Change to 'Find A Sitter' link on Dashboard

What a surprise I got tonight when clicking on the ‘Find A Sitter’ link on my Dashboard using my computer. The format has completely changed!! There are now only 10 sitters listed per page but showing a little more detail. The App version has not changed.
For owners who are having difficulty at the present time trying to find sitters, I’m thinking this format is going to take them far longer to trawl through!
What do other members think about this change?
I don’t believe we’ve read anything about this happening in the monthly Product Update by Ben.

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Hmmm I’m just looking at that page on my computer now and I still see 20+ sitters showing only their name, home town and star rating.

That’s interesting @PawsomePetsitters. This is what I see when going into it.

I just checked, and when I search for sitters, I also am showing 10 sitters per page now.

I was just scrolling through sitters trying to find my own profile and it showed 24 sitters per page.

Mine is 10 per page - it doesn’t have the same professional look, another change for the worse

Hi everyone we will check the status of the “Find A Sitter” page with the Product Team when they are back online and give you an update.

Thank you and if you are in the UK or where the temps are soaring stay safe, try to stay cool, especially if you are caring for pets which can present its own set of challenges.

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I noticed this change also. And even worse, you can’t open the sitters in new tabs. You have to plod through them one at a time.

Hello @temba and everyone in this conversation … there is an AB test in progress involving the “Find A Sitter” page hence the inconsistencies reported here.

Update from the Team: We are giving members more information up front (e.g. reviews) in order to browse sitters more easily without having to click through to individual profiles

Any relevant updates will be communicated to members through the usual channels.

Thank you

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I’m surprised so people look for sitters that way. Do you put in your location and look through the people who live nearby? Is this what home owners do if sitters aren’t applying? Just curious.

Thanks for your reply @Angela_L. Excuse my ignorance but what is an AB test?
I can see the test would allow owners to view sitters’ reviews up front but it would take much longer for them to trawl through many more pages. It very much disadvantages sitters because of the increase in pages there would be of sitters. E.g If I put in Tadworth, United Kingdom, it comes up with 3212 sitters (because it includes all those in London!). This means there will be 321 pages of sitters as against 134 which it currently is with 24 sitters on each page. What hope have those poor sitters on page 321 got of being invited? It’s bad enough if they’re on page 134. As an owner as well as being a sitter, if I was looking to invite a sitter, I wouldn’t have the time to search so many more pages and could well give up.
@Kelownagurl Do you ever look for yourself using Find A Sitter to see what page you are on? It varies from day to day and is an interesting exercise!

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Hi @temba apologies I should have referred to this as a “Test” but to enlighten you since you asked and I confused you …

AB testing …

A/B testing (also known as split testing or bucket testing) is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage or app against each other to determine which one performs better .

and to your point this is why tests are run to determine what works best for the user.

Thanks for the explanation @Angela_L.

I have a few times, although I don’t really care too much where I show because I don’t want to sit locally. And if people from the places I want to sit search for sitters, I know they won’t search for people in Kelowna, BC, so that aspect doesn’t benefit me in any way.

I can also confirm that updating your profile seems to bump you to the top of the list in your area.

I just tried and I was able to open sitter profiles in a new tab/page. Also, I see 4 rows of 6 sitters in Safari.

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@temba If sitters would all set their preferred countries I think it would also help narrow down those searches. In your example, a person living in the UK who is only interested in sits in mainland Europe would, I think, not show on that search. That would also help owners, as well as avoid sitters getting invites to countries that are of no interest to them.

Update: Please see the next post. Chances are my theory here is not correct. My apologies. :upside_down_face:

Not sure this is correct. I think when you put in a place name for a search, you only find sitters who LIVE nearby. It doesn’t seem to include people who have put that country down as a place they want to sit.

Or have I misunderstood you?

@Kelownagurl I think you’re probably right. Maybe I was thinking of the home search page, as that’s not restricted to sitters from my local area. I have no way of checking as I don’t know anyone locally who does not sit in my area. Your logic makes more sense than mine though. :rofl: I’ll add an edit to my original one. Thanks.

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No problem.

I just noticed it even says "…sitters FROM Kelowna…

Also, I updated our profile about 15 min ago. And we are back to the top. We were on row 3 before.