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We still refer to it often as “repairs@”, the old monicker given to the facility that allows people to search for an engineer by postcode, product type and brand but it sorta evolved into “Find An Engineer” and now we just refer to it as the engineer search function.
We were going to leave this until the September meeting to go live with the new version but, we’ve decided to press on and get it live ASAP rather than waiting for a specific date to launch.
We hope the latest incarnation of the system will be live by the end of this week.
I am not processing any new requests until the new system is up and running. Please don’t ask until then as it could mean having to copy stuff between two databases.
There are several very important changes that lead to things which you may have to do so that you are listed and, listed correctly.
Email
I will be sending this message to every registered email address currently on the database, there are over three hundred to do so it will take a day or two.
If the registered email bounces the account will be removed from the system, deleted.
We will assume that the business is no longer trading and we do not have the time nor resources to go chasing people.
Weighting
Searches will be weighted in favour of WTA members.
This means that WTA members will be displayed first above everyone else in any searches.
Also, the next step will be weighting based on number of posts in the forums with the assumption being that the more posts, the more authoritative the voice.
Other weighting mechanisms will be looked at in due course but, for the moment, that’s it really.
Account Linking
You will be able to amend some details of your account there using your forum login such as the products that you service, mark yourself as being on holiday and a few other things.
I will give more details of this as we get closer to launch or have the system live.
In short, you can manage some of it yourself.
If the account is not linked within three months it will be deleted as we will assume that the business is no longer trading or that the person/business has lost interest in receiving repair requests from UKW.
Once an account is linked to a username it cannot be undone!
The username or login with that particular user ID is then locked to the engineer search management side and we cannot unlink it or change it in any way. Lose your account, you lose the search.
Dead Accounts
Accounts that are not seen on the site for three months (currently) will drop off the system and no longer be displayed in the search results.
The reasons are pretty simple and to be completely blunt about this, there are a lot of companies that sign up for the search function never to be seen or heard from again. Doing this, coupled with using post count ratings, ensures that those types of business must be an active member to gain work from the system.
It is unfair that people that contribute lots to the site lose work to those that do not, we hope that this redresses the balance of that by rewarding the people the contribute the most to the site.
Accounts That Are Deleted
For any accounts that are deleted you will have to re-apply with updated information in full.
We, again, do not have the time or resources to chase around three hundred plus accounts updating details.
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
Still can’t understand why it is that when I enter my own postcode I vanish from the map. 😥
Jim.
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
We’ve got it in for you! 😉
No, the reason is that you and AN Other are right on top of one another and the other listing hides yours.
That should be fixed with the weighting and it’ll be the other way around I suspect.
K.
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
iadom wrote:Still can’t understand why it is that when I enter my own postcode I vanish from the map. 😥
…..and when they do find you, your ‘spanner’ hasn’t got a link to your web site either! 😯
Question for Ken: On the ‘spanner’ map listings, will it highlight whether or not that business is a WTA member?
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
Martin wrote:
Question for Ken: On the ‘spanner’ map listings, will it highlight whether or not that business is a WTA member?
It already does, as it says in the text on the ‘Find an Engineer’ page, A WTA member has a star on his details box. 😉
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
iadom wrote:A WTA member has a star on his details box. 😉
Oh yeah, I see it now, a GOLD star, pretty, true, but in the grand scheme of things how would anyone know what it meant? 😕
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
Martin wrote:
Oh yeah, I see it now, a GOLD star, pretty, true, but in the grand scheme of things how would anyone know what it meant? 😕
Same as it always meant, I’ve been a good boy. :angel:
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
The problem is of course Martin, you can’t please all the people all the time.
Of course, you can’t please Martin any time! :snigger:
Anyway, we reckon we’ve cracked it by using a different marker as well as making the WTA members markers 125{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} the size of the normal non-TA members so they real do stand out.
On the test I used to do the screen grabs below I didn’t have any marked as WTA as it’s just testing but again, just to annoy Martin, we used a star. 😉
The form has gotten a bit better though and will likely improve with time and feedback (so long as stars aren’t mentioned) as we now do a postcode lookup and also there is a preferred appointment date. You can also see the “urgent” thing this makes the mail you get high priority just so it stands out a bit, simple as that.
As you can see, quite a bit of work on it and we’re just doing the final touches. We probably could have made it live this afternoon but thought better of it. If anything breaks we wouldn’t be able to fix it till Monday so we decided to hold off until Monday to do it.
K.
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
kwatt wrote:Of course, you can’t please Martin any time! :snigger:
True enough, but on this occasion I have to admit that I’m delighted with the effort you have gone to, oh yes. 8) 😉 🙂
Keep up the good work and take the rest of the day off….!
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
Rest of the day off indeed…. I’ve been trying to fix the internet at home and upgrade machines in the office, it wasn’t pretty and still the net at home is broken. I hasten to add, due to a routing error with the ISP, which I had to prove, currently using a proxy service pinged off goodness knows where.
But thanks, I am trying. And, finally getting somewhere which is pleasing.
More to come on this though as it is a useful tool and there’s a number of things that I’ve come up with to try to make the most of it.
There’s some tweaks to be done and I also need to make this work on other sites, part of the whole upgrade thing. It may be possible, depending on platform, to allow repairers to use it on their own sites. I need to study some stuff though to find out how feasible that is, although it can be done using an HTTP wrapper I believe.
However, I have to say Martin I’m well chuffed. I think that’s one of the few occasions you’ve not tried to rip me to shreds for doing something. 😉
What I would say though is, if you aren’t on there, you should be. Just check after we make it live that you are as it could mean appearing on multiple sites ultimately.
K.
Important Changes To Engineer Search
We aim to please. 🙂
There are several discrepancies though in the data and that will lead to errors. Hence the blanket email that went out, any bouncing emails will count as a “dead” account and be removed as nobody has the time to chase down people that change their emails.
I don’t get that at all really, if you changed your phone number you’d let everyone know (although many change mobile numbers and don’t) but changing your email is the same thing. But lots of repairers change them and don’t bother to tell anyone, then wonder why they get no work off the Internet. Very odd.
If people can’t find you or get in touch they will use someone else, really simple.
My advice is, secure your own domain and use it.
Even Martin did that (very wisely) years ago. 😉
K.
Re: Important Changes To Engineer Search
kwatt wrote:My advice is, secure your own domain and use it.
Even Martin did that (very wisely) years ago. 😉
Oh shucks, it was nuffin’ really. 😳
But all joshing aside, I too am amazed at the “bouncing email effect” so many guys on here have. Many come on asking for help and when I email them the vital info they seek, 9 times out of 10 it just bounces back!
I’m convinced those same guys have at home one of those ‘stick-on wireless front door bells’? You know, the ones where the battery went flat sometime around Christmas 3 or 4 years back and still they wonder why the Connect parcel delivery didn’t arrive? 😈
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