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Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Ask The DJ in v3268: feature or bug? - Page: 1

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I noticed that in previous builds, the Ask The DJ feature allowed the program to monitor the ask.the.dj website AND the Twitter hashtag at the same time.
In this new build, it only allows to monitor one OR the other... Bring muitiple monitoring back!
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 4:58 pm
 Best Answer We decided that the twitter integration, even if on the paper sounded like a good feature, in reality wasn't going to be that useful.
It's one of those features that sounds good for the marketing press release, but not for real life working DJs.

If you're a clubgoer at a party, how likely are you to want to tweet on your own wall "#dj please play britney spears" (especially if you're drunk).
Or even @ddjoesilva asked for Facebook hashtag. Are you really expecting your customers to post on their own Facebook wall their requests?
That's not what Facebook or Twitter are for. Facebook walls and Twitter are supposed to be for messages about yourself and what you're doing, not to send private messages to specific persons.

We considered instead a Whatsapp integration, since Whatsapp is the application used to send messages to specific persons.
But though we could do it technically, Whatsapp is currently aggressively suing anyone trying to interface with their system.
So even if there might be some small companies still illegally offering a Whatsapp integration, we cannot do this obviously.
Same for Facebook Messenger, the Facebook API doesn't allow what would be needed to make it a useful integration.

So instead, we decided to focus all our efforts on the ask.the.dj web interface, and added many useful features (automatic geolocation to make the URL simpler, customization of the web page, possibility for the DJ to send replies directly to the requester, possibility to create several venues and have virtualdj automatically switch to the venue you're at through geolocation, etc), and we also have a few more features that will be released in the next few days (still pending approval from third parties).
As it's now, we really believe that the ask.the.dj web interface is much more powerful than any Twitter or other third-party integration could be, so we want to focus all our efforts on it.


Because we already made a pre-release of 8.2 with the twitter integration, and some of you might have started to try to use it or told your audience to use it, we didn't want to outright remove it.
So we kept it as an advanced option.
But Twitter integration inside ask.the.dj is really not the priority anymore, and might even be removed in a distant future.

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 7:25 am[ selected best answer by Stephane Clavel on Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 7:25 am ]
I have noticed that the ask the dj feature doesn't even work on this build. Confirmed here.
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 4:59 pm
PressNPlayDJ wrote :
I have noticed that the ask the dj feature doesn't even work on this build. Confirmed here.


Actually, it does work. I tested it myself. But it only works if you leave the (new) Twitter hashtag field blank in the options menu. Otherwise, it only monitors Twitter.

 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 5:03 pm
They should have left the monitoring function as it was earlier. Also, they should have added monitoring for Facebook hashtags, because not everyone uses Twitter.
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 5:06 pm
Ok yes you're right i see t now. I'm sure its an issue.
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 5:10 pm
blckjckPRO InfinityMember since 2008
djjoesilva wrote :
Actually, it does work. I tested it myself. But it only works if you leave the (new) Twitter hashtag field blank in the options menu. Otherwise, it only monitors Twitter.


Agreed. I am seeing the same thing. I put in the same venue name as I did for the hashtag. With a hashtag present in askTheDJTwitterHashtag, it monitors twitter. Clearing that variable is the only way I get messages from the ask.the.dj web page.
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 5:16 pm
I wonder why there's no feedback from the VDJ team yet...
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 7:09 pm
SBDJPRO Infinity Member since 2006
This is correct, you can either choose to monitor messages from the new ask.the.dj webpage, or you can choose to monitor a twitter hashtag. You cannot do both at once. This is not a bug :)
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 7:43 pm
Seriously?? That's a bummer, hopefully you guys reconsider that change.
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 8:16 pm
djekipPRO InfinityMember since 2010
Can you make the ask the dj webclient to tweet those shoutouts to registered hastag so we could use both because everyone doesnt use twitter?
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 8:38 pm
My only guess is that its using too many resources and that is why it has changed
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 8:41 pm
jbezzPRO InfinityMember since 2010
SBDJ wrote :
This is correct, you can either choose to monitor messages from the new ask.the.dj webpage, or you can choose to monitor a twitter hashtag. You cannot do both at once. This is not a bug :)


Can you tell us why the team has changed it?
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 9:15 pm
jbezz wrote :
SBDJ wrote :
This is correct, you can either choose to monitor messages from the new ask.the.dj webpage, or you can choose to monitor a twitter hashtag. You cannot do both at once. This is not a bug :)


Can you tell us why the team has changed it?


+1
I too would like to know!
 

Posted Mon 20 Jun 16 @ 10:06 pm
We decided that the twitter integration, even if on the paper sounded like a good feature, in reality wasn't going to be that useful.
It's one of those features that sounds good for the marketing press release, but not for real life working DJs.

If you're a clubgoer at a party, how likely are you to want to tweet on your own wall "#dj please play britney spears" (especially if you're drunk).
Or even @ddjoesilva asked for Facebook hashtag. Are you really expecting your customers to post on their own Facebook wall their requests?
That's not what Facebook or Twitter are for. Facebook walls and Twitter are supposed to be for messages about yourself and what you're doing, not to send private messages to specific persons.

We considered instead a Whatsapp integration, since Whatsapp is the application used to send messages to specific persons.
But though we could do it technically, Whatsapp is currently aggressively suing anyone trying to interface with their system.
So even if there might be some small companies still illegally offering a Whatsapp integration, we cannot do this obviously.
Same for Facebook Messenger, the Facebook API doesn't allow what would be needed to make it a useful integration.

So instead, we decided to focus all our efforts on the ask.the.dj web interface, and added many useful features (automatic geolocation to make the URL simpler, customization of the web page, possibility for the DJ to send replies directly to the requester, possibility to create several venues and have virtualdj automatically switch to the venue you're at through geolocation, etc), and we also have a few more features that will be released in the next few days (still pending approval from third parties).
As it's now, we really believe that the ask.the.dj web interface is much more powerful than any Twitter or other third-party integration could be, so we want to focus all our efforts on it.


Because we already made a pre-release of 8.2 with the twitter integration, and some of you might have started to try to use it or told your audience to use it, we didn't want to outright remove it.
So we kept it as an advanced option.
But Twitter integration inside ask.the.dj is really not the priority anymore, and might even be removed in a distant future.
 

 Selected as best answer Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 7:25 am
First thought was: ow No !! But when I read sclavel his text I can agree with this conclusion.

And is there going to be a Dutch translation or would you like a dutch translation of the ask a dj site?
If yes, I would not mind to make a dutch translation of the "ask the dj site".
I know not everyone here speaks or read English so would like a dutch site option.
 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 8:16 am
The (new) ask the dj works for me, but in VDJ browser I don't see the url I have chosen? The request does arrive at my VDJ browser so the chosen url works but maybe displaying this in the browser like the previous style?

 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 8:32 am
Ah well, another "feature" that will be messed with and bite the dust. Seemed too good to be true as it worked pretty well on first release. I can't imagine anyone wanting to go to a web browser and type in www.ask.the.dj/djname as it's too long winded (they'll forget) and too long to announce on the microphone.

One of the venues I cover at has been using twitter hashtag to get requests for years and it works just perfect. No hassle there with people posting on their feed. We reply to the tweets and it actually helps the venue. See picture below.

I told my permanent venue about the twitter integration and we started using it last weekend. I'm a bit embarrassed to tell them it might get stopped now, although I can still use Twitter in a web browser but that defeats the purpose of having it in the software.

Seems to be becoming a trait of Atomix to put features in the marketing then drop them, just like the timeline. Just shows yet again that the company don't have a strategy and are making it up as they go along.

 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 9:03 am
kradcliffe wrote :
I can't imagine anyone wanting to go to a web browser and type in www.ask.the.dj/djname as it's too long winded (they'll forget) and too long to announce on the microphone.


Agree, so I think of making a QR-code of it. Put some QR-cards on the tables or on the front of your dj booth? :)
 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 9:09 am
kradcliffe wrote :
...making it up as they go along.


That is actually the only valid strategy in 2016 if you want to stay in business :)
Things are way too fast moving and there way too many disruptions for a yearly plan
 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 9:14 am
klausmogensen wrote :
[quote=kradcliffe]...making it up as they go along.


That is actually the only valid strategy in 2016 if you want to stay in business :)
Things are way too fast moving and there way too many disruptions for a yearly plan
Like Serato who have now had to change their entire sales strategy because of Pioneer

 

Posted Tue 21 Jun 16 @ 9:17 am
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