I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but I’m running a test at the moment, and finding it frustrating as I’m finding it hard to feel like I can properly stay in touch with my testers. (My testers are fantastic, there is no problem with them). I can send them all a message through the controls, and they can send me messages individually. But some have been stuck, and not known how to get in touch.
My best experience of running a test was on Facebook, where it turned into a friendly Crochet-along, with people chatting away, getting to know each other, and I knew how everyone was managing, and knew about any problems straight away. I feel that’s missing here. But there might be some function I don’t know about? How do testers and designers usually stay in touch if running a test on Ribblr? Or do you move the test off Ribblr?
There is a chat function you can utilize. Its relatively new and I have minor experience with it, but @Ribblr may be able to explain it better!
Why not ask everyone to reply to you testing thread via your private group message?
You can also do the same by opening a group personal chat.
Ive been seeing theyve been having issues with provate messaging not working for the testers, like they cant respond.
Yes, this is what seems to be happening. It’s very frustrating
I’m not quite sure what you mean - can you elaborate?
I`m sending a message to my testers after I choose them. This is our “chat room” 
I have used that feature. few times now. But it doesn’t open up a chat room, I can’t see the conversation, and they don’t seem to be able to reply.
I’m not sure which part you want me to elaborate on, so forgive me if my answer is a bit long. … Because I will explain what I mean by the general need to communicate with testers, and also the specific experience with messages in the current system.
As a designer, I ask testers to work a pattern before I release it. But that means I need to have open, communication with them, and lots of it. There is no point a tester making something, hating it, feeling confused, and finding it doesn’t fit right, only for me not to know any of that, and launch a bad pattern I could have easily fixed. In my experience, testers also like to chat to each other, and see each others work. So the general point I’m making is that Ribblr does not yet seem to have a space for that kind of constructive group chat (or it does, and I’m missing it, as I’m not very tech savvy)
Specifically, when I set up a test, I can ‘message all testers’. I send a message out, but it seems to be one way only, testers don’t seem to be able to reply to that, and I can’t see the message again. It doesn’t form the beginning of a group discussion, which really it needs to.
Testers have sent me messages in the normal message system, (on the bottom left of the screen on the forums) but mentioned that they had tried before and not got through. So I don’t have a reliable way of checking in, and seeing how they are doing, and they don’t have a reliable way to talk to each other or me.
I hope that makes a little more sense.
PS, I love the system for creating patterns on Ribblr, and plan to continue using it, so please don’t see this as a moan, I’m just admitting to a frustration with one part
Got ya. Let me clarify-
This group message is available for everyone and for you through your messages tab. You can all communicate with each other and you’ll all get notifications with each reply! This makes it super easy to run the test.
There has been thousands of successful tester call with groups communicating as above. You can also use our chat but I personally believe messages are better for test calls.
If people cannot reply to you then that sounds like a glitch witch should be fixed! Let me know and I’ll step in to help 
I believe i saw one of your testers saying they were having issues with replying. Maybe tag them here using the @ feature so they can let Ribblr know if its a glitch
Ok I thought I was going crazy. I’m testing and the designers that I’m testing for always contact me back. I’ve not been receiving any feedback from them the past couple days!
Disclaimer, I’ve only ever been a tester, never a creator. The last handful of tests I’ve done, the Creators would create a private chat on Ribblr and it would be like a thread like this, but just amongst us and we can post things there or concerns. Alternatively, the most recent ones I participated/participating in, they’ve opted for instagram chat and I found it way more interactive and easier to communicate with the other testers and we help each other out in case we are stuck in a certain area.
One other Creator opted for messaging me directly via chat on the new ribblr function opposed to all the testers chatting together. I am unsure if there is some sort of know defect/glitch on the app thought, so one of the admins might have to speak on that. Hopefully if there is an issue though, they’ll fix it soon.
Hopefully you find the solution to your problem soon!
Now I’m worried, I read that the messages are not working. I have a test in progress and a couple of projects until the middle of the month, I hope the problem will be solved. Maybe you could post directly to the support team or in the Help & support section.
There’s no issues with messages that we know of. No reason for panic. There were a few people who changed their username and therefore couldn’t be reached.
If you personally experience any issues please reach out to @Ribblr directly. Otherwise please be assured you can continue testing as usual.
Thank you!