FAQs

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Betwise answers is for anyone with a passion for sports betting - enthusiast or professional, horseracing novice or expert, novice geek or experienced data analyst and developer - who want to establish the facts for themselves.

If you have a question about any aspect of sports betting, especially:

• Horseracing and horseracing analysis
• Exchange betting, trading or arbitrage
• Programming the Betfair API

… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even answered!) before you ask. It’s also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, as long as you phrase it in the form of a question.

What are the categories and tags for?

We use different categories for specialized topics, such as those relating to Betwise membership. A category is a high level group with lots of scope for specific types of question. Some categories are technical, such as automation on the Betfair API, some are specific to one sport, such as horseracing analysis using the Smartform database. Have a look around the different categories to get an idea of what questions are appropriate to each one.

Another level of grouping (and search) is via the list of tags that you can attach to your question. Tags are free form - you can choose from the list of available tags or create your own - they do not belong to any particular category.

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

You should try to ask practical, answerable questions based on topics that you want help with, or that you think others may want help with (and therefore benefit from answers on). To prevent your question from being flagged and possibly removed, avoid asking subjective questions where …

• every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”
• your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers: “I use ______ for ______, what do you use?
• it is a rant disguised as a question: “______ is rubbish, what do you think?”

If your question is about the site itself, please don't ask it here. Instead send us some feedback to talk about things like what questions are appropriate, what categories we should use, suggest a feature, point out a bug, or generally discuss how Betwise Answers works.

How do I ask questions here?

When you post a new question, other users will see it and try to provide good answers. This can happen in a matter of minutes, so be sure to check back frequently when your question is still new for the best response.

If your question needs clarification, you will see comments in smaller type below your question. If other users ask you for more information in the comments, edit your question using the edit link just below your original question. Providing clarification promptly will help get you the best answers.

As you see new answers to your question, vote up the helpful ones by clicking the upward pointing arrow to the left of the answer. Answers are normally sorted by vote score so the most highly voted answers float to the top. Other users will also vote on the answers to your question.

When you have decided which answer is the most helpful to you, mark it as the accepted answer by clicking on the check box outline to the left of the answer. This lets other people know that you have received a good answer to your question. Doing this is helpful because it shows other people that you’re getting value from the community. (If you don’t do this, people may ask you to go back and accept answers for more of your questions).

If you see misinformation, you can vote it down. Add comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Provide better answers of your own. Best of all — edit and improve the existing questions and answers!

What is reputation?

Reputation is completely optional. Normal use of Betwise Answers — that is, asking and answering questions, or submitting an edit — does not require any reputation whatsoever.

If you’d like to become an expert on Betwise Answers and edit the site, you’ll need to earn some reputation points first. Reputation points are a rough measurement of how much the community trusts you and that you know what you’re talking about.

The primary way to gain reputation is by posting good questions and useful answers. Your peers will vote on your posts, and those votes will cause you to gain (or, in rare cases, lose) reputation as follows:

Posting a question: +20

Selecting the best answer for your question: +30

Per up/down vote on your question (limited): +/- 10

Per up/down vote on your answer: +/- 20

Posting an answer: +40

Having your answer selected as the best: +300

Voting up or down on any question or answer +10

To get started, we give every community member 100 points along with their first question

Amass enough reputation points and Betwise will grant you additional privileges including editing other posts - note you can always comment on your questions and answers, and any answers to questions you’ve asked, even with 1 rep.

Can other people edit my stuff?

Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited by users in order to come up with the most useful questions and answers, and all edits are tracked.

Can I use a signature or tagline?

There is no need to use signatures or taglines in your posts since very post you make is already "signed" with your standard user card, which links directly back to your user page. Your user page belongs to you and already contains a website URL you can point others to.

May I promote products or websites I am affiliated with here?

Post good, relevant answers, and if they happen to be about your product or website, no problem - provided you disclose your affiliation in your answers. But be careful, because the community frowns on overt self-promotion and can vote it down and flag it as spam. Also, if a huge percentage of your posts include a mention of your product or website, then you may be here for the wrong reasons. Our advertising rates are very reasonable, so contact us for details.

With thanks to the FAQs section at StackOverflow.