Eliminate Two Problems

[candybar]

The two biggest problems TDs have on BBO and that use the biggest percent of the TDs' time are

 

(1) subbing players who are (A) gone completely, (B) red-dotted, or (C ) apparently present but unresponsive, and

 

(2) adjusting scores for tables that didn't finish by the time the round changed, often because of something in part (1).

 

If we could do away with the subbing problem, a lot of the adjusting problem would also disappear.

 

Subs are required for 3 main reasons ... (1) a player crashes and can't return in time, (2) a player deliberately clicks out of the system to quit the tournament, and (3) a player asks to be subbed due to personal emergency reason. (The 4th reason, zero tolerance, has to be handled individually and won't come into this discussion.)

 

Let's see if we can find a way to elminate the TD work and let the software handle it for some of these. It's certainly much better if the software can do jobs that it can do, and save a person having to do them -- that is the reason computer programming got invented in the first place.

 

My Proposal --

 

-- to Problem 1A and 1B: The software should time the missing person or red-dotted person and issue an automatic subbing after a fixed amount of time. Continue to allow the partner to request his/her own sub, but if they do not, let the software do it. Allow players to Withdraw themselves from tournaments, but keep records (as already discussed in the TD Wish List).

 

-- to Problem 1C: Ding the opening bidder at the start of each board, INCLUDING the start of a new round. Ding any player that takes more than the fixed amount of time without bidding, playing, or chatting....

 

The software should record time on the bidding, play and chat (already requested in the TD Wish List for other reasons), and compute the time used by each player at the table. If one player takes longer than a fixed amount of time, without bidding, playing a card, or saying anything in chat, presume they have fallen asleep and ding them, replace them if they don't respond.

 

-- to Problem 2: Any pair that has a missing player at the round change should be automatically cut, similar to the 0% survivor cut system. That may require a sitout for an unmatched pair at the lowest table, or even use GIB for filling a table.

 

Moreover, when a round finishes and a table hasn't, use the computed time to assign fault for not finishing. Give the slow side A- and the faster pair A+ or even Avg of their game. If a claim was pending when the round ended, automatically accept it. This would eliminate most of the adjusting that TDs have to do, and leave them free to fix any minor remaining issues with how the automatic adjustment resolved.

 

Result --

 

Implementing all of that together would eliminate a huge part of the TDs time presently used subbing players. It would also eliminate some of the late tables not finishing a round and having to have their scores manually adjusted.

 

Combining these methods for subbing and score adjusting would make it possible for TDs to spend their time doing what directors should be doing, managing ethics, behavior, and other real issues, instead of manually doing things that the software could easily do for them.

 

Eliminating problems is so much better than solving them!