WhatsApp Use in Contests and Task Sharing

On Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 2:59:17 AM UTC-4, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 9:21:09 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:32:27 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 8:56:39 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
WhatsApp groups used in all our comps, pics of gridlists, tasks etc.. distributed smoothly to everyone (plus SoaringSpot, where you can download the task straight to devices). Printed papers available for luddites, of course, you don't want to mess with them as they just were forced into GPS-age.

I am not a Luddite, have used GPS for 20 years and LORAN before that. I have a smartphone and use IGCdroid and GliderLink. But I have a healthy suspicion of the mega-corp spyware. To repeat one of the comments quoted by Jamie to start this thread: "why not stick to the standards, SMS text messages, email, and a web page (a real web site, please not Facebook). Put downloadable documents (task sheets, weather forecasts, grid sheets, etc) on the web site. If they are suitable stand-alone files (PDF, JPG, PNG) they can be downloaded into the mobile devices for later off-line use."

In an International competition, not everybody will have a "local" phone. In this case SMS / text - particularly with attached media - costs significantly more than using something like WhatsApp.
And I hate Facebook (parent of WhatsApp) too.

I also hate Facebook, but WhatsApp is a great app.

If you're worried about giving away your phone number and contacts list to FaceBook then Telegram is a great alternative. Its author, Pavel Durov, is a privacy and freedom nut (in a good way). He made vk.com, the "Russian Facebook" and then when the Russian government basically stole it from him he (and his brother) exiled themselves and set about making Telegram.

On Telegram you can let people contact you either by account nickname or by phone number. You don't have to tell the app your phone number if you don't want. Like WhatsApp it works well both in a desktop browser and in the mobile app. It's got end to end encryption good enough that it simultaneously ****es off the Russian authorities because they can't break it AND both lawmakers and dissidents trust it to protect their privacy.

Finally. An advocate who can advocate without name calling.

T8

How do people keep in touch with their families without WhatsApp!?

Signal. https://betanews.com/2019/05/14/ditc...l-or-telegram/

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 12:45:13 PM UTC-4, wrote:

The text messages should be plain SMS without attachments, and only have links to the "media", which should be stored on the event's web page. And contestants should be able to choose email rather than SMS (still only links). And hopefully be able to get within range of WiFi before downloading anything large - at the time/location and using the tools of their choice. "Don't call us, we'll call you."

If WiFi is not available then WhatsApp would also be expensive or unavailable to some, no? Conversely, some places (including both of the airports where I fly, in the USA) don't have cellphone coverage, at least for some (major) service providers.

SMS is by design an unreliable system for sending token messages for password resets. Something like 5 percent of messages are never delivered and a larger fraction are delayed. I'd find it completely incredible that someone would advocate the use of this for group messaging in 2019 but here we are having a discussion via another obsolete curiosity that predates the Web.

WhatsApp works seamlessly across many types of devices, delivers messages reliably, works with any source of connectivity, is widely installed, can deliver a message over 160 characters in length without jumbling it, and can even transmit a photo. Bruce makes a strong case for Telegram. Either way these apps are faster and more reliable than email or SMS.

Unlike many email clients WhatsApp will automatically resize media to ensure quick and affordable transmission. That is one reason it became popular worldwide. Unlike email your messages will not be bounced back for arbitrary reasons at the destination.