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What's new July 6th 2012: An Apology and some new features!

Russ Freeman

By Russ Freeman, 1341576204

Hi Everyone!

I was going to mention the rain but I have decided against it :-)

Firstly, an apology...

For a couple of weeks I thought something was wrong with the casting calls system but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was so I added some more data collection - specifically collecting data for how many email notifications were being sent out for each casting call. It seemed low, on average just 30. So I  widened the default distance for the casting filter and the average went up to around 35 - still too low considering how many members we now have.

So on Monday I had a proper look, I went through every aspect of it. After a couple of hours I found a bug and tested some of the previous casting calls against it.

It turns out that a sneaky bug was only sending roughly 10% (it varies a LOT) of the casting call notifications out. So if your casting call went out to around 30 people last week since Monday they would have gone out to around 300 people.

I'm sorry it took so long to find this problem but the first step was knowing there was a problem - hence the time needed to collect the data.

I think this has put a negative light on PP castings, essentially making them MUCH less effective compared to comparable web sites and I think that's a great shame indeed.

It's fixed now though! :-)

What's new?

As usual we've been busy on stuff. Some quite subtle and hidden, some bugs and tweaks...the usual stuff. Here's an overview and I'll go into detail for a couple of features below:

  • You can now set an away notice. More details below.
  • You can now request a follow-up reminder for messages. More details below.
  • Fixed bug that made it impossible to quote the first post in a group post.
  • Added Love to images. Everyone needs more love right? If you see an image you really like click the little heart button near bottom right when viewing an image.
  • Added an activity feed entry when someone you follow adds a new reference for someone.
  • If you block someone they cannot now collect your images. Also, they can't apply for your casting calls and you can't accidentally apply for theirs either.
  • Added ability to add visible search results to an existing list. Just click the Cog menu on the search page.
  • Added ability to give an Unlimited subscription as a gift.
  • Fixed a massive pile of bugs in competitions.
  • Added ability to vote for a competition entry when viewing the full sized image.
  • Added a reminder email for when you enter a competition and haven't voted - because if you don't vote you will not win!
  • Added a little hover over popup when looking at the "last post" in the recent discussions gadget.
  • Added explanatory text to casting call types.
  • Made the default logged in page faster and much more efficient. We still have work to do on it to make it quicker still!
  • Fixed bug where casting calls for suspended or deactivated accounts were still visible.
  • Added an icon for when you have replied or not when viewing your inbox.
  • Added a little icon when viewing a portfolio IF you have added a note to that portfolio.

 

Calendar: Away Notice

We spent some time looking at other sites versions of "Away notice" and whilst the concept was useful they also suffered from the fact that they didn't solve any problems effectively.

When you create an Away Notice on PP it comes in two flavours;

  1. I'm away and not available to shoot
  2. I'm away and available to shoot

Both have a duration associated with them saying how long you are away. So, if you say you are away from August 1st for 7 days when the 7 days is up your Away notice will expire. PP will send you an email confirming to you that we've set an away notice for you and it will also send an email when your Away Notice expires. No need to remember to switch it off as PP will do it for you!

I'm away and not available to shoot - This is a simple away notice and it's displayed on your portfolio page but only for members of the site. It includes when you'll be back.

I'm away and available to shoot - This is much more interesting. Let's say you live in Newcastle and are travelling down to Cheltenham to shoot for a few days from September 1st. You'll select Cheltenham as the Away Notice location and tick the box to say you are available. If I, based in Cheltenham, view your portfolio it will say "I'm in your area September 1st to Sepetember 5th and I'm available to shoot"

Also, if you had commented on a group post and I view the group post while you are in my area it will say "I'm in your area and available to shoot".
We have a couple more places to make use of the away notice but we thought it was worth updating it as it is because it's already more useful than any other site's version we saw.

Because you can set start date and durations for Away Notice's you can put them all into the system any time you like. For models who wish to travel around the country this is a fabulous feature!

Follow up reminder

Have you ever had someone say in a message that they can't shoot for a while but maybe in a couple of months message them and ask again? ... and of course you then forget as the message is buried in your inbox!

Now, when viewing a message you can request a follow up reminder. The day before the reminder PP will email you a link to the message on PP so you can resume your conversation about shooting.

...

We plan to finish the Calendar off in the next week or two but for now head the warning on the calendar page. To find your calendar click your name at the top and then choose Calendar from the Cog menu.

Phew...I think that's it. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the changes :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

CraigLlewellyn said, 1341576778

Russ, speaking as someone who runs a large team of database analysts and 'tinkers' with webtech in my own time I am completely blown away by what you've achieved here at PP. The prior planning to build up the framework that will support all of this development plus the ongoing time and effort should not be underestimated by anyone. Very often when a site outgrows it's initial scope it gets clunky and inefficient. So far PP is smooth and everything fits together well. I am really impressed. :)

Dave Johnson said, 1341577142

Now if you could just do something about the terrible weather Russ... :-//

Ted said, 1341577459

and this is why more and more people are turning to PP. Somebody who gives a monkeys

Roger Charles said, 1341578921

keep up the good work this is a great site and we have to expect the odd bug every now and then :) 

Russ Freeman said, 1341604896

Just a quick update...

You can now edit image keyword tags from the image page when you're viewing the image. To do it...view one of your images and scroll down to where the image keyword tags are normally found. Click the (edit) link and add/remove keywords. Simple :-)

Artemis Fauna said, 1341604910

Yay to an away notice that actually expires automatically! I forgot how many times over on PS i'd forget to turn it off when I returned and still have it up months later until someone finally told me about it! :) 

eyeLINEphotography said, 1341678674

Yes well done Russ. I am now receiving Casting Calls which I wasn't before.

 

PhotoVibeStudio said, 1341687856

Well done gents to react here. It has been very noticeable that PP was seriously failing on the Casting Calls - one reason why I have not signed up. But different to other sites - you respond - you fix - so I will now sign up.  Kev

FemmeFotog said, 1341696749

Thanks for being honest about the bug and giving us full info on the fix.  Personally speaking I will forgive anyone who communicates properly with me and is open and honest.  I respect that approach enormously.  Keep it up guys - good site.

crystal waters said, 1341709280

well i love this site its great and as someone said u expect things to go wrong from time to time keep up the good work xx

Carmelle Model South Wales UK said, 1341745118

is there anyway that you can stop the castings coming through from people youve  blocked. I personally dont mind having the  casting feature where you get notified but I dont think its neccessary to receive them if the person who has set up a casting is on your block list, if you know what I mean xxx

Russ Freeman said, 1341746600

carmellemodel said

is there anyway that you can stop the castings coming through from people youve  blocked. I personally dont mind having the  casting feature where you get notified but I dont think its neccessary to receive them if the person who has set up a casting is on your block list, if you know what I mean xxx


It's on my to do list. I had hoped to have it done last week but I didn't have time.

Carmelle Model South Wales UK said, 1341748187

Ahhh right I see, coolios, thought id  ask lol xxx

Will Circus said, 1342314953

Hi, I'm quite new to the site and it is very good from what I've seen.

I just have one small problem with the Casting Call filter; it is not possible to filter between male and female models, so I find myself trawling through many castings for females just to find a suitable casting for myself. As there is no such filter, a lot of casting calls have failed to state a particular gender and it is difficult to know if I am just wasting my time trying to apply. Is it possible to add such a feature as I believe this would save a lot of people (albeit mainly male models) a lot of time.

As a model with an outside skill (circus) I also find that it is not easy to find models or photographers that are keen to show off a skill (or ability to shoot it well) or even a physical attribute (e.g. only got one leg); this skill could be musical, athletic, circus, performance based, flexibility, extreme sports etc.. I realise this may currently be quite a niche market or I may just be on the wrong site but I think a feature to search through profiles would be useful. There seem to be a lot of good photographers out there but they seem intent on shooting very generic looking photos, now maybe that's what people want, I don't know, but I'd love to see more photographers and models trying to expand their portfolios in to the world of the previously un-shot images. For instance, I'm doing a artistic nude b/g circus themed shoot including acrobalance on a unicycle; if it's been done before I haven't seen it, but it certainly isn't generic. I apologise if I am being a bit harsh or unfair. I do however find the image tags useful to find similar models and photographers. I just feel that photography being modern art it should be unique, and with so many models (with probably a lot of underlying talents) there needs to be a way to make oneself stand out from the crowd (which is easier said than done).

I apologise if I have just not found any of the above features I have mentioned.

Keep up the good work PurplePort; you're doing a great job.

Thanks,

Will

Edited by Will Circus

Russ Freeman said, 1342335098

When we implemented the first version of search it was very basic - functional at best. Later we updated it and added a bunch more stuff to it. We'll do it again some time soon as we have more criteria to add to it.

It's the same with casting calls. Version 1 is functional and more than competes with similar systems elsewhere. However, it's the first version. We plan to extend and improve it in the next few months.

Will Circus said, 1342346533

Thanks Russ; great to know. I look forward to the revisions...

Will