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  •   over 9 years ago

Insulting

After spending a significant amount of time on my application I was shocked to learn that it was not even tested.

My application logs clearly show that the neither the judges nor the ChallengePost staff bothered to test my application. I suspect this is the case across the board.

This, quite frankly, is insulting to myself and other applicants (even the winners) who invested countless hours into making functional applications.

  • 4 comments

  • Manager   •   over 9 years ago

    Hi aaronfarr,

    Thank you for your message and for submitting to the Energy Apps for Ontario Challenge. I am very sorry that you are upset and that your logs show that your application was not tested.

    As you’re aware, all submitters were required to provide ChallengePost with a way to test their application. Per the Official Rules, “The internal panel and expert judging panel are not required to test the Application and may choose to judge based solely on the text description and video provided in the Submission.”

    If an application advanced in the judging process to become  a potential winner, it was tested fully to ensure that it functioned as depicted as video and text description. Applications that did not advance the potential winner state may not have been tested. This is why the Official Rules require the video portion of the submission to “clearly demonstrate[s] the Application’s functionality and features via video or screencast (by walking through the Application.” This requirement is stated in Section 6 of the Official Rules, and the Requirements and How to Enter sections of the challenge homepage.

    I hope that these answers were helpful to you. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us directly at support@challengepost.com.

    All the best,
    Serena

  •   •   over 9 years ago

    Hi Serena,
    It is quite easy to hide behind a stipulation and wash your hands of culpability. Saying "we didn't test application because we weren't required to" is both irresponsible to Ontario taxpayers and insulting to hard-working applicants.

    Is it not obvious that actually using an application (in addition to watching the presentation) is the best way to assess the quality of the idea, implementation, and potential impact?

    All the best,
    Aaron

  •   •   over 9 years ago

    Initially I was also disappointed to see based on my logs that nobody actually used my app (which is a bit like the "bet/win/brag" idea from another guy, but mine is more "quiz/win/brag"). But like anything, with time I feel better about it and I was actually amazed I got 81 views on my video (one was mine :). Like the Oscars there are winners and losers, but I'm hoping that someone checking out the gallery will be interested in my idea and maybe follow up with me so this wasn't a complete waste of time.

  •   •   over 9 years ago

    Hello aaronfarr,

    I just suggested this in another post.

    I think it would be a good idea for all participants who did spend some time on making the API work to get together to demonstrate what they were able to do with the API, highlighting access and processing issues and their solutions.

    Maybe even coming up with a plan for next steps in what to do with the API information learned.

    Would you be interested in this?

    Cheers,
    David

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