[HedyG]

i got back from vacation last friday to find 2 broadcasts on BBO, both basically unmanned commentary-wise. together with a few regular commentators who happened to be online we did our best to provide commentary for the numerous viewers, but we were by far not enough and not for long enough either, not having planned to be free for non-assigned broadcasts.
BFAME and Serbian championships may not be of world importance, but certainly are important to the countries involved and IMO deserve as much respect and attention as any other broadcast.
it seems a great shame that when Roland takes a much deserved vacation the Vugraph world seems to come to a stop.
in 2 days the European Youth Championships start. as far as i know there have been no assignments made for that event.....they need ca 3-4 commentators / table, 4 tables at a time! where should they come from without planning?
something tells me that the USA Senior Championships will be well commented on. but lets wait and see...

[Phil]

I helped out Hedy.

We could have recruited some commentators, but the challenge at the time was finding a yellow to ungag ourselves. It seems strange when there are 5,000 people online that there is only one yellow who happened not to answer multiple requests.

I think we've talked about some of the commentators having partial yellow status to be able to ungag.

This also underscores the massive job Roland does. May must have been 31 days of juggling cats.

By the way, if I stay perma-ungagged it wouldn't bother me. At least until I greet one of my friends in front of 2,500 others.

[hrothgar]

I seem to recall some discussions from a few years back about single points of failure in the Vugraph system.

Some folks commented that a Vugraph system that was reliant on a single individual wouldn't scale well and might experience catestrophic failure were that person to disappear from the scene for whatever reason.

Don't get me wrong: I'm very appreciative of all the time and effort that Roland has developed to Vugraph over the years. At the same time, I can't help but believe that a decentralized system is the way to go...

[helene_t]

Agree with Richard. I just made a simulation of 1000000 vugraph broadcasts, and the success rate was much higher in a multi-coordinator regime.

[Rossoneri]

And you take some of the stress of the poor man Roland if someone's helping him out.

[Tola18]

Roland being in charge of vugraph comments is apparentyl de facto a monopoly.


I think the question arises:

1. Is Rolands monopoly position a choice (by Roland or by the BBO authorities or...)

OR

2. there is simply nobody else who have the enthusiasm, time and effort to work with this on a responsibility basis, and thus - Roland was de facto left alone on the field as being in the charge and responsibility...


If 2, it would surely be good to try to find and foster also some others who, working in team with Roland, can organize the commentators...


(Im one of Rolands admirers: He is doing a great and skillful job, so this proposal is in no way casting any doubt on him nor his capacity).

[nickf]

Tola18, on Jul 13 2009, 10:12 PM, said:

Roland being in charge of vugraph comments is apparentyl de facto a monopoly.

Not so, according to my understanding.

Roland munificently offers his time and contacts with commmentators to most (if not all) bridge tournament organisers who wish to broadcast via BBO. Those wishing to organise their own commentator rosters are able to do so (Cavendish being the best example).

Also, when Roland gets swamped, as is more and more the case these days, he sometimes suggests his time and other resources are too stretched for him to offer the level of support required and Tournament organisers would be better off organising themselves.

Let me assure you, as someone who frequently has to organise rosters of commentators, it's a bastard of a job. And I suspect sooner than later the scope of the job will be far beyond the time, dedication, enthusiasm and resources of just one person.

nickf
sydney

[Tola18]

Tx Nick for your try to response.

But frankly, I dont understand where is the point??


Firstly, you dont think it is any monopoly.

But you end with saying this workload is too much to do for one lone person, although he is very good, nice, efficient, knowleable, hardworking etc etc.

Or?

Which is exactly what I said.
And proposing a try for a solution.

[NickRW]

Well, Roland hasn't commented - so I'll try a suggestion. It would be better if there were 4 Rolands. One who generally organised broadcasts from the Americas, one from Europe, Africa & the Middle East and one from Australasia - plus one overall in charge - or something along those lines anyway. Such a model would be more robust and expandable if the load gets heavier still.

I don't know if we have 3 more Rolands though!

Nick

[mtvesuvius]

Let me get my cloning machine...

[barmar]

NickRW, on Jul 14 2009, 11:44 AM, said:

I don't know if we have 3 more Rolands though!

You mean Walddk1, Walddk2, Walddk3, etc. are not different Rolands?

[mrdct]

For years I've been of the view that the vugraph commentator assignment process should be semi-automated. We can still have the Rolands of this world pre-organising commentators as when they have the time and inclination to do so, but in other cases a semi-automated process would be really handy. The way I see it working is:

1. A panel of pre-approved commentators exists, perhaps denoted by a microphone icon next to their name. This panel would initially be Roland's mailing list, but would obviously need some ongoing maintenance to add and remove people.

2. When a vugraph presentation is live, any person who is interested in commentating (whether or not they are on the "panel") can register as being available to commentate by clicking a button similar to the substitutes button in tournaments.

3. When a vugraph operator finds themself short of commentators, they simply click the "find me some commentators" button, enter the number that they desire and then the system automatically begins issuing invitations (perhaps 2 or 3 every 30 seconds) starting with:

panel commentators currently kibitzing vugraph;
panel commentators not in a teams match or tournament;
non-panel people who have registered interest in commentating;
stars currently kibitzing vugraph;
experts/world class from the operator's country currently kibitzing vugraph;
etc.

4. When an invitee accepts an invitation to commentate, they are transported to the relevant table, ungagged and an automated welcome messsage goes to the room.

5. To avoid unwanted requests if you are a potential commentator but currently unavailable, people should have something similar to the BRB setting called "ignore commentator requests".

[matmat]

i was kinda enjoying just the table sounds...

[Tola18]

NickRW, on Jul 14 2009, 10:44 AM, said:

Well, Roland hasn't commented -

Right. No answer is often an answer in itself. Like here.


Lets be happy with the knowledge Roland and the BBO authorities are apparently happy with the situation as is.


Case closed for this time.