Frequently Asked Questions

What is FlyballGeek

FlyballGeek is a free web race application server for Flyball. Host clubs with internet access can update the progress of the tournament for competitors with internet access to view. You can view the status of any tournament and update it from anywhere in the world.

I came up withe idea to provide a status over the internet for races after many years of dreaming up different technologies that could be used locally to broadcast the race status out to spectator areas with nothing really fitting the bill. Luckly smart phones became popular and now finally we have a way to communicate information from the racing lanes to the spectators.

The original WebRace program was a test application to see how well it worked in practice and also if anyone used it. It was debuted at Go Dog Go's tournament March 20th, 2010 and was a huge sucess. People showed up on time for races and best for me is less walking back and forth to the building wondering what race we were on so I was ready for my turn. You can read some initial reactions about webrace at Flyball Propaganda.

Following the success of the original WebRace application NAFA asked if I would consider writing them a 6 ring version for a fee. I'm more of the glad to donate then want to get paid for coding type though since it's not my actual line of work or business. I just do this for fun and the challenge. The new and improved WebRace app was called BigRace and it handled all 6 rings of the CanAm Classic, 18 races on display at once. It looked awesome on the 42" LCD displays scattered around the tournament site and people watching the video feeds from home could use it to see who was racing to see thier friends. Never did I hear anyone wonder where they were racing or being suprised that they were supposed to be in the ring. BigRace handled the worlds largest flyball tournament to date with ease.

Now, I am bringing you a new version. A version everyone can use for free. A version that allows for multiple tournaments at a time, a version that isn't tied to any particular brand of flyball. You can use it for NAFA, U-Fli or whatever you call Flyball where you live. This program allows for tournaments of up to 6 rings today and you don't need to talk to anyone to set it up for your own tourament. Once you have an account and I've flagged you as a host you will be able to create your event, configure the displayed colors and ring names. You can even upload your schedule into the website so the output will show not just that ring 91 is on deck but who it is and what class it is.

What flyballgeek is not. It is not a major company with unlimited resources, it's just me, it is not insured and there is no garentee that it won't fail spectactularly at the worst possible time though I take a lot of precautions to try to avoid that.

Thats what FlyballGeek is. I hope it helps your tournaments run smoother and gives your competitors more time to relax in between races.

-Andy McBride
Go Dog Go!

FlyballGeek.com Support Questions/Answers?

Join the yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlyballGeek

What browsers do you support and why not IE?

As I am writing the site I test with Chrome and Firefox, my personal phone is an iPhone so I test the mobile versions with that. I also try to test with the Android phones to make sure all popular choices are covered. If you have a smart phone with css and javascript support but the pages do not work or look broken please let me know and I will look into that specific make/model.

FlyballGeek focuses on the newest browsers and the newest web technolgies. I do not want to be constrained to browsers that can not manage to follow basic standards. IE is the worst offender for not following standards and I will not make more then a small effort to make it work or look right. Switch to a browser that is better written such as Firefox, Safari, Chrome or Opera and everything should work fine.

How much do you charge for using this program?

Nothing. You can use it for free. No strings attached.

Developers?

FlyballGeek does have an API system to access live race data. At the moment it's used by Dave Thomas's Automatic Pass Calling system. If you wanted to write a custom display application I can provide access to the data in xml.

If you are a wiz with php, html, css or javascript it's also possible you could contribute to the site's official code.

License?

FlyballGeek is free to use, not open source. Everything on the website, all of the html, php, css, logos, names, javascript etc are all owned property and may not be reused without my permission.