This is another recent development to make people aware of. It's come up as a result of some other research I've been doing on expired judge memberships, and disconnects between the Judge Center and the membership database.

What seems to be happening is people are using a WER converted DCI# to log into the Judge Center. What happens is that while WER may convert the DCI# to a slightly different number (such as adding a “40” to the beginning of an eight-digit DCI#), this creates issues if that WER converted DCI# is used to log into the Judge Center. It works, but it causes the profile in the Judge Center to not sync properly with the membership database. This results in judge memberships sometimes not showing correctly in the Judge Center.

The way this is detected is when someone gives me a DCI#, and I check that DCI# in the Planeswalker Points website. For example, the number I'm given is “40XXXXXXXX”. When I do a search for that number, I'll get an actual DCI# of “XXXXXXXX”. (This can also happen if someone combined DCI#s.) Once I get that DCI#, a search in the Judge Center for “XXXXXXXX” rather than “40XXXXXXXX” will actually “fix” the profile in the Judge Center and restore the sync of information between the Judge Center and the membership database.

For this reason, I'm recommending a few things:

(1) If you need to generate an exam for someone, you should start by verifying the DCI# you were given via the Planeswalker Points website. You may get a different DCI# this way, which is the one you should use for the certification process. And you should advise your candidate to use the DCI# returned by the Planeswalker Points website for judging.

(2) Do a search in the “People” section of the Judge Center with this “new” DCI#, before you generate the exam itself. Doing this will import data from the membership database to “create” a profile for the person in the Judge Center if it doesn't already exist. Or, it'll make sure an existing profile matches to the membership database. (This step is important, since the “Interview”-type review needs the right DCI# to post membership updates.)

(3) Make sure to use this “new” DCI# when generating the exam and entering the review. This also ensures the exam is created for the proper person and the review points to the proper person.

Those steps should ensure the certification process goes smoothly. If you run into a problem with any of these steps, submit feedback in the Judge Center or contact me directly. It may delay generating a certification exam (please do not bypass this by generating a certification exam for yourself or someone else), but it is far better to resolve a potential membership issue before this point.

I wanted to post an update to the thread that just summarized a few of the current issues, with links to the more verbose posts.

Browser Display Issues – Please be aware that the Judge Center is not compatible with all mobile/tablet browsers. Use at your own risk.

Don't Use Certain Characters – The symbols “<” and “>” should not be used in disqualification reports.

Use DCI#s Only for Reviews – While “Interview”-type reviews do work and automatically promote people, make certain that you use the person's DCI# in the “Subject Name” field.

Display of Mana Symbols – This looks like it will affect the display of the new Colorless mana symbol (it is currently “C”), but not every mana symbol displays correctly.

Users with Multiple Profiles – Some users have multiple profiles that share the same DCI#. If you happen to encounter that situation, for yourself or someone else, please submit feedback in the Judge Center.

Errors with Disqualification Reports – If a player is not registered in the Judge Center, and you happen to enter a disqualification report for that player, you may encounter an error. You can help mitigate that via some hints per this post.

Membership Sync Issues – There appear to be a few issues with syncing data between the membership database and Judge Center due to some DCI# conversions. Make sure you use the proper DCI# by checking the Planeswalker Points website.

In the Judge advancements - monthly updates topic, there is a link to see recent advancements –
http://judge.wizards.com/info.aspx?topic=Advancements
This link does not do anything for me, whether I use InternetExplorer or Firefox, it just brings me to the main page of Judge centre. Is this link outdated?

That link is incorrect.

The correct link is: https://judge.wizards.com/advancements.aspx

2016-02-09 12:32 GMT+01:00 Alex de Bruijne <

Originally posted by Richard Drijvers:

That link is incorrect.

The correct link is: https://judge.wizards.com/advancements.aspx

2016-02-09 12:32 GMT+01:00 Alex de Bruijne <

Richard that link brings me to a “insufficient access page”.

Edited Jeff S Higgins (Feb. 9, 2016 02:17:18 PM)

I have sufficient access (I'm fairly certain), but instead I get a message instructing me to “Turn on TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.2 in Advanced settings and try {again}” … all three of those settings are already enabled.

HTH whoever does the troubleshooting on this…

d:^D

Hmm, interesting.

And the other link doesn't work for you either?

-R.

2016-02-09 20:18 GMT+01:00 Jeff S Higgins <

Ah, silly me, thinking that I was able to access judge.wizards.com from inside the corporate realm. Now - less than an hour later! - either of those links gives me the dreaded “access is blocked by your organization” failure.

When I try those two links (without corporate controls), the first one just takes me to a generic JudgeApps page; the one you shared, Richard, works as desired. But, as I mentioned, I have elevated access within the Judge Center.

d:^D

Originally posted by Richard Drijvers:

Hmm, interesting.

And the other link doesn't work for you either?

-R.

2016-02-09 20:18 GMT+01:00 Jeff S Higgins <

If you are logged into Judge Center during your current session, it displays the error page.

If you are NOT logged into Judge Center, you are directed to the JC login page.

Edited Jeff S Higgins (Feb. 9, 2016 05:46:24 PM)

I also get the “not sufficient access privileges” on Richards link

The following link is available from the front page of the Judge Center…

https://judge.wizards.com/info.aspx?topic=Advancements

…I am uncertain as to the source for the link Richard provided, as it may be an older one. It could be that link worked at one point in time, but as the developers do stuff behind the scenes, that link no longer worked. But the link in this post currently works. (At least for me.)

For a while, the “Recent Advancement” link on the front page didn't work either. But that could have been a function of the issue with membership updates not syncing from the Judge Center to the membership database.

I wanted to post a couple of things about some recent issues…

Use DCI#s Only for Reviews – While “Interview”-type reviews do work and automatically promote people, make certain that you use the person's DCI# in the “Subject Name” field. If you happen to make a mistake, you won't be able to fix this yourself. Instead, please submit feedback in the Judge Center to alert me about the issue. Not only does the review need correction, but the the membership of the improperly promoted person needs fixing. (Also, double check that you don't accidentally have yourself as the subject. I've had a rash of those due to people using the “Back” button on their browser.)

Display of Mana Symbols – This looks like it will affect the display of the new Colorless mana symbol (it is currently “C”), but the issue appears to have spread to every mana symbol.

Access to Written Exams – If you are not a certified judge or you are a Level 1 judge, then you will not be able to access any written exams you have taken. This is a security feature in the Judge Center to prevent leaks of exam content, but only Level 2 or higher judges can access written exams. (Functionally, there is a filter for anyone below Level 2 to the effect of “Format is equal to Online” to prevent a person from viewing “Written” format exams.)

This means that if you generate a written practice exam for someone, you must administer it to that person directly. They won't be able to print it out for themselves. (If a remote access issue, you may have to send the exam to them as a PDF.) Likewise, someone studying for Level 2 won't be able to access previous Level 2 exams they've taken. Nor can a Level 1 judge view their Level 1 exam. If you need to discuss exam results with the person, it's my recommendation to use the review for that. (E.g. “On question 12, you answered… Remember that deathtouch does…”)

Edited Brian Schenck (March 24, 2016 11:58:54 AM)

I wanted to post a reminder about a couple of issues…

Use DCI#s Only for Reviews – When entering an “Interview”-type review, make certain that you use a DCI# in the “Subject Name” field. It is unfortunate that the form says “Subject Name”, it does support the use of DCI#s in that field. And given the large number of users of the Judge Center with similar names (let alone any kind of spelling issue that may exist), a DCI# is the only unique identifier to ensure the proper person is promoted.

Please also keep in mind that you can verify a DCI# is active via the Planeswalker Points website. This is a good way to make sure that the DCI# you have is correct and otherwise that you will be submitting the review for the proper individual.

That being said, if you do make a mistake with the review (such as entering yourself as the “Subject” via an accidental use of the Back button in your browser), you won't be able to fix this yourself. While you may be able to change the subject of the review, this will not result in a membership update. Instead, I must request that you submit feedback in the Judge Center or message me directly in order to alert me about the issue. That way I can ensure the review gets corrected properly and the proper person is promoted. Or even ensuring that an improperly promoted person has their membership reset.

I try to proactively monitor and check on reviews that look out of sorts, and have detected a number of situations where people have attempted to fix a review in the past couple of months, but that is not an ideal situation. Please, instead, submit feedback in the Judge Center and provide as much information as possible (e.g., Review ID#, DCI# for intended candidate, etc.) so that I can address such situations more efficiently.

It's been a few months since I posted a refresher, but I did want to remind people on the use of DCI#s for generating exams and reviews. That is, due to the number of users registered with the Judge Center, a person's name is no longer a unique identifier. Instead, if you generate an exam or enter an “Interview”-type review, you have to make certain to use a DCI# in the “Please choose the candidate who will take the exam” field when generating the exam or the “Subject Name” field when entering the review.

Even if it seems like there is only a single person with that name registered for the Judge Center, there is no guarantee that it is the same person. Some people use full names when registering, others use partial names. Let alone the potential for misspelled names.

Please also keep in mind that you can verify a DCI# is active via the Planeswalker Points website. This is a good way to make sure that the DCI# you have is correct and otherwise that you will be submitting the review for the proper individual. Sometimes you will find that when you check the DCI#, it actually refers to a new number as the old number was merged. Or, the person might be using a converted DCI# where digits are added to the beginning of the number.

If it happens that you do make a mistake with the review, please do not fix this yourself. Even for something as simply as seeing that the review has yourself as the subject (that can happen if you use the “Back” button in your browser while editing the review), you won't be able to fix the issue yourself. While you may be able to change the subject of the review, this will not result in a membership update. Instead, I must request that you submit feedback in the Judge Center or message me directly in order to alert me about the issue. That way I can ensure the review gets corrected properly and the proper person is promoted. Or even ensuring that an improperly promoted person has their membership reset.

I usually monitor recent reviews to spot some of these errors, but I don't always catch all the errors. Especially if it looks like the review is “correct”. So please, if you do believe there is an error with a review (especially if the person logs in and their membership doesn't update), submit feedback in the Judge Center and provide as much information as possible (e.g., Review ID#, DCI# for intended candidate, etc.) so that I can address such situations more efficiently.

Thank you.

Originally posted by Brian Schenck:

Display of Mana Symbols – This looks like it will affect the display of the new Colorless mana symbol (it is currently “C”), but the issue appears to have spread to every mana symbol.

Vinicius Quaiato has developed a work around for those who use Chrome, which is an extension to your browser that fixes the display of mana symbols on exams…

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/judge-center-mana-symbol/fbecfcehoehhmbgahginlnnljejipldc

…and I've used it for a bit and it seems to work fine. While the technology of the Judge Center is aged, the extension does cause any compatibility issues from what I've seen. Give it a try if you use Chrome as your browser.

But if you do have any issues, I'd recommend contacting Vinicius directly.