PractiScore why would anyone use it??

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3 gun
Posts: 576
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 6:17 pm
Location: N041 24.283 W081 43.370 N.E.Ohio

PractiScore why would anyone use it??

Post by 3 gun »

Just getting back into doing matches after some health issues. Seems everyone wants you to use PractiScore to sign up for the shoots. Why in the world would I want to use/download an APP or sign in with a social media account for a site that provides no info I can find on who or how or what they will do with any of my personal info or what they will have access to on my phone or computer?

Courtroom; Here Mr Doe is a list of all the shooting matches you've been to preparing to shoot down a victim like my client who just made a mistake in finding an address. It was provided by PractiScore under count order. Seems you've been hoping for something like this to happen for a long time. Did you really need to shoot him and his three friends who were just as lost as he was at 3AM? 8 shot and 8 hits, 4 dead men in under 3 seconds as recorded by Alexia. Sounds more like an ambush that self defense....

Why do I keep getting all this spam and random offers in my email and in my social media accounts and why are my friends getting the same junk mail?

How did a 3rd party web site get my personal pics from my last USPSA/IDPA/High Power match to post on their newsletter?

No idea if any of this happens but given the history of the data mining that goes on with/from APPS there is no way, none what so ever, that I'm going to load one that tracks or could track something so political as this hobby.

Does it track your GPS? Have access to your document, downloads, search history, picture & video folders, mic & camera and possibility so much more as APPS are known to do? Who do they sell info to? Campaigns, ammo & gun makers, shooting clubs, other match directors, no one? What prevents someone from signing up (using false info) and using public data on the site to "stalk" or harass members?

I can't find a user agreement anywhere to read before signing up. I can't even find who owns/runs the site, only who worked to develop PractiScore. For all I can find this could be run by Everytown for Gun Safety. Major red flags to me and so few pluses for so many potential problems.
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WhyNot
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Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:23 am
Location: NW Ohio

Re: PractiScore why would anyone use it??

Post by WhyNot »

Seems to be all VERY valid points!

Educated guess here, your nickname . This is a 3 Gun Comp?

If not, which style/discipline please.

Have you mentioned this to the powers to be. Or even the local club host. I have found most ppl to be security UN-conscious or even security stupid :shock: such as home security , permissions on their phone etc.

Ok, perhaps security DUMB No! Who! could ever use! the info, we are! going on a 2 week vacation!! posting on Face paper? haha

Thnx WN
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Brian D.
Posts: 16229
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:42 pm
Location: SW Ohio

Re: PractiScore why would anyone use it??

Post by Brian D. »

Guess it's a good thing I don't shoot matches anymore. Even better that I don't run them. As the bad guy said about John McClain in one of the Die Hard movies, I'm a Timex watch in a digital age. There would be no electronic pre-signup option. If there was a prevailing majority in favor, I'd have someone post scores online afterwards, but it would be secure with not much other info. Considering my main game was Cowboy Action, there would be no real names used, just SASS aliases. If they weren't SASS members yet I'd stick them with my choice of handle until they did. (Likely something funny.)

I guess pre-registration does give the workers a rough idea of attendance ahead of time, which would help with squadding. My understanding is that three gun matches sometimes have a cut off number for attendance, because otherwise what's supposed to take 4-6 hours goes twice as long. Not a good thing, especially in suboptimal weather.

But no, I wouldn't want my name all over a website that's open to all. "Hey look, this guy's 70 miles from his house the third Sunday of every month. Let's stop by in June."
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!

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Bruenor
Posts: 7306
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:03 pm
Location: Geneva, OH

Re: PractiScore why would anyone use it??

Post by Bruenor »

Been using practiscore for a long time, and have experienced none of the possibilities cited.

Makes for an easy centralized signup online, Some matches will fill up within minutes of opening. I can choose which of my friends I would like to squad with for the match, instead of shooting with a bunch of people I don't know. Would hate to drive an hour to find out I couldn't shoot because there was no online signup and the match was full before I arrived. We often drive an hour or more to matches.

Match director does not have to screw around on match day entering people into tablets for score keeping. The signup and squading is all synced from the web site. You can also have users 'sign a liability waiver' at signup time. Some people collect fees online, usually we just pay cash when we arrive at the match.

With the latest round of bluetooth enabled shot timers, the shooters time can be transmitted directly into the tablet, preventing entry errors, while recording start time, split times, and overall stage time for each shooter, which is visible to the shooters. Some people like to analyze all their numbers to see how they are doing and if they are improving.

Build all your stages in practiscore templates are available for most every shooting discipline from USPSA, IDPA, SASS, PRC, etc.. Can have the targets and possible scores for each target (A, C, D, Mike, NPM, NO Shoot, down Zero, Down one, etc.), or piece of steel (hit or miss), as well as a list of procedural penalties with proper penalty values for each, which you can choose from a drop down list of penalties from the appropriate discipline while scoring. All edits or changes to scores or times are logged, this helps prevent people from altering scores (cheaters)

If anything Practiscore takes a lot of the workload off the event organizer as everything can be tallied and posted within 5 minutes of the match ending if you have internet access.

the matches I attend may have 60-120 shooters over the weekend, with 36+ squads (6 bays, 7 time slots over 3 days = 36+ squads) I would hate to be keying all that in on match day, or have to screw around with paper scoring.

Most clubs have tablets designated strictly for practiscore because you need one for each squad. they are all synced to a master tablet that is then synced to the online score keeping. Nothing is installed on personal devices so there is no personal data to scrape. Something like the Amazon Fire tablets can usually be had on sale for pretty cheap, and they are decent hardware for this task.

Have never experienced an issue with data mining from practiscore. The app was developed by a competitor, who gives it away for free. info about the developers on the practiscore website, and the app pages in the play store and ios app store, outline what is accessed and collected which is pretty minimal

Just wanted to point out that it can be a huge time saver, and most competitors are very familiar with it at this point because it has been in use for about 10 years now.

If you are running the match, you do you. Match director can be a thankless job, and I appreciate all the hard work they put in..
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