timve

Well that the standards have changed Im sure of, nearly all of my junior friends in Holland have obtained a Star by becoming European champion in 2007. What I think is indeed a very good result, that should be awarded this way. Nevertheless I think that some of the results I had since that moment are equal or even better than this result. That I want to obtain a star is surely out of self interest. With a star your name becomes more famous by the great public. That can have merits. Its not that I want to show off (see me having a star), cause some of my results are from 2008-2009, if I really wanted it I could have asked for one that year. Even this topic I started after an advice of one of the BBO people themselves.

Yep Im the guy your referring to :P

But according to the new rules they shouldnt have one, unless they won a national.

Lately I tried to become a star myself. After years of hard work, painfully bad mistakes and horrible results I finally started to win some tournaments. From 2007 onwards won Dutch (open) and world titles (student and youth). Never wanted to obtain a star. But with becoming older you sometimes see the need of exploding ones name. So I obtained for one. With the results of some other 'stars' I didnt thought my application would give any trouble. Till I received this reaction: Hello Tim. We are sorry but our rules for new stars have become very strict and very specific. For players from most countries, the typical path to be awarded a star is to play in certain fairly recent World Championship Events. We have no doubt that you play bridge at least as well as many of our existing stars, but please understand that our estimation (or anyone's estimation) of your skill does not factor into the equation. We have learned the hard way that judging the skill of our members leads only to trouble for us and hurt feelings for them. Our rules for assigning stars are therefore based purely on specific tournament accomplishments. This method is not accurate in terms of identifying the best players on our site, but it has the virtue of being manageable. Something else we have learned the hard way is that trouble follows whenever we make exceptions to our rules. Still, we trust that you will keep us informed of any future successes you have at bridge. We're always happy to have another look when updates are needed. As for right now, we hope you can appreciate the position we are in and, star or no star, you continue to enjoy BBO. Hmm ok this makes sense. The inflation of Stars on BBO is big, very big. Playing against a star or see a star commenting on a game is not even close to have an idea of them being good. Some players have not won any big tournament who have a star. But if I dont think a change of policy will end this. Cause there are already so many people who in my humble opinion don't deserve a star that the whole idea has been demolished by the inflation. If BBO wants to have real stars as star I think they should make some kind of 'superstars' or remove a lot of the stars they have given. Looking forward to your opinion, Tim