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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Granillo: “Rise of the Robot Umpires”

(www.baseballprospectus.com)

posted on April 17, 2013 at 09:31 AM by Repoz to site news | 24 comment(s)

It troubles me that the world is just one big rip-off of Ferro Lad.

We’ve all thought it. Heck, many of us have even said it. Watching the exploits of Eric Gregg, Phil Cuzzi, Jim Joyce, and so many others, it’s hard not to believe it at least once. “We want robot umpires!”

A new project by Dan Levy is working to explore just what might happen if baseball ever heeded that call. Rise of the Robot Umpires is a graphic-style novel set in the not-too-distant future where the commissioner finally ...

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51. The Primer Chimp posted on January 07, 2012 at 10:37 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

GIVE ME MORE BANANAS!

52. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on January 07, 2012 at 10:53 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Anyone else having to re-login pretty much daily?

53. Jim Furtado

posted on January 07, 2012 at 10:59 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Clear your cookies.

54. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 07, 2012 at 11:15 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Login works fine, but still no bookmarks, and what happened to the delete tab?

Also, what's the function of the "code", "@", and "Close Tags" tabs?

55. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 07, 2012 at 11:27 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Bookmarks are coming.

56. villageidiom posted on January 07, 2012 at 11:31 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

"Code" tab: preserve format, like for a table or something. Usually supposed to represent actual programming code that isn't to be executed, but the table format thing is what it's used for mostly around here. For example:

a    b    c
1   23  456
7    8    9 

"@" allows you to put in a link to an e-mail address. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Rarely called for here.

"Close Tags" I don't know.

57. Joe Bivens, Minor Genius posted on January 07, 2012 at 11:39 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Be careful what you wish for, monkey.

58. Lassus posted on January 07, 2012 at 11:39 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim, you're getting spam posts in the Bloom thread.

Actually, it's happening in multiple threads now.

59. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 07, 2012 at 12:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

That "weddingtop" spammer is really Gaelen, which you'll discover once you put him on ignore. I guess this is his brilliant way of making Joe Posnanski suffer.

60. JC in DC posted on January 07, 2012 at 12:48 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Andy: is that really true?

61. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 07, 2012 at 12:57 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Put him on ignore and his former screen name shows up. It also says that he's a "lapsed" SABR member.

62. The District Attorney posted on January 07, 2012 at 01:12 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Ah, but I had Gaelan on ignore and yet I can see "weddingtop."

63. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 07, 2012 at 01:19 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Ah, but I had Gaelan on ignore and yet I can see "weddingtop."

But if you put "weddingtop" on ignore, all you'll see is "[ Ignored Comment ]" instead of those dime store jewelry links under his name, which would probably crash the computer of anyone dumb enough to try to open one of them.

64. Lassus posted on January 07, 2012 at 01:33 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

In other problems, the edit has stopped working.

All that happens when you click what is a now blue EDIT link at the end of your post is that it takes you to the top of the page, with no edit available.

65. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 07, 2012 at 02:18 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

The new edit feature has a narrower box, which is less ideal.

66. cardsfanboy

posted on January 07, 2012 at 02:42 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

both 52 and 53. When it works it's probably too narrow. And second the loss of the del key. It ~~doesn't~~ works still just no easy option.

edit:edit works in non-newsblog threads like this one.

67. Lassus posted on January 07, 2012 at 02:45 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

When it works it's probably too narrow.

I didn't mind that so much, really.

edit:edit works in non-newsblog threads like this one.

And, hilariously, it's an infinite edit. I can edit my comment of over an hour ago.

68. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc posted on January 08, 2012 at 01:10 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Clear your cookies.

Jim, was this for me? Clearing cookies didn't help. It's possible that I have to log in when I switch devices. So I'm on my iPad and can get in without re-logging in. But if I go to my PC and log in there then the next time I use my iPad I have to log into the site again.

If you'd like I can experiment more.

69. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 08, 2012 at 01:22 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim has confirmed that weddingtop was not Gaelan.

70. Jim Furtado

posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:26 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

I fixed the width of the edit box. Can you let me know where the edit box isn't working? It might just be I haven't updated some of the other templates, which is why I'm doing some work consolidating embeds.

Currently you can edit comments until the thread is closed. EE now supports comment editing natively. They seem to have a bug in the timely code. Hunting down and fixing the bug is on my to-do list. I'd describe the time issue as slightly annoying and not hilarious, however. :)

What is the "del" key? Are you talking about one of the styling buttons about the comment box? If it was, tell me what the function was and I will add it back.

EDIT: I have found the bug in EE's code regarding the time limit for comment editing expiration. Comment editing now expires after 15 minutes.

71. Ron J posted on January 08, 2012 at 07:51 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

#57 Not for me it doesn't.

I have the option to

Edit | Close

on every single comment. Not just my own.

I know I could always do this before, but I couldn't do it easily (and more to the point, accidentally)

72. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on January 08, 2012 at 09:09 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

Aside from restoring the bookmarks, which has already been addressed, it'd be nice to have the "strike" function restored above the comment box. It's a low priority, but sometimes it adds a bit of flair to those "FIFY" comments.

73. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 08, 2012 at 01:54 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have the option to

Edit | Close

on every single comment. Not just my own.

Well, Andy's comments *do* tend to need serious editing and re-working :-) So you could use your omnipotent edit capability for that. But it would be a full-time job...

74. Sean Forman posted on January 08, 2012 at 02:24 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Jim,

Just to throw this out there, but using our bookmarklet you could add a link near the comment box that would let people replace player names with links to their bbref pages.

This link was generated when I typed in Alex Rodriguez and then clicked the bookmarklet I've saved to my browser, but you could just add a link to the bookmarklet.
Alex Rodriguez

Here are the details on the bookmarklets.
http://bbref.com/linker/

75. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 08, 2012 at 02:39 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

This link was generated when I typed in Alex Rodriguez and then clicked the bookmarklet I've saved to my browser, but you could just add a link to the bookmarklet.
Alex Rodriguez

Here are the details on the bookmarklets.
http://bbref.com/linker/

That would actually be great. (Even better if the link opened up a separate browser window.)

I'm forever having to take separate time to access a player's b-r page during a discussion.

76. cardsfanboy

posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:00 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Am I the only one now having problems putting comments in the Transaction Oracle (zips projections)side of the site?

77. NJ in NY posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:16 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

That would actually be great. (Even better if the link opened up a separate browser window.)

I'm forever having to take separate time to access a player's b-r page during a discussion.

Agree with this.

Aside from restoring the bookmarks, which has already been addressed, it'd be nice to have the "strike" function restored above the comment box. It's a low priority, but sometimes it adds a bit of flair to those "FIFY" comments.

And this.

78. cardsfanboy

posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:25 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

For Andy, the strike function still works, if you really want it. I agree with preferring to have it on the top of the comment section instead of having to manually put it in. (I highlight what I want to strike choose ~~italic~~ bold then edit it to del.)

agree with Ray and NJ on Sean's suggestion.

79. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:40 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Sean, is there any way for you to make b-r show just select categories on demand (such as year and OPS+, or year and OPS+ and WAR)? Most of the time when I'm listing a player's year and OPS+ here I'll have to switch back and forth between the websites on my browser to enter the data, or print out the player's b-r page and enter the data in.

It would be easier if I could just select to only show year and OPS+, and then be able to just cut and paste that data into a BBTF window.

80. The John Wetland Memorial Death (CoB) posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:47 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Edit function isn't saving changes for me.

Clicking on the edit link opens the edit box, but the save button doesn't do anything when pressed.

81. cardsfanboy

posted on January 08, 2012 at 03:51 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

It would be easier if I could just select to only show year and OPS+, and then be able to just cut and paste that data into a BBTF window.

Go to the top of the table you want, click share, select X (x inside of an arrow will delete every category right of the x)on the categories you want to eliminate, then hit close(yellow box says sharing toolbox)

82. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 08, 2012 at 04:01 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Wow, that's fantabulous. Thanks, cfb.

83. cardsfanboy

posted on January 08, 2012 at 04:16 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Wow, that's fantabulous. Thanks, cfb.

and of course if you click pre, then copy and paste it inside of code, it should come out right. Just don't make the table too big or else you'll piss everyone off. (should work without using pre just haven't tried it that way)

Year                       Tm    G   PA    R    H  HR  RBI   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+
                                                                                   
1968                      STL    2    4    0    1   0    0 .333 .500 .333 .833  156
1969                      STL    5   16    0    3   0    3 .214 .250 .357 .607   69
1970                      STL   82  324   29   69   3   24 .243 .333 .317 .650   74
1971                      STL  133  563   64  155   7   77 .304 .347 .424 .771  114
1972                      STL  152  629   70  180  16   96 .303 .336 .465 .801  127
1973                      STL  161  690   62  192  13   91 .310 .370 .438 .808  124
1974                      STL  152  662   66  163  20  103 .272 .327 .447 .774  116
1975                      STL  157  649   80  193  18  100 .332 .396 .491 .887  142
1976                      STL  150  625   60  159   5   75 .291 .371 .394 .765  117
1977                      STL  150  601   82  164  21   95 .318 .408 .500 .908  144
1978                      STL  152  604   71  148  22   80 .287 .377 .512 .889  148
1979                      STL  123  521   68  127  26   87 .283 .369 .507 .875  135
1980                      STL  145  562   84  150  21   98 .303 .375 .505 .880  140
1981                      MIL  100  413   45   82  14   61 .216 .262 .376 .638   87
1982                      MIL  137  581   73  145  23   97 .269 .309 .451 .759  112
1983                      MIL  153  650   76  185  13  108 .308 .351 .448 .799  126
1984                      MIL  132  532   44  110   4   52 .221 .269 .300 .569   61
1985                      MIL  143  592   60  144  12   76 .273 .342 .402 .743  103
1986                      ATL   76  144   14   32   4   25 .252 .313 .386 .698   88
1987                      ATL   73  200   20   49   4   30 .277 .350 .390 .740   93
1988                      ATL   78  123    6   21   2   11 .196 .293 .308 .601   71
21 Seasons         21 Seasons 2456 9685 1074 2472 248 1389 .285 .348 .437 .785  117 

84. Jim Furtado

posted on January 08, 2012 at 04:53 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Strike is added back to the comment buttons.

Sean, I have added your suggestion to my to-do list. I should get to it some time in the next day.

CoB, there is a 15 minute time limit. I've just moved to EE's built in code for the edits. I put in a feature request to add an error message when the timeframe is exceeded. Can you verify that the text gets updated if you try to edit your comment right away?

85. cardsfanboy

posted on January 08, 2012 at 04:59 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I've lost the ability to comment in both transaction oracle, and the thread where you vote for the hof(I don't need to comment there, was just reading it and noticed that)

86. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) posted on January 08, 2012 at 06:01 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Used to be that when you ignored someone, in place of a post you saw a message in brackets or italics or somesuch. Now it just looks like a normal comment.

Any chance that could be changed? Not a big deal, but it's somewhat distracting.

87. bobm posted on January 08, 2012 at 06:22 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

[70] of course if you click pre, then copy and paste it inside of code, it should come out right

When I click PRE and then copy and paste inside of code, the spacing comes out wrong in the preview and when posted. By wrong I mean multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one. Here, the player column label and the player names should be aligned right-justified, with varying numbers of leading spaces:



Rk         Player HR Year Age  Tm Lg   G  PA  AB   R   H 2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS  Pos

1     Barry Bonds 73 2001  36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32  2 137 177  35  93   9  0  2   5 13  3 .328 .515 .863 1.379 *7/D

2    Mark McGwire 70 1998  34 STL NL 155 681 509 130 152 21  0 147 162  28 155   6  0  4   8  1  0 .299 .470 .752 1.222   *3

3      Sammy Sosa 66 1998  29 CHC NL 159 722 643 134 198 20  0 158  73  14 171   1  0  5  20 18  9 .308 .377 .647 1.024 *9/8

4    Mark McGwire 65 1999  35 STL NL 153 661 521 118 145 21  1 147 133  21 141   2  0  5  12  0  0 .278 .424 .697 1.120   *3

5      Sammy Sosa 64 2001  32 CHC NL 160 711 577 146 189 34  5 160 116  37 153   6  0 12   6  0  2 .328 .437 .737 1.174   *9

6      Sammy Sosa 63 1999  30 CHC NL 162 712 625 114 180 24  2 141  78   8 171   3  0  6  17  7  8 .288 .367 .635 1.002  *98

7     Roger Maris 61 1961  26 NYY AL 161 698 590 132 159 16  4 141  94   0  67   7  0  7  16  0  0 .269 .372 .620  .993  *98

8       Babe Ruth 60 1927  32 NYY AL 151 691 540 158 192 29  8 164 137   0  89   0 14  0   0  7  6 .356 .486 .772 1.258  *97

When I copy and paste inside of pre, the spacing comes out right in the preview and wrong when posted.

Rk         Player HR Year Age  Tm Lg   G  PA  AB   R   H 2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS  Pos
1     Barry Bonds 73 2001  36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32  2 137 177  35  93   9  0  2   5 13  3 .328 .515 .863 1.379 *7/D
2    Mark McGwire 70 1998  34 STL NL 155 681 509 130 152 21  0 147 162  28 155   6  0  4   8  1  0 .299 .470 .752 1.222   *3
3      Sammy Sosa 66 1998  29 CHC NL 159 722 643 134 198 20  0 158  73  14 171   1  0  5  20 18  9 .308 .377 .647 1.024 *9/8
4    Mark McGwire 65 1999  35 STL NL 153 661 521 118 145 21  1 147 133  21 141   2  0  5  12  0  0 .278 .424 .697 1.120   *3
5      Sammy Sosa 64 2001  32 CHC NL 160 711 577 146 189 34  5 160 116  37 153   6  0 12   6  0  2 .328 .437 .737 1.174   *9
6      Sammy Sosa 63 1999  30 CHC NL 162 712 625 114 180 24  2 141  78   8 171   3  0  6  17  7  8 .288 .367 .635 1.002  *98
7     Roger Maris 61 1961  26 NYY AL 161 698 590 132 159 16  4 141  94   0  67   7  0  7  16  0  0 .269 .372 .620  .993  *98
8       Babe Ruth 60 1927  32 NYY AL 151 691 540 158 192 29  8 164 137   0  89   0 14  0   0  7  6 .356 .486 .772 1.258  *97 

EDIT: now it comes out right when posted inside of pre on my computer, at least. I hadn't seen that before when posting on BBTF.

88. cardsfanboy

posted on January 09, 2012 at 02:06 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

When I click PRE and then copy and paste inside of code, the spacing comes out wrong in the preview and when posted. By wrong I mean multiple consecutive spaces are treated as one. Here, the player column label and the player names should be aligned right-justified, with varying numbers of leading spaces:

What I don't get is why your copy and paste inside of code is not blue like my copy and paste inside of code?

My example above is where I selected pre on bb-ref, then highlighted the rows and columns I wanted, copied, then came here clicked code, then pasted in between the code.
The rest of the text in the comment is outside of code which is why it's not blue, not sure why your code is coming up with normal text color.

89. Infinite Joost (Voxter)

posted on January 09, 2012 at 03:02 AM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have to say, and this is a relatively minor thing, that it's a bit strange to have "You are ignoring [XXX poster]" instead of, "[Ignored Comment]", in part because I end up thinking that certain posters keep posting that they're being ignored.

90. Padgett posted on January 09, 2012 at 02:43 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I have to say, and this is a relatively minor thing

It's more than just a minor thing, because the new formatting makes the ignore message appear to be an actual post. Plus, it takes up more space than a real one-line post since there seems to be an extra set of p tags around the "You are ignoring X" text. The previous formatting worked well because the italicized text was easily recognizable as something one's eye can skip over as an ignored comment. Can the ignore tool return to using that previous format?

91. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) posted on January 09, 2012 at 02:53 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Glad it's not just me on that ignore thing.

92. SoSH U at work posted on January 09, 2012 at 02:58 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

This seems to be the appropriate place to say thanks for the longer Hot Topics.

93. Jim Furtado

posted on January 09, 2012 at 05:17 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I believe the formatting on the ignored post is back to the old format. I'm sure you will let me know if it isn't. :p

94. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) posted on January 09, 2012 at 05:48 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Yep, it sure is back. Thanks, Jim!

95. Padgett posted on January 09, 2012 at 05:53 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Looks good to me, too. Thanks, Jim.

96. The District Attorney posted on January 09, 2012 at 06:00 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I can't tell; I have Jim on ignore.

97. Ray (RDP)

posted on January 09, 2012 at 06:24 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Why not just skip over posts you wish to ignore? It works fine for me.

98. Joe Kehoskie posted on January 09, 2012 at 06:29 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm amazed by the popularity of the "ignore" feature. I might understand it at sites with no adult supervision, but I've yet to run across anyone here whose opinion I never want to see (or whose opinion is unlikely to ever advance the discussion).

99. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) posted on January 09, 2012 at 06:34 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Why not just skip over posts you wish to ignore? It works fine for me.

You can; this just makes it easier.

I have very few people on ignore; I reserve it only for those who really do piss me off to the point where I cannot take reading them anymore. It's usually less about stupidity and more about pure dickishness.

100. Obo posted on January 09, 2012 at 08:30 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

This seems to be the appropriate place to say thanks for the longer Hot Topics.

Seconded. The Hot Topics list is life-and-death for many discussions and this should allow a few more baseball-related ones to hang around a bit longer.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Granillo: “Rise of the Robot Umpires”

Reader Comments and Retorts

Site News Think Factory