Around 1997, I converted the contests to be web based. By standardizing the code, I was able to create contests for conferences and even individual teams. For the 1997-8 season I ran contests in ten separate conferences; but many conferences did not attract many competitors. I have since scaled back my efforts.
When a new round is entered, you must predict the winners and the margin of victory for each game. When all the games are determined (there are rare occasions where a game may be cancelled, such as the football game between Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech in 2000) the results are entered and yoru scores are calculated.
For football, your correct number of picks are tallied, as well as your picks against the spread. Correct percentages are also calculated; to be ranked in those you must pick at least 50% of the games. If you picked in the current round, but have less than 50% of the total games picked, your score is in italics.
For basketball, your correct number of picks are tallied. Instead of picking against a point spread, your proximity to the correct margin of victory is measured via a statistical tool, the mean squared. The difference per game is squared, then summed, averaged, and a square root is taken. To qualify for leadership in basketball, you must have picked 80% of the games.
The contest will attempt to give you a cookie. This cookie includes your numeric picking ID, and is used to allow you immediate access without needing to sign in. If you do not accept this cookie, or sign in from a different machine, it is best to remember your numeric ID assigned by the system and your password. You can enter your alias or email address, instead.
In 2004, the entire software package was re-written to be MySQL and PHP based. This also allwed me to address some of the weaknesses of the older contests. The biggest weakness, I felt, was the need to maintain multiple registrations, one per contest. I addressed this by creating a common registration; now you register once and the same data applies to every contest you join.
I've also removed the mailing list functionality from the code, with the intent to use standard mailing list software. This is to prevent the site from being blocked for spam.
Now, if the software is so configured, when you join a contest, you may sign up for different emails. When a new round is entered, you can be notified. Similarly, you can get a notice when your picks are due, and notification when the results are entered. Last, you can request news, which may include my predictions, and perhaps an effort to be funny. Subscribers to news will also get notifications of other contests and a notification of the contest for the new year.
I hope you enjoy the Sagarmatha picking contests.