This is not a rant or anger, I’m just truly at a loss as to why this is happening. I seriously feel like crying! I’ve posted several pattern test calls. I’ve gotten a great response of people signing up but then once I approve them, its literally like 5 out of 6 people are no longer responsive to my polite messages checking in every once in a while (these are small projects that usually take a day or so but I give them a couple of weeks or more before even asking for updates). I’m easy to get along with and as long as they make contact with me at least once, I will give them all the time they feel they need! But after multiple attempts at contacting them weeks later, most don’t respond at all and often if they do respond they say something personal came up and they aren’t going to test. I totally understand that, but why can’t they reach out to me instead of me waiting and chasing after them for weeks on end? It feels so disrespectful. Of course I instantly remove them when they cancel. But I’m confused to why this is literally happening with 5 out of 6 testers. The testers that DO complete the tests tell me that my patterns are very well written and easy to follow so I don’t think my patterns are the problem. I’ve had my patterns tested on another platform and all is so smooth, on that platform I get 5 out of 6 that DO keep in touch and complete the pattern test. Just to reiterate- I’m so easy to get along with and I give them ample time to respond to me, and never pressure them for time. I appreciate the time and effort a pattern tester gives to the project, it is so greatly appreciated! But all of the people there with my patterns who ghost me is super upsetting. What should I do differently? Thank you for your thoughts.
I understand your frustration when it comes to unresponsive testers. This has happened to me many times. My recommendation would be to check the testers’ Karma points before approving them. If their Karma points are low, it may be best not to approve them. Also, when you approve testers, it’s a good idea to give them direct check-in access so you can know beforehand if they are fit to test
Thank you so much for your kindness and suggestion! I will pay attention to how many karma points they have from now on. And can you tell me what you mean by direct check in access, ? Thank you!
I’ve had this happen to me too. It’s usually been about half ghosting me or not saying anything until after it’s due and I’ve been wondering why it’s happening so often. It’s so strange.
I Love your retro style!!! 
I actually have few old pattern books from the 70s and 80s (somewhere)
It is so strange and disappointing! I’m sorry that you’ve had to go thru this as well !
Aw thank you so much! You just made my day ! 
How cool that you have those books from back then!! That’s awesome!
You are very welcome. I am glad. 
When approving a tester after checking their karma points, I usually like to send them a direct message to thank them for taking the time to test and also asking for their schedules and time frame when they can complete it. However, if it doesn’t work out, I will let them know and give a warning about being removed from the pattern beforehand. If there is no response, they will know later. Please keep in mind that my patterns are not free and are paid, so when I let testers try them out, I would like them to be completed 100%. Otherwise, you will be removed and will have to pay for it.
I don’t mean to be harsh, but when I released my first pattern, I approved so many people, and half of them let me down. It was a lot of stress on my end. So, I found this method to be simpler for me.
HOWEVER, many times karma points are low because the tester is still fairly new. Also, karma points are not automatically given. Just a few tests with any designer forgetting to post points makes a difference as well.
I dont post testing calls anymore; but, in the past, I used to accept 10-15 if possible and expect only 5-6 back, Which for me is great. I’m really only looking for 3 good testers: ones who help correct any errors, point out ambiguous areas and maybe provide their own take on my written pattern. Looking at it that way, 3 of the 5 responding is 60%. Cant ask for more than that for a completely UNPAID crocheter or sewer to take their own time to find my errors is more than appreciated! God Bless all testers for their time, energy, patience & knowledge of my craft to help make my written word so, so much better while I go on to other designs! Heck, in the end I’m the one getting the final accolades whether that be praise or money.
The only requirement I make is that I receive ample notice if any of the 10-15 are UNABLE to test afterall, so if necessary I can post for more testers until I receive at least 3 active ones.
Testing is NOT a job that I hired someone for. IT IS a generous, thoughtful VOLUNTEER that is willing to test my pattern words for a simple, unpublished, DRAFT of my design. How many drafts of patterns would you pay for? So, please, dont be discouraged if your tester(s) are unable to complete your project, answer your interim texts or become an active member of a chat group.
A GREAT tester is experienced enough to have numerous personal projects “waiting” and volunteers to make your pattern because s/he loves it & wants desperately to find the time to make it because it appealed to him/her AND would love to help you make it perfect … THEN life happens: an extra birthday, holiday, rush order, request, family or friend emergency, or so many other life’s interruption rear their ugly heads. The percentage of people that just go around testing to “get a free pattern” is very small nowadays when there are hundred-of-thousands, if not millions of free patterns available on the web.
Whenever I absolutely require a tester to finish the “day before I asked for it” and supply ongoing conversation about what was going on with the testing, I PAID a professional tester who’s actual 8hr a day 7 days a week job it is to test — a Specialist Editor, who just like any specialist in life charges for their time. As a side note, the least I’ve ever paid for a specialist editor was $10/hr and that was back in 1974!!!
I thank all volunteers and apprecuate you more than you could ever know!!!
God Bless Everyine,
GG
I use this spreadsheet to select testers. It takes into account an applicant’s karma as well as their interest gauge so as to not entirely neglect newbies. Rating testers allows for people who have tested for me to have an advantage, and people who have done the stuff you’re talking abt to have a disadvantage.
Edit: I should clarify that the tester scores are by no means hard and fast rules. If a tester reaches out to me to let me know they’re having issues, I always do my best to be more than accommodating - I always give them a 1 for feedback/communication, a journal score of either 0 or 1 based on if/what they’ve submitted so far, and an extended deadline if they request. The lowest I’ve ever given someone who informed me that something came up was a tester score of 1 because they hadn’t completed any of the project but took the initiative to come to me and let me know what was going on.
I completely sympathize, I’ve been going through the same thing a lot myself lately 
The best solution I’ve found is to try to contact people who have done a good job for me in the past, and see if they’re interested in testing something new for me. I’ve had a lot more success doing this if I can.
I’ve also learnt that high karma is not necessarily a good indicator of reliability, sometimes people with low karma can make really good testers. Be wary though of those with zero karma that only signed up to Ribblr a few days prior (you can see it on the profile), however I do like to approve one person with no karma because everyone has to start somewhere (but I try to pick people that look like they’ve been active on the site). Just make sure you have enough testers so that it doesn’t matter if a few don’t work out.
This…. Same I’ve had two tester calls and same person flaked on me twice. They were just starting so I thought I’d give them a chance again. Good karma points doesn’t mean they are reliable or good communicators either .
I will message people who did a great at testing previously……
I’m replying as a tester, I’m to chicken 
to even put any of my ideas into patterns and then put out a tester call.
I will put my all into a pattern that I apply to test. I test quite frequently for a designer in here. I absolutely love her patterns and she loves that I do them as micro.
Anyway back to a testers view on this. In the last 8 months I’ve had several health issues pop up. They started when I ended up (this is going to be embarrassing) covered in my own fecal matter because my body said nope and I hit the floor on my way to use the bathroom. After my fiance finally was able to get me to respond and helped me into the bathroom and onto the toilet, out if my soiled clothes. He started a bath for me, I stood up and practically fell into the tub because I hand no strength to stand on my own. I couldn’t breathe, he called the ambulance which showed up in 3 minutes because they’re 1 mile away. So naked, half covered in fecal matter, they end up dead lifting me from the tub, rush me to one emergency room only to be rushed to another because I had to be seen by a specialist. I had emergency surgery to have a saddle pulmonary embolism removed from my lungs. NOBODY in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit was expecting me to make it through the next 12 hrs. A saddle pulmonary embolism has a 10% survival rate, it’s not usually found until the patient is already dead. While I was in the hospital for 24 hrs, my fiance brought my phone and current test wip at that time to the hospital at my request. That is how dedicated I am as a tester to meeting test deadlines.
I’m currently battling severe anemia, and all the side effects from having severe anemia. I’m waiting for the Dr’s to find a place close by and call with the appointment. I’ve done several test patterns and currently working on 2 test patterns. I’ve been doing this despite the blurry vision from the daily migraines and lack of sleep for the past month. I’ve tried all the things that usually work, only for it to ease up enough that I’m not vomiting.
(This is just health wise with me, I’ve always lost 2 family members during that time just before Christmas)
So if a tester says something came up with real life, don’t get upset. Not all testers are going to be willing to share what life interference has kept them from starting or completing a test pattern. I do share with the designer what’s going on if it has kept me from starting the pattern more than 48 hours after being chosen, or if I think it will keep me from finishing a test pattern on time.
I choose to test a pattern because I really like the item being tested and have family/friends that would love the finished product as a gift. Receiving the pattern as a gift for testing is a bonus. I test because I love helping others that have the balls to do what I don’t but wish I did.
I personally haven’t seen tester calls for you. If I do and it’s something I like, I’ll apply. On a side note I don’t normally apply for projects that look like they will take me a long time to finish. The reason being is that I lose interest very quickly with stuff and have to move on. I’ve got projects of my own that I’ve started and put aside after 2 days. I’ve frogged a project of my own because I couldn’t remember why or what I was making, just to use the yarn for a test pattern. (Usually has the color/s that I want to use on a test pattern)
So do keep in mind, real life does happen and isn’t just an easy excuse for most testers.
I’ve also been testing a pattern and had the designer go silent for weeks. That road goes both ways. Usually it was real life showing its ugly head for them too. I’ve also tested and have had designers ghost completely during a test period, and still haven’t heard from.
I’ll finish up with saying that I hope your tester calls start going more smoothly for you here. God bless you and yours.
Sincerely
AuntFanny
I just started testing, and have just completed two in three days. I really enjoyed it. I can’t understand why people would sign up and then not do it. Especially without just giving a simple heads up. Don’t count out all of us with only a few karma points, sometimes we are just getting started!
It happens a lot, some people seem to do it on purpose, they apply massively to all tester calls so they get free patterns but never test them. Or some people just disappear after. I think it’s a problem of the app and it needs to be improved so we can see how many tests the user has completed and how many they have not. The karma points alone doesn’t really help, I get ghosted by people with high karma points, even though they still apply to other things after, and many people with 0 karma do complete the tests because they’re just new on ribblr. So I wouldn’t really advice going only by the karma, but look at their makes, and if they seem motivated to test. Sadly the only thing you can really do is accepting a large number of testers so you can be sure to have a minimum of tests done. It really happens to all patterns i’ve made or tested, and when testing for others i’ve noticed that when they accept only 5 or 6 people, they tend to end up with 1 or 2 tests done, but sometimes get all of them done, it is really random. So if it makes you sad, I think it helps to accept more people, and to only concentrate on people who complete the test, I am very grateful for anyone who test my pattern, and I don’t pay attention to people who ghost, i don’t ask for news, because it’s a waste of time, if they really planned on testing it, they would give news by themselves. But really there need to be a solution for that on ribblr because it is annoying for everyone to not know what to expect, but it has been talked about and they said they would try to find a solution to improve that.
I am new to rbbler so I don’t know what Karma points are. I applied for a few testing calls…got approved for one. I had fun doing it.
The help center here is a Ribblr’s best friend . Basically when you complete a test you earn one karma point, granted by the designer
I would check the karma points, and something i like to do is say that if they dont private message you saying they will be testing, you will remove them.
Hey! Jumping in to provide some insights, hopefully this helps you with future test and helps others understand more about testing on Ribblr.
Firstly - we’re sorry you’ve had bad experience with testers! That sounds annoying, to say the least.
Our mission is to empower crafters and we do that by creating tools that solve problems we all face as crafters. That’s how Ribblr was born!
Your post is super valuable because it actually points out to some of the main issues around testing that we’ve started tackling nearly 2 years ago.
Some of our safe testing tools include:
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Karma points - this helps you get an overview and an understanding of the Ribblr that applies to test. In most cases high karma point score means it’s a quality tester. Low karma points means they haven’t completed many tests.
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Assign & remove testers - Ribblr ePattern isn’t just an awesome way to consume patterns, it actually helps combat piracy. Unfortunately, we’ve seen far too many designers, emerging and established, have their patterns stolen and redistributed during the testing phase. Here, you can assign testers who apply after checking out their profile and you can always remove them if they stop responding or don’t follow your requirements.
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Share just part of the pattern - although it’s nearly impossible to steal a Ribblr ePattern, you can also share just a section of the pattern with testers. This is a great way to make sure every single tester follows through as promised.
Use the ‘Block view from here’ checkbox to do that. See more here.
Now, although these features already provide a much safer testing environment, we are not done.
We’re currently working on new testing tools based on vast feedback like yours that we’ve received over the last few months. These would include the ability to block some testers, and more. Stay tuned!
We are always here if you need more help. 
Also feel free to share your Suggestions 