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Trusted Social Butterfly

BETA TESTING TAKES HOW LONG?

Hello Community Warriors,

I think that the AARP Rewards program should have been ready for release without testing on 9/25 due to all the hype about how much better it would be.  We have worked as testers for the program for (12) weeks on Christmas day. 

 

Is anyone curious how long this is going to last?

 

Generally speaking, beta cycles run for at least 4–6 weeks. Beta cycles that are shorter tend to see little benefit unless they have a very efficient process and a narrow testing scope. The average beta cycle duration is around 10–12 weeks, with quite a few that run for 16–18 weeks.
How long should Beta Testing take for most products? - Quora
https://www.quora.com › How-long-should-Beta-Testing-take-for-most-prod...

 

@sandy, @AARPMarilynC , @AARPBriana , @AARPCarlaS & @AARPTeri is the testing about to end and when will the program go live?

 

Have a Blessed Day,

@mi4090 

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello Rewards Warriors

 

AARP Rewards has been Beta testing the program for (1) year and 2 months on 11/25/20 without a finished product.  

 

Is this testing to determine how to use seniors or to get a working website?  Just saying, how long will this be going on?

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Bumping to top for answer.

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello Rewards Warriors

 

How is it possible for us to be told to use it lose points by 12/31/20 and the program is still beta testing?

 

Do you think this is what we deserve after being used as test dummies with no incentives?

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello Rewards Warriors 

 

Does anyone else think the Beta label has become permanent?  Why hasn't Rewards gone live?

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Bronze Conversationalist

BTW: I think it's interesting that the tally counters for our points haven't been fixed after all this time and the black banner still doesn't work for at least some of us, but the simultaneous running of the videos was fixed for everybody across the board in just a day or two.

 

Priorities!

 

Enjoy!

 

P.S. I didn't find any items of interest to redeem points for today. The new, spa sweepstakes in or near Albany, NY, doesn't interest me. That leaves more chances for someone else. I'll keep watching.

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Bronze Conversationalist

I'm glad that it's "fixed" and we will have to watch each video and take all day and into the evening to obtain our daily points allowance. I'm retired, so I can procrastinate everything else professionally now.

Does anybody sense some sarcasm here?

 

I noticed the change today. I'm glad it has an explanation and that I'm not the only one.

 

I plan to spend much less time on AARP Rewards from now on. I have almost 1.2 million points. It will take me a while to use them all on prize redemptions. I certainly do not plan to spend much time with earning exercises from now on.

 

Is this the ultimate goal of AARP Rewards, to alienate all of us?

 

Unless something major happens in my life to keep me from it, I still plan to remain a member of AARP, but I'm growing less and less sure about AARP Rewards.

 

Wish us luck!

Enjoy!

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Well, they did just fix something that I sent them a heads up for right after the new program started.  After someone mentioned that opening quizzes and videos in a new tab made it easier, I also found out you could run multiple videos simultaneously in different tabs.  Of course you have to turn the sound off.  Last night our home phone rang and caller ID said AARP.  My robocall blocker stopped it before I could pick it up for some reason.  This morning, videos would only run on active windows.  I checked using new windows in addition and the same thing.

 

So, if you were doing it that way before, now you might as well listen to the video and learn.

 

At least we know some things are getting worked on.

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @RussellP197074 & @Brightpool 

Russell & Lynn, you're saying that the method you were using to watch multiple videos simultaneously is no longer working?  I was going to ask what (1) device are you using to watch how videos at one time?

I'm using (3) devices and can still mute sound for videos, no need now to ask you to post those instructions on how to watch multiple videos on (1) device again simultaneouslySmiley Sad.

 

Things are getting worse, it seems that IT is making sure that we have more problems than fixes.

 

The beta testing is still taking much to long to complete, and it's sad.  Totally unfair to not be able to view your Transaction HistorySmiley Sad

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

 

 

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Conversationalist

@mi4090 

 

Hi Marylin,

 

yes, they added a 'feature' to help us by imposing a pause if the browser showing the video is not the primary focus. So, if you wanted to do a browser search of some term heard in the video, it will stop until you switch it into the foreground.

 

It's simply another forced inconvenience being touted as a helpful feature. Now I can't even respond to an email that might come in without stopping the video. Even Youtube doesn't do that. It's not a user-fiendly decision on AARP's part.

 

But then, there are several not so user-friendly aspects of this web setup that seem to be beyond the abilities of their web programmers.

 

I guess, I'll just completely avoid any long videos in the future if they can't even share the PC desktop with other apps. Maybe this is a decision made by some tablet/phone developer with no clue on how to use a real PC.

 

UI issues in general have really been getting bad on this planet in the last 5 or so years. New crop of developers are pretty suspect.

 

Enough ranting. I'll go enjoy a nice Coffee Porter.

 

Cheers,

Ray

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @ralmon 

Ray, I think I tried watching multiple videos on (1) device about 2 to 3 months ago, and it took a lot of time opening each new tab and "Seymouring" to get to the videos I wanted. 

Went back to my current method which doesn't involve "Seymouring" at allSmiley Happy

If the videos don't mess up on a good day I've maxed out in about an hour, 1 hour and 10 minutes at the most.

 

Post the shorter method of how to complete multiple videos at once (how many and how long does it take to max out this way), thanks.

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

 

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Contributor

hello how can i get more my points and how can i use it can i get information? i have 107015 points now. thx
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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @TulsiS155689 

Keep doing what you are doingSmiley Happy If you aren't entering promo codes, do them for 250 pts a week.  Max out everyday!

 

You are doing OKSmiley Happy  Happy Earning and Learning.

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

 

 

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Bronze Conversationalist

The shorter method we have been talking about used to let us open several tabs at once on our computers and run more than one video at a time.

Now that it's been "fixed," though, only one can run at a time. If a tab for daily walking is open and active and another for strength building and still another tab for beginning yoga and so on, only the one showing on the screen for daily walking will run its clock. The other tabs will not run until each of those is opened and actively showing on the screen. The active, showing tab runs exclusively of all other tabs across the top of the window. Until it was "fixed" a couple days ago, we only had to open the tabs and go to each one in turn and click its Play icon to get them all to run simultaneously. Now, with the "fix," they will not run simultaneously. Only one will run at a time.

 

By running several at once (10 to 12 or so at a time in their own tabs), we could Max Out Like A Pro in about a half-hour or so. Not anymore.

 

We're not in Kansas anymore! Beware the flying monkeys!

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@Brightpool @mi4090 

Since numerous videos exist that are very short, it is still possible to max out like a pro in about a half hour. Just select those videos and no others. No real need for multiple tabs.

 

This auto-pause will actually deter me from exploring the longer ones. When I "actively watch" videos, I have a video on the left side of the screen, and a browser on the right, so I can lookup some aspect of the video, a terms I hears, find out about a product, etc. This does not prevent me from learning anything, but rather lets me learn more!

 

If Youtube, or any video site for that matter, were to impose such an autopause, people would dump it in a heartbeat. You couldn't leave comments, make likes and such without interrupting the flow.

 

Here are some suggested new features (tongue in cheek alert):

- pause the video when we roll our eyes at the content

- add a See More button to the videos that has to be clicked every 15 seconds

- only give points for a quiz if at least 10 seconds was spent on each answer

- only give points for a quiz if all answers are correct

- tools and calculators must be calculated with paper and pencil

- subtract 100 points each time the Transaction History link is clicked within 1 minute of last time

- modifie points to reflect the black banner, ie if it says 0 PTS, your points bank becomes 0

- alert the user after 10pm local time that Rewards cannot be accessed util 6am, because people need their sleep to be fresh the next day

 

Hey, AARP, those are meant in fun. Please, do not implement them! Smiley Very Happy

 

Cheers,

Ray

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Trusted Social Butterfly

@ralmon 

Ray, don't give them any ideasSmiley LOL  You know what their goal is concerning fixes/problems.

 

As @Brightpool (Lynn) stated "We're not in Kansas anymore".

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Bronze Conversationalist

Ray, I second your tongue-in-cheek bottom line - "AARP, do not implement them!"

 

Today, I went through several earning exercises, despite not thinking that I would in previous posts about the "fix" on our videos.

 

In my previous comments, I had been thinking only of the videos. I was so focused on those that I forgot about the monthly and yearly quizzes and calculators and such. By their nature, one cannot run through more than one at a time. Each of those exercises requires active interaction to complete, even though we can open several at a time in their own tabs just for convenience of closing one quiz upon completion and going directly to the next one.

 

This morning, I did a handful of the monthly quizzes. I did not conjure up Seymore's eight daughters, but only completed the first few quizzes that showed up. That was after I did a few exercises from the first page of Learn and Earn. I also completed the Bonus Bundle challenge "Look Out for #1 Bundle" toward the end-of-month points bonus.

 

I redeemed only 50 points on the Daily Instant Win for the $15 Barnes and Noble card. I would give that one to my wife, since she can't seem to get enough books, both tangible and on line. I got the Sorry note, so I guess I'll have to keep watching for the next one.

 

Above all else, Enjoy!

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @Brightpool 

Lynn, that was really coolSmiley Happy  So right, "We're not in Kansas anymore! Beware the flying monkeys!"Heart

 

Whenever a member comes up with a solution to make things easier and post it in the Community, AARP Rewards gets busy broking itSmiley LOL

 

"If it ain't broke don't fix it!" AARP Rewards.  We will have to start giving the solutions via Private Messaging, but as @Andrew discovered that isn't workingSmiley Mad  As I stated, can IT fix anything???

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

 

 

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Retired Moderator

@RussellP197074 We really appreciate your feedback and have fixed this issue. Which is why now when you click on an AARP video, it will pause if you navigate away from the window to turn your focus to something else, like another video.

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Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello Community Warriors,

 

Why does the Community think it's acceptable to still be Beta testing long after the normal length of time?

 

Especially after all the hype of how much better the new Rewards program would be; is there anyone with IT or Tech Support experience working for the AARP Rewards who can fix anything (i.e. Transaction History, Black Banner)?

 

Is anyone curious how long this is going to last?

 

Generally speaking, beta cycles run for at least 4–6 weeks. Beta cycles that are shorter tend to see little benefit unless they have a very efficient process and a narrow testing scope. The average beta cycle duration is around 10–12 weeks, with quite a few that run for 16–18 weeks.
How long should Beta Testing take for most products? - Quora
https://www.quora.com › How-long-should-Beta-Testing-take-for-most-prod...

 

@sandy, @AARPMarilynC , @AARPBriana , @AARPCarlaS & @AARPTeri is the testing about to end and when will the program go live?

 

Have a Blessed Day,

@mi4090 

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Trusted Social Butterfly

I'm confused as to why we changed from R4G to a program what wasn't ready for the Community.

The beta testing has lasted (4) months now, and seems that major problems aren't being fixed or addressed.

How long will this last?

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

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Retired Moderator

@mi4090 We take the issues that users in the Community bring to our attention seriously. We're working to make improvements in the program and value the help we've gotten from everyone here. 

AARP Community Manager
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Trusted Social Butterfly

Bumping back to top for an answer from Management.

 

Have a Blessed Day,

Marylin

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Trusted Social Butterfly

@sandy& @AARPAnneH 

I noticed that the Beta testing is taking longer than normal.  Do you have any idea when all the issues will be fixed and the program goes live?  Thanks for letting us know.

 

Have a Blessed Day,

@mi4090 

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Trusted Social Butterfly

@sandy& @AARPAnneH 

I noticed that the Beta testing is taking longer than normal.  Do you have any idea when all the issues will be fixed and the program goes live?  Thanks for letting us know.

 

Have a Blessed Day,

@mi4090 

 

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Periodic Contributor

Just an observation about the Beta testing...we're not ready to go live! Multiple quizes (weekly news on occasion, the 7 home remedies quiz) and multiple videos have failed to credit my rewards account with the stated points. So ask the programmers to check their code more carefully before they release new quizes or videos.Thanks!

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Trusted Social Butterfly

@ss671 

SS, I think we should have kept the R4G program until the new AARP Rewards program had beta tested it themselves.  It wasn't ready for release on day (1):smileysad:

Great you're getting your points for activities added.

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

 

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Retired Moderator

@ss671 - How many activities are you missing points for? I'll take a look into this for you? 

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Periodic Contributor

I did the Weekly News Quiz - 12/19/19 twice a couple of days ago. I did the 7 Home Remedies Quiz today. Neither awarded points. There have been several videos that did not award points in the past as well but I don't remember which they were. Thanks for you help.

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Retired Moderator

@ss671 - I've added the missing points to your account @ss671. Thanks for letting us know so we could make it right!

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