Private URLs and portals#

Each team and adjudicator has a private URL and a separate passcode. You can also give each speaker their own. The portal behind the link lets participants see their own draw, enter ballots (adjudicators), give feedback and check themselves in. They do not need an account.

Generating credentials#

Teams and adjudicators get a key and a passcode when they are added, by hand, CSV import or registration. Manage them on sidebar → Public → Private URLs (administrators only):

• Adjudicators / Teams tabs, with a search box. Each row has buttons to copy the link and the passcode, open the portal as that participant, and generate a passcode if one is missing.
• Ensure all credentials assigned fills in any missing keys and passcodes.
• Regenerate all private keys issues new keys for everyone, after a confirmation. Every link you already gave out stops working.
• Copy current list copies the filtered table.
• Print QR slips prints one slip per participant in the current list: name, QR code, link and, with Passcodes on slips ticked, the passcode. QR codes are made in the browser; nothing is sent to a third party.
• Speaker private URLs (optional) (Teams tab): Create speaker links gives every speaker without a link a key and passcode of their own. Remove speaker links deletes them all. Team links and passcodes never change because of this, so printed slips keep working.

Keys are 12 characters from an alphabet without look-alike characters, after the prefix. Passcodes are also 12 characters.

Upload after any change. Portals read the cloud copy, so new or changed links work only after you upload. You can also send links and passcodes by email with the {{private_url}} and {{passcode}} placeholders (Email and notifications).

Settings that affect portals#

Signing in#

The participant opens the link and types the passcode. Remember me on this device keeps the passcode in that browser. A wrong passcode and an unknown link get the same answer, so links cannot be guessed one at a time.

Limits: 300 requests an hour per link, and 100 failed attempts an hour per network address per tournament. Over a limit the portal gets 429 Too Many Requests with a retry time.

What portals show, by draw stage#

Then, per round:

Both portals open on the current round. All rounds & history lists earlier rounds. Room links (online rooms, maps) are shown for rounds still running.

Team portal#

• The team's speakers and their debates, as in the table above.
• Feedback on adjudicators once the panel is revealed. If the chair dissented, the form asks the team to rate the panellist who gave the oral adjudication instead. Feedback on opponent teams when the feedback paths allow it.
• Self check-in for the current round, if switched on.
• Teams cannot submit ballots. The server refuses them.
• Other teams appear under their code names in the code-name modes; the team's own name stays real. With participant code names on, other teams' speakers and the adjudicators appear under theirs.

Adjudicator portal#

• Debates Assigned, with their role (chair, panellist, trainee).
• Ballot entry for chairs and voting panellists. Trainees see Trainees may observe but cannot submit ballots. If private-URL ballots are off, they see Ballots are not submitted online at this tournament.
  • The form follows the round's ballot rules (speaker scores or results only, ranks, BP or two-team, N-team rooms). It asks which team took which side if sides were not set by the draw. With several motions it asks which was debated (never pre-filled) and each team's veto, when vetoes are on.
  • With the chair confirms, a chair's ballot counts at once. With the tab room confirms, every ballot waits. With individual ballots on, each voting adjudicator's sheet is stored unconfirmed and the sheets are merged when they are complete and agree. A solo adjudicator may declare a 2:1 split when self-split is allowed.
  • If the tab room already confirmed the debate's result, or the round is completed or its results are published, the ballot is stored unconfirmed for the tab room and changes nothing.
  • A ballot receipt email is sent if receipts are on.
  • More: Ballots and results.
• Feedback on other adjudicators and on teams, as the feedback paths allow.
• Self check-in for the current round, if switched on.
• Speaker names stay real here (the adjudicator needs them for the ballot). Other adjudicators appear under code names when participant code names are on.

Self check-in#

With Self check-in from private URLs on, both portals show a check-in panel for the current round: the earliest round that is neither cancelled nor completed. Other rounds are refused. The check-in is written to the cloud copy and reaches your device on the next download or tournament open. If you edited that participant on your device in the meantime, it shows up as a sync conflict for you to resolve. See Check-ins and availability.

Working offline#

A ballot or feedback submitted without a connection is kept in the browser (Saved on this device; it will sync when you are online.) and sent when the device is back online.

Where submissions go#

The server writes portal submissions straight to the cloud copy, not to your device. Each write bumps the record's version, so an older upload from a tab-room device cannot silently overwrite it. Download (or use live sync) to see them in the tab room. See Backups, restore and cloud sync.

Security notes#

• Anyone with the link and the passcode can act as that participant. If slips are lost, regenerate all keys and upload. (The page has no button to change one participant's passcode.)
• A speaker's link opens only their own team, and only with that speaker's passcode. A removed speaker's link opens nothing.
• Keys and passcodes are visible to administrators only. Data-entry staff never receive them, and they are never published or returned by the REST API.
• The REST API's /me endpoints accept the same key and passcode, so participants can use apps built on it (API and tokens).

Differences from Tabbycat#

• Speaker links are optional; Tabbycat gives every speaker one. Team links remain the default.
• Private URLs and public forms are separate switches. In Tabbycat "private URLs" and "public" are exclusive choices.
• Portal check-in, ballots and feedback reach the tab room through the cloud copy, not instantly.

Details#

• A portal load reads only the participant's own debates (through a participant index), their teams and ballots, and the rounds. Rounds are sent with a whitelist of fields, so preformed panels, pre-allocated sides and draw seeds never reach participants.
• The adjudicator portal shows the debate's motion as soon as the draw is released, without waiting for the motion release. In rounds with several motions, it also receives the round's motions so the ballot can ask which was debated.
• Developer detail: public-pages-and-notifications.md (speaker private URLs, QR slips, self check-in), results-and-ballots.md, staff-access.md.