I received the following inquiry from Jaguar. She said she wasn't sure where to post it, so she sent it via PM. Since she's asking a question about MRR features, I thought it would be helpful if I answered here in the Support forum, instead of hiding it in a PM reply to her.
I am a bit confused. I have entered my times for the Olympics #2 races on the ULB, using links found here http://myrealracing.club/comment/49744#comment-49744 as follows:
Please follow the links below to upload/post your times on the ULB
TT: Elite - 12+ Cyl Slam [12.00]
Car: Pagani Huayra
Circuit: Suzuka GP
ULB link: http://myrealracing.club/rr3/ulb/time/total/5628/3128
END: Expert - Aston Marin Expedition [03.02]
Car: Aston Martin DB9
Circuit: Suzuka GP
ULB link: http://myrealracing.club/rr3/ulb/time/total/5238/3057
But my times don't appear when I click on the C icon on someone's entry to get the 'current standings'. (On the ULB I don't have a C icon next to my name, only an 'edit' hyperlink).
What's the difference between the ULB and Current Standings? How can I put my results into the current standings? Do I need to do this?
First a word about the above links, which appear somewhere in one of the threads related to the 2015 events... During the first week, the Challenges feature wasn't ready yet, so the only way to post results was to go directly to the ULB. Oaktown/Mikey included links to do so for the convenience of the participants.
I was still in the process of installing the Challenges feature when they were getting everything set up for Week 2, so naturally, they used the same method as for the first week. By the time the Challenges feature was live, some entries had already been posted in the ULB. It was a simple process for me to go in and "flag" those entries as belonging to the new Challenge records Oaktown had created for Week 2. This was all just an inevitable part of transitioning to a new way to do the Challenges.
I had assumed that all entries from then on would go in via the Challenges page and that there wouldn't be additional entries I'd need to "flag", but I guess the links Jag referred to above didn't get changed to point to the new Challenge pages. [Just a side note about that... These events are being hosted by Oaktown and Mikey. It's been my long-standing policy to not edit the content of members' posts (the occasional naughty word, copyrighted info, and out and out flaming excepted), so I feel it's not my place to change those links for them.]
So on to answering Jag's questions...
ULB vs Challenges
There's really only one place for leaderboard entries... the ULB. That's why the ULB came first, because the Challenges feature builds upon, and uses, the ULB. Knowing that participants in Challenges would also want their great times to show in the ULB, I didn't want everyone to have to post them in two places. So you can think of Challenge entries as a subset of all posts in the ULB. Or since you all must surely be familiar with all the various filtering options on offer here in MRR, think of the Challenges pages as filtered views of the ULB.
The system should now be restricting everyone to a single post for any given event/car combination. For the sake of clarity, I'll refer to entries you post directly into the ULB as "regular" entries to differentiate them from Challenge entries. If you use an "Add post" link on the ULB pages for an event for which you already have an entry - either a regular or Challenge entry - you will get a message to that effect. If the existing entry is a regular entry, you will automatically be taken to the edit form so you can easily update your entry. Otherwise, it will simply say that you should go to the appropriate Challenge page to access it.
The same approach is also used in the Challenge pages when an existing entry already exists. However, there's an exception to the single-entry rule... For this example, let's fast-forward into the future a few months. [Come on, there's plenty of room for everyone in the DeLorean.] Let's say you posted a regular ULB entry for Pure Stock Challenge 1.1 in January 2015. Then, in June, someone creates a Challenge for that same event and you decide you want to join in. In that case, your existing regular ULB entry from several months earlier won't keep you from posting a new entry for the Challenge.
How/Where to post a Challenge entry?
You can find the "Add post" links in two convenient places... On the Challenge "list" pages, and on the "standings" page for each Challenge. There are two "list" pages, showing "Active" and "All" Challenges. Both show the car(s) available for the Challenge, with an "Add post" link to the right of each car listed. For Challenges that are completed, which will only show on the "All" tab, the "Add post" links will not be available.
From either of those pages, if you click the Challenge title, or "View standings", you will be taken to the page showing everything related to a single Challenge. The details of the Challenge, including the "Add post" links, are shown first, followed by the current standings (that "filtered view" of ULB entries), followed by comments posted for that Challenge (10 per page, just like the forums).
I hope this helps eliminate any lingering confusion associated with these new features. I'm going to review the ULB entries to see if any need to be "moved" into Challenges, but if I overlook any, please let me know.
And, as always... Carry on!
