Issue 20                                                                                                                 May 2016
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A lot! The site seemed to be a little sluggish early this month and I decided to update the plugins for the website's platform. The results were fairly painful BUT I've learned a lot too like:
  • The restore database function is easy to use (once because I deleted the contents of an entire table and once because I wiped athlete references from about 30% of all rankings' databases) and a really good investment.
  • It is easy to restart the server. The database connections went crazy and shut down three times.
  • How much should be automated.
Other positive results were identifying portions of the site that were not working properly, inspiring more correction functions and further improving functionality and efficiency. The negative result is that productivity was severely reduced compared to the phenomenal two previous months. 

Sorry Rob Jerome - I missed giving photo credit for the picture of Roger Vergin in last month's newsletter. Thank you for all you do to support masters athletes and for letting us use your great pictures.
Worth the lessons!
More outages coming
Hope all the issues have been identified and will be fixed over the next few days. Fixing will necessitate turning off the site for an hour two or three times. These outages will be done when the traffic is light. Sorry for any inconvenience.  

Improvements result
Much of what we do is invisible to most like the biggest improvement coming from this experience. We've automated two steps of our inserting process which will significantly reduce the time spent inserting performances. This means the site will cost even less to maintain. The site is and will be better because of the things learned and resulting improvements.

The system remembers you now too!
The site will remember you after logging in or submitting a performance. You will essentially be logged in on that computer for over a month when you use the same browser. This will make submitting performances, processing results and accessing future functions easier.
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Ranked Athlete Spotlight

Hermann set a World Record in 2015 but is still only 460th ranked on the 68% complete, 2015 Outdoor rankings! His inspirational story exemplifies what Masters Athletics is about - come participate and have fun (maybe you'll set a world record in the process). His story and difficult journey starts with a heart attack in 2006. Another heart attack, multiple cardiac arrest episodes, bypass surgery, pacemaker and eventually a heart transplant later (2012), Hermann has a renewed appreciation for his body and life plus a shifted perspective. Hermann has worked to raise awareness of heart disease and its risks. He was selected to represent South Africa at the World Transplant Games in 2015 where he won and set the World Record. Congratulations Hermann!

Want to be featured in future Spotlights? Have a compelling or motivating story? We'd love to feature you. Email me @ [email protected] with a little about you and your compelling story and I will send you a few questions to facilitate writing the article.
By the Numbers & Meet Results
A huge thank you to WMA Asia, Singapore Athletics and SAMA for your help. These numbers reflect our struggles this month:
  • 9,193 performances added (949 by athletes)
  • Representing 4,304 athletes from 84 countries
  • 1,973 new athletes listed
Meet Results Added for (in order of number of performances):
We'll catch up!
We have an increased backlog of things to do as a result of this month's struggles but watch how quickly we can get some of these things done.  For example, we will insert about double the number of performances inserted in May within a week. The outdoor season starts heating up in the northern hemisphere this month so look to the lists to see where you stand! 

Sincerely,
John Seto
[email protected]
(845) 635-9487p
(845) 489-7818c
MastersRankings.com, Inc.  |  www.mastersrankings.com | (845) 635-9487p
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Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

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