FIBS Tournament Schedule

[sixty_something]

World Time for FIBS Tourney Schedule stog edited 2017

UTC		New York USA/Eastern		Sydney AUS/Eastern

the above table can be edited from within Google by Tom, but any edits to this part of the post here on Fibsboard can only be done by admin(stog) as it is in html





















yes good idea (have added link to the Fibs section of the LH Front pge Menu), just set up links to where folks can get details on the particular tourney. i'll set up the first for you; work can wait - just linking to the appropriate board - see above

also available is Fibs-o-nacci (matches can be played anytime within a week) --link also on front page LH menu, along with link to Fibsleague ( where matches can be played anytime within a 3 month period) and team-gammon

also see Tourney Boards here



the above table can be edited from within Google by Tom, but any edits to this post here on Fibsboard can only be done by admin as it is in html





SEE STOG EDIT ABOVE & BELOW
ps tom updates the google calendar --> pls contact him when u need updates or edits thx

---below is the original sixty post-- above is from stog 18/3/2017

Regularly scheduled weekly tournaments at FIBS are in the list below.  Some tournaments have registration prerequisites or limits which can generally be waived by simply asking the TD if he/she will *ALLOW* you to play. Some have a long tradition like Bago and F3's and some have their own championship series associated with them, e.g. Bago, Mini Matches, and the Bloody Mary. Regardless, if you play at FIBS and don't play in one or more of these each week you are missing a lot of fun.

Other tournaments may be organized using TourneyBot or Challonge at almost any time. Some may occur at about the same time each week, but not be on a fixed schedule. Those tourneys are not included here, but are always a lot of fun, too.

To simplify keeping this schedule up to date, including during DST changes, the schedule lists the LOCAL time the tourney follows. In the next post there are clocks showing the current time for each of those timezones. Just look at the proper clock to see how see a specific tourney is.

To find the next tournament due, at any time, send a tell to tourneybot 'tourneys'. It will tell you anything playing, registering, and the next one due. ie:
You tell TourneyBot: tourneys
TourneyBot says: No matching tourneys.
TourneyBot says: Registration for Tampa Sevens at Nine opens at  8:30 PM EDT (0030 UTC) in about 2 hours and starts 30 mins later.

The full schedule: Match lengths for regular rounds and finals vary. They are listed in the 'format' column.

removed out of date image - stog 2017


socksey recommends this site World Clock where you can click on a city in your time zone to find your UTC differential.   

Now, one of the answers to the question of where is a schedule of FIBS tournaments can be simply saying, "See "




stog edit aug 20 2016

A reporter has made the following comment:

The document bg tourney schedule update.docx below is missing and I depend on it for registering times/start times.Where has it gone ?It has all the information but in an open format.I keep getting a 404 - Attachment Not Found message.This never happened before?

I have looked into this, and i'm sry i can't find a fix at the moment -- the attachment seems to be on the server, with correct permision, but can't be accessed -- it might be because of new server security -- it being a m'soft docx NOW FIXED but -- also i don't think sixty maintained or updated the doc for many many years -- please use the Google Calendar in the next post.
tom updates the google calendar

[stog]

World Time for FIBS Tourney Schedule

UTC		New York USA/Eastern		Sydney AUS/Eastern

the above table can be edited from within Google, but any edits to this post here on Fibsboard can only be done by admin as it is in html




yes good idea (have added link to the Fibs section of the LH Front pge Menu), just set up links to where folks can get details on the particular tourney. i'll set up the first for you; work can wait - just linking to the appropriate board - see above

also available is Fibs-o-nacci (matches can be played anytime within a week) --link also on front page LH menu, along with link to Fibsleague ( where matches can be played anytime within a 3 month period) and team-gammon

also see Tourney Boards here



the above table can be edited from within Google by Tom, but any edits to this post here on Fibsboard can only be done by admin as it is in html

[stog]

here is latest bago - from challonge - auto updated



and f3


for more info on embedding Your Tourney see here http://www.fibsboard.com/other-tournaments/bago-4-may-2010/msg22327/#msg22327



to setup a tourney see Tourneybot here
or see the Challonge site, where u need to register anyway to take part in tourneys run there

[socksey]

wow, i found how to increase my font size today, so that makes everything BETTER!  maybe i will rethink posting the challonge brackets.     would make my life easier, now, if i could just find an easier way to post to tomawaky................

socksey

[sixty_something]

wow, making something easier is half the battle .. now if it can just be simple as well

i remember talking to the F3 crew back when Kari Grande and the other founder were turning things ove to adrian .. as i recall, there was an Excell spreadsheet involved .. if that is what is causing you some grief, i may be able to help there .. if so, let me know in chats or by phone sometime

p.s. how did you increase your font size and where is Kari Grande .. i miss him

[socksey]

Kari is lost to poker, I believe.  Not sure, but he only shows up once in a blue moon now.

I messaged you this but maybe it can be helpful to more here.  Try ctrl + to enlarge font.  It seems to work for me everywhere.  I found the solution at gmail.com help file.   

socksey



"Cannibal: someone who is fed up with people." - Anonymous

[stog]

accessibility
http://www.fibsboard.com/feedback-questions/accessibility/

[sixty_something]

Ctrl + works great and can be used repeatedly to zoom in on a readable font .. similarly, Ctrl - reduces the font .. these old eyes are very happy with this new toy 

[dorbel]

The return of 60, welcome though it is, reminds me of the Gary Larsen cartoon where a room full of sheep are at a cocktail party. One of the guests is saying, "This is dreadful. Nobody knows what to do and they are all milling about all over the place...........oh thank God, here's a border collie just coming in."

[diane]

 

[sixty_something]

When the Zen master asked his dog, "What time is it?", the dog eagerly responded, "The time is now!"

c'est la vie

[stog]

[magic_one]

• SUN - Sunday Session (3/5) 0900/0930 UTC (20:00 AEST)

for those of us, like me, who have trouble keeping up with time in our own time zone, socksey recommends this site World Clock where you can pick a city near you to find your UTC differential .. for example, Texas time is UTC -5 hours during daylight savings time

(1)   What means AEST, and how will this information help me?

(2)   How can texas time be UTC - 5?  When I type "time" into FIBS input area, it says EST (New York city time) is UTC - 5?

[diane]

AEST is Australian Eastern Standard time..which is very different from, and not to be confused with, Eastern Standard Time [America]. AEST is stated for the people for whom the tournament is intended, Australians. UTC time is stated as it is a global standard time and the same at any time of the year [it does not do daylight savings changes], so you can work out when the tournament occurs in your own time zone.

So - if you are in AEST, and the tournament is therefore at 09.00 UTC+11, it will be at 20:00 locally [allowing for the fact that when daylight savings comes in to effect it will be UTC+9].

If you are in UTC-5 [at daylight savings], then it will be at 9:00-5:00, which is 4am.

So - you identify your local time zone, and what it is in UTC at the current time of year, and you can work out when the tournament willl be locally.

The planner, or world clock can help with all this, because it is a bit of a headache  

[moonshadow123]

For those that use the Firefox browser, I find the add-on FoxClocks to be invaluable-- it is fully customizable, doesn't take up a lot of space and the current time of the time zones you select are always shown on the bottom of the browser window.


https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/foxclocks/

[diane]

Added - cute, thanks  

It is telling me it is still Wednesday in the US pacific - enjoy, it was a good day 

[socksey]

For those that use the Firefox browser, I find the add-on FoxClocks to be invaluable-- it is fully customizable, doesn't take up a lot of space and the current time of the time zones you select are always shown on the bottom of the browser window.


https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/foxclocks/

Thx moonshadow!  I recently began using Mozilla Firefox again and this is perfect!    

In the clocking process, I discovered the World Clock website has made some changes and IMHO for the worse.  I had to search for the meeting planner which I found under the "time zones" tab. 

I had the same problem with the NEW worse container for whey protein today!     I called to complain about the larger cap which my girlie fingers could barely manage to get a bad grip on, so they are sending me some coupons which I may never use, and registering my complaint!     Probably some designer MAN with large hands did it!     That's the problem with new ideas!  Sometimes they are far worse than the original. 

socksey




The past is but the beginning of a beginning. - H.G. Wells

[sixty_something]

it's that time of year again when schedules and personal clocks get all screwed up thanks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) which began last Sunday in the USA

TourneyBot, which uses UTC time, did not recognize the DST shift starting the Bloody Mary last Sunday an hour later than it should have .. vegas_vic, our new Bloody Mary TD, started a Challonge bracket on time at 11 AM EDT (10 AM Texas time - CDT) .. i'm not sure what happened with the Monday/Three Five or the Work Can Wait Forever tourneys .. the Tuesday Three/Five started at the correct local time (11 AM CDT) and Bago, a European based tourney, started an hour later than usual for me at 3 PM CDT which is correct since Europe and others doesn't begin DST until March 27th

according to Tom, TourneyBot admin, remaining AUTOMATIC TourneyBot tourneys this week such as the Three/Fives, F3, Mini-Matches, the Bloody Mary, and others will start at their correct local time for those of us in the USA, that is adjusted to DST, as necessary .. for the next two weeks, anyone outside the USA will have to adapt to our DST by arriving to play an hour earlier than normal

according to Patti, the FIBS clock is off for "two weeks" due to the FIBS server software being in sync with "when the US used to" change to DST .. fortunately, two weeks from now is when the rest of the world seems to switch over to DST on March 27th .. so, ALL tournaments would be back on our familiar local time schedules soon

i've been trying to keep this list of regularly scheduled tourneys at FIBS current, accurate, and complete for almost a year now .. like many things around FIBSworld, there is much more to it than meets the eye .. DST time changes have always been a long standing challenge to keep straight at FIBS for regular tourney players .. it is again this year

additionally, socksey recently added Tanika's new tourney, Saturday Night Fever, to the list .. if there are any other new tourneys, that is tourneys occurring at the same time each week, please let me or socksey know and we'll add them to the list as well .. effective today, i have removed the After Nine tourney from the regular tourney list .. hopefully, Naavanaxx will re-join us and continue the A9's where he left off soon

a current list of regularly scheduled tourneys is always available from the FIBS Board home page at Tourneys schedule over in the left hand column .. click at the hyperlink above to see it in a separate window .. corrections would be most appreciated

Happy Spring everyone and thanks, Tom, socksey, and Patti

[sixty_something]

it's ALMOST that time of year again when schedules, personal clocks, and tourney start times get all screwed up thanks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) which will be ending the first Sunday in November in the USA

last spring we had quite a mess trying to get this schedule correct .. getting TourneyBot to start the tourneys at the correct time was another story .. almost every season since i have been maintaining this schedule has been a mess for a week or more around the time change .. thus, i am taking a little preemptive action today to at least get us thinking about it .. perhaps someone better than me can suggest how we can have a smooth DST transition for our regularly scheduled FIBS tourneys .. for example, here is just one little wrinkle

UK residents, be aware that the United Kingdom ends
daylight savings time on October 30, and so does Ireland.

New Zealand begins Daylight Savings Time on September 25.
Most of Australia begins Daylight Savings Time on October 2, 2011.
Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia,
and Christmas Island don't observe DST.

Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Daylight Savings Time 2011: When Do We Fall Back?

see what i mean? this stuff gives me a headache twice a year

for example, our new official TD for the Bloody Mary "Sunday Special" is now TourneyBot .. Sunday is always the first day of a DST time change .. thus, Tom will need to make a change in advance to ensure the Bloody Mary will start at the correct local time for all of us in the USA on that first Sunday in November .. the rest of you are on your own

here is what happened last spring .. perhaps this will help us better understand and prepare for the fall time change .. obviously, i have no clue, nor do i intend to do any more than provide this heads up for now .. maybe someone with a better way of explaining the USA and Euro time changes AND the FIBS clock can help us out 'cause it ain't me babe

TourneyBot, which uses UTC time, did not recognize the DST shift starting the Bloody Mary last Sunday an hour later than it should have .. vegas_vic, our new Bloody Mary TD, started a Challonge bracket on time at 11 AM EDT (10 AM Texas time - CDT) ... BagO, a European based tourney, started an hour later than usual for me at 3 PM CDT which is correct since Europe and others doesn't begin DST until March 27th

according to Tom, TourneyBot admin, remaining AUTOMATIC TourneyBot tourneys this week such as the Three/Fives, F3, Mini-Matches, the Bloody Mary, and others will start at their correct local time for those of us in the USA, that is adjusted to DST, as necessary .. for the next two weeks, anyone outside the USA will have to adapt to our DST by arriving to play an hour earlier than normal

according to Patti, the FIBS clock is off for "two weeks" due to the FIBS server software being in sync with "when the US used to" change to DST .. fortunately, two weeks from now is when the rest of the world seems to switch over to DST on March 27th .. so, ALL tournaments [sh]ould be back on our familiar local time schedules soon

[socksey]

As far as I know, my old standby, Worldclock Meeting Planner will still keep us on schedule:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Fri3 and Mini-Matches will remain the same time, 1100 and 1000 Texas time respectively.  As for Fibs time, I have no control.   

socksey



Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was SHUT UP. - Joe Namath

[diane]

Remember, we are about to spring forward...not fall back 

I am going to move Sunday sessions to 'keep it in the same place'..but leave Saturday Stubbies where it is to take it an hour forward, and see if that changes anything entry wise.

[Tom]

I just went over the list of tourneys and found 11 automatic, which are the only ones I will address.

3 are run on Australian time and I will verify the DST settings with the TD.

The Monday Work Can Wait, I believe runs on USA time, right?

As does the F3 (1), all the 3/5's (4), Mini-Matches (1) and the Bloody Mary (1)

That totals 11 tourneys!

I will update all the USA tourneys on Nov 5th (Saturday), After the Mini's run

tom

[diane]

I will update all the USA tourneys on Nov 5th (Saturday), After the Mini's run

Nov..or October?

[Tom]

Nov..or October?

I will update the Australian tourneys when ever I am told to by the TD!

[Tom]

I will update the Australian tourneys when ever I am told to by the TD!

I just talked to KMA. The Wed Kiwi does not change (No DST for her)

Diane - when do the Sat & Sub stubbies change?

Do you Fall Back now or Spring Forward? It *is* spring time there, right?

tom

[emilyb]

it's ALMOST that time of year again when schedules, personal clocks, and tourney start times get all screwed up thanks to Daylight Savings Time (DST) which will be ending the first Sunday in November in the USA

last spring we had quite a mess trying to get this schedule correct .. getting TourneyBot to start the tourneys at the correct time was another story .. almost every season since i have been maintaining this schedule has been a mess for a week or more around the time change .. thus, i am taking a little preemptive action today to at least get us thinking about it .. perhaps someone better than me can suggest how we can have a smooth DST transition for our regularly scheduled FIBS tourneys .. for example, here is just one little wrinkle

see what i mean? this stuff gives me a headache twice a year

for example, our new official TD for the Bloody Mary "Sunday Special" is now TourneyBot .. Sunday is always the first day of a DST time change .. thus, Tom will need to make a change in advance to ensure the Bloody Mary will start at the correct local time for all of us in the USA on that first Sunday in November .. the rest of you are on your own

here is what happened last spring .. perhaps this will help us better understand and prepare for the fall time change .. obviously, i have no clue, nor do i intend to do any more than provide this heads up for now .. maybe someone with a better way of explaining the USA and Euro time changes AND the FIBS clock can help us out 'cause it ain't me babe

That's why I started using a free online meeting scheduler so I can coordinate my games with people in different timezones

[Tom]

I will update all the USA tourneys on Nov 5th (Saturday), After the Mini's run

Well I managed to remember to turn my clocks back last night and as I was going to sleep remembered about TourneyBot!!!

I think I got them all right.

Time will tell! (pun intended)

Tom

[Thalassa]

I have been playing on FIBs for a few years now and would like to participate in the tournaments.  Where do I register, and how/ where do I play.  Thanks in advance, Thalassa.

[Tom]

I have been playing on FIBs for a few years now and would like to participate in the tournaments.  Where do I register, and how/ where do I play.  Thanks in advance, Thalassa.

Be online before the tourney starts (up to 30 mins usually) and watch for instructions from a TD.
Most of the time the player named TourneyBot will tell you have to register a couple are still run manually.

Tom

[rebayona]

I always wanted to know the complete schedule of tournaments, good to know that they're available here now. As a google calendar user I love their features, like having personal or subscribing to public calendars.

I just created a public calendar with all this tournaments, so we won't forget at what time they're up anymore. it is compatible with almost any calendar app, so it will work with Outlook, thunderbird and iCal, amongst others. It will work with cellphones too, like iphone, android phones and even symbian or blackberries.

To use it just follow this steps:

• Log in to your Google account and go to your calendar: http://www.google.com/calendar
• On the left sidebar click oh the right arrow next to "other calendars" and select "add by url"
• Copy and Paste this URL: https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/s1ua4mdtgsl6fftn9rnno8uqk8%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
• That's it. It will be added as a separate calendar so it won't mess your personal/work/serious stuff calendars, you can hide/unhide it and sync it with your compatible phone with google calendar. I know it works with android and symbian phones, but I guess it should be work with iphones, blackberries and windows phones too.

The procedure to add it to your favorite calendar app should be very similar, you just need to import the .ics from the link above.

Enjoy,

[stog]

i have added/embedded the google calendar to the first page of this thread

[Tom]

I moved BMSS, Mon35, WCW, Tue35, Wed35, Thur35, F3 and Mini's according to USA DST change.
I can not edit the first post!

We sprang forward, so the UTC time goes DOWN one hour.

What about Kiwi and Week In/Out? Do they stay fixed.

Maybe we should add a note to the schedule as to when each one changes due to DST (if ever)

Also the google calendar needs to be updated

tom

[socksey]

I have updated the times for Fri3 and Mini-Matches.  I only hope TourneyBot is right on now.     God help us twice a year!     I know Sunday Bloody Mary's should be the same time as Mini-Matches on Saturdays, but I don't dare change sixtie's area without his OK.     Good luck everyone!   

socksey



A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. - Leo Buscaglia

[rebayona]

All times are UTC showing when registration opens and when play starts. For Americans not fluent in UTC, I am also listing Eastern time (ET) in the USA which is UTC -5. During Daylight Savings, EDT in the USA is UTC -4. We also have FIBS tourneys from down under, for those, we also list list local AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)

Match lengths for regular rounds and finals vary. They are in parenthesis below following the tourney name.

• MON --  Week In (3/5) 0830/0900 UTC (1930/2000 AEDT) (0330/0400 ET)
• MON-FRI -- Krazy Kiwi Klassic 3/5 1230/1300 UTC (2230/2300 AEST) (0730/0800 ET)

socksey recommends this site World Clock where you can click on a city in your time zone to find your UTC differential.  

There's a problem with this. UTC never changes, EDT and AEDT do. If someone is not fluent converting UTC to EDT, they can go to world clock, but putting conversions here will make it more confusing. I made FIBS tournament on google calendar based on UTC assuming that was the fixed time (considering that there was a reason on why they named it Universal coordinated time), but this morning i realized the one who really matters is EDT since it started at 1200 UTC.

So please, use only one time zone so we can update schedules. It would work like this:

• MON --  Week In (3/5) 0830/0900 UTC from November 5/2012 to march 12/2013, 0730/0800 UTC from March 11/2012 to November 4/2012

(or just simply put USAcentric EDT and leave the conversion problem to the rest of the world, as you guys usually do)
[/list]

[Tom]

• MON --  Week In (3/5) 0830/0900 UTC from November 5/2012 to march 12/2013, 0730/0800 UTC from March 11/2012 to November 4/2012

(or just simply put USAcentric EDT and leave the conversion problem to the rest of the world, as you guys usually do)
[/list]

I gotta laugh, you picked the ONE of (a few) that are NOT USAcentric!

But yes it IS confusing and it should not be!

I will look at some better wording to make it simpler.
The biggest thing we need to put the timezone it stays with FIRST

tom

[KissMyAss]

My Kiwi's follow the american time shifts.  If time has gone back an hour, the kiwi goes back an hour.  Seems to have gone okay last night (monday) as the registration opened at the new time (for me) of half past nine at nite, which is lovely.  The late nights were starting to mess with my internal clock.   So im liking this new timeslot, but will readjust an hour later when time shifts again.  Lol

[rebayona]

Just updated the calendar on google. Each tournament has the hour on its own timezone, so the ones in bold are EDT, the rest London time, with the exception of Saturday stubbies, which I assume is the Australian (Melbourne) time based one.

I guess Google will know how to deal with DSTs, but if something's wrong just let me know.

[Tom]

I keep puttng off editing the schedule.

I think to reduce the confusion of start times and the need to edit it TWICE a year just to change the times
maybe we should just list the open/start times in the Time Zone the tourney follows and then people can
use WorldClock to figure it out, or the Google Calendar for that matter

Thoughts?
Tom

[diane]

Most people struggle to work time conversions..look how much trouble we have - even with many years of practice in some cases.

I do think the time edits are a pain in the ass though 

I am in favour of the time zone the tourney is in..followed by the UTC times. If need be - two listings...one for DST and one for ST [with and without daylight savings.]

[ifaesfu]

I think all the tourneys should have UTC time as "oficial schedule". This time never changes and his own name says it's for everybody, it's UNIVERSAL. As most of tourneys (or all of them) are played by people from all over the world, UTC is the best.

Then, each one would have to deal with their own local daylight saving and so on, but UTC time would be inmmutable.
What I don't think it's right, it's to change the time of the tourneys according to a specific zone, even though those tourneys are held in that zone.
Of course, each tourney director is free to use the time they want to, but I'm talking about what I think it's best for all.

[Tom]

I asked stog to add some code to the post with the google calendar http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489

It now displays the current time for UTC, USA/Eastern and AUS/Eastern

So now anyone can figure out when a tourney starts.

Those three time zones are what time most, if not all, of the tourneys follow.

I will now update the list to refect the local time for the tourney!

tom

[KissMyAss]

Okay, I've mentioned this before, and have noticed its still there....   http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489    "week out" is listed as running on a wednesday, but its actually held on a friday, and in the tourney list in the post below the one i mentioned, week out is listed as friday.

Great looking post though, and love the ease of time conversion, cos we all know how good I'm not at it without something like that.   

Hugs

[rebayona]

Okay, I've mentioned this before, and have noticed its still there....   http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489    "week out" is listed as running on a wednesday, but its actually held on a friday, and in the tourney list in the post below the one i mentioned, week out is listed as friday.

Fixed, no idea how week out moved to Wednesday... maybe someone wanted so bad the week to be over?

It was set to 20:00 Melbourne time, hope it is OK now.

[KissMyAss]

Yeah the week out's changed for this week, but for next week etc.  i still see it as on a wednesday.    Also just noticed, the Kiwi is listed as running an hour later than it actually does.    It opens for registration at nine thirty pm my time, with play starting at ten pm.  (australia)

I don't know if there's anything out of place with the other tourneys, I don't really follow the schedule much.  Only noticed the kiwi cos i was looking at the weekout.   

Hugs

[jeeves]

Can the tourney schedule please be updated? I see an occasional Aussie Hump Day tourney taking place from time to time, which is not on the schedule, and the Saturday Night Fever hasn't run for some considerable time so maybe that could be deleted (or preferably the tourney resurrected, as the format makes a refreshing change from any other).  

Also, my preference only, but I would like to see it in a tabular format with each individual tourney (i.e. each kiwi and tampa shown separately) in day/time order.  I can also think of a better way of showing the regional times, but maybe that's a step too far for now.  

[diane]

If you write it, I will post it  If no one has done it before, I will do it at the weekend.

Agree with resurrecting Saturday night fever - can one of you nab Tom and ask if Tourneybot could run that automatically.

[jeeves]

If you write it, I will post it 

OK, done.  I've sent you a pm.

[socksey]

Jeeves, there are still impromptu tourneys being run that are not on the schedule because they only occur when a TD feels kind enough to run one.

socksey



Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. ~ Lewis Carroll

[jeeves]

Jeeves, there are still impromptu tourneys being run that are not on the schedule because they only occur when a TD feels kind enough to run one.

socksey

Then they won't feature on a Tourney Schedule, given that it represents a list of planned activity

[jeeves]

@ Diane......how does this look?  Where there's a will there's a way...... ;-)

[socksey]

To avoid confusion, I suggest the "Time" be labeled EST, USA.  Otherwise, looks good to me.

socksey



What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? - George Eliot

[stog]

BIG CLOCKS HERE http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489

Schedule 1 post above http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22483/#msg22483

[diane]

Schedule 1 post above http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22483/#msg22483

I'm not sure what that means..the proposal is to replace that post with this updated and correct version of current tourneys.

Jeeves...

It looks good - but, as always, I do have some comments...

The format for Tampa isn't right - from Monday through to Friday it is 5/7, then Saturday and Sunday are 7/9

This isn't very editable...so should it change again - you will have to update it..forever  

A way round that, might be to pin the real document behind the image to each updated post, so that anyone can edit it in the future.

I still like including UTC time in with each local time..it is much easier to convert from UTC to anytime, than one timezone to another...[you know, in your head, at a glance...that kind of thing   ] I was working on narrowing down the columns for start / finish times to put UTC in...there is a lot of white space for not much info on those two columns...registration is always half an hour, so the only real value adding information, is 'when does registration open'...and a standard comment that all tourneys start 30 mins after registration...

[jeeves]

It looks good - but, as always, I do have some comments...   NO, REALLY?? 

The format for Tampa isn't right - from Monday through to Friday it is 5/7, then Saturday and Sunday are 7/9  OK, CORRECTED

This isn't very editable...so should it change again - you will have to update it..forever    DO I NOT LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT!

A way round that, might be to pin the real document behind the image to each updated post, so that anyone can edit it in the future. THAT SOUNDS MUCH BETTER - HOW DOES ONE PIN A DOC BEHIND AN IMAGE?

I still like including UTC time in with each local time..it is much easier to convert from UTC to anytime, than one timezone to another...[you know, in your head, at a glance...that kind of thing   ] I was working on narrowing down the columns for start / finish times to put UTC in...there is a lot of white space for not much info on those two columns...registration is always half an hour, so the only real value adding information, is 'when does registration open'...and a standard comment that all tourneys start 30 mins after registration...  I WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE UTC TOO, BUT THIS WOULD MEAN EDITING THE SCHEDULE 4 TIMES PER YEAR, AS THE UTC TIMINGS WOULD CHANGE EACH TIME THE AUS OR USA TIMES CHANGED. I WOULD RATHER LOOK IMMEDIATELY BELOW THE SCHEDULE AT THE BIG CLOCKS TO DETERMINE UTC TIME

[jeeves]

[diane]

1 - THAT SOUNDS MUCH BETTER - HOW DOES ONE PIN A DOC BEHIND AN IMAGE?

2 - I WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE UTC TOO, BUT THIS WOULD MEAN EDITING THE SCHEDULE 4 TIMES PER YEAR, AS THE UTC TIMINGS WOULD CHANGE EACH TIME THE AUS OR USA TIMES CHANGED. I WOULD RATHER LOOK IMMEDIATELY BELOW THE SCHEDULE AT THE BIG CLOCKS TO DETERMINE UTC TIME

Well, you send me the file of the final table [I think it is a word document]...and I attach it to the post [the word version of this table is the document behind the image  ]

Ok..if that works for you..let me see if it works for me too.

If I look at the clocks right now, it is 9.57am UTC, 4.57am EST and 6.57pm here. [it is also some other time in the UK, if it is summertime]. I want to work out how long it is until sign up for bloody Mary Sunday special...which is at 11am EST..ok..here goes  ..it is 6 hours from now in EST..yoo hoo, 1am here....ok, I guess that works!

[diane]

Regularly scheduled weekly tournaments at FIBS are in the list below.  Some tournaments have registration prerequisites or limits which can generally be waived by simply asking the TD if he/she will *ALLOW* you to play. Some have a long tradition like Bago and F3's and some have their own championship series associated with them, e.g. Bago, Mini Matches, and the Bloody Mary. Regardless, if you play at FIBS and don't play in one or more of these each week you are missing a lot of fun.

Other tournaments may be organized using TourneyBot or Challonge at almost any time. Some may occur at about the same time each week, but not be on a fixed schedule. Those tourneys are not included here, but are always a lot of fun, too.

To simplify keeping this schedule up to date, including during DST changes, the schedule lists the LOCAL time the tourney follows. In the next post there are clocks showing the current time for each of those timezones. Just look at the proper clock to see how see a specific tourney is.

Match lengths for regular rounds and finals vary. They are in parenthesis below following the tourney name.

• MON --  Week In (3/5) 1930/2000 AUS/Eastern
• MON-SUN -- Tampa Sevens at Nine (7/9) 2030/2100 USA/Eastern
• MON-FRI -- Krazy Kiwi Klassic (3/5) 0730/0800 USA/Eastern
• MON -- Monday Three/Five (3/5) 1132/noon USA/Eastern
• MON -- Work Can Wait Forever (3/5) 1400/1430 USA/Eastern
• TUE --  Tuesday Three/Five (3/5) 1132/noon USA/Eastern
• TUE --  BagOlymic (3/5) 1830/1900 UTC
• WED -- Wednesday Three/Five (3/5) 1132/noon USA/Eastern
• THU --  Thursday Three/Five (3/5) 1132/noon USA/Eastern
• THU --  BagOlymic (3/5) 1830/1900 UTC
• FRI  --  Week Out (3/5) 1930/2000 AUS/Eastern
• FRI --   F3 (3/5) noon/1230 USA/Eastern
• SAT --  Saturday Stubbies (2/2) 1530/1600 AUS/Eastern
• SAT --  Mini-Matches (2/2) 1100/1130 USA/Eastern
• SAT --  Saturday Night Fever  (1/5 Dbl. Elim) 2030/2100 UTC
• SUN --  Sunday Session (3/5) 1930/2000 AUS/Eastern
• SUN --  Bloody Mary "Sunday Special" (3/5) 1100/1130 USA/Eastern

socksey recommends this site World Clock where you can click on a city in your time zone to find your UTC differential.  

Now, one of the answers to the question of where is a schedule of FIBS tournaments can be simply saying, "See www.fibsboard.com"

Ok...this keeps the original post, in case we want to rebuild it...

[diane]

ok...lets see how people like the new look..

Stog may want us to manage the image differently - it is a bit larger than he normally allows. You had put it in photobucket, but I put them on here - that way if photobucket goes screwy or anything, we still have the image. I think I was suypposed to put an image of that size in the gallery and then refer to it, anyhoo we can fix all that up, if everyone likes the new look.

So, if you send me the file as it is now - completely correct, I will attach that also, and we are done - anyone can open the file, alter, save the image and  'voila!, the tourney schedule is up to date...say for example if Tom puts Saturday Night Fever on auto for us!

It may also be that Tourneybot could export a list of tournaments in this format [or very similar], so that updating the schedule is just a matter of posting an image of the output from the bot...ooooo 

[Tom]

As far as timezones, changes etc, maybe we need to go to a live document, like the second post by stog.

That is a google calendar that we can edit, and I think the TIME changes the viewer's timezone!

Maybe we need to change that from a MONTH view to a WEEK view so we might be able to get more info displayed.

tom

[rebayona]

As far as timezones, changes etc, maybe we need to go to a live document, like the second post by stog.

That is a google calendar that we can edit, and I think the TIME changes the viewer's timezone!

Is not working like that, is showing ET time instead of local time.

Maybe we need to change that from a MONTH view to a WEEK view so we might be able to get more info displayed.

Agree. Month view is really confusing and schedule repeats itself each week, no need to show it in a different way.

[Tom]

I have to say that using the image for the schedule sure makes it hard to make edits to...

can we go back to a text based schedule?

[diane]

The original text based post is on this thread, so yes we can.

What might be better, is to have the excel file behind the image attached so that can be edited and attached...because editing that text file is also a pain.

I am also still very open to any other approaches that make it easier!

Is there anything to add besides Australian Bago at the moment? I do plan to do that, this weekend should be fine.

[Tom]

On the Mon-Thur 3/5 change the moderators list to Tom/sixtie/socksey and on the F3 remove Adrian

Thanks!

[jeeves]

[diane]

ggrr....Fibsboard needs to get with the times!!

and whyyyyy soooo agonisingly slow, does it need a reboot or kick up the 'erse or something??

[stog]

docx added

[socksey]

May I suggest the tourney schedule be reflective of UTC time exclusively since that is a world standard time?  While USA/EST may be easy for me since I live in the USA, I have no idea what Aus/Eastern represents.  My suggested World Clock Meeting Planner has no basis for Aus/Eastern unless I know of a city in that time zone, which I don't.  Using UTC seems infinitely more simple than looking at a chart with multiple time bases.

socksey



Every day is Earth Day. - Anonymous

[jeeves]

May I suggest that the tourney schedule only reflects UTC if the actual tourneys themselves run on it.  If not, the schedule will need updating every time there is a time change in any host country.  It's difficult enough following tourney times when local clocks change without the schedule going ballistic as well.

I now use the clocks shown in the post immediately following the schedule, and haven't had a problem since 

[diane]

docx added

missed this yeaterday - thanks stog, will upload the word doc behind the tourney schedule image, which means it can be updated by pretty much anyone in the future 

[Tom]

I also added a notice to the tourneybot 'tourneys' command that tells you how soon the next tourney opens, so no time zone needed!

tom

[KissMyAss]

Thanks for that Tom.  Now even I can sound intelligent when someone asks me when the next tourney opens.   Much easier to be able to tell them how many minutes till registration opens than to try and work out times in different zones of the world. 

Hugs

[socksey]

I just give them the tourney schedule page 1 link.  I am asked this so often, I made a shout programmable button with the link.  ))

socksey




Once, after finishing a picture, I thought I would stop for awhile, take a trip, do things – the next time I thought of this, I found five years had gone by.­ - Willem de Kooning

[Tom]

Can who ever maintains the schedule graphic please make the following changes

remove Adrian as a moderator of the F3
Add sixtie as a moderator on the Monday - Thursday 3/5
remove Tom as moderator from sunday session

These changes are just updating the schedule to the way the bot creates the tourneys and nothing else.

Tom

[Tom]

Oh Yes!

Socksey should be listed FIRST on the F3 and Saturday Mini's!

[diane]

Ok, is it possible to do an export from the bot?o...ooo, deja vu...anyway, rather than me asking the bot about each tourney individually, can you get a listing of who TDs what?

Oh, before tinkering...KMA should be a co-TD on saturday stubbies, and both aussie bagos...and I think I should be on the Konkluder - if the other two dont mind 

If you want to tinker any others before passing me the list, do that. You can email it if you like. Once I have the real status, will tinker this to correct and post again.

There is no hurry now tough, all the current tourneys are listed, which is better than before when three were missing 

[KissMyAss]

I'm co on Konkluder cos it was set up for me to help Cigale find his TD feet.   

If he decides later on that he wants that spot to name his own tourney, then KKKK will be no more and Cigale will have the slot for whatever he comes up with.   

Entirely up to Cigale to decide things about that tourney.

[socksey]

I also added a notice to the tourneybot 'tourneys' command that tells you how soon the next tourney opens, so no time zone needed!

tom

I like that!  But, another mystery.  Why do some of the tourneys in progress notify me when I log on and some don't.  I like the easy way to not have to find the tourney number manually or wait for the announcement.  I'm a busy lady!     I have my phone alarm to keep me up on when to start, so I can manage my time better.     Also, I'm getting lazy.   

socksey



Yes, there are many things that need to get done, but in this moment I have to do nothing. - Oprah Winfrey

[Tom]

It's not a tourney in PROGRESS it is if the tourney is accepting registration!

If it has already started you should get a match notification unless you have a bye (or are out but are still a TD)

tom

[diane]

That is a mystery indeed - I had meant to raise that one. Tampa always tells me it is open for registration, as does Krazy..but a good few others don't [my own, for example]. Is it a setting rolled out to some tourneys but not all yet?

[Tom]

No, it should work the same for all.

If you are a SUBSCRIBED player and login while registration is open and you are not registered the bot will tell you.

Tom

[socksey]

Ok, I'll pay attention next time and let you know the ones that don't tell me.   

socksey



Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses. - unknown

[diane]

I will note which ones do and which ones dont over the coming week.

I am subscribed.

[KissMyAss]

Is this some foreign fancery that one has not been informed about??       *bans diane*

No tourneys inform me upon log in about anything.   

Where and how does one "subscribe" and who must payment be sent to??   

[Tom]

TELL TOURNEYBOT SUBSCRIBE should do it

[diane]

Yup - he covered it...it is something that went in place a long time ago, and was more useful before some of the recent improvements came in. Specifically, it made tourneybot send you tells about tourneys registering, rather than you having to look out for shouts. Now it has all these added extras...well..for some events 

[KissMyAss]

Thank you Tom .... *stares at diane* ....   someone's been trying to keep the secrets to herself.   Not mentioning any names that start with d and rhyme with CryAnne. 

I really think we ought to have a quiet chat about her bossman, she's always causing trouble.  Am forever banning her from my tourneys.     

[diane]

At yes, that well known word, CryAnne...

What can I say, how is it my fault if you don't RTFM...you are big girl who can read and write and find your own web links...life would just be dull if I told you everything....

[KissMyAss]

See what I mean??   

Complete lack of respect for a fellow TD.     

This is the excrement I have to put up with on a daily basis.   Its very very tough to be me at the moment, I'm tellin ya.

[Bubba]

I have some questions/observations about Tourneybot, TPR, and the schedule:

The original post to this thread and the first reply both show a different tourney schedule.  I've always used the fancy one:
http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489
But now I notice that they're different.  The 'image' one has 31 tourneys, and the "fancy" one just 27 (it's missing the 2 Australian Bagos, Australian Hump day, and Kiwi Konkluder)

*Is this "fancy" one obsolete?  If so, is the 'image' one in the original post always up to date?

*There are no results for the Saturday Night Fever and mini-matches tourneys on the TB results page.  Do they still exist?

*When I've played in Bagos, Tourneybot doesn't seem to be used.  It's done manually through Challonge.  Are these results included in the TPR standings?

*As far as the weekly TPR rankings go, does the week start/end with the first/last tourney on the schedule?

*I agree with the previous posts that suggest it'd be easier if all tourney times were in the same timezone format.

Thank you Tom, for TourneyBot, and to all the tourney directors.

[diane]

Answers, in order  

The 'image one' is up to date for tourneys and times they run. The TDs arent right, but I am waiting on an official list, or a way to find that, to fix that. In the meantime, it is a good guide. We have tried a few formats to get the schedule easy to update and this one is honestly the easiest, although I know some don't agree. The word file for the image is there, anyone can download the word file, alter the schedule, screenshot the file and save as an image. That's it - easy [we are limited by how posts format, the previous was a 'list', and editing it, very fiddly]. The fancy one, I have no idea how to update, so that will be out of date.
As an extra bit of information, anytime, you can send a tell to tourneybot 'tourneys', and it will tell you the next one to run, and how many hours/ minutes from your query, so you dont have to worry about timezones.

eg..You tell TourneyBot: tourneys
TourneyBot says: No matching tourneys.
TourneyBot says: Registration for Tampa Sevens at Nine opens at  8:30 PM EDT (0030 UTC) in about 2 hours and starts 30 mins later.

*****

Saturday night fever is greyed out in the schedule, because it is no longer running. We hope to resurrect that soon. It will need a new time slot though, it currently sits on top of Tampa. Minimatches runs very well, and the answer is identical to your question about bago. Tourneybot hasnt been around for ever, and some tourneys predate the current version which can pretty much run tourneys alone [give or take extreme connection or player events]. There were tourneys run manually, Fridays3, Minimatches and Bago. They have stayed varying degrees of manual,   and the results are posted in other threads in the tourney forum. Although they are run differently, the points are imported and included in the TPR. [the TPR counts all the tourneys in the list on that post, if it is on the list, the points are included].

*****

The tourney week starts with Tampa Fives at nine [on Sunday night in its own time zone, but running at 11am Monday here in Australia]..

It finishes with the Bloody Mary on Sunday night.

The list in the TPR post shows the progress of the tourneys, and each day, the Tampa series is the 'prompt to post', when that one finishes, Tourneybot tots up current status and posts the daily / weekly updates. The last one to run, on Sunday night in its own time zone, prompts the post, but the TPR points will not be included in that post..they will be on next weeks totals.

*****

"You would agree that all times would be easier to follow if they were in the same format"...hmm..ok, I choose AEST. You will have to convert all the tourney times I supply manually to your time zone. Everyone not in AEST will have to do that.

Do you see the problem?   You could say I should choose UTC instead, and we considered that - it was my preferred option. Having argued for that and lost, I see now, this is much easier. The tourneys in your time zone, intended for you, are stated in your local time. The clocks supplied can be used for conversions to any others you may wish to play.

You can of course play in any tourney, dependent on your sleep [or lack thereof] cycle. The bot is there to use the command 'tourneys', so you can get the time in 'hours from now', which is by far the easiest way. You will get the hang of what is when quite quickly. You can see from the schedule the 'sequence of tourneys'..and for the TPR...if 'Week in' is running, the next is 'Krazy Kiwi' starting 2 hours later. After that is Monday Three/Five...etc.

*****

I hope this answers your questions, and if not, please ask for clarification. We are open to improvement suggestions and welcome them - as long as it isnt something we already tried and found it didnt work  

[diane]

I will note which ones do and which ones dont over the coming week.

I am subscribed.

So far they all have..but the tampa 7/9 didn't this morning..I logged in at 10.32 - I have been specifically logging in during registration to check. Was it too close to opening of registration?

[socksey]

Quote diane:
"Do you see the problem?   You could say I should choose UTC instead, and we considered that - it was my preferred option. Having argued for that and lost, I see now, this is much easier. The tourneys in your time zone, intended for you, are stated in your local time. The clocks supplied can be used for conversions to any others you may wish to play."

Who decided we shouldn't use UTC when that is accepted world standard for time.  I have finally figured out the schedule (I think), but it took a hell of a while to do it.  I regularly play in two of the "Aussie" tourneys because I can manage it. 

I STILL think the schedule should be in UTC time.  All the clock references online accept UTC as their reference point.  Give me an argument for the way our schedule is currently set up with all those different confusing times.   

socksey



Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

[diane]

Who decided we shouldn't use UTC when that is accepted world standard for time.  I have finally figured out the schedule (I think), but it took a hell of a while to do it.  I regularly play in two of the "Aussie" tourneys because I can manage it.  

I STILL think the schedule should be in UTC time.  All the clock references online accept UTC as their reference point.  Give me an argument for the way our schedule is currently set up with all those different confusing times.  

The decision was sixtie and Tom when formalising the TPR, I think there is also a vote out there..The rationale is stated in the first post of this thread with the schedule.

I would really prefer not to go around this again, I argued my case, lost and have got my head around this. Chopping and changing is the most confusing aspect to trying to manage tourney times.

I am certainly not updating the schedule yet again.

Can you not cope with the 'tourneys' command? Or is the problem with setting your alarm clock to attend every single tournament?  

[diane]

This was posted in the virtual world, as an analogy for the current breakdown in the American government.

So, Imagine that the company you work for held a poll, and asked everyone if they thought it would be a good idea to put a soda machine in the break room. The poll came back, and the majority of your colleagues said "Yes", indicating that they would like a soda machine. Some said no, but the majority said yes. So, a week later, there's a soda machine. Now imagine that Bill in accounting voted against the soda machine. He has a strong hatred for caffeinated soft drinks, thinks they are bad you you, whatever. He campaigns throughout the office to get the machine removed. Well, management decides "OK, we'll ask again" and again, the majority of people say "Yes, lets keep the soda machine." Bill continues to campaign, and management continues to ask the employees, and every time, the answer is in favor of the soda machine. This happens, lets say... 35 times. Eventually, Bill says "OK, I'M NOT PROCESSING PAYROLL ANYMORE UNTIL THE SODA MACHINE IS REMOVED", so nobody will get paid unless management removes the machine. What should we do???

Answer: Fire Bill and get someone who will do the fucking job.

Bonus: Bill tells everyone that he was willing to "Negotiate", to come to a solution where everyone got their payroll checks, but only so long as that negotiation capitulated to his demand to remove the soda machine.

Bill is a fucking jackass.

I feel like we do this a lot here...I wonder if there is a connection...

[jeeves]

Hehehe, sounds familiar 

Although I think it was before my time at FIBS, I'd imagine that the local times were preferred for one or two reasons I can think of, namely that it would stop the schedule having to be updated every time local time changed (if it was still being run on local time) or to stop the tourney start times from changing twice a year (if it was being run on UTC time - this might have proved unpopular with players and TMs alike).

[dorbel]

The change to daylight saving worldwide isn't simultaneous, nor is it universal. Timing events in UTC is less confusing on that score.
The fact that some people would not be able to play and/or direct for part of the year if timing was UTC is clear, but of course as things stand, using local times means that some tournaments are unavailable to some players for all the year! If the KKK started at 1200 UTC for example, I would at least be able to play in it during the winter, rather than never being able to play in it at all. This must apply to many people. There is no one right answer for everybody here. UTC would be more inconvenient for TDs than anybody else I think, but as tourneybot now does 95% of the work, perhaps that isn't such a problem.

Nobody is holding anybody to ransom over this issue, so diane's little story is not really apposite here.

I vote for UTC.

[diane]

Not on this issue..yet...it certainly has happened.

The changing of the schedule, something like 4 times per year [different countries change at different times] for daylight savings changes was definitely a bit part of the rationale, yes. Thanks for remembering that.

[Tom]

Bubba,

Since the Saturday Night Fever has not run in a long time it can be removed, it has not run in over a year, so clearly is not part of any 'regularly run' tourney

Humm no results for minimatches? It is likely an oversight by me!
I can fix that pretty easily!

Now as far as the timezones in the schedule it boils down to this:

We had to edit the schedule (both here and in TourneyBot) and often there was confusion or errors,
so I added Timezones and automatic Daylight savings time adjustment in the bot so poof problem was fixed.

Then each tourney director selected what timezone their tourney was associated with and we have been running this way ever since.

Tom
ps. Bubba what is your FIBS name? I see this is your FIRST post here... so who are you?

[Tom]

I vote for UTC.

A number of people wanted UTC, but since I run the bot and could add DST support we did not go that way.

It was for one simple reason, the Mon-Thur 3/5's are during my lunch hour.
If we went to UTC I would likely only be able to play for 1/2 the year...

I was NOT going to let THAT happen!

LOL

Tom

[socksey]

I certainly would not want to make more work for anyone.  It was just that my suggestion to use worldclock.com is sort of takes the work out of all that figuring of time and time change as well.  I can see the battle is lost so now, I'll stfu. ))

socksey



What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? ~ George Eliot (or, in my case, the opposite)  ))

[Bubba]

Thanks for the very detailed answers to my questions.

I'm all for the soda machine, can one of the choices be sugar-free A&W Rootbeer?

ps. Bubba what is your FIBS name? I see this is your FIRST post here... so who are you?

On FIBS I am Kofa (I've registered here before with that name but don't know the email or password).  I did well in some tourneys early in the week, so I got sucked into going for the TPR ranking...hence all the questions.  The competition just won't let up, so I needed all the specifics.  

[sixty_something]

What a mess! Who started this anyway? Don't answer that.

It seems to me the solution to the issue of UTC vs. LOCAL can be resolved by simply listing BOTH.

OK, I know it is not so simple. This requires someone manually adjusting the UTC time whenever DST changes, wherever it changes. That is not once as we have discovered.

Yes, if tournaments were on a strict UTC schedule this would not be necessary. But we and the rest of the world have discovered we like DST. For us as players, TD's and admins, LOCAL time is essential to establish a familiar fixed time for a tourney to start. Locally, noon is noon regardless of DST status, but local noon relative to UTC changes by +/- one hour twice each year for at least three different cycles.

Regardless, UTC is the ONLY way we can universally communicate time throughout the year with players from around the globe.

IMO, the current confusion stems from the omission of UTC from listed times. Originally, both a local time and relative UTC were listed. Now, only local times are listed. I think that omission needs to be re-evaluated.

Since the new format appears to be spreadsheet based, how about creating a calculation to do that UTC conversion semi-automatically based on local time and three associated DST toggles? Once developed, I suspect it could be fully automated. Of course, the attachment would need to be replaced manually during or after seasonal DST changes, each DST change.

It's good to see the continued interest in keeping the schedule thread current and accurate. But remember, the original purpose was to make the schedule user friendly; such that any newcomer could quickly reference it and find tourney times with as little confusion as possible.

It seems somewhere along the way we've forgotten that, but improved and simplified the accuracy by using local times for each tourney. While this keeps it as simple as possible for TD's, TourneyBot and the schedule maintainer, a reader is required to be familiar with converting to their local time from three listed time zones. There is nothing friendly or easy in that conversion. Functionally, especially for a newcomer, the text only schedule becomes almost unreadable without some serious head scratching.

Again, thanks to all for continuing to maintain this calendar. Like all things at FIBS, much more work is involved than is apparent on the surface. It's wonderful to see we now have 31 regularly scheduled tourneys. That's up from only about a dozen two to three years ago.

I have not missed being responsible for the calendar in the least, nor do I want to assume any new responsibility. Nonetheless, I hope my suggestion and comments can prove useful.

Keep local, but list global. Then readers are only required to know their own UTC adjustment and DST status. That's about all most of us can handle.

[diane]

Regardless, UTC is the ONLY way we can universally communicate time throughout the year with players from around the globe.

Er, no it isnt...there is the system we are currently running coupled with the bot telling you time to next tourney in 'hours and minutes from query'

IMO, the current confusion stems from the omission of UTC from listed times. Originally, both a local time and relative UTC were listed. Now, only local times are listed. I think that omission needs to be re-evaluated.

Then you really are gonna have to come up with a way of doing it other than me maintaining it. I did the painful upkeep of the list you provided, 4 times per year, stuffed it up every time necessitating more changes - and didnt notice anything except criticism for it.

I will ask again...can the Bot not simply export a list of tourneys it runs? Lucky Dice can the keep the schedule up to date for the one event that isnt run with the bot..easy. I dont understand why that is hard?

Since the new format appears to be spreadsheet based, how about creating a calculation to do that UTC conversion semi-automatically based on local time and three associated DST toggles? Once developed, I suspect it could be fully automated. Of course, the attachment would need to be replaced manually during or after seasonal DST changes, each DST change.

Complicated compared to above - but a good fall back position. Once it is written, attach it to the first post and I will be happy to post one of the four pages per year. If you label the tab..maybe something like Jan -  April xx, April xx- May xx, October xx - November xx., I can simply put some calendar reminders in for me to change it.

Actually, that only covers American and Australian time changes..Europe and New Zealand - who are both represented in the tourneys, should be kept up to date. So, I think it is six changes we need. [but I might be wrong there, depends which time zone the tourney follows - and I think the Europe ones follow USA, when you figure all that out, you can just make the appropriate tabs.]

It seems somewhere along the way we've forgotten that, but improved and simplified the accuracy by using local times for each tourney. While this keeps it as simple as possible for TD's, TourneyBot and the schedule maintainer, a reader is required to be familiar with converting to their local time from three listed time zones. There is nothing friendly or easy in that conversion. Functionally, especially for a newcomer, the text only schedule becomes almost unreadable without some serious head scratching.

You do have a way of putting things in a very demeaning way...I am not sure which Royal 'We' you mean...but none of 'US' have forgotten anything. We are there day in, day out answering questions and trying to get newbies to a position of understanding and involved in the tourneys regularly. It is easier, much easier, to have the schedule right...the clocks directly underneath that post will do the conversion of an apple to a banana, if you so desire. And dont forget the bot query...I dont know what you mean by 'text only'...but the schedule is now clearer than it ever was, more often right, and much easier to maintain. The user is required to do some work, but that was ALWAYS the case.

Really speaking, the only time someone needs to get 'head in a knot' about the schedule in any form, is if one is trying to cheat the TPR by attending every tournament. That still seems pretty unsporting to me, it skews figures amongst other things. However, I have said that enough times and you just want participation, no matter what. So, the tourney schedule offers a few tourneys per day to each time zone, attending the ones outside your timezone is, frankly, not the scheduler's problem, but the player's problem.

Again, thanks to all for continuing to maintain this calendar. Like all things at FIBS, much more work is involved than is apparent on the surface. It's wonderful to see we now have 31 regularly scheduled tourneys. That's up from only about a dozen two to three years ago.

Thank you for your kind appreciative words, from ALL.

[diane]

So far they all have..but the tampa 7/9 didn't this morning..I logged in at 10.32 - I have been specifically logging in during registration to check. Was it too close to opening of registration?

Sunday sessions also didn't notify me..I logged on at 7.40, 10 mins into rego.

[diane]

Since the Saturday Night Fever has not run in a long time it can be removed, it has not run in over a year, so clearly is not part of any 'regularly run' tourney

Humm no results for minimatches? It is likely an oversight by me!
I can fix that pretty easily!

Any progress on getting Saturday night fever to run on tourneybot?

I also can't seem to locate a thread for the Tampa fives at nine series...

[socksey]

Never mind newbies who must be totally confused.  How about an oldie who can't get to a tourney in time!  I thought I had it all figured out when this morning I was an hour late to Sunday Session.     Btw, this revelation also revealed I had several other tourneys times wrong on my personal tourney schedule!

I asked a player how long ago the tourney started and he said 1 hour, 10 minutes ago.  this was just as the final finished.  So, this figures out to be 4 am my time, while worldclock says 1900 in Canberra (which is reference city diane told me to use) is 3 am my time.     To further complicate things, the calender schedule says 6 am which is supposed to reflect eastern standard time USA, which is 5 am my time! 

Now, please tell me how the f*** anyone can figure out this system???   

Seems Tourneybot is the only way we're going to be able to get an accurate tourney time, but this requires logging on to FIBS many times a day and night.  Perhaps Tourneybot can shout when the next tourney is scheduled just after the winner shout of each tourney?  I think that might be more efficient along with the announcements of when next tourney is when you log in, everyone should be notified.  The shout would get people who don't or do not yet subscribe to Tourneybot.

socksey


The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. ~ Paul Cezanne

[diane]

I didn't tell you to use Canberra, that must have been someone else, if anything I would have said Melbourne if asked.

The time zone here is AEST (Australian Eastern Standard TIme, UTC +10) or AEDST (Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time, UTC +11).

The change for daylight savings is not well publicised, for sure...I rocked up at 7.30, half expecting it to be an hour late 

[Tom]

I think we're making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

The ONLY time it is a problem is when a player is trying to play a tournament that has it's time centered on a different continent.

I am pretty sure most people in the USA can deal with EST.
Can people in AUS and NZ deal with AEST?

Between the World Clock post by socksey and the time until next tourney from the bot it is pretty well covered.

Tom

[dorbel]

Erm, for Europeans EST and AEST are meaningless Tom. However, surely every fibster knows how his/her own time zone relates to UTC? If all else fails, it is Fibstime!

[Tom]

Ok dorbel you are right I did not mention Europeans.

My point is that is has been this way for a very long time and people do not seem to have problems finding the tourneys!

I think the WORLD CLOCK post helps anyone who is confused!

Tom

[dorbel]

My point is that is has been this way for a very long time and people do not seem to have problems finding the tourneys!

Perhaps you haven't read this thread Tom. In it, two TDs relate their difficulties logging in at the correct time! Perhaps it is time to try something different.

[Tom]

Perhaps you haven't read this thread Tom. In it, two TDs relate their difficulties logging in at the correct time! Perhaps it is time to try something different.

I just look at the registrations.

The only confusion I ever recall was the question of which weekend(s) and which way and getting the schedule updated properly.

Let me repeat that more clearly, The biggest confusion I recall was getting the Schedule updated properly!

This is why the last schedule I posted was worded so no edits were needed.

If someone wants to update the schedule to include UTC that is fine with me, but they will also need to maintain it!
I have not been able to update it for a while anyway...

Tom

[jeeves]

I think we're making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

Agreed 

[diane]

Agreed 

Me too, with the slight proviso that, the molehill is a molehill - it trips people up and causes annoyance everytime we fall over it..it has always been a molehill, but I really think it is slightly smaller than it was when we were constantly chaging things [Tom has got this to low maintenance and most often ever right]

If anyone knows a sure fire way to remove the molehill, Im all ears/ eyes.

[socksey]

I didn't tell you to use Canberra, that must have been someone else, if anything I would have said Melbourne if asked.

The time zone here is AEST (Australian Eastern Standard TIme, UTC +10) or AEDST (Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time, UTC +11).

The change for daylight savings is not well publicised, for sure...I rocked up at 7.30, half expecting it to be an hour late 

I was pretty sure it was you, but maybe it was KMA.  Anyway, you have to put a city in to used worldclock, or UTC.  So, we're supposed to remember -11 UTC.......uh huh.  The point is it's too confusing and difficult the way it is for everyone except maybe you.  Yes, I remember you are smart and all the rest of us aren't.  Or, maybe it's just me. 

socksey



Never argue with an idiot. You can piss him off but you can't make him smart. - unknown

[diane]

So, we're supposed to remember -11 UTC.......uh huh.  The point is it's too confusing and difficult the way it is for everyone except maybe you.  Yes, I remember you are smart and all the rest of us aren't. 

You are supposed to remember -11 UTC in summer [your winter], and -10 UTC in winter [your summer]..easy...

Yes, it is confusing, but my proposition is that it is confusing whatever you do. I have absolutely no idea what time work can wait/ bloody mary or 3/5s run, because I never bump into them. They are out of my time zone, and I have no need to know, so I dont.

When I was updating the schedule, 4 times per year, for tourneys I didnt know the time of, it was a freaking nightmare...

I agree in principle that stating UTC is good - I argued for it, as I have mentioned. When sixite writes the spreadsheet to make it easy, you can post the updates 4 times yearly and everything will be super easy.

Until then, it wont be so easy if - and this is the big IF, you insist on playing tourneys out of your time zone. If you play the ones that are in your time zone, they are easy to find, and if you are up regurlarly at odd hours, you will 'bump into them'. If you arent, then well, the problem is yours, not the schedulers.

As for smart, yes, I am very smart - I am not gonna beat around that one, and it is still a nightmare trying to make this right, let alone easy. I will settle for right and not so easy.

It is very easy to sit and say 'it should be like this', and then sit back and wait for someone to make it so. I am not going to 'make it so', because it is too hard for me, even thugh I am smart - if anyone knows an easier way, then I fully support that.

[socksey]

Oh, and I found another error.  On Sundays, it should read Tampa 5's at 9 instead of Tampa 7's at 9.     I noticed it when I was playing that tourney tonight!     I corrected my new personal schedule that I'm apparently still working on.     I'd change it myself, but I well remember sixtie saying nobody messes with the schedule except  him!  I'm happy to leave it at that, and sit back and critique.    You see, in another life, I was a perfectionist, often burning myself out, while in this life, it is my purpose to make things easier on myself. 

Seriously, Tom, and whomever, UTC is the world standard and we really should use it. 

socksey



A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. ~ Chinese Proverb

[KissMyAss]

Tampa is 7/9 on Saturdays and Sundays, and is 5/7 for the other five days of the week, including today, which is Monday.  Therefore Sunday's Tampa is correctly labelled, as is today's one.

[captainmubbers]

simples!

[dorbel]

Is it too radical to suggest that tournaments should be fixed to a UTC time for 12 months of the year? This would mean that Thursday 3/5 (for example) @ 1600UTC would be for most Euros 1800 in the summer and 1700 in the winter, for New Yorkers 1200 summer, 1100 winter and so on. I can see that this would make the tournament less convenient for some players for part of the year, but of course an equal number of players would find it more convenient. As an example, I can't play in KKK tournaments at their present time, but I could at least play for part of the year if they were fixed to a UTC slot.
I suspect that most players could manage both local time slots. It may also be that some would draw bigger crowds if shifted by an hour. Anyway, the schedule would become simplicity itself, with one time on it that never needs revision.

[diane]

On Sundays, it should read Tampa 5's at 9 instead of Tampa 7's at 9.  

That's odd, because Sunday's tampa here is 7/9    

You see how easy those mistakes are  

Yes, smart as I am..I cross wired that one 

[diane]

Tampa is 7/9 on Saturdays and Sundays, and is 5/7 for the other five days of the week, including today, which is Monday.  Therefore Sunday's Tampa is correctly labelled, as is today's one.

'Fraid not darlin  The Tampa we have on Sunday is the Saturday night one in its own time slot 

The one on Monday afternoon here is their Sunday night Tampa, and is indeed, 5/7.

[diane]

Is it too radical to suggest that tournaments should be fixed to a UTC time for 12 months of the year?

It isn't radical, and I already tried it with Saturday Stubbies..since it really doesn't matter which local time that runs.

Sadly, it wasn't popular, it didn't fill half of the year and it therefore didn't stick...

It is a good suggestion, but does fly a bit in the face of creating a tourney that caters to a local time slot.

[socksey]

It's that extra day ahead that is a real tripper!  That's why I created my own little private schedule that is still in progress.   

Now that makes 3 TD's confused about times!  I rest my case.......perhaps the molehill has grown to a mountain? 

Tom, the sheer numbers of players constitutes numbers in tourneys at any given time.  Doesn't necessarily mean most understand the schedule.  Oh, and maybe I do need to play all the tourneys in order to have a chance to win.  I'm not that great a player, ya know?!  Also, I play many because I can (work in progress). 

socksey



The world wisely prefers happiness to wisdom. ~ Will Durant

[dorbel]

If for example, you switched Thur35 to 1630UTC, then it would start 30 mins earlier or 30 minutes later than it does now, depending on the season. How inconvenient can that be to anybody who enters regularly? Just a thought. Personally, it doesn't matter much to me. I only play a limited number of tournaments. I can work out time zones. I'm just trying to simplify things for administrators, newbies, people who don't have english as a first language and people who have difficulty coping with local time on the other side of the world. Also, it is a 24 hour worldwide server that keeps to UTC. Its use seems logical and it will avoid the confusion if at some point in the future a state opts out of DST because it confuses the cows and fades the curtains.

[diane]

it will avoid the confusion if at some point in the future a state opts out of DST because it confuses the cows and fades the curtains.

KMA is in that state and has no daylight savings, but moves the tourney anyway, to where the action is ...it puts it out of reach for me for a few weeks though.

[diane]

Now that makes 3 TD's confused about times!  I rest my case.......perhaps the molehill has grown to a mountain?  

The molehill was always there, it is only the height that varies, less change = less opportunity for error and therefore less height. I state again, I find it very confusing to work in multiple time zones, this approach causes the least confusion for me, because I don't have to keep working it all out.

As dorbel  is the only one who doesn't find all this confusing, it is just a shame he hasn't time to deal with it for us dumbos.

[careca]

Is it too radical to suggest that tournaments should be fixed to a UTC time for 12 months of the year? ...

Yes, yes, please! Think global!

UTC, UTC, UTC! 

See ya,
Alex

[dorbel]

As dorbel  is the only one who doesn't find all this confusing, it is just a shame he hasn't time to deal with it

I think I could probably find ten minutes to type out a list of tournaments with times in UTC. Job done for the whole year.

[jeeves]

then it would start 30 mins earlier or 30 minutes later than it does now, depending on the season. How inconvenient can that be to anybody who enters regularly?

I like the idea  , minimal disruption to TMs and players alike.  All tourneys running on UTC, and no amendments to the schedule unless they're real changes rather than some notional seasonal change.     Can we put this to the vote once and for all? Tom? 

[diane]

I have really thought about this..and I too would come down in favour..some disruption will happen, but I think if my 7/7.30pm series run at 6.30/7 in winter and 7/7.30 in summer, the rest dont mater too much - it depends where KMA puts Krazy..please please no later than 10pm here, dear 9/9.30 in winter and 9.30/10 in summer?

[Tom]

Let's take a step back and look at the schedule.

The F3 has always run with changing UTC times (see http://fibsleagammon.free.fr/tournament.htm)

Mini-Matches 10AM Dallas time

Mon-Thur 3/5's Noon Eastern (USA) time

The Bago as well runs with a shifting UTC time

The Tampa 7 or 5's at 9, will always run at 9PM Tampa time

Many of the above mentioned tourneys have been running for in the neighborhood of 10 years with no problems.

It seems that the countries that most fibsters are from do follow DST http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

I was surprised to see that in Australia maybe 1/2 of the area (not population density) no longer follows DST.

I think a number of people voicing opinions on this are from Europe, so maybe we need a European centric tourney.
What time (UTC) or local would be best?

Tom

[diane]

Tom..I love ya, ya know that right...BUUUT...

The tourneys have run, sure - no problems??? seriously...the problems with UTC were manyfold, so we dropped the UTC component, because none of us can handle it! Tourneys went back when they should have gone forth and forth when they should have gone back..incorrect times were displayed..etc etc..

We have made it easier to get right - but it isnt easy to follow [not impossible, doable]. What we have here is an improvement suggestion, which it seems a lot of us think could work. You are Mr continuous improvement - dont stop now 

The opinions are coming from , are you ready..New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK and Europe [yes, I know they are the same ] Possibly even more...this is a global headache..honest...

The poll is running, please tell me you will consider the shift, if the majority are in favour and happy with it.

[captainmubbers]

The poll is running?  What poll???  Where

UK and Europe [yes, I know they are the same ]

How dare you, how VERY dare you 

[KissMyAss]

The poll is here.

http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/should-tourney-times-be-fixed-to-utc/msg36263/?topicseen#new

[diane]

Oh...and this is an 'all or none' scenario...if LD wont take bago to UTC, the whole shebang is unworkable - so someone get him involved and engaged 

[dorbel]

As LuckyDice doesn't use TourneyBot and does not acknowledge the basic TPR rules, perhaps the Bago tournaments that he runs should not be part of the TPR network anyway.

[Tom]

Oh...and this is an 'all or none' scenario...if LD wont take bago to UTC, the whole shebang is unworkable - so someone get him involved and engaged 

Who the HELL appointed you TourneyBot Queen?

This is NOT an all or nothing affair!

If you want the Week In/Week Out/Hump day tourneys on UTC that is FINE with me!

I can make the change right away.

But if you think we can FORCE LD or any other TD to change to UTC then you are mistaken.

I do not think  there is any reason to attempt to change the time of any tourney that has been running for almost 10 years!
It seems to be working the way it is!

Tom

[diane]

ok, I'm outta this conversation, I am fine as is...I do not need this crap...

[dorbel]

Steady Tom, you appear to be losing it. Who appointed you Tourneybot Queen if it comes to that?
What this thread has is people from every area where there are fibsters, politely and reasonably arguing for a change which they think will improve the TPR schedule.
Your main, indeed only, argument against change seems to be, "It has run fine for 10 years". The same argument can of course be applied against any change, although it does ignore the fact that nothing is so good that it can't be improved. Why don't you listen to your TDs and some of the tourney players who are the backbone of the tournaments? If they think that UTC is a good idea and it immediately simplifies the tournament calendar, why the hell not?

[stog]

received this message

one of the tourneys on saturday is not showing on the calender that this link takes us to http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489  on saturday, the newest tourney Krazy Kiwi Klassic Konkluder 0800 USA/EST is missing.

sorry, i haven't messed with this calender and didn't think i should.  please correct if you can.

ty,

[Tom]

I maintained the text based schedule, I am not sure who the best person is to update the current image based schedule.

Tom

[KissMyAss]

I went and looked through that link, and took a closer look at the schedule. 


Kiwi Klassic Konkluder IS listed on the tourney schedule post written by sixty-something.  BUT it is not listed on the calendar link post done by Stog.   

[jeeves]

Stop doing an impression of a dozy kiwi    , the question relates to the image-based schedule, not the text-based schedule.  If you want to update the image, you'll have to speak to my secretary, Diane. 

[KissMyAss]

Stop doing your impression of a whinging pom, and pay attention dear.  He clearly mentions "calendar" in his post, and the link, when followed, takes you directly to Stog's post which is a calendar.   The image based schedule in sixty-something's link DOES have the Konkluder tourney listed.   

I know its difficult to remember things at your advanced age, but hopefully this will assist you.  (I typed slowly and everything, so you got no excuse now!)   

[diane]

I maintained the text based schedule, I am not sure who the best person is to update the current image based schedule.

Tom

Haven't you asked this before? And didn't I say can?  Didn't I also post to that effect??

Or am I having prejavu?

Anyhoo, not relevant, the image is correct [because I take care of it  ]

[diane]

received this message

Yes - the message is for you, to update your calendar. Not sure why you are sharing it??

I seem to recall anyone can edit that calendar, but no one knows how to, except you. No one else seems keen to learn.

[diane]

I seem to recall anyone can edit that calendar, but no one knows how to, except you. No one else seems keen to learn.

No, just checked, only admin can edit that calendar, which is you, stog.

[stog]

the calendar is a google calendar maintained by tom so it will be up to him to edit

i can edit the post because it is html but the calendar is a google thingy

[diane]

Ok, that is clearer than in the original post. Tom it is then..

[magic_one]

Can someone please add all the tornaments listed in the full schedule at
http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/
posted on: May 26, 2010, 02:42:09 PM
to the google "FIBS Backgammon Tournaments" calendar at
http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/
reply posted on: May 26, 2010, 03:50:27 PM
For example, Monday   Monday Three/Five   Tom/Socksey   3/5   1130   1200   USA/EST
Otherwise, I do not know where to look for the most recent list of current tournaments.

Thanks . . .

[Tom]

I just updated the google calendar

[KissMyAss]

BOSSMAN


Brazilsdk in shout atm... saying Aussie Hump Day isn't listed in the schedule.  Said something about it not being on the google schedule.  I've looked at the first post on this link, which is the link he put in shout,... and it's clearly there. 


I dunno what schedule he's talking about so I'll leave it with you to sort out, I got a tourney to run.


Hugs

[Tom]

I updated the google calendar and also noticed that the Australian Bago was missing... added that too

Thanks!

[josephmcg]

I note that my usual lunchtime fix [Krazy Kiwi Klassic] seems to be taking place an hour or two earlier than the advertised time.  Looks like it's following Southern Hemisphere Daylight Savings time [rather than the advertised 'USA/EST'].

[magic_one]

In the full schedule, Monday "Week In" tourney is listed as starting at 2000 Aus/Eastern.
In the full schedule, Friday "Week Out" tourney is listed as starting at 2000 Aus/Eastern.
The above two tourneys appear to start at the same time, but on different days.
However, the Tournament calendar shows starting times to be 4am, 6am respectively.
Which times are correct?

[magic_one]

  What about "Aussie Midnight Fun"?   

[stog]

http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22483/#msg22483

A reporter has made the following comment:
The document for the shedule is missing and I depend on it for registering times/start times.Where has it gone ?It has all the information but in an open format.I keep getting a 404 - Attachment Not Found message.This never happened before?

have looked into this and i'm sry i can't find a fix at the moment -- the attachment seems to be on the server with correct permision but can't be accessed -- it might be because of new server security -- it being a m'soft docx -- also i don't think sixty has maintained or updated the doc for many many  years

i recommend you use the google tourney schedule maintained by Tom http://www.fibsboard.com/tourney-schedule/fibs-tournament-schedule/msg22489/#msg22489

[diane]

where did the delete button go?

[stog]

i think it's called 'remove'