Live reports

[Anonymous]

Why do they go backwards?

and why do you get the results when you click on them rather than the start of the live report...?

 

[sydhancock]

100% agree. Totally illogical.

If a user wants results they click on a results link. If they click on 'live report' instead that is because they want to follow the story from the start.

Syd
Daily CN reader for over 8 years.

 

[Daniel Benson]

We are aware of this and it will be fixed as soon as possible - most likely for stage 3.

Thanks

Daniel

 

[Crikey]

I just read through the live report for Stage 2 of the TDF. Of course it's weird that it's entered backward, but even more troubling, and seemingly less fixable, is the quality of the writing. One of the things about the CN live report was always the intelligence, humor, and added effort that differentiated it from other live reports. The stage 2 live report, though, seems to be a big step backward. It is comparatively terse, no humor, more difficult to follow, lacking in background information, and the reporting of the last few kilometers of the race are so abbreviated it was hard to figure out what was happening and not initially clear who won.

Clearly the new CN has installed someone new to do these reports, to poor effect. I had hoped that, despite the nonsense of the website mechanics, at least the live reports would maintain their quality, but it appears that isn't the case.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Different people write the live reports on different days, and everyone has their own style.

Susan

 

[gruppo]

Another glitch

We are aware of this and it will be fixed as soon as possible - most likely for stage 3.

Thanks

Daniel

When all the stage result information is up, the headings that are wide, for example - "general classification", spill over onto the first place rider's name and obliterate it or part of it. Using Stage 2 and the same example, I read as follows - General Classification after stage 2cerella (Swi).

It would be cured if the first place rider were shown on the next line.

 

[scottsmack]

backwards live reports

We are aware of this and it will be fixed as soon as possible - most likely for stage 3.

Thanks

Daniel

Thanks, looking forward to "as it unfolds" live reporting again.

 

[Crikey]

Thanks for replying Susan. I know that CN has used different people for race reports, but until this TDF they all seemed quite good. What's lacking in the live report now is the following:

1) Something of a preamble to the stage that discusses the course profile, the weather, the objectives of key riders, the objectives and likely strategies of key teams, overnight news, any quotes from riders about the previous or upcoming stage, etc. I know I don't have to tell you this because you would usually provide it, but it used to be something of a given in previous live reports no matter who was doing the reporting...no sign of it now.

2) Enough ongoing description of the actions of the peloton, the break, the fans, weather changes etc., to create a vivid picture in the reader's mind about what is happening, as though they were there. Perhaps management now pays by the word and wants as little written as possible, but yesterday's report fell far below the standard of any live report I've ever read on CN. It was terse to the point of tedium.

3) Humor. Where's the blimp? Where's the e-mail interaction with readers during the stage? What are the cow sightings? The live report needs life...it should not just be a mechanical recitation of events.

4) Well-presented summaries during the stage. It was always standard practice to periodically provide the break members, chasers (with names) at X time, more chasers (with names) at Y and peloton (with key riders) at Z. Hardly saw any of that yesterday.

5) Proper handling of the closing kilometers and post-finish summary. This is when the race is most dramatic of course, and when the reporter really needs to make the extra effort to communicate precisely what's happening. Yesterday was a sprint finish, and different teams had various sprint contenders, but there was very little discussion of that. The fact that the crash near the finish wiped out the trains of different sprinters was never mentioned, nor even that trains had formed. The reporting became so abbreviated and murky that I had to read the last part twice just to figure out that Cavendish had won. Furthermore, there were no brief results, and no brief written summary (a few sentences) of the finish or the stage as a whole, which is often provided to close out the live report.

Stylistic differences are fine, but big quality differences are a problem.

 

[djconnel]

Yeah -- it's too bad about the live report spoilers. I was on the train, come in to work hoping to read the final few km, and there it is the final result staring me in the face. Done. A bunch of potential advertising impressions lost. Not to mention a lot of folks will move on somewhere else for their live reports never to return, stage 3 fix or otherwise.

And I enjoy Susan's writing on live reports. I'm not sure about the present ones: I have no reason to even read them after the spoiler.

 

[soix716]

I am wondering why the "LIVE" race reports have been consistently 5-10 minutes behind live action, according to the real time clock? Even after I refresh my page it isnt there, almost as though every other three reports were eaten by the 'missing cow' reports?

I equally support the sentiment of others regarding the time-order of the reports. I am liking the new website layout but it seems cyclingnews forgot how GREAT their live reporting has been in how many years...until the TDF. I find myself looking over at Velonews for their reports but they went to a video format rather than the handy-fast live text reporting, leaving us with nothing online.
BUMMER.

 

[stpete300]

How about a little positive feedback for once...I really like the link boxes to different pages of the live report.

Now, back to the negative stuff. I just looked at the Tour live report for today, hoping to pick up where I left off with 20k to go. This was the first live report I've checked out since the "redesign" (maybe "undesign" is more apt), and while I was first excited to see the link boxes which got me to where I wanted to go more quickly, I was then confused that the entries went backwards. Then I was ****ed off when the page from about 20k to go also listed the provisional results. Are you serious? Backwards listings and results on every page?

Not to be insulting, but who is in charge of this thing? What is the reasoning behind this kind of decision? This site goes from bad to worse. We're dealing with incredibly basic stuff here, and you're missing it completely. You've redesigned it with no thought to the how the content relates to the exisiting readership (the reason for the site, in case you didn't know it). I really hope that you have an ulterior motive in alienating visitors to the site...

Thanks for reading, I'm off to find a new source of info for the tour.

 

[RaymondP]

Just want to add another voice of dissatisfaction with the live reports. The ordering is confusing. Is says 'Previous Page' at the left, but now page #1 is the latest. Weird. And having to read from bottom to top on each page. Yowwwsir! Very strange. And where are the cow reports? Hey, I know we haven't been in cow country yet, but the general quality of the live report has taken a nose-dive. Looking forward to a revised format soon!

 

[charlieyates]

Quality

One more voice angry about the "spoilers". I carefully navigated my way to the beginning of the live report, trying to avoid seeing who won. Guess what's right below the first entry - yep, the results! Thanks for nothing, guys!!
Also, I think if a male commentator made comments about female racers' bodies and appearance on par with your female reporters' drooling over the men (endless comments about hairless chests come to mind), he'd never hear the end of it. Have some ethical standards, already. Please keep it in your pants, Susan!
Also also, all the "cows" crap is sophomoric. Report on the race. The biggest sporting event in the world, and you report on cows. Seriously.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

I made one comment about hairless chests, during either Giro or Suisse. One.

And some people like the cow and flamingo comments.

Susan

 

[krebs303]

I made one comment about hairless chests, during either Giro or Suisse. One.

And some people like the cow and flamingo comments.

Susan

do not forget the blimp!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

And if I fly the blimp tomorrow, someone will complain about that, too.

What's that old saying, you can't please all the people all the time?

Susan

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Results

Hello Susan, you helped out alot before, since the new site design, so i have 2 more Questions:

1.) When will the complete results of the National Championships of Belarus (TT and Stage-Race) be shown. I tought after more then one Week you would bring them up. The same problem i have with the results of the Swedish-TT-National-Championships (only 5 riders are listed !!).

2.) I think in the past you showed start times of ITT and TTT`s. I can not find the start times for tommrow. How comes?

I hope your site will become No. 1 gain.

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Sorry, the first question is outside of my range of knowledge.

We will probably have the start times up sometime Tuesday morning.

Susan

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Results

Ok thanks Susan

 

[Crikey]

If you give me a blimp ticket I'll handle any blimp complaints.

 

[Alan in MD]

Live feed for mobile?!

Until the redesign I was able to follow live updates on my phone. I think it was live.cyclingnews.com/wap/ or something like that. Anyway it stopped working when the redesign happened and never came back. It's impossible to read the regular live feed on a mobile device. Am I out of luck?

 

[James Jordan]

I find it really interesting that SBS (Australian TV Station) can run a live tracker report that refreshes quicker and with alot more detail, ie video, maps, profile locaton, etc.

Guys you really need to look at your live report feed. Like the rest of the website its slow to load and refresh. The quality is way down from your privious efforts.

 

[stefan]

I find it really interesting that SBS (Australian TV Station) can run a live tracker report that refreshes quicker and with alot more detail, ie video, maps, profile locaton, etc.

Guys you really need to look at your live report feed. Like the rest of the website its slow to load and refresh. The quality is way down from your privious efforts.

If you want the updates quicker, reload the page manually, and they will appear as fast as they're written.

 

[James Jordan]

If you want the updates quicker, reload the page manually, and they will appear as fast as they're written.

Yes I can, by why should I have to sit there pressing the refresh button constantly.

The fact is that the ever since the refresh of the site it is running at a much slower pace. The home page takes 3-4 times longer to load, and most of the information pages take twice the time that it use to. Just so you know I don't think its the ad or similar that have cause this, but the general background rubbish that you have added.

I use to use CN as my homepage, but with all non value bits that you have added, such as the carousel, its just not worth the hassle.

 

[Anonymous]

Apologies for one error: the live report was not set to refresh automatically. It is now set to do so every 5 minutes.

The live report system is pretty much identical to the way it's been for years. The html and CSS of http://live.cyclingnews.com/latest.html comes to a total of 16kB. If that takes any significant time for you to load (it's instantaneous for me on a broadband link in Sydney) then you really need to upgrade from that acoustic coupler.

SBS has the luxury of not having literally thousands of people whacking their live coverage at the end of a mountain stage. Our live system is designed to keep working under very heavy loads, which means it has to be light.