ZebraWeb

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I retired from officiating college basketball after the 2007-08 which was before the use of online officiating assigning was the norm.

Mark, Jr., has been umpiring college softball since Spring 2015 and Div. I since Spring 2018. He has two assigners who both assign NCAA Div. I, II, and III conferences and they use Arbiter. He has a third assigner that uses OfficialHub for two Div. I conferences and uses ZebraWeb for two other Div. I conferences. Only OfficialHub and ZebraWeb require an explanation for a "block".

Why does OfficialHub and ZebraWeb have such a requirement? Who knows! But the guys and gals here that officiate Div. I basketball or officiate/umpire any Div. I sport know that assigners at that level can be very persnickety. They may want to know if you are blocking them to take a H.S. game or a game in another conference. Some do care that your are taking a H.S. game or a game in another conference and some do! That it just how it is in the big city. But at the Div. I level, no matter what the sport, an official's assigners know which Div. I conferences from which he receives assignments and 99% of the time the official has declared a primary Div. I conference.

MTD, Sr.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

I retired from officiating college basketball after the 2007-08 which was before the use of online officiating assigning was the norm.

Mark, Jr., has been umpiring college softball since Spring 2015 and Div. I since Spring 2018. He has two assigners who both assign NCAA Div. I, II, and III conferences and they use Arbiter. He has a third assigner that uses OfficialHub for two Div. I conferences and uses ZebraWeb for two other Div. I conferences. Only OfficialHub and ZebraWeb require an explanation for a "block".

Why does OfficialHub and ZebraWeb have such a requirement? Who knows! But the guys and gals here that officiate Div. I basketball or officiate/umpire any Div. I sport know that assigners at that level can be very persnickety. They may want to know if you are blocking them to take a H.S. game or a game in another conference. Some do care that your are taking a H.S. game or a game in another conference and some do! That it just how it is in the big city. But at the Div. I level, no matter what the sport, an official's assigners know which Div. I conferences from which he receives assignments and 99% of the time the official has declared a primary Div. I conference.

MTD, Sr.

Arbiter can be set by the group admin to require a reason for a block or decline as well. It is merely a programming feature which the group admin can opt to turn on or not. There is nothing about this feature that is proprietary which would only permit certain assigning systems to have it. The only reason you are not familiar with it through Arbiter is that those running Mark Jr.’s groups have not enabled it.

It isn’t sophisticated though. At least it wasn’t when I was on in one of the Arbiter groups which I used in the past. One could enter any text into the reason box, including gibberish, and the system would accept the block.

It all comes down to how nosy the individual assignor is and whether he cares about why you block or who else you officiate for. The computer assigning systems are just tools that the assignors use for convenience and to aide in tracking their assignments. The positives or negatives that is done with whatever information is requested or input into those systems is up to the person using it and totally dependent upon the values of that individual.

[ChuckS]

I agree with the possibility of assignors possibly needing to see info on the time and location of your other games, to see if you could help out. So in Arbiter, it was suggested to me when I started 5 years ago, to choose the option to "share" my schedule with my other assignors. Which I have always done, with no issues.

My issue here was giving a reason for a block, if it wasn't another game. I should have clarified.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I agree with the possibility of assignors possibly needing to see info on the time and location of your other games, to see if you could help out. So in Arbiter, it was suggested to me when I started 5 years ago, to choose the option to "share" my schedule with my other assignors. Which I have always done, with no issues.

My issue here was giving a reason for a block, if it wasn't another game. I should have clarified.

I understand what you are saying, I think what some of us are saying or at least what I am saying is really up to the people that use the program. So if the assignor is not asking for you to put in a specific game, put in whatever you want to. Usually, these things are up to the person that is assigning. If they want to know what the reason is specifically, I would think they would tell you. Even on Arbiter there was a reason if we declined a game. Only certain people cared what the reason actually was.

Peace