RESOLVED: Cheers and Taunts now provide Step Differences

[BLLingg]

This morning, I cheered my 55 Active FitFriends. I got back some weird replies. In order of appearance, they included the following:

 
#1) FitFriend Cheer: "cheered you! You're only 150,174 steps behind!"
#2) FitFriend Message: lol..yep that's will be easy to get to 😂
#3) FitFriend Cheer: "cheered you! You're 38,563 steps ahead!
I was getting very confused untll
#4) FitFriend Message: "When did Fitbit add, # of steps ahead, to cheers from others? I haven't gotten any cheers from one ahead of me yet. Is it motivating in your opinion?"

Later on, after several Messages, FitFriend #1 messaged back: "Brunetta, I seriously have no clue what you are talking about. I didn’t say anything to you other than clicking on cheers😳"
After several more Messages, he messaged back: "Hmm! It doesn’t say that on mine. Must be an Android thing then"

Those 150,174 Steps that were, I presume, intended to motivate me did not! Right now, I'm at 165,436 for the past SEVEN DAYS! How motivating is it to be told that you have to do almost as many Steps in presumably a few hours that it took you to get in an entire Week?

Worse yet, among those I cheered is one who is already insecure and if she has Android or uses her PC, she was told that she is only 156,515 Steps behind me.

I am mad. I am embarrassed. I feel guilty of having likely offended some of my FitFriends by appearing to brag. I am disgusted. I am not a braggart. I am neither a Sadist or a Masochist. I have never even intentionally taunted anyone. Until this is fixed, I can no longer cheer anyone. Friend #4 says that he feels ok cheering those who are ahead of him or very close behind him, but I would feel almost as guilty if I cheered only a few of my FitFriends!!!

Moderator edit: format

[CherylWB]

I have actually called and have gotten nowhere.  It is a travesty how they have made it so difficult for our "community groups" to get together!  I USE TO tell everyone to get a fitbit because of the challenges and the community groups which were available to join.  NO LONGER.  If they don't get in gear and fix these problems, they will find their sales going in the toilet.  I am DISGUSTED with their lack of customer service.

[sandycrochet]

Totally agree with you.  I did finally find the thread where it's being discussed https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Fitbit-com-Dashboard/Cannot-View-All-Activity-Group-Content/m-p/2556...

Please express frustration about groups not working.  Am trying to get the word out to more people.

[CityLion]

Comparisons from the Cheer button are back from 2017 just in time to ruin the Goodwill of the holidays in 2018.

Today every cheer to a friend compared them to my steps.  I felt it necessary to send every one of them this damage control message:

"I cheer YOU for what YOU, are doing to improve your fitness, with no comparison to anything else. I'm not using “Cheer" button until fitbit removes compare insult from the App."

Now Fitbit take NOTICE your user community is riding on your free software, data platform, and ability to engineer an encouraging community. Neither sender nor receiver is encouraged by vulgar comparison when goodwill was the intent.

[CityLion]

It was changed, but it is BACK. . . Again

Comparisons from the Cheer button are back from 2017 just in time to ruin the Goodwill of the holidays in 2018.

Today every cheer to a friend compared them to my steps.  I felt it necessary to send every one of them this damage control message:

"I cheer YOU for what YOU, are doing to improve your fitness, with no comparison to anything else. I'm not using “Cheer" button until fitbit removes compare insult from the App."

Now Fitbit take NOTICE your user community is riding on your free software, data platform, and ability to engineer an encouraging community. Neither sender nor receiver is encouraged by vulgar comparison when goodwill was the intent.

[Colinm39]

@CityLionCongratulations for airing this..In some countries, cultural it's bullying and not seen as a method of spurring someone on..

I'm amazed that Fitbit still allow this, so, like you I desist.

[CityLion]

I haven't the benefit of the Queens own English but by internet the preponderance of use of the word cheer is without any comparison let alone to the unlikely obtainable numeric difference.  SourceURL:https://www.google.com/search?q=define+cheer&ie=&oe=define cheer - Google Search

cheer

/CHir/

verb

verb: cheer; 3rd person present: cheers; past tense: cheered; past participle: cheered; gerund or present participle: cheering

1. 1.

   shout for joy or in praise or encouragement.

   "she cheered from the sidelines"

   synonyms:

   encourage, urge on, spur on, drive on, motivate, inspire, fire (up), inspirit, light a fire under "my friends were there to cheer me on"

   • praise or encourage with shouts.

     "they cheered his emotional speech"

     synonyms:

     applaud, hail, salute, shout for, root for, hurrah, hurray, acclaim, clap for; More encourage, support; bring the house down for, holler for, give someone a big hand, put one's hands together for "they cheered their team"

     antonyms:

     boo

2. 2.

   give comfort or support to.

   "he seemed greatly cheered by my arrival"

   synonyms:

   raise someone's spirits, make happier, brighten, buoy up, enliven, exhilarate, hearten, gladden, uplift, perk up, boost, encourage, inspirit; informalbuck up "the bad weather did little to cheer me"

   antonyms:

   depress

   • make or become less miserable.

     "I asked her out to lunch to cheer her up"

     synonyms:

     perk up, brighten (up), become more cheerful, liven up, rally, revive, bounce back, take heart; informalbuck up "Leslie cheered up as soon as the grades were posted"

noun

noun: cheer; plural noun: cheers; noun: good cheer; plural noun: good cheers

1. 1.

   a shout of encouragement, praise, or joy.

   "a tremendous cheer from the audience"

   synonyms:

   hurray, hurrah, whoop, bravo, shout, roar; More hosanna, alleluia; applause, acclamation, clamor, acclaim, ovation "the cheers of the crowd"

   antonyms:

   boo

   • US

     a brief phrase shouted in unison by a crowd, typically led by cheerleaders, in support of an athletic team.
2. 2.

   cheerfulness, optimism, or confidence.

   "an attempt to inject a little cheer into this gloomy season"

   synonyms:

   happiness, joy, joyousness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, gladness, merriment, gaiety, jubilation, jollity, jolliness, high spirits, joviality, jocularity, conviviality, lightheartedness; More

[mini35]

I had no idea until now that this was happening.   Never did I consider that this would be possible. Nor, do I find it appropriate for Fitbit to hijack an innocent cheer of support and encouragement by adding to it and possibly offending.  I did find it odd that a cheer I received from a friend showed a friend light years ahead of me in steps.   I just chuckled at the effort taken to point this out to me thinking it was intentional but meaning no harm.  

I do feel it is appropriate to point out to this friend that Goodwill has not be harmed in any way on my part.  It is also appropriate to feel saddened that friends have been hurt while intending no harm.  Lastly it would be appropriate for Fitbit to notify all of format changes to assist in keeping harmony on all platforms it supports.

In the meantime, I apologize if I have inadvertently offended anyone by simply offering support and encouragement in day to day stepping and challenges.   

[CityLion]

Okay, it now appears only some Friends see the step comparison, and others see the "Keep it Up" version of the Cheer. I suppose in the jungle of servers, clouds, and code out there, with the number of users (63+ million?) that each grab for a vine to swing on may, or may not, carry the full weight of my intent.  I've been yodeling encouraging praise for a long time in these parts.  Most of my friends realize if I seem out of line, something else happened, beyond my best efforts to drop me crazily out of my tree.

So I accept; "And this too, shall pass."  

[Bosco253]

Looks like the idiots are at it again, with the attitude that they know what their customers want, despite emphatically being told otherwise. 

[sandycrochet]

When the screwed it up the first time, I stopped cheering people.  I stopped using their forums and am disgusted!  I've also stopped telling people to buy a fitbit or join the communities.

[BLLingg]

Seems to me that the saying, "What comes around goes around" has been taken literally by FitBit as an instruction on how to program.

---

@CityLion wrote:

So I accept; "And this too, shall pass."  

[LanuzaFitbit]

Hello everyone!

I apologize for the delay in my response.

Please know that this will be escalated to the rest of the team so that it can be looked into and make sure everything goes back to normal. Thanks for bringing this up.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[Colinm39]

As a work around, if you cheer from your Friends list, not the Dashboard tile, the steps don't show in the recipients Cheer message... Just a genuine cheer..

This week is a good time to go through the list and reflect on 2018 and send messages and cheers.

[Colinm39]

We are more confused than ever.. I have been testing with some friends and it appears the Apple Phone does not include the steps.  Android does.

I just sent a cheer from my PC and the Friends PC show steps, and their iPhone only showed the cheer with no steps.

@LanuzaFitbitConsistency required from "the team" now.. because confusion reigns.

[AlessFitbit · Accepted solution]

Fitbit Update: 1/8/19

Hi everyone!

If you recently posted about seeing this issue re-emerge, we'd like to inform you this has now been resolved. You should not be seeing any large (10k+) step differences between you and a Fitbit friend if they have "cheered" you in the app. 

Since this is an older thread that started a long time ago, I'm now going to close it from further comments. If you see any new issues with cheering/taunting in the future, I ask that you please open a new topic to report this issue. 

Thanks so much for your help and cooperation! 

[Colinm39]

@AlessFitbit  Thanks for the update but I see no change.. I notice you say "Cheered you from the App"..  Which App are you referring to ?

The steps still appear when you Cheer from the Android App and also to and from the PC..

I see no change unless I'm doing something wrong..

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@AlessFitbit wrote:

Fitbit Update: 1/8/19

Hi everyone!

If you recently posted about seeing this issue re-emerge, we'd like to inform you this has now been resolved. You should not be seeing the step differences between you and a Fitbit friend if they have "cheered" you in the app. 

Since this is an older thread that started a long time ago, I'm now going to close it from further comments. If you see any new issues with cheering/taunting in the future, I ask that you please open a new topic to report this issue. 

Thanks so much for your help and cooperation! 

---

[AlessFitbit]

@Colinm39 Hey! Let me clarify that for you. It is still expected to see step differences between you and a friend if the step difference is below 10k steps.  This is done on purpose to be motivating you towards your step goal! 

If you see anything above that number being shown, then we consider that an issue/bug.