[tournament-org] Things a Tournament Director hates

Thu Apr 6 12:04:30 BST 2023

To respond to Richard's complaint about the GoDraw Results box:
Homo Sapiens has 5 fingers each hand. It might be conjectured  that for 
this reason the human brain is good at holding up to 5 pieces of 
information at a time.

Spacing out lists in bunches of 5 makes reading easier as well.  In 
other pairing programs I have used, results input can be a long unbroken 
list with data entry entirely via mouse click. Much RSI!

In GoDraw you can enter by mouse, but you can also enter by keystroke. 
The draw is printed in sections of 5.  In most cases you enter 0 or 1, 
but players often just circle the winner.

Everybody likes to work differently, but here is what I do:
1. Wait till all results are in and recruit a helper.
2. Write the result on the draw sheet for B and W in the space indicated 
next to the name.
3. Helper reads out the sequence of 5 B results from the first batch.
4. I then type that sequence and press enter.
5. The display shows the next batch of 5 results.
6. Repeat at step 3 till all B results have been entered.

Players get very annoyed if a result has been wrongly entered.  So I 
check the result entry:

1. Scroll back to board 1.
2. Read out the 5 W results.
3. Helper confirms.
4. Press PgDn
5. Repeat at step 2

I claim that it will be difficult to find a faster or more accurate 
entry method.

I hope this answers the question.  Would you like your own custom 
version of the program - I am making the source available.

Geoff

33 Ashbury Close, Cambridge CB1 3RW 01223 710582

On 06/04/2023 02:27, Richard Wheeldon via tournament-org wrote:
> Agree with Gerry's comment.
> 
> Specific dislikes:
> 1. Those people who don't tell the TD they're turning up until right 
> before the round is due to start.
> 2. Those who don't tell the TD that they're not turning up and leave 
> their opponent hanging around waiting.
> 3. Cheats (thankfully very rare, but...)
> 4. The inevitable faffing with printers
> 
> Would like to see:
> 1. More volunteers in general
> 2. More ghosts in particular
> 3. A bigger box on GoDraw for entering results (why only 5 ?)
> 
> Richard
> 
>> On 05/04/2023 22:04:49, Gerry Gavigan via tournament-org 
>> <tournament-org at lists.britgo.org> wrote:
>>
>> For me it's simple: the (many, one) problem.
>>
>> No matter how much information you supply: stuck on the walls, on the 
>> internet, tattooed to their ......g forehead, many are unable to self 
>> serve but would rather ask the TD. This reflects a basic failure to 
>> understand that TDs are generally busy with your next round while you 
>> are pondering if you have got time to nip out to Tesco.
>>
>> I think this dovetails with my reaction to Geoff's comment.
>>
>> While I appreciate a player might not want to play someone from the 
>> same club and it is admirable that GoDraw has a facility to prevent 
>> it, I suggest they suck it up and get stronger faster than their local 
>> opponent so it doesn't happen again.
>>
>> In London the problem is amplified by players affiliated to different 
>> clubs meeting each other fairly regularly and I do not know if GoDraw 
>> (or care, actually) can prevent that.
>>
>> TDs are not running a small business, players are not their customers, 
>> some Go players volunteer to provide tournaments for other Go players. 
>> Those other Go players should be more appreciative and accepting of 
>> the small inconveneiences.
>>
>> I for one cannot both organise and play, and spend more time than most 
>> organising tournaments. It's my choice but please do not expect me to 
>> rush round wiping your brow with a silk handkerchief
>>
>>
>>
>> > On 05/04/2023 22:41 BST Geoff Kaniuk via tournament-org wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > Agreed re title. Ten things TD would like to see?
>> >
>> > GoDraw tries hard to pair players below the bar from different clubs 
>> The
>> > player annoyance seems to get more intense the closer you get to the
>> > bottom of the draw.
>> >
>> > The only alternative is to offer a handicap game instead of same club.
>> > GoDraw has a handicap bar that the DM can set - its default value is 
>> 10k.
>> >
>> > It means that for grades below the handicap bar, players will be paired
>> > with higher handicaps rather than same club where an even game+other
>> > club is not possible.
>> >
>> > Once the draw is done GoDraw provides a comment on each pairing giving
>> > the DM a change to try to modify the pairing if a same club game seems
>> > to be unreasonable.
>> >
>> > Note that a player who enters as No Club will happily play any other
>> > player even another No Club player.
>> >
>> > So although I agree that we prefer to play even, if the same club
>> > pairing is an issue then in my experience forcing an even game can lead
>> > to great unhappiness.
>> >
>> > Geoff
>> >
>> > 33 Ashbury Close, Cambridge CB1 3RW 01223 710582
>> >
>> > On 05/04/2023 18:30, Matt Marsh via tournament-org wrote:
>> > > Colin,
>> > >
>> > > On Wed, 5 Apr 2023, at 13:49, Colin Williams via tournament-org wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> For the next BGJ but one I’d like to write a short article about the
>> > >> top ten things that a Tournament Director hates, with the 
>> intention to
>> > >> help educate or remind people in order to make our life easier.
>> > >>
>> > >
>> > > Education is always good - though I do hope it will be given a 
>> different
>> > > title than "top ten things that a Tournament Director hates" - I'd
>> > > "hate" it to come across as though all TDs are constantly 
>> miserable and
>> > > disgruntled about all the attendee behaviour...
>> > >
>> > >> Please let me have any pet peeves you have around people entering or
>> > >> attending tournaments and I’ll try and pull something together.
>> > >>
>> > >
>> > > Not so much a "hate", but one thing I've noticed come up numerous 
>> times
>> > > from players is an annoyance when they are paired against someone 
>> from
>> > > their own club. Some education on why this happens wouldn't go a 
>> miss...
>> > >
>> > > I think the point to try and get across is that when they enter most
>> > > normal UK tournaments, which might have 30-40 people, there aren't 
>> that
>> > > many players around their strength to match them with. Pairing 
>> programs
>> > > like GoDraw are primarily trying to pair people based on MMS (and 
>> making
>> > > sure they don't play the same person twice!), and whilst they will 
>> try
>> > > to avoid same-club matches, it's a lesser objective and often
>> > > unavoidable to some extent. The alternative would be more handicap 
>> games
>> > > - which seems like a worse alternative in general to me.
>> > >
>> > > Hope this helps,
>> > > Matt
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > *Matt Marsh*
>> > > matt at crazedbytes.net
>> > > +44 (0)7795 297779
>> > >
>> > >
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>> >
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