[fred]

Some of the words used in some of the posts in this thread:

"Fiasco"

Implication: Disaster, awful, your work sucks

"Hype"

Implication: Intentionally misleading advertising

"Broken promise"

Implication: Dishonesty

I don't think I am being too sensitive to find the choice of such words to be rude and insulting.

Fred

[Brandal]

fred, on Nov 4 2004, 03:11 PM, said:

Some of the words used in some of the posts in this thread:

"Fiasco"

Implication: Disaster, awful, your work sucks

"Hype"

Implication: Intentionally misleading advertising

"Broken promise"

Implication: Dishonesty

I don't think I am being too sensitive to find the choice of such words to be rude and insulting.

Fred

you know Fred.......

in Norway we have a saying,my mother was very fond of it:

"Til lags åt alle kan ingen gjera"

and another one:

"Tek kvar og ein sin vesle stein,er snart vår åker rein"

keep up the good work

[mrdct]

fred, on Nov 4 2004, 03:11 PM, said:

Some of the words used in some of the posts in this thread: "Fiasco" Implication: Disaster, awful, your work sucks

As the initial poster of the term "fiasco", I would like to set a few things straight.

I acknowledge that "fiasco" was a bit over the top and I sincerely regret any offence that may have been taken. However, in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (6th Edition) the term is defined as "failure or breakdown" which I don't think quite equates to what Fred has inferred. The "failure or breakdown" in this case is clearly a complex issue with a myriad of internal and external factors in play.

An analogy I like to use is a night football match in Australia a few years ago when the stadium lights went out in the middle of a match being broadcast on prime-time TV. The parties involved included the Australian Football League, the TV network, the stadium operator and the power company. As the blame-game unfolded, it emerged that there were deficiencies in organisation and planning by all four parties that contributed to the fiasco. What it illustrates is the importance of getting the planning right when multiple parties are involved in the production of a major sporting event.

As indicated in my original post, I am not seeking to direct blame at any one individual or organisation and clearly the operating environment in Istanbul is particularly difficult. As I think Fred has acknowledged, there are certainly some aspects to the way things have been organised that could've been done better and will provide useful lessons to people running BBO vugraph presentations in the future.

Whilst not in this thread, a number of people have PM'ed me with thoughts along the lines of, "who the hell are you to criticise while your sitting on your couch on the other side of world watching all this for free", which I have found somewhat offensive given the amount volunteer time and real money I have put into BBO vugraph presentations. I have produced BBO vugraphs for three events in Australia, including one event with four-table coverage and onsite vugraph. In each case I personally provided all of the computers, networking equipment and furniture together with training local operators, fighting with convenors for access, testing venue infrastructure and operating for most session myself. I've also done hundreds of hours of commentary on BBO vugraph broadcasts and provided technical help for new operators in Eastern Europe with such things as splitting large dup files, etc.

I am saddened by the difficulty that some BBO vugraph coordinators have had securing operators which I must say I find a little bit surprising given the volume of Turkish players on BBO and my own experience of just having to ask around at my local bridge club to secure half-a-dozen volunteer operators in about 5 minutes. I hope readers of this thread and BBO players generally will in future be more willing to put their hands up when there is major bridge event being played near their home. Of the operators I've worked with, they have all found it a rewarding experience to be right in and amongst the action at major events.

It is true that I am "sitting on my couch on the other side of the world" so obviously I don't know the full story and perhaps I should've kept my thoughts to myself. I am truly thankful for the hard work that all the BBO volunteers world-wide are doing and I think it is vital that the volunteer spirit of BBO vugraph be kept alive.

I hope that the ideas, criticisms and observations in this thread can be used positively to make future BBO vugraph broadcasts even better.

[Erkson]

mrdct, on Nov 5 2004, 05:03 AM, said:

I acknowledge that "fiasco" was a bit over the top and I sincerely regret any offence that may have been taken.  However, in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (6th Edition) the term is defined as "failure or breakdown" which I don't think quite equates to what Fred has inferred.

Concise Oxford Dictionary is too concise. There is a lot more to say about the "fiasco" word than that.

You didn't choose the right word. You regret it. All should be OK now.

I sincerely thank you for all you did and will do from Australia to BBO vugraphs.

Links between WBF and BBO are a great thing, and fully deserved, and I am very glad and proud of it.

Vugraph is a delight, and the accumulated information a treasure.

Go ahead, Fred, and long life to BBO.

Erkson

[didier17]

For a french player who don't understand all the definition of an english dictonnary, i am not able to give you a pretty definition of my pleasure to see the champion's game on BBO.

Simply great work.

Thank's a lot at BBO team for this big job.

[Patapon]

Back from Istanbul, I read this tread.


A lot of pertinent comments..

-‘A monumentally disproportionate amount of resource has gone into the onsite product’.
This is absolutely true!
This was the first time that the onsite vugraph was a BBO product and the WBF has ordered and paid for the creation of this new vugraph- and only for that-
And it worked perfectly..


-‘There have rarely been anymore then 100 spectators in the onsite vugraph’
This is true also! But what the spies at Istanbul have forgotten to say is that you do not need to go to the onsite vugraph to see the results.
Many giant screens were available on each floor for the comfort of thousands of players.
Beside the thousands of players at Istanbul, a TV channel was preparing 6 hours of show about this championship and needed to use the onsite vugraph. These people seemed very happy to find a so nice vugraph they can use. And the millions of spectators who will watch this show will enjoy it also.


-‘ I have always thoroughly tested the reliability of the network several week before..’

It is very easy to organize a vugraph in your own country with autochthonous people.( Try it, you’ll see!)
But it is not so simple when 100 people (at least) from all around the world are involved.
Not so easy also to install the entire network several weeks before the Championship.
This is a giant network installation with hundreds computers involved, and I am not sure the Gran Cevahir Hotel was ok for such a mess in their hotel several week before.

-“Poor preparation leads to piss- poor performance..”
Probably true also but I had the chance to be at Istanbul and to use the onsite screens, so I wasn’t online a lot.
But put your mind at ease, the performance on the onsite vugraph was perfect. BBO people had spent a monumentally disproportionate time to make this possible.
Anyway I don’t understand how this could have been a Fiasco-but only a mess- There was nothing less than usual. The ability to access the data was just something more!

BBO grows and lives because of all these permanent improvements and innovations.
All this generate disorder, this is just life and without disorder there is no life possible.

Sorry for my poor English.

Bénédicte