New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post high school tournament announcements and results here, along with logistical information. Interest checks, opinions, and other in-depth discussion of tournaments should go in the forum below.
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Matt Weiner
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New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by Matt Weiner »

The new tournament directory & results software is finally here, thanks to Evan Silberman. The address is http://www.hsquizbowl.org/tdb .

Right now, the following features are supported:
1) Entry of upcoming high school & collegiate tournaments
2) Searching for tournaments by proximity of any distance from any city in North America
3) Searching for tournaments by the levels of "middle school," "high school," "college," or "open"
4) Searching for tournaments within a particular state

Loads of other features, including search-by-format, search-for-nationals-qualifiers, and a searchable index of high finishers at tournaments, are currently being implemented. Once the entire feature set is working, we will begin adding tournaments from past years into this system in an attempt to create a searchable directory of all known tournament results.

Right now, I encourage you to add tournaments that your school has planned for this academic year.

The basic instructions on using the database are as follows:

To add a tournament:
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/tdb/tournaments/new
Fill in all requested details. Put the complete street address, city, state, and zip code in the "address" field and select your state from the dropdown menu. Yes, you should include the state in the address box, AND ALSO select it from the dropdown menu. Make sure you spell the city name properly and use the correct postal abbreviation for the state, to make the geographic searching work. Forum post and results post links do not need to be filled in if, as expected, you do not have that information when creating the entry. HTML in the description will be ignored, so just use plain text for now. On clicking "submit", a password will be displayed that will allow you to update the tournament page later. The password will not be displayed again, so write it down.

Note: You do not have to be the director of a tournament, or affiliated with it at all, in order to add it. Especially if the TD is unlikely to use this website, feel free to add all tournaments that you know of--as long as you get the details right, of course.

To find tournaments:
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/tdb/tournaments/upcoming shows all upcoming tournaments in the database, and will allow you to filter results by state and by field level. To search for tournaments within a certain distance of an address, use the search form on the front page. These results can also be filtered by tournament level.

Additional tips:
Please do not create entries for general tournament sets such as "ACF Fall" or "NAQT IS-81." Instead, there should be entries for each actual site of those events, with a note as to the question set used.

Please do create entries for TV tournaments, leagues, district tournaments that are part of a state series, and all other events, even if they are not part of the Saturday invitational mainstream. Again, please follow a one-to-one principle: one entry for each actual tournament. Thus, there should be entries for "Wyoming District Four Tournament," "Wyoming District Five Tournament," and so on, but no entry for "Wyoming Districts" in general. Leagues count as one tournament; don't create separate entries for each individual meet. Similarly, a TV tournament is one tournament and does not need separate entries for every episode. For all such events (and any other tournament spanning more than one day), use the date schedule for the last match of the event in the "date" field and note the full range of dates in the "description" box.

For the purpose of this database, any high school competition between school-affiliated teams that uses buzzers and is not confined to one subject is considered a quizbowl tournament that may be listed. (This means no Science Bowl or KMO for now.) At the collegiate and open level, the traditional definitions will apply (ACF, NAQT, Honda, TRASH, and so on and so forth, get listed; the Entomology Bowl does not). Feel free to ask at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6216 if you're unsure. Generally, we're only trying to exclude things that no one would reasonably be looking for in a database of quizbowl tournaments (Academic Decathlon, Ethics Bowl, etc). Past that, we're going to be as inclusionist as possible and will not try to make any value judgments about listing tournaments.

For tournaments with multiple titles awarded (such as state championships with AAA/AA/A divisions, or invitationals with varsity/JV divisions), create only one entry. When the high finishers index portion of the site is ready, you will be able to enter each set of top finishers, with the appropriate label, separately in association with a single tournament. At this time, we are only supporting single links to results pages (which can be either threads on this forum, or pages on your own website) so please link to the most obvious page if your results span more than one link.

For the moment, please enter trash tournaments under the "open" level. In the near future, we will be implementing a separate flag for trash tournaments that will allow you to search just for those events.

This thread will be locked as a permanent announcement of the database. As additional features are implemented, they will also be announced here. If you have questions about using the database, please use this designated thread for them: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6216

I want to thank everyone for their patience over the lengthy time it took to get this new system implemented, and I invite you to take full advantage of it starting immediately.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by The Goffman Prophecies »

Jeffrey Hill has spent several hours making code updates to the TDB, and I encourage everyone to go check out the changes and list their tournaments.

If you have any issues, please either post them here or contact Jeffrey via email.
Dan Goff
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by mithokie »

Thanks for the updates: I was finally able to edit the entry I posted earlier this year (before my transfer caused the end of the EQuInE III). A nice feature would be a delete this entry button, for cases where a tournament is cancelled.
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

I am pleased to announce that the new and improved tournament database is up and running! The database is now the Quizbowl Resource Database, located at http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/. The ultimate goal is to have the database collect information about all of the various aspects of quizbowl (organizations, teams, people, etc.) and how they are all related.

New features
- The database uses HSQuizbowl forum accounts to identify users. That means that if you are logged into the forums, you are also logged in to the database and can post and edit tournaments without any further registration. No more random passwords to write down and remember!
- You can now upload SQBS reports to the database. A tournament can have multiple SQBS reports associated with it, so you can upload separate prelim/playoff/combined reports to the same tournament. As a result of this new functionality, the hosting I have offered at scobo.net for the past few years will be discontinued (more on this below).
- The database now keeps track of question sets; when creating a tournament, you can link it to the question set it is using. The question set page shows the target level and primary season for the set, a list of entered tournaments using that set, and can have links to the forum post announcing the set and to the set in the packet archives once it is posted.
- Tournament entries now have a specific section for specifying entry and fee information for the tournament, including support for discounts for multiple teams, standard discounts, custom fees and discounts, and a packet submission schedule. This section is designed to allow for a possible future enhancement to allow teams to register for tournaments through the database.
- Overhauled user interface that will hopefully make the database easier to use.

Future features
The database has been designed with extensibility in mind, so additional features are likely to come in the future. If you have an idea for a feature, please let me know.

What's going to happen to scobo.net?
Now that this centralized database has SQBS report hosting capabilities, there is no need for me to host SQBS reports on another server. Creation of new tournaments at scobo.net will be disabled before Saturday. I will be moving all reports hosted on scobo.net to the Quizbowl Resource Database by the end of December. Once migrated, I plan to set up the ability to redirect further requests at scobo.net to the corresponding report hosted at hsquizbowl.org, so that the transition doesn't break any links. I will be sending an email with more details about the transition to those who have registered a database at scobo.net within the next week.

In addition to the reports at scobo.net, I will be migrating all of the tournaments entered to the old TDB at some point.

What if something's not working or I have a question?
Please post any questions or bug reports to the existing designated thread: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... f=6&t=6216


Thank you for your patience in waiting for the new database to be released. I hope the new design and feature set will make this database a valuable resource for everyone.
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
Post your tournaments, SQBS reports, and question sets to the Quizbowl Resource Center Database!
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by AKKOLADE »

holy crap you can download gps directions
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

It came about a month later than I had said, but today I finally sent an email out to people who registered ScoBo databases with at least one valid tournament uploaded:
You are receiving this email because you registered one or more ScoBo Tournament Central databases with this email address.

I am writing to inform you that I have been involved with the development of a new tournament listing database, the Quizbowl Resource Database, which is now available at http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db and offers the SQBS hosting capabilities I have provided at scobo.net. As a result of this, I am discontinuing ScoBo Tournament Central; any new SQBS reports should be uploaded to the Quizbowl Resource Database.

I will move all reports hosted at scobo.net to the new Quizbowl Resource Database by the end of December and will set up a system that should redirect any report requests at scobo.net to their new location at hsquizbowl.org, so no action is required on your part. If you would like me to make you the owner of your stat reports once they are transferred (which would allow you to modify and delete them), please respond with your hsquizbowl.org forum username (as your forum login is what the new database uses to identify you) and I will make you owner of the stat reports associated with your email address.

If for any reason you do not want your reports to be transferred, please let me know and I will exclude those reports from the transfer. If you choose to decline the automatic transfer, please remember that I will no longer be hosting the reports at scobo.net, so they will no longer be available to the public once ScoBo Tournament Central is taken offline.

It has been a pleasure to provide this service to the quizbowl community and I look forward to continuing to do so as a primary developer of the Quizbowl Resource Database.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey Hill
scobo.net webmaster
If you registered a ScoBo database but didn't get this email, you might have registered using an email address that no longer exists (I had about 10 email addresses bounce back).

It will probably be 2 or 3 more weeks before I get around to doing the transfer.
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
Post your tournaments, SQBS reports, and question sets to the Quizbowl Resource Center Database!
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

SQBS reports previously hosted at scobo.net have now been moved to the Quizbowl Resource Database. Please let me know if you find anything weird about the transferred reports.

-edit-
Also, if you have any additional information about these tournaments (like a link to the forum post, what question set they used, etc.), feel free to email that information to me so that these entries can be more than just SQBS listings
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

Cross-posting from the help thread since this is probably the more appropriate place for this.

A database upgrade will be performed sometime tomorrow evening, currently planned for around 9 EDT. The database may be unavailable for a period of time during the upgrade, though I don't expect any major downtime.
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

I am excited to announce that the integration of quizbowlpackets.com into the Quizbowl Resource Database is almost done! The upgrade that we deployed this evening adds the ability to upload packets through the database for them to be made available on quizbowlpackets.com, though quizbowlpackets.com will still go to the old site for a few more days while we get the domain transferred. Once that happens, quizbowlpackets.com will look like this (collegiate version). All packets that are currently available at quizbowlpackets.com should now be available through the database. Anything uploaded to the temporary archive on dropbox was NOT transferred (with the exception of LIST II).

When you add/edit a question set, you will now have an option to upload the set to the database. Once uploaded, it will be put in a "pending" state where it is on the server but not yet accessible to the public. A designated packet manager (or managers) will be notified when new packets are uploaded and once they approve the files they will be made available to the public and appear on quizbowlpackets.com.

Speaking of which... we're looking for someone to be in charge of approving packet uploads. If you'd be interested in this, please let me know.

Please let me know if you find any problems with the database, downloading/uploading files, etc. Any suggestions for improvement are appreciated.
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
Post your tournaments, SQBS reports, and question sets to the Quizbowl Resource Center Database!
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

Just a quick reminder to tournament directors that entering your tournament into the database well in advance can help teams in your area find your tournament if they happen to be using its search function rather than combing through this forum. The day you set up the database page doesn't have any impact on your ability to use it (or transfer it to another person's account for stats if necessary) later and you can always go back and edit it however you need to, so please consider taking the time to create an entry as soon as possible after you post your announcement.
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by Cody »

I would like to suggest that a staffer field be part of the automatic discounts and that the buzzer & staffer discounts be automatically added and initialized to -$5 and -$10, respectively, as those are used in 90% of cases.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by mithokie »

Could a mechanism be added to change ownership of a database entry? I have volunteered to help enter tournament info into the database that is missing, but the actual tournament directors may want to take ownership of those entries at a date in the future, particularly if they want to post stats in the future. Could there be a link along the lines of "click here if you would like to take ownership of this entry" that would send an e-mail to a db admin who could decide if the request is reasonable and then make the change manually.


*** Nevermind, I found out how I can change the owner after I enter data. I will be changing the ownership of a database entry to the original creator of the announcement by default. If anyone thinks I should not do this, then let me know.
Matt Beeken
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by Blackboard Monitor Vimes »

mithokie wrote:Could a mechanism be added to change ownership of a database entry? I have volunteered to help enter tournament info into the database that is missing, but the actual tournament directors may want to take ownership of those entries at a date in the future, particularly if they want to post stats in the future. Could there be a link along the lines of "click here if you would like to take ownership of this entry" that would send an e-mail to a db admin who could decide if the request is reasonable and then make the change manually.
It's possible to change ownership of a database entry from the "Edit tournament" page by clicking "change owner" at the bottom of the page. Clicking on the name of the current owner brings up the owner's hsqb profile, so a TD could request an ownership change by PMing you or whichever other volunteer may be relevant. You'd just need their username, which you'd have from the PM.
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by ScoBo »

Dan and I have finally deployed the latest update to the database. There aren't really any major new public facing features, but here are the primary changes that have been completed:

- Admins can now merge duplicate tournament and question set entries. If you find any duplicate entries that need to be merged, please email the IDs to me ([email protected])
- URLs and email addresses in many description fields are now converted to links
- Searches using the basic tournament search box will parse for dates and locations (e.g. searching for "2014 Regionals at Yale" will search for tournaments with a name containing "Regionals" and a host location containing "Yale" during the year 2014)

We now have everything set up in a better way that should make it easier to release future updates and keep work on major features from blocking me from deploying smaller updates. Because of this, I should be able to release the remaining changes from the first list in this thread as they are finished with minimal delay. (Quizbowl season is about to start in Missouri, so new updates are unlikely until the late December/early January break.)

If you notice any issues with the database, feel free to email me or post in this thread. Otherwise, requests for new features and feature enhancements are being collected in this thread.
Jeffrey Hill • Missouri Quizbowl Alliance president • UMR/Missouri S&T 2009 • Liberty (MO) 2005
Post your tournaments, SQBS reports, and question sets to the Quizbowl Resource Center Database!
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Re: New tournament database for all quizbowl events

Post by Cody »

If a smart quote/apostrophe occurs in (at least) the additional details box, a parse error is introduced in EmailToLinkFormatter.php, line 31. (ex. "Entity 'ldquo' not defined")
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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