The "new" Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

[bridiem]

That's really awful. If people are impressed by the displays and are allowed to take photos they can choose to do so, and to post on Instagram if they want to. Bribing people to do so is embarrassing and really quite pathetic.

[capybara]

Going out on a limb here but I actually don't see anything wrong with this initiative.

 

The dancers are 'advertising' places and products every day on Instagram. Why can't the ROH join in?

[bridiem]

1 minute ago, capybara said:

Going out on a limb here but I actually don't see anything wrong with this initiative.

 

The dancers are 'advertising' places and products every day on Instagram. Why can't the ROH join in?

 

They can, and I would expect them to do so. But I don't  think they should be bribing their patrons in this way .

[capybara]

23 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

They can, and I would expect them to do so. But I don't  think they should be bribing their patrons in this way .

 

I understand your viewpoint but I don't feel 'bribed' because I shall be exercising my freedom not to participate.

[penelopesimpson]

3 hours ago, Darlex said:

I received an email from ROH  today promising to be entered for a draw to win tickets in the Royal Box if I take a photo of their Front of House displays and post it on Instagram. Oh dear, what is the world coming to?!!!! Must have been thought up by a 20 -something -year -old marketing expert. This must be all about engaging with the yoof, innit.

Anyway, I'm SUING: firstly they expect me to possess a photographic device (one which hopefully has a nice, loud ringtone which sounds during the quietest moment of the ballet - think Shades or Giselle Act 2 or, as I really experienced, during beautiful Concerto pdd); AND they expect me to have Instagram. This is full scale DISCRIMINATION!!!! I feel EXCLUDED. I want my RIGHTS!!! I WANT FULL INCLUSIVITY!!!!!! NOW!!!!! angry emoji. very angry emoji!!!

One word:  Ghastly

[alison]

Everybody does it these days: photograph your special fruit+porridge combination, photograph this that and the other and post it on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, if you want to be in with a chance of winning a prize.  Sure, it's discriminatory, but then so is the savings account I've just opened with my building society, which used to be available both online and in-branch, and is now online only.  I'm afraid the discrimination against those who don't have internet/social media accounts etc. is going to carry on growing  

[bridiem]

I can't say I care very much about the discrimination in this case. I just care about the dishonesty. (I didn't know that 'everyone does it', but even if they do it doesn't make it right.) If social media is going to be used for advertising, it should be clear that that's what's happening. If apparently independent individuals are going to promote an organisation, they should acknowledge if they are being incentivised to do so.

[capybara]

10 minutes ago, bridiem said:

. If apparently independent individuals are going to promote an organisation, they should acknowledge if they are being incentivised to do so.

 

Agreed.

One leading RB dancer: hair stylist, restaurant, jewellery ,skin care, dance wear, fitness equipment etc etc etc.

[Lizbie1]

On 15/12/2018 at 12:10, penelopesimpson said:

Rupert Christiansen highlights ‘astronomical charges for ford and drink’ and ‘a ticketing policy that needlessly penalises regulars.’  Todays’s Telegraph.

 

On 15/12/2018 at 15:50, David said:

It's from the third para down of his review of the year entitled: Time for a bloodbath at the Coliseum.

 

Article is online now: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opera/what-to-see/forget-eno-another-company-deserves-called-national-opera/

[Lizbie1]

On 15/12/2018 at 20:00, penelopesimpson said:

He also, rightly IMHO, criticises Unknown Soldier

 

I think this refers to Mark Monahan's equivalent article - I can't find it in the links, so here it is: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/year-proved-royal-ballet-has-problem-women-2018-dance/

 

I'm not in general a fan of Monahan's reviews but I agree 100% with his central argument in this piece: that women choreographers are egregiously under-represented at the RB, and that it would matter a lot less if more of their commissions from male choreographers were up to scratch. (Sorry, I'm aware that this is off topic.)

Edited December 18, 2018 by Lizbie1
there/their correction

[Sim]

Sadly you have to register to read it.  I am already registered, but since this is a 'premium' article I would then need to upgrade to that level (and pay after 30 days) so I will give it a miss, or access it another way if I can.

[Lizbie1]

I think you're allowed a certain (low) number of free premium articles per week or month.

[penelopesimpson]

Used to be two per day or was it week?  Sim:  I do have Premium but I was able to access it from this link without signing in.

 

 

i seem to be the only person in the world who enjoyed The Wind😩

Edited December 18, 2018 by penelopesimpson

[Ian Macmillan]

The Telegraph's access rules are added, below.

 

The article has some Share icons but a Test has just shown that using the link then provided has no more effect than direct online access.

 

"Premium" access is slowly restricting what's available to the Links team from unless we buy into a newspaper's subscription system - I gave up on The Australian over a year ago and have recently found the Boston Globe to be equally restrictive.  (And several other US sites have also become unavailable here since the the introduction of the GDPR rules in Europe earlier this year.)

 

 

 

 

[bridiem]

27 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

i seem to be the only person in the world who enjoyed The Wind😩

 

I did too! So that's at least two...

[Rob S]

10 hours ago, alison said:

Everybody does it these days: photograph your special fruit+porridge combination, photograph this that and the other and post it on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram, if you want to be in with a chance of winning a prize.  

 

Amateurs!! The real pains are the ones that insist you tag three of your friends and recruit them to ‘like’ the prize giver’s account 😖

Edited December 18, 2018 by Rob S

[John Mallinson]

10 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

I think this refers to Mark Monahan's equivalent article - I can't find it in the links, so here it is: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/year-proved-royal-ballet-has-problem-women-2018-dance/

 

Not in the links because I couldn't access it. Grrr.

[daisydance]

10 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

I did too! So that's at least two...

Me three!

 

[bridiem]

I've received an email from the ROH including the following: 'We are currently testing a new Tickets & Events page to replace the existing What’s On page so you might notice a difference next time you go online to buy tickets. The new page is currently visble to 12.5% of users. If you experience any issues, please call us on +44 (0)20 7212 9268 and we can help you navigate the new pages. If we and/or the Box Office is closed, and you need to book tickets, you can clear your cookies and refresh the page to see the old What’s On page instead.'

[ninamargaret]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

I've received an email from the ROH including the following: 'We are currently testing a new Tickets & Events page to replace the existing What’s On page so you might notice a difference next time you go online to buy tickets. The new page is currently visble to 12.5% of users. If you experience any issues, please call us on +44 (0)20 7212 9268 and we can help you navigate the new pages. If we and/or the Box Office is closed, and you need to book tickets, you can clear your cookies and refresh the page to see the old What’s On page instead.'

I've received this too. Totally unhelpful - they should be ashamed of themselves for putting something online which is apparently untested and useless to.many users.

[Lizbie1]

19 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

I've received this too. Totally unhelpful - they should be ashamed of themselves for putting something online which is apparently untested and useless to.many users.

 

I’ll make the assumption that this has already undergone the usual testing; if I’m right, this is something called alpha/beta testing, which is actually a good thing and designed to help them learn whether a new feature or design is better than what it’s replacing.

[Lizbie1]

Sorry, A/B variant testing (I’m rusty at this  ).

[ninamargaret]

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I’ll make the assumption that this has already undergone the usual testing; if I’m right, this is something called alpha/beta testing, which is actually a good thing and designed to help them learn whether a new feature or design is better than what it’s replacing.

Fine, but why should their public,who are already having a hard time, act as their testers?

[Jane S]

I noticed this yesterday and although I haven't had an email (haven't been a Friend for some years now) there's a little pop-up explaining that it's a trial and asking you to rate it.

 

I thought I'd test it by supposing I knew they were doing Romeo and Juliet sometime and trying to find out when .

 

Much the easiest way is to type Romeo and Juliet into the 'Search' from the front page - that takes you straight to the R&j page - which I guess it always has done, though I've never actually tried before.

 

Alternatively you click on  Menu - What's On or on Find an Event from the front page - they both take you to a page called Tickets and Events and you can choose to look at Ballet and Dance, or Opera, cinema relays etc

 

Choosing Ballet and Dance takes you to the front pages of every event in that category for the rest of the season, in chronological sequence - so if you want to find R&J at the moment you have to scroll past 23 other events to get to it.

 

Much quicker is to use the filter option and choose Main Stage, which just gives you the remaining 6 or 7 shows - and clicking on R&J takes you to the same page that the current system shows you.

 

So I'd say that if you know what you're looking for and use one of the short cuts is works well - otherwise all the scrolling could make you lose interest quite quickly!

[alison]

So, a complete newcomer, with no idea of what's on, has to scroll through the whole lot of events in the hopes of finding something they might be interested in?  That doesn't sound very Open Up-friendly?

[Lizbie1]

21 minutes ago, ninamargaret said:

Fine, but why should their public,who are already having a hard time, act as their testers?

 

Because they know that they are too close to the project and not typical users - one of the reasons things have gone badly so far IMO is that they *didn't* bother with this kind of thing. A real, in-the-wild, genuine cross-section of people who'll be using the website is a near impossible thing to recruit for pre-go-live testing, and this is by far the best way to test for genuine reactions.

 

I and others here have been justifiably critical of the way the new website has been implemented so far, but there are strong signs that they've taken this on board and are trying hard to get a grip. I don't think it's helpful to criticise them for this.

[Lizbie1]

1 minute ago, alison said:

So, a complete newcomer, with no idea of what's on, has to scroll through the whole lot of events in the hopes of finding something they might be interested in?  That doesn't sound very Open Up-friendly?

 

But that's what happens on the old What's On page, isn't it? Except you can't filter that!

[alison]

You can break it down into more manageable chunks by selecting a booking period, though.

[Lizbie1]

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Sorry, A/B variant testing (I’m rusty at this  ).

 

I should add that nearly everyone who browses the internet will have taken part in this kind of testing - they just don't normally tell you about it.

[bridiem]

8 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I should add that nearly everyone who browses the internet will have taken part in this kind of testing - they just don't normally tell you about it.

 

I don't recall ever having done this, or even having visited a website where I've been asked to do it (and I browse a LOT!). I would think it very odd if I came across it. But if it's standard practice, that's good and I hope it results in a more effective website this time round.

[Colman]

6 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I don't recall ever having done this, or even having visited a website where I've been asked to do it (and I browse a LOT!). I would think it very odd if I came across it. But if it's standard practice, that's good and I hope it results in a more effective website this time round.

Normally it’s not something you’d notice: they decide which is working best based on some measurement of what you do - maybe increased clicks into products or sales or whatever.

[bridiem]

7 minutes ago, Colman said:

Normally it’s not something you’d notice: they decide which is working best based on some measurement of what you do - maybe increased clicks into products or sales or whatever.

 

Oh I see! I got the wrong end of the stick. Yes, that makes sense.

Edited December 21, 2018 by bridiem

[alison]

2 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

I don't recall ever having done this, or even having visited a website where I've been asked to do it (and I browse a LOT!). I would think it very odd if I came across it. But if it's standard practice, that's good and I hope it results in a more effective website this time round.

 

I guess it's the equivalent of what they tend to do when laying out new parks now: don't put the paths in immediately, just grass the area over and wait to see which areas get trampled, because that will give a good idea of what the preferred routes are