[rigour6]

I'll begin by saying I may be the worst TD ever. Others may back me up on this, lol.

That said, my Indy tournaments run like a dream. Sure, many subs, and all the usual problems, but as a general rule, people seem to have a good time and things end on time.

Pairs tourneys: not so much.

The Olympiad caused some connection problems but leave that as may be.

In pairs tourneys, I notice the following:

1. Incidents of people slowing play in attempts to avoid bad boards = at least 5 times higher. I've countered with huge timers (12 minutes a board!) and a 50% survivor cut. That cuts that down to only 2 times higher than in an Indy.

2. If the clock catches folks and the computer starts in with the ave-, here come the messages. "Why ave-?" "Opps slow play no ave-". Now I know there's a language barrier at work here, but what about "Please adjust board 2" for instance. That seems very fair to me. No, instead it's "Bd 3 adj we +" or "Bd 3 adj we +800", followed about 30 seconds later by "Bd 3 adj!!!!!!!!!!!"
My personal favourite from a tourney yesterday "If you do not adj Bd 2 +2 I leave tourney now". What is that about?

3. Kick someone for a red dot and wait 2 minutes, here they come again. "Why you boot me?" and again a personal favourite of mine, "I never play your tourney again."

Wow, I haven't been this popular since the days I dated.

I can run 10 Indy tourneys maybe I end up blacklisting one player.
I feel good if I run a 17 table Pairs and don't have to BL at least 2.

I've gotten tired of explaining to players:
a) the computer automatically gives you and ave-- when you violate the clock
yes I will review it and adjust, but substitutions come first
c) I have to weigh how long I'll wait for you to come back against the time and fairness to the 67 other people playing right now.
d) I didn't boot you, that was a survivor cut - just like it said in the tourney rules

But most of all, I am tired of having people go off on me for this stuff.
I believe in this game and this site, but the only Pairs tourneys I'm TDing now are a) ones I'm playing in or
ones where there is more than 1 TD and the other one feels like putting up with this sort of behaviour.

But the Indys will keep coming. Why? Because my observation is that all these problems are far far far fewer in Indy tournaments. It's like no comparison at all.

In conclusion, TDing here has brought me to a few conclusions:

1. I am not nearly grateful enough to others who TD. From now on there's a big "Thanks TD! Great job!" waiting fot the TD at the end of every tourney I play in.

2. Players need to keep being reminded that these people are volunteers.

3. Certain people feel the anonymity of the internet gives them license to behave in a way I suspect they never would face to face.

[sceptic]

I run a few tourneys and team games, mainly for people I dont know.

I generally have a good turn out, or what I consider a nicce amount to manage.

I give out messages occasionally along the lines of if you keep messaging me I will replcae you with out warning or if your p gets replaced and you dont understand why, he has probably been rude to me, I am probably not the most diplomatic person in the world and I do not suffer fools gladly.

I have been in a lot of tourneys and I have seen some behaviour that I dont personally like, Rigour, you have described some of the things none of us like, don't quit running tourneys if you enjoy it and it is a minority of idiots, just be a bit more ruthless in who you black list, and state to people that you wont tolerate certain behaviour, I have had some very positive comments from people about some of the things I do.

I have given out these warinings and then when I do carry out the threat I announce it to rest of players, you even get some thx for your efforts in the process.

I have even had a few get someone to ask why they were balcklisted and they agreed to change their behaviour.

when I see tourneys run by cascade and xx1043 and ACBL

I notice a distinct lack of subs needed, my personal belief is that over 50% of disconnectios in BBO are deliberate and just Black list these people, eventually you will get down to a manageable amout and you can run pleasant tourneys, some people have the decency to say they want to leave if they ask even if the reason is my p is an idiot, I say nothing and sub them with no hard feelings.

I think we should be a bit more descriptive in what constitutes disruptive behaviour and how you will deal with it, my answer to everything is if they are a pain, tell them what you think and if they dont like it replace them also ask them to avoid your tourneys if they cant comply with your requests.

I agree with your last comment a lot, some of the rude people would not say boo to a goose in real life, but dont let people like that distract you from your pleasures

[jikl]

I agree that Indys are far easier to run, I have those clocked at 8 minutes a board with 1 board rounds and usually 8-15 rounds. I find how I usually have to do 4-5 adjusts. However, I find this better than making it 10 minutes and people waiting.

When doing Pairs, I quite often do unclocked. One important thing I have found in Pairs is do not make it Barometer, or Swiss; unless you want to do lots of subs. If people don't know exactly how bad their score is it seems you have less disappearances. Maybe I am being cynical here, but it has seemed this way when I run pairs.

Before completely giving up on running pairs, perhaps try my idea Rigour6.

Sean

[Frosty]

When doing pairs - if you are not allergic to the idea - use the Survivor format. If people KNOW they risk being cut it somehow changes their attitudes. They are less willing to mouth off.

If I get one who just doesn't shut up after I've answered any questions (often with nothing more than "scroll back in the chat for the instructions that answer your question"), I simply change them to ENEMY status which I have set to mute so that I see no more of their chat. Then they can rant to their heart's content while I finish serving the rational players.

I often counsel overly disruptive players by telling them that I have never yet had a tournament won by someone who spent their time griping.

Don't give up hosting tournies ..... just FIDO (forget it and drive on) !!

Frosty :-)

[hotShot]

If directing we should report rude behavior to abuse, because if each TD is only blacklisting the offending player, other TD's have to suffer too.

Some of the rude players get away by loging off faster than i can mark them as enemy. I write down the names add and then to my list after the tourney.

By the way a lot people i am blacklisting for my tourneys, i blacklist while playing in other tourneys

If i find the time i make a remark why i blacklisted someone. Perhaps i should add a date, but than it starts to get work.

What you can to is turn on your chat log, and read it after the tourney.
since you get substitution messages for all the subbing you made, you can blacklist the tourney runners.
Unfortunatelly if players know how to sub their partner, you will not get a message.

If would be a great feature if TD's could mark a player as banned from their tourneys, if a player earns the ban of at least 10 hosts perhaps an automatic message to abuse could be generated.