FIBS Board backgammon forum

Here are the results from Fridays3, 13th of January:

Congratulations for the winner gcmortal , runner-up alessandro and all the players in this Fridays 3!

21 players !

winner, 14 points:

-gcmortal

finalist, 10 points:

-alessandro

Semifinalists, 6 points:

-tansley
-Gusssss

4 points:

-Im_not_gimmeluck

2 points:

-samirah,stog,austin,socksey,donzaemon,aneli

0 points:

-chapl,roig,woodenpug,elisee,Paul_William,debi,wyzzz,lewscannon,Backwoods,mort

Rules for the points can be found here:
Fridays3

Where did all the confusion come from:

Unfortunately, immediately after the Tourney has  started, TurneyBot had crashed. He logged off and on on a random basis, but did not respond to any commands. Last thing he did was announcing the pairings to the PLAYERS. I, as the TD, had no chance to see the pairings. From that point on, I didn't even know IF all players knew their first opponent, and who has already started playing.

From that point on, I had to do the following:

-finding out who has registered for the tourney at all
-finding out what the first round pairings were
-informing all players about the crash and that the subsequent pairings will be made manually and announced in shout
-arguing with some players why they have to play someone else, other that they had begun with
-explaining why TourneyBot crashed

...and so on... with 21 (!) players

Quite a desperate situation. I announced in public shouts several times, that the following pairings after round #1 will be made manually and that Tourneybot is out of control. But not everybody got that, because some were playing already.

So there were a lot of things to do at the same time, and no doubt, this was somehow irritating to the players (not to mention the TD...).

Of course, after I had managed the most difficult part, round #1 and #2, everything was under control. But it was a hell of a job for me, doing all the stuff on paper, and explaining so many things to so many players. And I want to say thank you to all the (mostly) patient players!

From the last 4 fridays3 events, that I hosted, Tourneybot either crashed after the beginning (two times), didn't work in the first place or wasn't online at all. I am really pissed, and it was 1000 times easier to do the tourney manually right from the beginning then struggling with that piece of sh**-bot.

For the next F3 events, that I will host, no TourneyBot will be used and mess up my tournament.
Registering and reporting the results will all be done in private tells with me. Thanks for playing!

Regards, BushSucks

Handled with aplomb.  

Thanks BS

You handled the tourney and yourself beautifully, BushSucks!

I'd like to say that so many players do not understand what we TD's go through when things go wrong, and I'd like to urge players to be cooperative with TD's decisions when problems arise, avoid arguing with them, and avoid chat with them unnecessarily.  We are VERY busy!    

We don't have a lot of TD's.  I'm sure the reason for this is the tremendous stress that can happen at times.  Once burned, one becomes hesitant to try again.  

Anyone can be a TD.  I urge anyone who wants to be a TD to give it a try.  We welcome all the help we can get.

Most tourney players never give us a problem.  Those players will surely go to backgammon heaven.  As for the hecklers and problem causers, well, you know where I hope you go and why.   :angry:    

If you enjoy the tourneys, please treat your hosts gently to continue enjoying the privilege.  We aren't paid.  We do this out of the kindness of our hearts and for the fun of it.

socksey



"I don't do drugs anymore 'cause I find I get the same effect just by standing up really fast." - Johnathan Katz






 



 

I am so sorry I had to go out and leave you with all this    - it is clearly a day when a bit of back up would have been a real help. As you say - it is annoying because the bot was fine earlier when I set the tourney up - and since it hadnt been an issue for a few weeks - I thought it might be ok.

I am pleased you managed to get through it - and that players were mostly cooperative - and thank you again for the effort you put in.

I also give up with the bots now- and will just run tourneys with a spreadsheet - since you showed me how - it is actually very easy - and there are fewer problems all around.  

So there will be a slight change to the format of the tournament - I will register from 15.00 to 15.20, then start play at 15.30, as I did when I ran it manually last time - that way it is quite relaxed.  Players will have to pay attention to shouts though - since all matches will be announced in shouts - I wont send individual tells as the bot does.
I will post a detailed description of how to enter and play before next Friday, after discussion with my co hosts.

See you next Friday.

Hi BushSucks,


what did you expect to happen on a Friday 13th ?

My proposal is to play the Friday-3 tournaments, when the Friday is a 13th, on the following Saturday instead. I guess, TourneyBot is more stable then  


Hardy  



(Sorry, just teasing you. TD without a TB is definetly a tough job.)

Quote(Sorry, just teasing you. TD without a TB is definetly a tough job.)

BushSucks has been putting in a bit of work  - suddenly it is a whole lot easier  
I think it will be even easier than using the bot - no awards to award for those who go missing - or for players who misbehave.  With the new spreadsheet we have - I have every confidence it will be a doddle for the TD.  Copying and pasting are easy on Javafibs - so I dont even have much typing to do!!  The players will talk to me rather than the bot and will watch the shouts for pairings - like they did in the olden days   , wins/losses need to be reported of course, and those are about the only differences the player will notice.  <_<