There are so many options. Which form of hoopness is best for me? To minimize the work of the pool administrator, hoopness web is the best choice.
No software on your computer. Just set up your pool parameters on this site, give your players
the URL, id, and password, and enjoy the tournament.
If you want to run your pool on your computer, or if some of your players don't have access
to the Internet, then look at hoopness score. This long tested software for Windows and Macintosh
greatly simplifies running a pool. Distribute the free entry program to your players, and receive back their
entry files via network, e-mail, diskette, etc. (Or enter them yourself.) Many reporting and pool options.
Hoopness plus is available to supplement hoopness score by allowing some or all of your players to
enter their picks on the web, without you having to deal with host issues like CGI, etc.
If I pay for hoopness, how long can I use the software/service? If you license hoopness score, you can use the software forever, assuming you do not want to upgrade. Each year, you can either
enter that year's tournament teams, or download a file of team data from this site free of charge.
The ability to have your players create their entries on this site, called hoopness plus, is free for
one tournament with initial purchase or upgrade of hoopness score. Next year you would have to upgrade
to use that service again.
Player "A" has been mathematically eliminated, but player "B", who currently has
a lower score has not been eliminated. How can that be?
This is possible because even if the player with the higher possible score attains that score,
he may be behind enough other entries to be out of the running. This program uses a "brute-force" approach of
trying every possibility and the algorithm has been verified over 10 years of use with very large pools.
If you don't want the questions, don't use the option, but it does make it more interesting for those not eliminated.
What are the browser requirements? The hoopness web pages have been tested with many browser/version combinations.
It is recommended that version 4 or above of Netscape or Microsoft browsers be used. Note that
the entry form requires that Javascript (not Java applets) be enabled on the browser.
What security features are used? First, if you pay for hoopness using your credit card, that transaction is encrypted using SSL. Standard methods
for protecting the confidentiality of the transaction are employed.
Once you start using your pool, unique id's and passwords secure your pool. You pick a password
that lets you (the pool administrator) set parameters including the password that the players will use to create their entries.
The pool administrator can view, change, or delete any entry. Each user is required to create their own password for each entry.
This allows them to come back later (before the games begin) and update or delete an entry.
The pool reports are not password protected. Your players can set a bookmark to the reports area of your pool
and easily come back to check the progress of their picks. (We saw no reason to secure the report area. However,
if you feel this is necessary for your pool, just let us know.)
What is the hardest part of running a pool using hoopness web? Probably collecting the entry fees from the players. However, hoopness web even helps with that by letting you
keep track of who has paid by letting you set an indicator on each entry, sorting the entries into paid and unpaid groups, and producing
a paid/unpaid report which your players can see and use as a reminder.
How many entries can the program handle? This is totally dependent on the capacity of your computer (primarily memory), but is effectively unlimited.
Pools have been run using this software with over 1000 entries.
How can I set up my own web site to accept entries? This can be done, and hoopness score comes with a Perl CGI script that can be used.
However, this is not for the casual web site creator. Your ISP or intranet webmaster must
grant your site the security rights to run Perl scripts and write files, and the Perl interpreter must be installed and running correctly.
This option is provided for those users who want to use it, but if the provided documentation doesn't make
sense to you, you probably should not attempt to do this. Instead, look at the hoopness plus option for accepting your entries
on this site.
How do I get my entries from the web site into my pool on my computer? The hoopness plus pool administrator menu has an item called "Get my entries". When you select this option, all of your
entries are gathered together and archived in one "zip" file, which is then downloaded to your computer. You then must
use one of the many available unzip utilities to remove the files from the archive and place them into your hoopness score
directory for importing into your pool. Some unzip utilities even add a "plug-in" to your browser which automatically extracts
the files while you are downloading. If you are a Windows user and don't have an unzip utility, check out WinZip, (www.winzip.com) to extract the files.
Macintosh users can use a tool such as ZipIt (www.maczipit.com).
