Explanation of basic procedures

[Bbradley62]

I had this encounter in the MBC today:

 

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sak92hakq632dkcj9]133|100|Scoring: XIMP

3♥-(p)-4♣-(p)

5♣-all pass[/hv]

 

I was East. I made my opening lead, and this dummy was revealed. The conversation proceeded:

 

East→Table: 3♥ is strong?

North→Table: special convention

East→Table: you must tell us about those

North→Table: this is our own convention

East→Table: You must tell us every time you make a bid that is your own convention

North→Table: why?

East→Table: because those are the rules of duplicate bridge

East→Table: you cannot have secret agreements

 

I actually think that East/West was new and willing to learn the correct procedure. Is there a place on BBO where players who are new to duplicate or to online play (but not necessarily new to bridge) can read about expected procedures?

[G_R__E_G]

From the web client click on "Help" at the top/middle of the screen. Then click on "The Rules of This Site". There is a section in that which deals with the alert guidelines.