WhatsApp Use in Contests and Task Sharing

[Jamie Shore]

I'm starting a new thread devoted to the subject of using WhatsApp in contests and task sharing. Please share your thoughts on pros and cons, successes and failures, contests that used it well and not well, etc. A sampling (not all comments) and some copying and pasting from previous threads:


2019 Region 5 South Contest Cordele
---We are still trying to find a way to effectively communicate with competitors via mobile devices. A trial use of an application called What’s App may be a solution. After 3 days we have about half of the pilots using the service. It is free and relatively easy to use without having to ask my grand kids to help. We distribute tasks, messages, grid sheets, and social activity reminders. I woke up this morning to a question via the app of whether a rest day was in consideration for the day. A quick scan out the window revealed a beautiful Cordele morning. Remembering the advice from a relatively famous CD, Charlie Spratt, I responded “If it’s not raining, we rig and grid!”


2019 Jun/Jul Comments
---why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use.
---At grid time the task sheets were just being printed. With What’s App help, the task got to half the pilots about 10 minutes early.
---Regarding mass communication..here st Club Nationals we required all competitors to get on a calling post group. This is the program Walt has been using for distributing his weather briefings. All they have to do is send a text and confirm on a web link, then they are in the group. Then Walt and I can send group texts and/or emails to the entire contest. It has been really nice.
---They used "WhatsApp" at 15m Nats in Bermuda high this year. It had the advantage of using WiFi when Cell coverage was not available and could download pics docs ect.


2019 August Region 10 Soaring Club of Houston (SCOH)
We used WhatsApp at the Region 10 contest at the Soaring Club of Houston this past week to communicate contest info, reminders, task information and weather charts. The feedback has been positive so far with one exception: No chit chat. Ask participants to start their own private sub-chats for topics that don't affect the whole group. A few people turn off notifications because there is too much chit chat. This defeats the purpose of timely communication of the important information.

2019 Aug Comments
--- "with one exception" I might represent that. They ran a great Contest with Whatsapp. It seemed to work like a very quick E-mail reflector. Jamie provided great user support which mitigated the effort of installing the extra app for a few of us old fossils. It saved the effort of having to setup a reflector for the contest. My objection was that it seemed an extra app and potentially gave up the phone's contact list and i-cloud account access to Facebook. With a bit of effort it can be made to work without the contact list and i-cloud access, which made it fine. If I was interested in international messaging, I might consider it as a goto app. That seems it primary market niche these days.
---I'm not sure that 1.5 billion active users is consistent with WhatsApp having a "niche market". :-) But I do understand that in the US context it is not as common.

Handout that we used at our recent SCOH contest...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KQn22wH1BOkxHC3-r5snGmI-iOA24ZbR/view?usp=sharing


Jamie Shore
Soaring Club of Houston (SCOH)

[Senna Van den Bosch]

I just had my first competition this weekend, we were added to a WhatsApp group for notifications on gridding/first start etc.

We used Soaringspot.com for sharing airspace and cup files, and that was it.

[Per Carlin]

I hate to have to install a new app for every occasion. There is one for the grocery store, one(actually several) for paying parking tickets, another for booking train ticktes, a third for your bank etc. and now for receive competition information( yes they used WhatsUp for EGC I Prividiza, they used another for the WGC in Poland last year)

All these apps collects and distribute data from your phone. It was impossible to use WhatsUp without sharing all you phones contacts to the maker of the WhatsUp. I´m not shore that my old mom agrees on that I have given her number and address to someone which I have no idea how they will use the information in the future. Luckily for me is that she is unaware of this 😊

[krasw]

WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.

[[email protected]]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.

I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."

[JS[_5_]]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> > WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.
>
> I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."

In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.
Jim

[[email protected]]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 12:21:09 PM UTC-4, JS wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> > > WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.
> >
> > I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."
>
> In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
> And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.
> Jim

The text messages should be plain SMS without attachments, and only have links to the "media", which should be stored on the event's web page. And contestants should be able to choose email rather than SMS (still only links).. And hopefully be able to get within range of WiFi before downloading anything large - at the time/location and using the tools of their choice. "Don't call us, we'll call you."

If WiFi is not available then WhatsApp would also be expensive or unavailable to some, no? Conversely, some places (including both of the airports where I fly, in the USA) don't have cellphone coverage, at least for some (major) service providers.

[Roy Garden]

Whatsapp is pretty universal, has very broad capability, is a known to be
secure system.

at 1.5bn users, it's pretty well tested.

As a data sharing app, it's perfect.

Getting some of the old farts onboard with it is a lost cause. Half of them

think phones are used to call people . . :-)

[Bruce Hoult]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 9:21:09 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> > > WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.
> >
> > I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."
>
> In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
> And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.

I also hate Facebook, but WhatsApp is a great app.

If you're worried about giving away your phone number and contacts list to FaceBook then Telegram is a great alternative. Its author, Pavel Durov, is a privacy and freedom nut (in a good way). He made vk.com, the "Russian Facebook" and then when the Russian government basically stole it from him he (and his brother) exiled themselves and set about making Telegram.

On Telegram you can let people contact you either by account nickname or by phone number. You don't have to tell the app your phone number if you don't want. Like WhatsApp it works well both in a desktop browser and in the mobile app. It's got end to end encryption good enough that it simultaneously ****es off the Russian authorities because they can't break it AND both lawmakers and dissidents trust it to protect their privacy.

[krasw]

On Wednesday, 28 August 2019 19:45:13 UTC+3, wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 12:21:09 PM UTC-4, JS wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> > > > WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc.. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.
> > >
> > > I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."
> >
> > In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
> > And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.
> > Jim
>
> The text messages should be plain SMS without attachments, and only have links to the "media", which should be stored on the event's web page. And contestants should be able to choose email rather than SMS (still only links). And hopefully be able to get within range of WiFi before downloading anything large - at the time/location and using the tools of their choice.

This is exatcly how we did things 20 years ago.

[Tango Eight]

On Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 2:59:17 AM UTC-4, Bruce Hoult wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 9:21:09 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
> > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
> > > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
> > > > WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc.. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.
> > >
> > > I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."
> >
> > In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
> > And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.
>
> I also hate Facebook, but WhatsApp is a great app.
>
> If you're worried about giving away your phone number and contacts list to FaceBook then Telegram is a great alternative. Its author, Pavel Durov, is a privacy and freedom nut (in a good way). He made vk.com, the "Russian Facebook" and then when the Russian government basically stole it from him he (and his brother) exiled themselves and set about making Telegram.
>
> On Telegram you can let people contact you either by account nickname or by phone number. You don't have to tell the app your phone number if you don't want. Like WhatsApp it works well both in a desktop browser and in the mobile app. It's got end to end encryption good enough that it simultaneously ****es off the Russian authorities because they can't break it AND both lawmakers and dissidents trust it to protect their privacy.

Finally. An advocate who can advocate without name calling.

T8

[[email protected]]

How do people keep in touch with their families without WhatsApp!?

[[email protected]]

Signal. https://betanews.com/2019/05/14/ditch-whatsapp-for-signal-or-telegram/

[Garrett McEwen]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 12:45:13 PM UTC-4, wrote:

> The text messages should be plain SMS without attachments, and only have links to the "media", which should be stored on the event's web page. And contestants should be able to choose email rather than SMS (still only links). And hopefully be able to get within range of WiFi before downloading anything large - at the time/location and using the tools of their choice. "Don't call us, we'll call you."
>
> If WiFi is not available then WhatsApp would also be expensive or unavailable to some, no? Conversely, some places (including both of the airports where I fly, in the USA) don't have cellphone coverage, at least for some (major) service providers.

SMS is by design an unreliable system for sending token messages for password resets. Something like 5 percent of messages are never delivered and a larger fraction are delayed. I'd find it completely incredible that someone would advocate the use of this for group messaging in 2019 but here we are having a discussion via another obsolete curiosity that predates the Web.

WhatsApp works seamlessly across many types of devices, delivers messages reliably, works with any source of connectivity, is widely installed, can deliver a message over 160 characters in length without jumbling it, and can even transmit a photo. Bruce makes a strong case for Telegram. Either way these apps are faster and more reliable than email or SMS.

Unlike many email clients WhatsApp will automatically resize media to ensure quick and affordable transmission. That is one reason it became popular worldwide. Unlike email your messages will not be bounced back for arbitrary reasons at the destination.