Commentary on RDSS/TS Data usage

[Ted Craven]

NO. This is incorrect! I don't know any other way to state this more plainly. The webpage RDSS draws from is NOT - repeat NOT - a page which requires a login. Just hit the TwinSpires button on the RDSS Desktop (if you dare). The page which comes up does not prompt you for any login - so by definition you do not need a TS acccount. You can see the Prime Power and ProfitLine (and Tote and Mutuel prices and Scratches) on those pages: the SAME pages Mike showed above.

Debate whether they are free or not at your leisure. But since that revamp of TwinSpires became available (and since I updated the RDSS code several years ago to draw from it) - it has NOT required a login, i.e. it is a PUBLIC page, not behind a paywall.

One more time? You can get the figs RDSS gets if you don't have a TS account. (You naturally do need a TS account to place a bet).

I hope this helps clear up any confusion about public/freely available data versus data behind a paywall. Whether RDSS should access that public/free data and whether you should make use of it - I will leave to each person's discretion. (Though - people have been happy to use it for lo these past many years without the shock and 'pearl-clutching' I observe in this discussion).

While I'm posting - TwinSpires did not just suddenly 'kick off RDSS' - rather, they made yet another nuanced adjustment of their server code (like they have done any number of times in the past) which stymied the existing code RDSS uses. Like the elephant swishing its tale and swatting a fly off its back and the elephant is completely oblivious of doing so - I am about 99.99% confident TS had no idea or could care less who is affected by its changes as long as it makes their own webpages function better when appearing in your browser.

I won't bother elaborating on how I will address this, except to say that RDSS future access will be indistinguishable from accessing the TS public site (the one with no login) from a browser - because it will be using an actual web browser to get the data.

Ted