_OLD_FOX

Adding some (e.g. 4-5 sec) minimal delay between bids in case of slow connections will NOT delay game noticeably - indeed next bid will arrive already delayed because of connection problems and can be displayed immediately upon arrival, so all you have to consider is whether it will affect board duration considerably if connections are good. I bet it will also eliminate most undo requests as undo withing that delay (bid not displayed yet) can be made without asking opps. Stop card seems quite neccessary for me at online bridge too - an instant pass over, say, 4H opening often does convey information. So arguments for making 'stop' button available in the bidding box are absolutely the same as in case of f2f bridge. Oh, of course, that's only IMHO, and I would have had allowed false discards too at online bridge if running serious tournament :D

I think there must be an option when making new table or, especially, tournament to activate some minimal delay before the next bid is displayed even if one did bid faster. After jump calls the minimal delay must be larger and message should be displayed to all players that the bid is displayed with delay by the system. It will reduce illegal (unintentionl or intentional) exchange of information - bet all of us have suffered after e.g. opening preemptively and getting doubled by RHO only because LHO did not pass immediately, but after a well displayed hesitation. It will also teach novice to try to maintain same tempo when bidding/playing not only online. Note that setting kind of maximal delay does not seem necessary - too long pauses are usually due to connection problems, doorbells etc. Although I have not seen similar feature on other bridge sites (yes, BBO lacks some that others have), still I believe it makes sense, eh?