BRIDGEJUMPER ALERT SYSTEM

I have created a free community that functions as a ‘Bridgejumper Alert’ Twitter Service. The @bridgejumper Twitter account can be followed at http://twitter.com/bridgejumper.

In order to prevent spam tweets, I have made the account protected.  You will have to request of me approval to follow @bridgejumper.  During several times a week, I will check the queue of approvals. I will approve every request. Spam tweets and/or tweets unrelated bridgejumping  alerts will receive a warning message. Accounts will receive 1 warning and  be removed from the ‘white list’ on the second offense.

The @bridgejumper Twitter account has been configured as a group tweet.  Members who are following @bridgejumper can broadcast a message to the whole group by sending a direct message to the group’s Twitter account.   A mention of the @bridgejumper account is insufficient to initiate an alert echo — a direct message is required.

For this to work well to compete against the bridgejumpers, followers will have to be active – the price of being free. If the followers are passive, this will not work. The philosophy will be like a ‘neighborhood watch.’

Bridgejumper Alert Process:

1. Identify a bridgejumper opportunity
2. Login to Twitter
3. Send a Direct message to @bridgejumper

FAQ
Q:What is bridgejumping?
A:Bridgejumping is ‘slang’ for the dangerous wagering practice of trying to capitalize on the minimum legal parimutuel payoff by committing large sums of money on show bets on perceived sure things.  This practice often results on negative pools costing racing associations when the bridgejumper is successful.  Occasionally, bridgejumpers’ wagers run out of the money and thus pay disproportionate amounts for show prices.

Q:How do I join the Bridgejumper Alert service?
A:In your browser, select http://twitter.com/bridgejumper.  Request to follow the Bridgejumper Twitter account.

Q:I have requested to follow Bridgejumper, but haven’t received a bridgejumper alert tweet.  What’s up?
A:First, there is a manual step which requires me to accept your request and indicate that the ‘bridgejumper’ account wants to follow your tweets. Depending upon my work and sleep schedule, I may not see your request for 24 hours. Additionally, if your tweets are protected, then you must also accept my request to follow your tweets.

Q:When will I receive my first alert?
A:Bridgejumping opportunities are irregular events.  Days or weeks may go by between bridgejumper activity.

Q:When can I send my first alert?
A:Since many twitter users have automatic welcome/thanks messages upon their account being followed, the whole list used to get ‘spammed’ by new  member’s autoresponses.  To rectify this problem, the ‘grouptweet’  configuration has been set up to ‘white list’ followers.  Followers will be ‘white listed within  three days of joining the bridgejumpers group.  After you have been ‘white listed’ your contributions will be broadcast to the whole group.

Q:There was a bridgejumper earlier today. Why didn’t I receive an alert?
A:This service is completely dependant upon member participation.  If the other members fail to share this information, it will not get propagated.

Q:Why did I receive the bridgejumper alert after the race was made official?
A:This service is dependant upon twitter.com’s network/computing capacity.  If their systems is overloaded, then the bridgejumper alert echo process may take a couple of minutes.

Q:How come as the host of the Bridgejumper alert service, you don’t post more bridgejumper activities?
A:My primary employment is as a racing official which takes my focus during the day.  Additionally, I want to avoid any potential conflicts of interest especially if the race in question is at the track at which I am currently employed.  I, however, will occasionally post alerts when I am off-duty.

Q:Do you advocate bridgejumping?
A:The slang name implies the desperation to which this betting practice could  lead if you are unsuccessful.  To the contrary, some have suggested that coupling this style of betting with rebates from account wagering leads to profits.  I leave the decision on what side of the fence you want to stand up to you.  This service is simply meant to alert you to bridgejumping activity.

Q:If I sign up to receive the Bridgejumper alert, then will I also receive ‘spam tweets’?
A:This service is reliant upon an honor code that all tweets be bridgejumper related and no off-topic tweets will be sent.  Unfortunately, not everybody follows the honor code.  If a ‘spam tweet’ is sent to the group, the offending member will receive a warning.  If it happens again, the offending member will be removed from the ‘white list’ by me as soon as I can get to the task.

Q:How long will the bridgejumper alert tweets be available to be reviewed?
A:The list of tweets will be periodically be pruned to remove tweets over 30 days old.