Arbiter -- pictures?
 

For those of you whose boards receive assignments through ArbiterSports (or hell, any online assigning program/service) what percentage of your members would you say have pictures with their profiles?

We have many coaches, fellow officials and people who are just bad with names/faces who seem to be increasingly asking, "My partner for an upcoming assignment is X. Do you know him?" Or a coach saying, "How am I supposed to rate/block officials if it's just a bunch of names with no faces?"

Our assignor appreciates those who have pictures with their profiles, but he doesn't require it. Our president urged more members to get pictures up last season and only a handful complied.

I'd guess fewer than 20% of our members have gone through "the trouble." Just curious if this is common or if most boards have less difficulty getting members to go along with something so simple and seemingly helpful.

20% sounds about right for what I've seen.

Pitchers are required by the administrator of the Arbiter account we use. We are not assigned by associations and have the largest consortium in the country in both football and basketball. If you do not have a picture, you can get your account dropped.

Peace

Dang. How often does that happen?

Don't You Just Love Spell Check ???
 

I have no idea. I just know that is the threat. A few thousand officials are involved.

Peace

Has it ever happened? Do you know anyone it has happened to?

Several years ago our association had a photographer at the first few meetings and paid for him to take pictures which they uploaded into Arbiter. Of course, that only covered people who attended one of those meeting so my guess is by now, about a third have photos.

Which reminds me, I need to update my picture...right after I have someone help me do a fantastic photo shop session. I am thinking...no gray hair and a thinner looking face that look 10 years younger :D

I know people that got yelled at about it (through email). We usually teach the individuals what not to do and how to do things. I know people that have had their accounts stopped for all kinds of reasons, not sure if it is just the picture. Usually those people did a lot of things wrong, not just this issue.

Peace

What about catchers?:D

Most of my assigners have the same requirement. One told a story of an (NCAAW) official who worked for him - no picture posted - and received lousy ratings from a coach. The coach realized he was giving the wrong person the bad ratings once the official who'd been dinged added his picture to his account.

Rut:

Will a pitcher of Rolling Rock meet your association's requirements.

I am sure you could use one to cry in right now. I feel your pain because YSU lost at home for the second week in a row.

MTD, Sr.

Head Shot Required ...
 

Our assignment commissioner requires that a "head shot" photo be posted, and that our cell phone number be listed first.

In past years, he got, pretty much, full cooperation from the 325 officials in our local board, because he threatened to give those that didn't comply a lower "commissioner's rating" which was a small part of our overall rating, which had an impact on the level, and number, of games that we were assigned.

Now, we have a new rating system that does not include a commissioner's component, so we'll see how much cooperation he gets with the photo requirement.

Mark, Jr., and I receive basketball, baseball, and/or softball assignments on Arbiter from seven different associations, and only one requires its officials to have their picture on their profile pages. Mark, Jr., receives his college softball assignments on Arbiter and every umpire has his or her picture on his or profile page.

Since I retired from officiating college basketball before Arbiter became the norm I would assume that anybody who officiates/umpires at the college level is required to have his picture on his Arbiter profile page.

I do not have a problem with having my picture on my account and wish everybody would have his or her picture on their account because if I am officiating/umpiring with someone I do now know it makes it nice to know what the person looks like before you meet him or her.

MTD, Sr.

In my association we have about 70% of folks with photos. Those that don't tend to be wreck officials. So while I've never heard it stated directly, I believe there's an assumption that if you want to get assigned any kind of HS games, it would behoove you to have a photo in Arbiter. It certainly is "highly encouraged" every fall at the opening meeting.