StakesAndLadders.com – a new way of punting on sports

[nirvana]

tbf, the scrolling thing is just terrible. Think you should change it, its not the future of websites

[Honeybadger]

tbf, the scrolling thing is just terrible. Think you should change it, its not the future of websites

Yeah point taken and thanks. I personally like it, but it seems others disagree. We will definitely look into this in the second stage of our development, and decide whether we should change it or not. Thanks for feedback Glen (and everyone else).

Tbh the front page becomes pretty irrelevant once a user has registered. When you have registered you just login immediately and it takes you straight to the main lobby, so users will basically spend no time at all on the front page. The main pools lobby has a completely different look and feel to the front page.

As I said, though, when you have registered you will pretty much bypass the front page by clicking on the login button on the top right every time and getting straight to the pools lobby.

As already discussed, one issue is that right now a new arrival at the site cannot get into the pools lobby and see what we are all about until s/he has registered an account. This will be changed early next week (once the tech guys are back at work after the weekend).

Please keep giving any problems that you see with the site - and we will get them sorted.

At the same time, however, please also register and actually have a look at the pools lobby, and maybe enter a few of the games - we give you £5 free credit to try them out! - so you can get an idea of what our concept is.

I personally think once users have logged in the site looks really good and it is extremely easy to navigate and to enter games. And I also think (although obv biased lol) that the games are a lot of fun, provide a great sweat, and are an innovative and interesting new way of punting on sports.

I hope you guys will be a little patient whilst we fix a few issues like the ones mentioned, and that you will not let these things put you off registering and having a look at the games we are offering.

For those who have not registered yet, and thus not seen the pools lobby and how the game entry works... I'd like to include a few screenshots to give you a flavour of what the site looks like once you are 'in', and also an idea of the type of games we are offering. But I don't know how to put pictures into posts! If anyone can tell me how to do it then I will put in a few screenshots so you guys can get an idea of what we are offering...

[tikay]

Morning Stu.

Posting photos.

When you press "Reply", a white text box appears.

BENEATH that, press "ADDITIONAL OPTIONS".

There then appear a series of options, one of which is "BROWSE". 

Click that, & it takes you to your library of photos. Click the photo you want, press OPEN" & the photo is then uploaded onto the Post.

Then click "POST "

[nirvana]

tbf, the scrolling thing is just terrible. Think you should change it, its not the future of websites

Ooh, looks way too terse the next day but thanks for taking it in the spirit intended if not communicated.

Sometimes it's hard to determine why we think something is 'terrible'. I guess I've never seen a navigational process like that and I'm minded to think I don't like it because it is actually clunky and hard work rather than just because it's unfamiliar.

Joined up to try things out and if I have any decent feedback to give I'll do that

[Acidmouse]

There needs to be a html only version without all the flash stuff thats a mare on a phone.

[Kmac84]

Tried to register but have been unable to do so "Andy" is looking into that though. 

The website is horrendous to be brutally honest.  Its clunky, the flashing and scrolling is very off putting doesn't seem to user friendly.  Its like a throwback to when the internet first arrived. 

I'm sure if you work on it though the concept could be good.  Wasn't there something similar to this before picklive or some other name I think it was called?  It was quite fun.  But don't think it lasted long, I think the lolpro punter "dave nevison"  was behind that.

[The Camel]

Blimey, I am surprised there's so much hate for the website.

I love it! (but then again, I saw the early versions and this is so much better!)

Think some of the links could be a little clearer or in more obvious places. But on the whole I think the site is really good.

[Honeybadger]

Blimey, I am surprised there's so much hate for the website.

I love it! (but then again, I saw the early versions and this is so much better!)

Think some of the links could be a little clearer or in more obvious places. But on the whole I think the site is really good.

Thanks for that Keith. Glad you like it

I am assuming that most of the perceived negative comments are meant in a constructive manner; pointing out glitches/issues that we need to get right. At least that's how I am choosing to take them! And thus I am actually happy to hear feedback, even if critical.

BTW, if anyone has any thoughts/ideas/feedback/criticisms that they do not wish to post publicly than please feel free to PM me. We want this site to be brilliant and for it to give users a lot of enjoyment and interest.

The main issue to arise from this is that the ability of new arrivals to see the pools lobby before registering is absolutely essential. Tbh it has always been the intention for this to be the case. However, there are so many things to get right before launching a new website and it is inevitable that will be a few imperfections like this in the first week or so after a new launch (you gotta launch it first, then fix the issues that arise). It was felt that this was an issue that could sorted after launch. That seems to have been a misjudgment - and it has now been put on the priority list for Monday when the software developers are back at work.

I hope that this will not prevent anyone from registering and having a look at the games though! Maybe even entering a couple of them with the free points we give new users.

Finally, the comments about the main 'front page' of the website have surprised me a little. I really like it personally. Yet I can understand that some may find it a bit strange with all the scrolling and stuff, perhaps it is a personal taste thing. This is something that will be looked at and discussed in the course of time, but it is not going to be a priority right now. The reason it is low priority is because once users have registered they will pretty much bypass the front page anyway... as soon as they login they will taken to the pools lobby.

Please keep in mind that this is a newly launched website, offering something pretty different to what most keen sports fans/punters are used to. The issues mentioned will be fixed within a couple of days (as will plenty of other little things on our list that have not been mentioned). I hope people will give us the benefit of the doubt for a few days and have a go on the site.

[Honeybadger]

For those of you who have not registered and seen the inside of the site yet, I want to give you an idea of what the site is about. So here are two screen shots showing what the pools lobby looks like:

[Honeybadger]

And here are a few screenshots of the game entry screen:

[Omm]

I registered and had a play around with the 500 points that were given. I think it's pretty cool, not to fussed about the first screen, once your inside the lobby it's all pretty straight forward and easy to use. I like websites that are easy to use and found this fairly simple.

Not entirely sure how much I would use it but at the moment I would class it as more a fun way to have a gamble than a serious way of making money through sports betting, that being said I'm sure there is some sort of angle that if I studied I could work out how to make money from it.

I'll keep an open mind and probably pop by again. Good luck with it and well done for trying something different.

[Honeybadger]

I registered and had a play around with the 500 points that were given. I think it's pretty cool, not to fussed about the first screen, once your inside the lobby it's all pretty straight forward and easy to use. I like websites that are easy to use and found this fairly simple.

Not entirely sure how much I would use it but at the moment I would class it as more a fun way to have a gamble than a serious way of making money through sports betting, that being said I'm sure there is some sort of angle that if I studied I could work out how to make money from it.

I'll keep an open mind and probably pop by again. Good luck with it and well done for trying something different.

Thanks Omm. Really good to hear you like the concept, and also like the layout and usability of the inside of the site too.

You are right, most users (including myself) will see it as primarily a fun activity, a way to enhance enjoyment of watching a sporting event. It's better with a bet on it, or so the expression goes. And I believe that this is a much more fun way of having a bit of interest in a sporting event than simply backing ManU to win with the bookies/Betfair. You get more sweat for your bet compared to most standard forms of betting. One great feature is that you can have your laptop/iPad/iPhone open whilst you watch a football match (or whatever) and sweat the pool in real-time. You will see yourself jump up and down the leaderboard in real-time as events happen in the match. As part of this live sweat you can also compare your answers to other users. So you may work out, for example, that you need another two corners to be given in order to overtake the user above you on the leaderboard and thus get into the money. Now you spend the last few minutes of the match sweating for corners. Hope I have explained that well... it is more something that you need to experience obviously.

I imagine there will be a reasonable amount of shrewdies who will make money long-term from the site, just as there are in any form of gambling. Especially when we bring in higher stakes games. I will not be one of them though! I see it purely as a fun thing to give me a great sweat on whatever sport I am watching on the telly. One the beauties of the way we set the pools up is that there is a really good balance of skill and luck. What I mean by this is that there is skill/judgement in these games, but there is also a great deal of luck. So everyone has a chance of winning any pool they enter.

[sovietsong]

I got this message when trying to sign up

CloseError message We were unable to locate your information in our database, please check your entries and supply as much information as possible:
We were unable to match your date of birth.
We were unable to match your first name.
We were unable to match your surname.
If your information looks correct please try again.

[Matt.NFFC.]

Didn't like the home page to be fair, and first impressions are very important.  Why launch a website that requires fixes, or is not complete?

Also as discussed, I want to see what the pools looked like but couldn't.  That's the negative stuff out the way, on the upside, I like the idea, and now you have shown me some screenshots, I will certainly take another look and am likely to give it a go.

Good luck....

[horseplayer]

Firstly good luck with the site

What is the difference between this and the site Nevison launched (bodougi or something similar?) I am pretty sure there are a couple of others out there that are also in the same vein but none of them seem to have caught on?

From that point of view there seems to be a gap in the market to try and be the big player in this field. Personally i struggle to see how big this market can get on a consistent basis but i am sure you will give it a good go.