and do the upgrade on Monday night, if not Tuesday. Once we get the System Builder upgrade complete the rest is a lot easier and it flows naturally, but we need the new builder workings to 100% function correctly. Sorry for another delay. Thats the one trouble with advancement, however this particular upgrade is extremely frustrating as we felt it would be ready for Cheltenham and its still giving headaches and a lack of sleep! Oh well, life goes on and we will get there soon. Will reply to all outstanding emails from past day or so ASAP, many of the things raised are going to be resolved with the upgrade. Cheers Chris
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Update on the update
Hello
My apologies the anticipated upgrade date of this Sunday did not materialise. Ultimately when we tested it live, we simply were not in a position to proceed without severe risk of potential problems, so of course it was only sensible to delay.
I have left it till now to write this blog as I wanted to be clear in my own head how things stand and in order to get a full overview, had to fix one particular issue. This has now been done and after review I can say it may be a few more days before we are able to get the upgrade done and dusted. Primarily this is down to data passing and table structures requiring amendment in areas within the site that talk to each other behind the scenes. Its dull as can be to bore you with the full details but basically until we are convinced all is okay we cant proceed.
Although this is a little frustrating and we were all really excited about Sunday, in the long run its without doubt the correct course of action. This upgrade will be a major one, the biggest we have done for over a year, so getting it right is vital.
I shall not waffle on for much longer just now, other than to say I can assure you we are working round the clock to get everything just right and that the benefits shall far outweight the slight delay as we finalise everything. I shall post again later in the week.
Sincere thanks to all members who have been in touch with messages of support and contributions. What goes around comes around. Everyone doing their bit means HorseRaceBase has a very bright future.
Finally, if you are emailing us please be patient during this really busy time. We will reply to every request, question and comment. Your feedback is what builds the site.
Cheers
Chris
My apologies the anticipated upgrade date of this Sunday did not materialise. Ultimately when we tested it live, we simply were not in a position to proceed without severe risk of potential problems, so of course it was only sensible to delay.
I have left it till now to write this blog as I wanted to be clear in my own head how things stand and in order to get a full overview, had to fix one particular issue. This has now been done and after review I can say it may be a few more days before we are able to get the upgrade done and dusted. Primarily this is down to data passing and table structures requiring amendment in areas within the site that talk to each other behind the scenes. Its dull as can be to bore you with the full details but basically until we are convinced all is okay we cant proceed.
Although this is a little frustrating and we were all really excited about Sunday, in the long run its without doubt the correct course of action. This upgrade will be a major one, the biggest we have done for over a year, so getting it right is vital.
I shall not waffle on for much longer just now, other than to say I can assure you we are working round the clock to get everything just right and that the benefits shall far outweight the slight delay as we finalise everything. I shall post again later in the week.
Sincere thanks to all members who have been in touch with messages of support and contributions. What goes around comes around. Everyone doing their bit means HorseRaceBase has a very bright future.
Finally, if you are emailing us please be patient during this really busy time. We will reply to every request, question and comment. Your feedback is what builds the site.
Cheers
Chris
Monday, March 14, 2011
Important Site Update
Hey all,
The site upgrade I have mentioned over the last while, unfortunately wasnt ready for our hoped date of yesterday. It would be stupid to do it now with Cheltenham upon us and the site being used constantly by people researching trends etc. Therefore I will confirm now that the site upgrade shall go ahead on Sunday 20th March after that days racing has finished. I will post a blog at that time.
Our user numbers have risen over the past couple of days with many people on a free trial as they look for an alternative to Adrian Massey's site. Id like to say in this regard how much admiration I have for Adrian and the job he has done for over ten years, completely in aid of charity. This is nothing short of astonishing when you think about it as he could have easily cashed in yet stuck to his guns. For whatever reason he has decided to stop, I wish him the very best.
What I am aware of is at the moment HorseRaceBase is very much geared towards technically minded horse racing fans and from the emails we are receiving, many people are looking for a much simpler platform and want a standard set of ratings, whereas we tend to encourage creating your own. This isnt a new realisation as a result of followers of Adrian Massey coming on board, however it does ram home the point!
Fortunately, we had already done all the work and as part of the upgrade we will be introducing standard HorseRaceBase ratings as oppose to an example set. In addition we will be creating far easier to use areas to query the ratings performance in different scenarios and to save them into systems. (For the more technically minded, it will involve new functionality meaning you can automatically set up so one set of ratings can be used in one scenario and others in another - thus benefiting those of you who have created your own sets).
In all my posts and all over the site, you will see our requests for feedback, id like to take the opportunity to ask all of you (including those on a free trial) to let us know if you are struggling to use the site, miss certain functionality you previously had etc.
Members of HorseRaceBase are very aware that our site is built around member feedback and donations. By working together we continually add to and improve the sites functionality, the truth is the site simply could not exist without asking for a monthly donation.
Cheltenham is now of course here and its a great and busy time. Im really looking forward to a couple of the races in particular with the performance of Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle a really interesting answer to the question of Irish form holding up.
Additionally the Champion Bumper is one I cant wait for. I have had a tip for practically every horse in the race. I actually wont be touching anything but I cant wait to see who comes out on top!
Finally you have to mention the Gold Cup. I was there last year when Imperial Commander came home and there were people crying! If Kauto Star won this year it would be an extraordinary achievement and would go into the history books but of course if IC wins again it will join the list of doublers and then you have Denman who just makes me smile even thinking about him! Its a fantastic race and one I will again possibly not have a bet in (depending on what My Systems throws up).
The best advice I can give for the festival, is that although its exciting and fantastic racing, it does not mean you have to raise your stakes, risk blowing the bank or whatever else. Enjoy it, if you have a well researched selection of course it all adds to the excitement. But there is no need to start taking risks, changing your strategy or backing something for the sake of it. I say this, because last year there were three or four members I know who had to take a break from racing as a result of a bad Cheltenham. Thats crazy.
Sensible staking, clear strategy, long term goals is the way forward.
All the best to everyone, will post again soon.
Cheers
Chris
The site upgrade I have mentioned over the last while, unfortunately wasnt ready for our hoped date of yesterday. It would be stupid to do it now with Cheltenham upon us and the site being used constantly by people researching trends etc. Therefore I will confirm now that the site upgrade shall go ahead on Sunday 20th March after that days racing has finished. I will post a blog at that time.
Our user numbers have risen over the past couple of days with many people on a free trial as they look for an alternative to Adrian Massey's site. Id like to say in this regard how much admiration I have for Adrian and the job he has done for over ten years, completely in aid of charity. This is nothing short of astonishing when you think about it as he could have easily cashed in yet stuck to his guns. For whatever reason he has decided to stop, I wish him the very best.
What I am aware of is at the moment HorseRaceBase is very much geared towards technically minded horse racing fans and from the emails we are receiving, many people are looking for a much simpler platform and want a standard set of ratings, whereas we tend to encourage creating your own. This isnt a new realisation as a result of followers of Adrian Massey coming on board, however it does ram home the point!
Fortunately, we had already done all the work and as part of the upgrade we will be introducing standard HorseRaceBase ratings as oppose to an example set. In addition we will be creating far easier to use areas to query the ratings performance in different scenarios and to save them into systems. (For the more technically minded, it will involve new functionality meaning you can automatically set up so one set of ratings can be used in one scenario and others in another - thus benefiting those of you who have created your own sets).
In all my posts and all over the site, you will see our requests for feedback, id like to take the opportunity to ask all of you (including those on a free trial) to let us know if you are struggling to use the site, miss certain functionality you previously had etc.
Members of HorseRaceBase are very aware that our site is built around member feedback and donations. By working together we continually add to and improve the sites functionality, the truth is the site simply could not exist without asking for a monthly donation.
Cheltenham is now of course here and its a great and busy time. Im really looking forward to a couple of the races in particular with the performance of Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle a really interesting answer to the question of Irish form holding up.
Additionally the Champion Bumper is one I cant wait for. I have had a tip for practically every horse in the race. I actually wont be touching anything but I cant wait to see who comes out on top!
Finally you have to mention the Gold Cup. I was there last year when Imperial Commander came home and there were people crying! If Kauto Star won this year it would be an extraordinary achievement and would go into the history books but of course if IC wins again it will join the list of doublers and then you have Denman who just makes me smile even thinking about him! Its a fantastic race and one I will again possibly not have a bet in (depending on what My Systems throws up).
The best advice I can give for the festival, is that although its exciting and fantastic racing, it does not mean you have to raise your stakes, risk blowing the bank or whatever else. Enjoy it, if you have a well researched selection of course it all adds to the excitement. But there is no need to start taking risks, changing your strategy or backing something for the sake of it. I say this, because last year there were three or four members I know who had to take a break from racing as a result of a bad Cheltenham. Thats crazy.
Sensible staking, clear strategy, long term goals is the way forward.
All the best to everyone, will post again soon.
Cheers
Chris
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Little Details
Hey all,
We are happy enough with the progress we are making although at times its like treading water as some of the projects we are working on are tediously repetitive and extremely frustrating. Many of them its simply a case of running one thing and then not being able to do the next stage until a huge block of queries completes. Of course you then move on to something else only to find its an eye-popping screen starer requiring the patience of a saint!
With all that said, my aim to have a lot done for Cheltenham is looking realistically possible and an upgrade on the System Builder plus several other key elements of improvement will go ahead just as soon as they are ready. As always my thanks to all members who are getting in touch with suggestions etc and also to everyone for continuing to support with donations.
The list of improvements we have pending continues to grow, but this is a good thing and means the site will continue to expand and offer more to all of you as each month passes.
There are a couple of categories which we will be (hopefully) adding in soon and its worth pointing out the likes of track characteristics (undulating etc) are at times disputed depending on which source you look at. In the end we will obviously make the final judgement call on this. In a similar vein, the race type addition for amateur, conditional jockeys etc is one that has caused numerous headaches and again we have spent many hours trying to get everything spot on.
I am not sure yet if we will remove some of the System Builder categories that are never used. In some ways its good to have them there, but if our testing shows they are slowing things down then I dont believe much will be lost in ditching them. For example the 4th last race age restrictions is one I dont believe would be used hardly ever and very doubtful anyone has it in a saved system, but we will need to check all these things out thoroughly.
With regards to Cheltenham it is our hope to introduce a few features, some just fun things, others with really good areas for study. Obviously a whole new audience appears for the festival and it would be really welcomed should we manage to get a few new members on board over this time. But mainly, we realise its a time when all existing members are on the site trying out new things/studying angles etc and we would like to assist as much as we can.
I always say I will post a blog more regularly and yet somehow get so dragged in to the ongoing project areas, before I know it 2 or 3 weeks have passed. With all that said, Im yet again saying the same thing and it is my intention to blog more regularly!
Keep all the feedback, comments and suggestions coming. Thanks. We are getting there!
Cheers
Chris
We are happy enough with the progress we are making although at times its like treading water as some of the projects we are working on are tediously repetitive and extremely frustrating. Many of them its simply a case of running one thing and then not being able to do the next stage until a huge block of queries completes. Of course you then move on to something else only to find its an eye-popping screen starer requiring the patience of a saint!
With all that said, my aim to have a lot done for Cheltenham is looking realistically possible and an upgrade on the System Builder plus several other key elements of improvement will go ahead just as soon as they are ready. As always my thanks to all members who are getting in touch with suggestions etc and also to everyone for continuing to support with donations.
The list of improvements we have pending continues to grow, but this is a good thing and means the site will continue to expand and offer more to all of you as each month passes.
There are a couple of categories which we will be (hopefully) adding in soon and its worth pointing out the likes of track characteristics (undulating etc) are at times disputed depending on which source you look at. In the end we will obviously make the final judgement call on this. In a similar vein, the race type addition for amateur, conditional jockeys etc is one that has caused numerous headaches and again we have spent many hours trying to get everything spot on.
I am not sure yet if we will remove some of the System Builder categories that are never used. In some ways its good to have them there, but if our testing shows they are slowing things down then I dont believe much will be lost in ditching them. For example the 4th last race age restrictions is one I dont believe would be used hardly ever and very doubtful anyone has it in a saved system, but we will need to check all these things out thoroughly.
With regards to Cheltenham it is our hope to introduce a few features, some just fun things, others with really good areas for study. Obviously a whole new audience appears for the festival and it would be really welcomed should we manage to get a few new members on board over this time. But mainly, we realise its a time when all existing members are on the site trying out new things/studying angles etc and we would like to assist as much as we can.
I always say I will post a blog more regularly and yet somehow get so dragged in to the ongoing project areas, before I know it 2 or 3 weeks have passed. With all that said, Im yet again saying the same thing and it is my intention to blog more regularly!
Keep all the feedback, comments and suggestions coming. Thanks. We are getting there!
Cheers
Chris
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