The move to live bonus claiming during rallies rather than post-rally claiming has been very well-received, making life easier for everyone, rally entrants and rally teams alike, Some concerns have been expressed about the suitability of email as the transport mechanism and this post is to reassure everyone about the simplicity and reliability of email in live scored rallies.
In addition to operating live bonus claiming using email in several rallies across Britain and the continent, I conducted a lengthy series of tests to monitor its simplicity and reliability particularly with respect "no signal" areas as that issue has been raised as an objection to the use of email.
Rally entrants need not be concerned about the reliability of live bonus claiming using email. Throughout my testing (with the exception of Outlook for Android users**) emails were reliably sent as soon as the sender moved to an area with signal and in virtually all cases I could identify both the moment of clicking [Send] and the moment of actual transmission from the received email. No emails were ever lost.
The only case where "no signal" might be an issue for rally entrants is the use of call-in bonuses. No exceptions can be made for these. Regardless of the method of call (voice, text, email) it is always the rally entrant's responsibility to be in an area with signal at the relevant time.
Some have sought ways of obtaining live confirmation that emails have been received. Such confirmations are both entirely unnecessary and, with one exception, entirely illusory. The exception being having a human being manually reply to each received email. If it's in the [Sent] folder, it's sent. If it's in the [Outbox], it's waiting for signal. If it's in [Drafts], the [Send] button wasn't hit. A quick check before check-in at the end of the rally (or each day for multi-day rallies) will ensure that everything that should have been sent has actually been sent.
All of us use email pretty much all the time, its use for live bonus claiming rallies should not present major difficulties to anyone.
** Outlook for Android users might wish to consider a more reliable email agent, almost any one.
In addition to operating live bonus claiming using email in several rallies across Britain and the continent, I conducted a lengthy series of tests to monitor its simplicity and reliability particularly with respect "no signal" areas as that issue has been raised as an objection to the use of email.
Rally entrants need not be concerned about the reliability of live bonus claiming using email. Throughout my testing (with the exception of Outlook for Android users**) emails were reliably sent as soon as the sender moved to an area with signal and in virtually all cases I could identify both the moment of clicking [Send] and the moment of actual transmission from the received email. No emails were ever lost.
The only case where "no signal" might be an issue for rally entrants is the use of call-in bonuses. No exceptions can be made for these. Regardless of the method of call (voice, text, email) it is always the rally entrant's responsibility to be in an area with signal at the relevant time.
Some have sought ways of obtaining live confirmation that emails have been received. Such confirmations are both entirely unnecessary and, with one exception, entirely illusory. The exception being having a human being manually reply to each received email. If it's in the [Sent] folder, it's sent. If it's in the [Outbox], it's waiting for signal. If it's in [Drafts], the [Send] button wasn't hit. A quick check before check-in at the end of the rally (or each day for multi-day rallies) will ensure that everything that should have been sent has actually been sent.
All of us use email pretty much all the time, its use for live bonus claiming rallies should not present major difficulties to anyone.
** Outlook for Android users might wish to consider a more reliable email agent, almost any one.
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