Who are the commentators?

[barmar]

Is there any way to see the list of commentators when in a Vugraph room? It looks to me like they're just mixed into the list of kibbitzers, with no special indicator. It would be nice if they were moved to the front of the list and colored. Do we even need a list of all the random spectators? Paging through a list of hundreds of specs is virtually impossible in the BBO GUI.

[Walddk]

There is currently no way to distinguish commentators from ordinary spectators, other than looking at which users comment when you are in the room. I know that fred at some point in the past liked the idea of having scheduled commentators listed in the vugraph lobby.

 

It was on his "to-do-list" then and I guess that it still is. Personally, I don't think it's a big issue.

 

Roland

[skjaeran]

To me it's more important who playes at the table than who the commentators are, and what language the commentators type. Only once (that I can recall) have I switched tables due to who the commentators were (or, rather due to their comments at the time).

[Finch]

I know that fred at some point in the past liked the idea of having scheduled commentators listed in the vugraph lobby.

While that's ostensibly a nice idea, in real life the actual commentators are often rather different to the ones Roland has tried to schedule in advance.

 

Some people don't turn up when they say they will and/or people who weren't sure they were available log on and/or the schedule changes and people don't know or are no longer free and/or there are more/fewer tables than scheduled and/or.....

[Walddk]

I know that fred at some point in the past liked the idea of having scheduled commentators listed in the vugraph lobby.

While that's ostensibly a nice idea, in real life the actual commentators are often rather different to the ones Roland has tried to schedule in advance.

 

Some people don't turn up when they say they will and/or people who weren't sure they were available log on and/or the schedule changes and people don't know or are no longer free and/or there are more/fewer tables than scheduled and/or.....

All very true. You can't be certain that the list you see in the vugraph lobby (if there is one) is the same in the vugraph theatre. Furthermore, we often add some as we go. This is for instance the case when we are having broadcasts from USA when fine players are knocked out.

 

They will then get some time to serve as commentators. Those players are often good commentators too, and there was obviously no way we could have scheduled them in advance.

 

Roland

[paulg]

Maybe we should all use special logins when commentating.

 

Can I suggest DB1, DB2, ... ?

[barmar]

If you go with the special logins, they can be made yellows so they show up at the beginning of the list.

[cicus]

If you go with the special logins, they can be made yellows so they show up at the beginning of the list.

What if as soon as they are ungagged their colour changes and they are displayed at the top of the kibitzer list?

[skjaeran]

If you go with the special logins, they can be made yellows so they show up at the beginning of the list.

What if as soon as they are ungagged their colour changes and they are displayed at the top of the kibitzer list?

That doesn't really work either. Since if a commentator is ungagged for one session of a broadcast, (s)he is never gagged after that session. Thus, if kibbitzing a later sessing, (s)he would still be looking like a commentator on top of the list.

 

Of course you could gag commentators after each session, but that would be more work for operators or Roland, who'se got a more than tight enough schedule and enough other things to take care of than gagging commentators.

[Echognome]

Other than the programming required to do it (and I know I couldn't), I see nothing wrong with having an additional color for commentators. If you are worried about "gagging" and "ungagging" just make the validation on both parties. That is, I check something on my options (or profile), etc. that says I am willing to commentate and someone at BBO checks something that says I am a commentator. Thus when my session is up and I just want to kibitz, then I can uncheck the box myself. And while we're at the design table, we can change from the '+++' to a checkbox for "I'm willing to receive chat from kibitzers." It would make it clearer for commentators and kibitzers alike.

 

Go ahead. Find fault with it. I dare ya. :)

[cicus]

If you go with the special logins, they can be made yellows so they show up at the beginning of the list.

What if as soon as they are ungagged their colour changes and they are displayed at the top of the kibitzer list?

That doesn't really work either. Since if a commentator is ungagged for one session of a broadcast, (s)he is never gagged after that session. Thus, if kibbitzing a later sessing, (s)he would still be looking like a commentator on top of the list.

 

Of course you could gag commentators after each session, but that would be more work for operators or Roland, who'se got a more than tight enough schedule and enough other things to take care of than gagging commentators.

You are right, Harald. However, I think I have a solution for this problem as well. Commentators could have an option at their disposal, similar to 'be right back': they could make themselves seem as if they were only kibitzers. E.g. they could right click on their name and click on a line like this: 'no commenting'. This line would only be visible when their status were 'ungagged'.

[cicus]

Other than the programming required to do it (and I know I couldn't), I see nothing wrong with having an additional color for commentators.  If you are worried about "gagging" and "ungagging" just make the validation on both parties.  That is, I check something on my options (or profile), etc. that says I am willing to commentate and someone at BBO checks something that says I am a commentator.  Thus when my session is up and I just want to kibitz, then I can uncheck the box myself.  And while we're at the design table, we can change from the '+++' to a checkbox for "I'm willing to receive chat from kibitzers."  It would make it clearer for commentators and kibitzers alike.

 

Go ahead.  Find fault with it.  I dare ya.  :)

You won by 6 minutes. :-)

[shoeless]

Help me out here. Not sure I understand the issue. Commentators are the ones who are commentating. I don't mean to sound stupid in my comment - but when I join a broadcast - it is clear to me who the commentators are, by who is presenting the analysis and color.

 

Granted in a perfect world, we might have the commentators highlighted in the list of specs, but I really don't think on a cost/benefit approach that this would warrant much investment.

 

Adding the scheduled commentators to the vugraph schedule might be enough. Fred's idea of having the commentators listed in the vugraph lobby seems to be good if it is easily doable.

[barmar]

Help me out here. Not sure I understand the issue. Commentators are the ones who are commentating. I don't mean to sound stupid in my comment - but when I join a broadcast - it is clear to me who the commentators are, by who is presenting the analysis and color.

Only if they actually say something. Sometimes a commentator may go several minutes without saying anything, so you don't know he's there.

 

If there are two rooms being shown (as there usually are in team games), I might want to see who all the commentators are in each room when deciding which room to watch. More often it's the players that are the deciding factor, but sometimes there are interesting players in both rooms (or, as in the case of the European Juniors going on this week, I don't know any of the players) and then it's the commentators I care about.

[shoeless]

Well that is true. Don't get me wrong if there is an easy fix to this - I certainly like the idea of being able to easily identify who the commentators are

[TimG]

Well that is true. Don't get me wrong if there is an easy fix to this - I certainly like the idea of being able to easily identify who the commentators are

Make commentators that you are particularly interested in friends.

[Finch]

Well that is true.  Don't get me wrong if there is an easy fix to this - I certainly like the idea of being able to easily identify who the commentators are

Make commentators that you are particularly interested in friends.

That would tell you quickly that they are at the table; it would not tell you if they are commentating - you will often find people who commentate kibbitzing along with everyone else, particularly at big events with few tables.

[MolvaM]

maybe the BBO software is modified so that everyone who leaves BBO will be automatically gagged. so that roland or other yellows will not bother gaging people. then changing the color of ungagged people would make sense.

 

there is still the hypothetical problem of an ungagged commentator who NEVER leaves BBO but I think we can live with this.

[Walddk]

maybe the BBO software is modified so that everyone who leaves BBO will be automatically gagged. so that roland or other yellows will not bother gaging people.

Your intention is commendable, Murat, but it won't solve the problem (not for me at least). Say Frances is ungagged for one session, then leaves BBO and comes back 15 minutes later to do the next session. It would really be too much of a hassle if she needs to be ungagged again.

 

Roland

[Gerardo]

Agree. Having some kind of pre-registration, ideally the ungag would be valid just for the current session.

 

But I don't know how many commentators are planned, and how many are called on the spot.

[skjaeran]

Agree. Having some kind of pre-registration, ideally the ungag would be valid just for the current session.

 

But I don't know how many commentators are planned, and how many are called on the spot.

Most are planned AFAIK.

But some cancel appointments and sometimes Roland is short and ask people on the fly. That often happens to me.