[sceptic]

I played in the Ron Klinger Tourney the other day and I can only tell you that, the behaviour I saw there was possibly the worse, I had witnessed in my time at BBO

I would like to explain to some of the offenders what I saw, as I know one or two of you use these forums and I am more than willing to have a debate with you about your behaviour and I want you to know how sad I am at your total lack of consideration for others.

The time allocated for the first board appeared to be 10 minutes (this I think is reasonable for comments afterwards from one of the most famous bridge personalities in the world, (I can't see many people that have not heard of him)

the comments that were coming from some of the regular BIL members was disgusting, if you want to get hold of the entire chat log from the tourny, then I suggest you ask of of the BIL assists.

My general view was, that some people have no patience and some people do not realise that their comments in the chat are or were most unwelcomed by most of us (well I have no statistics to back up that statement, but that is how I felt and a few others)

It appears that Ron Klinger made his comments to the table and not to the whole tournament for the first hand (this is easy to do when you are not that familiar with BBO mechanics (they are not so easy to get the hang of)

some of the comments where most inappropriate and maybe I am just weird, but I did not want to see all the chat and crap coming out, I wanted to hear what Ron Klinger had to say (I thought it may even be a better session than think with Fred)(sorry Fred)

The next point I wish to make that I think made matters worse (and I will apologise profusely to the well intention amongst you that defended Maureen and the Hosts) is all the supporting comments etc, were just as bad in reality as the stupid rude comments etc

all you managed to do was clutter up the screen and detract from the enjoyment of Ron Klingers session (a once in a life time chance, as I doubt we did ourselves any justice in our overall behaviour of a minority of idiots)

Maureen is perfectly capable of being a force to be reckoned with and would have handled the situation, perfectly well, with out all the public verbal support, all you did was to make matters worse and I know that some of you would be mortified to know that, but a lesson to be learnt for next time

Maureen, I hope you ban those idiots from the BIL permenantly and do not give them a second chance, they embarassed you publically and ruined what was potentially a great spectacle for the BIL itself.

I hope you [ [profanity:ui] hang your head in shame and at least have the decency to apolgise to Maureen for you unacceptable behaviour

[boris3161]

I'd like to second what Wayne has said here - I too was disgusted by what happened in the tourney - especially when someone told Ron that you should NEVER open 1nt with a 5 card major!

I wonder about the format of experts commenting on the hands during play - I've not found it a very helpful format - I found Ron's analysis of the hands after the tourney much more beneficial and easier to understand and comprehend. The behaviour in that session was still not perfect, but it was a whole lot better. Thanks, Wayne, for your sterling efforts managing that session.

Going through the hands again later along with the chat log revealed even more gems of wisdom from this bridge icon.

Even if it wasn't perfect, it was a great session and thanks to everyone involved in organising it

[nickf]

I kibbed most of the session and indeed there was too much chat. I've know Ron for a long time and I'd suggest it was all water off a duck's back but I'll bring it up next time I see him.

It was the intention that Ron provide comments on each hand post facto (ie use tournament chat to mention key points in hand 1 during hand 2).

But this is no good for BILs imo, they dont want to be distracted by comments about a hand they have long forgotten about while they are trying to count their hcp on the next. Furthermore, the only way Ron could broadcast his thoughts to all 53 tables was having Tourney chat open. As a result every man and his dog could use this facilty and mayhem ensued.

nickf
sydney

[Echognome]

nickf, on Sep 28 2006, 10:06 AM, said:

Furthermore, the only way Ron could broadcast his thoughts to all 53 tables was having Tourney chat open. As a result every man and his dog could use this facilty and mayhem ensued.

I wasn't there, so can't really comment. But there is a way around this by namely having the guest star listed as a TD. The downside is they will get some dialog boxes they will have to ignore and some of the players might get annoyed at having their TD calls ignored. However, it certainly sounds better than allowing tourney chat.

[paulg]

Echognome, on Sep 28 2006, 11:34 AM, said:

nickf, on Sep 28 2006, 10:06 AM, said:

Furthermore, the only way Ron could broadcast his thoughts to all 53 tables was having Tourney chat open. As a result every man and his dog could use this facilty and mayhem ensued.

I wasn't there, so can't really comment. But there is a way around this by namely having the guest star listed as a TD. The downside is they will get some dialog boxes they will have to ignore and some of the players might get annoyed at having their TD calls ignored. However, it certainly sounds better than allowing tourney chat.

Good suggestion, especially as you get very few director calls in the BIL tourneys.

Paul

[sceptic]

hindsight is a wonderful thing, that still does not excuse the [profanity:ui]

[sceptic]

I have had a couple of private emails about this post, I would just like to say the following so people understand


I am not angry, I did not create the post in anger, I sat down quite calmly and decided that this is what I wanted to say.

The things that disappointed me where

the comments about how long it was taking

comments this is to slow

people asking RK when he is going to start commenting

general drivel being typed

people ignoring TD's instructions

one of the BILies trying to tell RK he was wrong about opening 1NT with a 5 card major

being unable to actually read RK's comments as there was so much chat on the screen

and lastly all the people that were praising Maureen or telling people to quieten it down and general comments like that, as they were as disruptive as some of the ignoramusses that were in that tourney.

Whilst I may have offended some very nice people with my last statement, I do hope not, but I generally do as I call a spade a spade and try not to beat around the bush, that is not my concern.

I just hope that my comments make some people think................

Next time (if there is a next time) I hope we can all see the comments and appriciate the fact someone like Ron gave us his time to help us

[Ant590]

I completely agree with Wayne. What made matters worse is that at least half of the unnecessary comments to the tournament were of the "can everyone please stop talking" ilk. Also, the long time for each board encouraged people to get impatient and therefore to start chattering out of their room.

What we need is an option for preference speakers during a normal table/tournamet/team match in the way that we do during Viewgraph. I think to trust people not to type in the occasional comment (and with over 200 people playing it was the cumulative effect of many people speaking once rather than someone constantly chattering that was the problem imho) is not the best way forward.

I am now off to post in 'suggestions for the software'....

Ant.

[keylime]

What a total shame to the majority of people that played with the sole goal of actually learning something, to hear of the disruptive influence that happened.

The person that attempting to contradict Mr. Klinger should be privately counseled in the most strong of language.

[onoway]

Most certainly this was by far the worst example of bad manners I have seen in BIL, However, I think it overkill to rearrange the format because of it. There were a large number of people there who had never attended such an event in BIL before (as far as I could tell that was partly the point) and perhaps were unaware of the unigueness of the opportunity being offered and of the protocol. Perhaps some of these people are normally deficient in manners, perhaps others were not fully aware of how these events are run.

However, in most of the past events of this type in BIL, the events have gone off extremely well, and I have found the general atmosphere to be enhanced rather than diminished by the occassional comments. The problem as I see it was not that there were comments, but that the comments were rude, aggressive and defiant, and totally out of keeping in any way with courtesy or common sense.

Occassionally in the main lounge and sometimes elsewhere bad manners are encountered but it was a shock to meet them in BIL. I suspect many of us there that day would have been pleased had Maureen simply removed them from the tourney and from BIL. I don't know if that was possible, but I am quite sure that the rest of us are less than interested in having members like that in our "safe haven". I would hate to think that such boors had the ability not only to upset a large number of people short term, but by encouraging restrictions previously unneeded and unwanted to be put into place, to diminish the freedoms and pleasure the rest of us get from the events in BIL.

A short comment...I personally LIKE having the analysis of the hands after each hand, while it is still fresh in my mind. The analysis after the whole turney is over is useful, of course, but sometimes the information has more impact if it is available directly at the time rather than diluted by time and a myriad of other later problems.

In any case I hope Mr. Klinger forgives us for the behaviour of a few socially deficient nitwits and realizes our embarrassment, shock and shame at the way he was treated by them.