[aawk]

FelicityR, on 2020-April-14, 01:21, said:

From my experience I would say yes. Only alert if asked. As far as I understand - please correct me if I'm wrong other commentators - most bids over 3NT are not alertable. And whilst your partner cannot see your explanation and the opponents can, the bid is still (I presume) highlighted in yellow in the online bidding box. So, whilst not telling your partner the actual meaning of the bid, your partner would have some notion that it is conventional in some way.

Bids above 3nt should be alerted in the first bidding round. For example 1♠ - 4x being a splinter must be alerted, 1♠ - 3♠ - 4x being a cue bid not. But it could be that are different rule for different zones.

[stuohy]

Also, in timed events, it wastes a LOT of time to just click the alert button with no text. A simple explanation should be included: "denies spades" ... not a reference like "4 piece Drury".

[steve2005]

smerriman, on 2020-April-14, 02:51, said:

That is incorrect; your partner just sees a normal bid.

Online bridge and face to face bridge are quite different; I would, for example, always describe my 4NT responses when making them (without clicking alert to mark it as artificial) just so that opps don't need to ask.

your partner has no idea you have alerted. The bid is not highlighted to everyone until you look at the hand when finished in history.

[dalelpage]

stanmaz, on 2020-April-14, 02:06, said:

Full Disclusure belongs to the fair play. I provide to the opponents all information including lead convention. For efficient self-alerting I created and published BBOalert browser addon :

- Project page : https://github.com/stanmaz/BBOalert

BBOalert can be installed with one click :

https://addons.mozil...addon/bboalert/

You can join BBOalert users on Facebook :

https://www.facebook...06384146770707/

You can reach me by mail : stanmaz.git@gmail.com

Using your case as example : importing in BBOalert the record

1S--4S--4NT--,6C,1 or 3 keycards and a void in !C

will automatically send the opponents the alert with the text "1 or 3 keycards and a void in !C" when the bidding sequence occurs.

Is this extension available only for Firefox? I would love to install it, but I prefer Chrome or IE over Firefox. Personal preference.

Thanks,

Dale

[kuhchung]

In my opinion this is one of the worst failings of the BBO UI. Yes, users should read the site rules and be expected to understand how self alerting works, but the fact that this complaint comes up OVER and OVER suggests that BBO should just be preemptive about telling their stupid idiot users that self alerting is NOT cheating and is only for their benefit.

[pilowsky]

Charming Chris! Is a stupid idiot smarter than a dumb idiot or cleverer than a stable genius? What percentage of the population are stupid? Does it change over time? The Janitor and I have decided to share the honour on a daily basis.

[mamos]

I find much of this discussion deeply disturbing and depressing. It is every player's responsibility to research and understand the regulations. I am an EBU player - if I play in another country, I read their regulations for system cards, allowed conventions and alerting regulations. Online bridge at BBO has its own regulations which are clearly expressed, alert your own bids in the dialogue box as you bid. The whole purpose of alerting is to tell your opponents what you are playing. The online format allows you to tell your opponents in such a way that your partner does not know you have alerted or what explanation you have given.

What upsets me is when people say things like "I think this is what the rules are" when they don't know or "This is what we do in EBU or ACBL". If you are a beginner ask people who know. Don't listen to some random player at the table who knows tiddley-squat. BBO has online hosts (found in the People List). If you want accurate advice ask them. They are all very nice and kind and patient and they'll give you proper advice not the nonsense you read in too many forums. Tell you opponents everything you know.

[pescetom]

Hopefully without raising tones any further, I do agree that this is yet another area where the BBO UI could be better.

The interface does little to guide players towards alerting their own call and the fact that alert must be chosen before selecting the call (as I understand it) is counter-intuitive and also raises new but potentially superfluous problems for directors/laws (see a parallel thread where somebody correctly alerted 2♣ but then accidentally selected 2♠).

One better solution might be that after player has selected his call (as is instinctive and logical) he has to choose between "no alert required" and "alert", the latter requiring him to provide an explanation. This might also eliminate the need (adverted by EBU in its online regulations) to leave the BBO "Undo" function enabled, which is undesirable in card playing situations.

[stanmaz]

dalelpage, on 2020-April-15, 16:43, said:

Is this extension available only for Firefox? I would love to install it, but I prefer Chrome or IE over Firefox. Personal preference.

Thanks,

Dale

See README.md on the project page for manual installation instructions on CHROME.
The automatic installation and updates are available on Firefox only.
It should not be a big problem to install Firefox dedicated to BBO.

[LarryLL]

I applaud the Users for self alerting. Artificial bids should be transparent. Lately there have been a rash of players that do not alert bids at all and refuse to respond to a question. 2 nights ago an opp opened a short club with no alert. I had KQTxx of clubs. Had I known it was a short club I would bid 2c either immediately or in the pass out seat when they got to 1nt. They are 2-2 in clubs and we were never given the chance to bid 2c which goes plus and gives us a couple of imps. I alerted the director and she did change it from losing 3 to losing 1.8 imps. Not sure why she wouldn't give us 2c +3

Many more examples of partnerships profitting from no alerts to be contained in this space. Virtually all go unpunished.