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.

Uhhh, all of them...
 

100% -- If you do not have a picture posted by the end of "scrimmage" season usually around Nov 1st) then you stop getting assigned games.

Also, we do not get paid for scrimmages . Instead the teams pay the fees to the association and we treat it as a fund raiser in order to keep our dues low ($60 a year). Each member is required to work two scrimmages in order to be considered for play-off games. It is a system that works well.

We have to upload photo to get out ID card. The ID card is a pass into any high school sporting event. I use it. When I get assignments, the picture is shown with the names for all officials assigned to that site, that day, so it includes sub varsity games. Based on that I'd say it's 95% for varsity boys and a bit lower for sub varsity, about 75%.

Wow, being informed of who is officiating before/after you is a great feature. What program does your assignor use? I'm assuming it's not Arbiter.

Does anyone's assignor charge you $5/10 to be assigned in Arbiter? I have one assignor who charges us for her usage of Arbiter.


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In high school, my association have not risen since the institution of Arbiter, so would say "no".

For my college conferences, who knows. I'm sure part of our registration fees are earmarked to recoup costs from Arbiter.

Yes, some assigners (but not all) in both basketball and baseball.

Our high school volleyball board does this and has 100% compliance with the request to have a picture in the arbiter.Not everyone in the college groups I belong to has a picture on file but it doesn't seem like they make a big deal out of it.

Yes. Arbiter charges every assignor $4 to add an official to their group, so most of my assignors pass that cost on to me.

My landlord charges me when her property taxes go up. It's called a rent increase when my lease expires. Same principle applies to assignors when they incur Arbiter fees; somehow or other, that cost gets passed down to assignees.* In my little corner of un-Connecticut it happens in the form of a 10% cut out of every game fee. In other places it's a flat rate fee at the beginning of the season.

* Exception: when the schools and/or conferences pay the assignors directly. Then it's the schools/conferences footing the Arbiter fees.

All games in AZ (Phoenix) are assigned by the state interscholastic association. They use a unique software for assignments but RefPay for paying. We are charged $1 assigning fee per game. We use arbiter for football association assignments.

Our Association encourages the photos, but doesn't emphasize it or, to my knowledge, penalize those who don't have a picture.

I find it very useful, especially if your new, and looking for your partners before the game. Of course, you can always just look for the nicely dressed person(s) sitting by themselves too. :)

A Tell Tale Sign
 

The refs are easy to identify as the enter the gym - they are the guys that look like they're late for a plan as they rush through the airport with the rolling bags in tow. I used to make fun of the rolling bag when I coached but after several years of reffing I found that a duffle was too heavy to carry once I added everything I needed (jackets, pants, shirts, shoes, books, etc.) plus all of the extras (backups for most of those items). Now, my wife makes fun of me but I just grin and bear it.

Our supervisor is requiring a professional profile photo this year.

It was explained at a meeting last night that the administrator of the Arbiter site in this area will not allow you an account if you do not have an Arbiter picture. You must apply to get a Arbiter account BTW and be given access to the site by the administrator.

Peace

My high school association encourages a picture be added. All of my college coordinators require it.

I can't replace picture in Arbiter
 

I am trying to change my picture in Arbiter, but I have not had any success. I can remove the old photo. I can then upload a new photo into the system. Then I click on the "Use This Photo" and the old photo appears.

Has anyone else had this issue and figured out how to solve it?

My guess is your web browser is caching the old picture, even though you've uploaded a new one. Try clearing your cache.

I ran into this issue last season though I admit I don't remember what I did to fix it. I'll look and see if I can figure it out again.

Thanks - I tried deleting the picture, and clearing the history in both Internet Explorer and Chrome using a Dell.

I will try tonight from a Mac.

This is common behavior in the Arbiter system and is covered in their FAQ's, I believe. It can take several hours for their servers to display the new photo so if you go in and check for the new photo immediately after uploading it you will continue to see the previous one (or nothing at all if a photo has not previously been uploaded). So, check again in a few hours and the new photo should be there.


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Thanks - when I went to update it at home last night, the Mac showed the new photo. When I came into work this morning, the Dell still shows the old picture. So, I'm just going to cross my fingers that my assignor will see the new photo.