Frequently Asked Questions:
- Do you have a privacy policy?
- Nice site, can we trade banners?
- So this is a dot-com, how are you going to make money?
- How do you validate these records? (or What is this "Vote" Business?)
- What are you trying to accomplish here?
- How does the rating system work?
- How do I become an Editor?
- Who do I contact about this site?
- Why doesn't my juggling club show up on your club list?
- How do I count catches?
- How do I enter a record for a trick in which time or catches don't apply?
Do you have a privacy policy?
Yes. Right this way.
Nice site, can we trade banners?
No. I hate banners. This site is and will always remain a free service to the juggling community.
If you want to link to my site, do it with a simple text link.
I allow registered members to include a link to their site. (performers and vendors welcome)
I will not tolerate abuse - commercial or otherwise.
So this is a dot-com, how are you going to make money?
I won't. Well, I might sell a t-shirt or two if I ever come up with a nice design,
but pretty much this is simply financed out of my free time and love of juggling.
How do you validate these records? (or What is this "Vote" Business?)
Several people have expressed a concern about the validity of the records posted on this site.
I do not intend for this site to be used as an official source of records, only as a benchmark
to be used by other jugglers such as myself. For official records, go to the
JIS Numbers Committee. I have, however, developed a system
of self-regulation wherein members can "vote" on each other's records. These votes will
contribute to a "score". Negative scores indicate low confidence in the validity of the
records, while positive scores indicate high confidence.
What are you trying to accomplish here?
It is motivational for me to compare my progress to others.
The simplest way of doing this is by tracking my personal bests. This site started
as a simple list of people's personal bests with 9 balls, but over the years has
grown into much more. Some of the older lists are still kept here for historical
purposes.
Goals for this site:
- Allow people to login and update their own records without waiting around for me to respond - Done
- Cover a much wider range of record types - Done
- Add surveys - Done - which will (hopefully) generate some interesting data for comparisons of trick difficulty/popularity, etc.
- Allow for a certain number of trusted members with "editor" privileges which can make changes to the database that normal users cannot. (such as adding new tricks, etc.) - Done
- Design a flexible reporting system for displaying records - Done
- Create a public survey summary - Done
- Incorporate a voting system which will allow registered users to comment on other people's records and thus self-police the system. - Done
- Allow people to add comments/instructions to each "trick" - Done - eventually building a useful and dynamic learning library.
- Create summary tables for each prop like the old ball records page. - Done
- Come up with an overall ranking scheme for members - Done, but unsatisfactorily and removed again.
How does the rating system work?
The current ratings simply describe where your record falls within the average for the given trick.
The formula is "your_record / avg_record", so numbers greater than one indicate above average, and
less than one are below average.
Below is a description of my failed rating system:
Comparing records for different tricks is a challenge, but one that I thought was worth attempting.
There is no scale to compare the ratings to. Basically, the higher the number, the better.
The advantage of this system is that, rather than a simple ranking,
it gives you an idea of where your ability stands relative to other jugglers.
Here is the breakdown of the algorithm which I use:
(I reserve the right to change this as I see fit. Comments welcome. Constructive suggestions prefered.)
- For tricks with more than 20 records using catches: (time averages do not work, so only catches were used)
- Assign a rating to each record
- Rating = ( record / avg(record) ) * trick_survey_rank
- In other words, the higher your record relative to the average, and the more difficult the trick,
the higher your rating will be.
- Average the ratings for each member, weighting them based on the trick_survey_rank.
(More difficult tricks will have a stronger impact on your average rating.)
- I've also added 2 zero-value records into everyone's average, which lowers everyone rating somewhat and rewards posting multiple records.
- Some members will have no qualifying records, and thus no rating.
How do I become an Editor?
Anyone can be an editor, but it helps if I know you.
At the least you should be known within the juggling community.
Most importantly, you should be a regular user on my site, with a good
understanding of its policies and mechanics.
If you're interested, contact me.
Contact Info:
For suggestions of new tricks, props, patterns, etc., corrections to imported user accounts,
or requests to update our IJDb club cross-reference, please contact our Editors:
using this form. (Members Only)
To report system errors, or to apply to become an Editor, contact the Webmaster:
Steve Healy, at:
Why doesn't my juggling club show up on your club list?
Three possibilities:
- Your club is not listed at the IJDb. Add it
- Your club listing at the IJDb is out of date. (Red Light) Update it
- The JRDb-IJDb club cross-reference has not been updated since your club was added or updated at the IJDb.
We only update our copy periodically, or on request. Any editor can update it for you, just send us a note.
How do I count catches?
Like it says, count ALL hands. That is, count every catch made with every hand (or other manipulator).
- If you are passing 6 clubs with a partner in 2-count and you each make 4 passes, the total catches is 16.
- If you are doing a 4 ball shower and make 4 high throws, the total catches is 8.
This is an arbitrary decision but necessary to keep things both simple and clear.
How do I enter a record for a trick in which time or catches don't apply?
Simple answer: fake it.
We only have one form for entering records, and I tried to make it as general as possible,
however there are still going to be exceptions that don't fit the mold. Here are some guidelines,
and from these examples you can extrapolate how to deal with other tricks of this nature:
- Contact Juggling: use the "catches" field to denote the number of times you have completed the trick in a row.
- Spinning Curls: use the "catches" field to denote the number of curls you have completed on a single spin.
- Pirouettes: use the "catches" field to denote the number of times you can repeat the trick without pause.
- The number of catches would still apply, so if you did a 3-high pirouette twice in a row you would enter "6", whereas a 5-high pirouette twice in a row would be "10"
- If you want to list a record of completing more than one pirouette under the same throw, that is a different
trick and requires a separate entry such as "3 Cigar Box 2 Hand Triple Pirouette".