Bebepool Help
FAQ
Signup / Create New Pool
What's My Pool URL / Web Address?
Can I Edit My Guess After Submission? / Managing Entries
How Many Participants Can Enter My Pool?
Twins / Multiple Birth Pools?
Can I add links to other webpages (with HTML)?
Control Panel - Pool Name
Control Panel - Introduction
Control Panel - Pool Components
Control Panel - Duplicate Guesses
Control Panel - Timezone
Control Panel - Lock/Unlock Pool (+ Auto-lock)
Login - Forgot Password
Enter Actual Birth Results (Pool Completion)
Starting your own baby pool involves supplying Your Name, Username, Password, and Unit of Measure. The very next step is to log in which activates your new pool and takes you to the Control Panel view. At this point your site is live and ready to use. Typically, you would customize your pool, invite your participants, and then periodically check back to see the guesses that have come in.
What's My Pool URL / Web Address?
Your pool has a simple short URL to share with others:
https://bebepool.com/username where username the one you chose when you signed up for a new pool. When navigating your pool site, you may notice the address as
"https://bebepool.com/go/?a=<username>&view=list" in public view mode (control panel view is different). This address works perfectly fine if shared, it's just not as versatile as the short url for emailing or displaying on the web and elsewhere.
Can I Edit My Guess After Submission? / Managing Entries
When a participant submits his/her guess, there is not a way to alter some or all of the pool entry. This may be inconvenient in a certain cases, but it does protect the integrity of the information submitted by each pool participant. The pool administrator via the Control Panel can, however, completely delete any unwanted entry, so ultimately the person running the pool does have the power to screen all user-submitted data.
If a participant wishes to change a guess, he/she can coordinate with the pool admin as follows: Participant enters a new guess, then the pool admin can log in and delete the old entry (the admin could delete the old entry before the new one is submitted, but the reverse allows the participant to reference the original information as the new one is composed).
How Many Participants Can Enter My Pool?
Actually there's no limit, so invite as many friends, family co-workers, etc. as you'd like.
There are several approach using your bebepool for twins (or other multiples).
Suggested method:
TWO POOLS: Set up a second bebepool account and utilize both accounts. Each participant submits a guess to each pool. The nice thing here is any and all pool components can be used in this scenario. In the Pool Name, specify Baby A or Baby B .... or First Born, Second Born - or any way you wish to describe it.
Here is real example: http://bebepool.com/mccarthy4 and http://bebepool.com/mccarthy5Alternate methods:
ONE POOL, Guess Date of Birth Only: Limit your pool components to only Date of Birth (including Congratulations/Comments is of course fine too).
- ONE POOL, COMBINED GUESS: (this one is really only workable if you limit your pool components to Weight and Length) In the Pool Intro, explain that participants should guess the combined Weight and the combined Length of the twins (which in the end is calculated by adding their separate measurements). Birth Date can also be guessed.
Can I add links to other webpages (with HTML)?
In your customizable pool introduction, you can include a raw link (e.g. http://www.example.com) and it will automatically be made clickable. Alternatively, you can link a word or phrase (instead of using raw links), but since HTML isn't allowed use the following format:
[Gift Registry](http://gift~reg.com/user/837).
Note: there is no space between the square bracket "]" and parenthesis "(" of"Registry](http:".
And the result would look like: Gift Registry.
Customize the pool name (default is <Your Name's Baby Pool>) which is displayed at the top of your pool site.
Customize the pool introductory message (default is Welcome to our baby pool. We look forward to your participation!) which is displayed just below the pool name.
Control Panel - Pool Components
Customize the items which participants guess (the pool components). For example, if the name and gender is already known, you can uncheck 'First Name', 'Middle Name' and 'Gender' to deactivate those components from the guess entry form.
COMPONENTS:
Birth Date
1 point for each day of the week before or after actual (for instance, off by two weeks means 14 points).Birth Time
A value ranging roughly between 0 – 3 points for time of day (approximately 0.12 points per hour difference. For instance, plus or minus 4 hours is approximately a half point; birth date is not part of the calculation, so clock time is relative and not calculated across the midnight boundary).Gender
1 point if guess is wrong.Length
1 point for every inch (or 0.3937 points per cm) greater or less than actual (technically, if the actual is 20 inches and the guess is of 19.999, then 1/1000 of a point is added, for example).Weight
1 point for every lb (or 2.2 points per kg) greater or less than actual (technically, if the actual is 7 lbs and the guess is of 7.001, then 1/1000 of a point is added, for example).Hair
1 point if guess is wrong.Eyes
1 point if guess is wrong.First Name & Middle Name
On average, one will gain 2 to 4 points for an incorrect guess.
The characters of a name are analyzed for similarity. Character parity, order, and count determine how close the guess is to the actual; phonetic distance is also taken into account. For example, if the actual name is "Bart", then:
"Barry" scores better than "Bartholomew" (count: Bart [4], Barry [5], Bartholomew [11]). "Brad" scores better than "Jill" (parity: Brad contains the 'a' & 'r', but Jill contains neither). "Marli" scores better than "Keira" (order: both contain the 'a' & 'r' of Bart, but in Keira it occurs in the wrong order).
If the actual name is "Stu", then: "Stew" scores better than "Stan" (phonetic: pronunciation usage of 'u' more closely related to 'ew' than 'an').
Case matters ('A' is not equal to 'a')!
There's also significant penalty points for a guess that looks like a non-guess: "?" or "???", for instance.
Control Panel - Duplicate Guesses
Option to not allow duplicate guesses. When option is turned on, participants are still allowed repeats on individual components, but the combination of all active guess components for an entry must be unique.
This option is a checkbox located in the Select Pool Components section of the Control Panel.
The timezone default is Mountain Time (GMT -7:00). Set the appropriate timezone for your pool with select list, then click Update. All Entered timestamps among your pool entry guesses will display according to the currently set timezone. Also, the Auto-lock Pool feature will abide by the configured timezone as well.
The "GMT -7:00" hint for each timezone refers to Standard Time (if Daylight Saving Time applies to your zone, don't worry the system automatically adjusts for it).
Control Panel - Lock/Unlock Pool (+ Auto-lock)
Check the checkbox to Lock your pool. Locking prevents new guess entries. Uncheck to re-enable participant submissions. You may wish to lock-down your pool temporarily or leave it locked right through to the time when you enter the actual results (putting in the final results prevents further guesses with or without the pool lock option).
Auto-lock: this feature allows you set a timer to automatically lock the pool on or after a date of your choosing. To activate it, enter the date (format is YYYY-MM-DD), then click Update. After setting an auto-lock date, (X) DAYS left before the pool is locked will indicate the count to lock-down.
ADVANCED TIP: You can specify the exact hour:minute in the lock date like this: 2009-10-27 16:00 (that's one space between the date and time part and it's 24-hr format; so in this example, the auto-lock would lock the pool on October 27, 2009 at 4pm).
If you have an existing account but lost track of your password go to signin, enter username and click 'Forgot Password?'. A password reset link will be sent to the email address with which you originally signed up.
Enter Actual Birth Results (Pool Completion)
When the pool administrator logs in and uses Control Panel > Enter Actual Results to input the child's information, the pool is then complete. When completed, the following occurs:
- Scores are calculated (lowest score wins). Each participant is ranked according to score and listed from 1st place down to last place.
- Pool is closed – new guesses are not possible.
- Pool can be re-opened if the pool administrator deletes the actual results row in the Control Panel view. When the actual results are entered once again, scores are re-calculated and the pool returns to being closed.