| This posting defines Version 1.0 of the UserFriendly Baby Pool System Rules and Procedures (UFBPSRP)™.
Scoring is based on a point system where points are bad. The entrant with the lowest
number of points wins. Points are awarded based on how many people had a closer guess
than you in each of the following categories:
- gender
- time of birth
- length
- mass
An exception will be that incorrect gender guesses will be awarded
a number of points equal to the total number of entrants divided by two,
rounded downwards to the nearest integer.
Points are awarded in each of the categories, so you can "win" in
one category and get 0 points, but "blow it" in another and get a huge number of points.
For example,
suppose Steve The Hypothetical Ufie guesses a mass of 3500 grams
for the new born babe. The correct guess turns out to be 3439 grams.
Four people guessed closer than Steve: 3437, 3432, and two guesses of 3498.
That's four people closer, so Steve gets four points.
The people who guessed 3498 are each awarded two points
because there were two guesses that were
closer.
Each baby pool has its own thread in the
BabyPool
account. Each Ufie gets one guess per baby pool. You can refine your guess by posting
a new guess but only the latest post before deadline counts.
Each guess should be posted using a standard format. The entire guess
should be posted in the subject line. Here's an example of the proper
format:
guess: m, 50cm, 3500g, Sep 8 14:00
The subject line starts with "guess:" so that a robot can parse it out while
still allowing non-guess responses (e.g. "you're crazy"). The post can end
with (n/t). Contents of the post are ignored.
Categories are separated by commas. The categories do not need
to be in any particular order as the format for each category is
self-identifying:
- gender should be "m" or "f"
- time of birth: use
MMM DD MILTIME format. AM/PM designation will be allowed.
- length: use "cm" to indicate centimeters. Any other unit will invalidate the entire posting.
- mass: use "g" for grams or "kg" for kilograms. Any other unit will invalidate the entire posting.
Note that length and mass units must be given using the metric system. Anybody
who has a hard thinking in metric (and I'm part of that group), I suggest
metric-conversions.org.
Each baby pool will include the information on the due date of the baby. If you want any other
information, post questions for the parents on the board or
in the baby pool thread. DO NOT contact the parents
by email about this sort of thing: they are already busy enough
knitting,
boiling water, eating pickles, gestating, etc to be bothered with impertinent questions about their
average daily volume of urination or whatever it is you want to know. Parents are free to respond
or not as they choose.
A test baby pool was run in
this tread.
That thread should give you an idea how the system works.
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