[strings11]

I tend to sub a lot; mostly because I don't have a schedule for when I'm on BBO, and thus don't pre-schedule games.

There are a number of issues regarding the current arrangement that distress me to greater or lesser extents:

A review of the hand:

It would be nice (though I don't expect this change to be implemented) if a person, upon entering a specific table as a sub, could have a quick opportunity to review the preceding tricks of the hand in play, sequentially, simply to come to the point of understanding what everyone else at the table already knows. A relatively short period of time factored for the number of tricks to be reviewed, would provide a result more fair to the rest of the field. The insistent opponent who wants the sub to play a card as quickly as possible - presumably so as to improve that opponent's expected result - should be held at bay - and not be encouraged by a TD also urging the sub to "play quickly". [A common problem is that a sub enters with 4-6 tricks yet to be played, and has no information about whether trump are drawn or, indeed, whether they Should Be. Often, getting this issue right, can decide 100% of the value of the board.] Is the schedule so inflexible that a sub cannot take 15 seconds to get his or her bearings? If the schedule is this inflexible - then change it! Even the Speedball events have a few minutes of leeway in their 'hour'. When a sub is required, flex the schedule a bit - the sub will likely catch up by playing at least as quickly as anyone else at the table, once acclimated. After all, it is not the sub who sat on his thumbs, while the clock dissipated.


Right of knowledgable refusal:

I would like to know at the point where I am being asked to sub, whether or not the person who will subsequently be my partner is on my 'enemies' list, and also I would like to be able to view any notes I have made in this person's profile - good or bad. BBO has no problem telling me who the partner will be, and where they are from. It would seem no more difficult to access my personally recorded information including the category I have entered for the person. It is more than disappointing to agree to sub only to find that the username did not immediately trigger my memories of past negative experiences. I don't need to repeat most such interactions to be certain of the validity of my prior impression. Simply put, rather than a monochrome depiction of the proposed sub situation, let me see a full-color image of the proposed partner's profile as part of the request to sub.

When I enter my willingness to sub in "any tournament", I tend to mean just that: any TOURNAMENT! A Tournament is a Tournament, a Team Match is a Team Match, and BBO's calling a Team Match a "Team Match Tournament" - 'don't necessarily make it so'! If you want to ask me to sub in Team Matches, kindly allow me to check an additional box to this effect. There are persons arranging Team Matches on BBO, whose ego is apparently gratified when no one remains in 'their' games for long, should that person have the temerity to score too well against said organizer. If that's their preference, that is fine with me, simply allow me to avoid being asked to sub in their games.

A sub should not be expected to substitute in events run by clubs with which that sub is 'has issues'. Tournament Directors (using the term advisedly) who cannot seem to discharge the unbiased role of a Tournament Director, should properly be disadvantaged for their willful negligence. Personally, I do not want to appear on the list of potential subs available to certain such directors and/or clubs. I have no intention of subbing in their events in the future, and would appreciate not being bothered by the need to refuse them. I suppose I'm asking for an 'enemies list' of directors and clubs, but similar to the option of not being invited to sub as partner to an already listed 'enemy' (mentioned elsewhere here), it seems little enough to ask as an accommodation to a person of whom BBO is asking the favor of serving as a substitute, and thereby enhancing the orderly procession of tournaments.

Indeed it would seem reasonable (or is it merely hopeful...) to expect a sort of feedback effect in such situations. TDs who cannot seem to behave in a manner consistent with the authority inherent in that designation (TD), would see themselves restricted to a diminished pool of substitutes (those whom they have not theretofore offended), and any sentient such TDs might poke their heads up, and notice the source of the problem - consequently prompting them to make modifications to their behaviors, consistent with improving the regulation of bridge on BBO. Those not interested in understanding the effect of improperly ruling the game, would eventually, and properly, go the way of the dinosaur, and be supplanted by others more appropriate to the function. TD is at its core a business function, and if you cannot satisfy the needs of customers, you tend to find yourself without customers. Better that the TDs responsible for customer alienation suffer the effects of their behaviors, than that BBO pay a price for the pettiness of such individuals.

Often regular tournaments on BBO become difficult to impossible to manage, simply because there are insufficient subs available. Why not allow subs to avoid the need to fight-off the demands of Team Matches for subs, if those subs wish to be available only to Tournaments? Indeed, rather than wait for the seats in a Team Match to be filled by persons volunteering to participate, there seems to be an increasing tendency for people to access the sub list, as a means of initially populating the games they hope to run. My thought: If they can't find participants, without draining the sub list, perhaps there is a sound reason that they are having this problem...?

On occasion, when reluctantly agreeing to sit-in on an ill-defined Team Match, I find myself sitting opposite an empty chair, as the Match awaits an additional sub (or several) so that the Match can commence. I no longer remain in such games; I leave, And - knowing where I was - religiously refuse to return. But: I should not be required to make such a conscious selection repeatedly. The software should take up some of this burden, so that I can be about the business of providing the service that I, as a sub, have expressed an interest in providing.

Get the Accounting right:

BBO claims that it enters a +1 factor for a sub who enters an event and finishes that event. I suggest that a review of the operation of the software is in order. During a period of time when my internet connection to BBO was unstable (and I do not know that the problem was not with BBO itself), I did nothing but substitute for a few months in a row. What I experienced was a steady degradation of my TCR. I was registering for no events, but I was subbing in many - and finishing them. Yet my TCR continuously and dramatically declined - to the point where I was on the verge of becoming ineligible for events. This seems 'real wrong' to me. I don't expect that you show a TCR of 300%, but I think you should be able to manage the math, so that a sub is not punished for failure to start events! The TCR is advertised as a means of making 'runners' accountable. Why not use it in such a way that it has the intended effect?!

Yes, I have more pet peeves on the "sub issue". This is enough for this entry!

More soon...

[barmar]

Re timing: If the tournament is clocked, there's no flexibility in the schedule -- all tables change to the new round when the clock runs out. Time is often short because it may take a minute or so before the players realize that the other player is stuck and isn't coming back, so they call the TD to request a sub. If it's a speedball, there often isn't much time to begin with, and this detracts from it significantly.

The inability of a new player to review what has happened so far in the hand is the reason we implemented temporary robot replacements in the main bridge club when a player drops out in the middle of a hand. I think it's more likely we'll go that way in tourneys (at the option of the tourney host), at least until we implement a way for players to review the card play.

[scarletv]

I would very much appreciate if full information of the future partner is shown before I accept to sub. I am missing this too. As TD I can add it will help little when subs accept but wont stay. In team matches this might end the match for the rest.

What about the possibility for subs to see the played cards in the same way as kibs can do as long as he does not play the second card himself? Of course there is not enough time to have a look at 10 tricks but this might help a lot for boards where no more but two or three tricks have been played.

What I still miss in the browser version is the possibility for players to choose the prefered sub out of the list of available subs when his partner got disconnected. This list should include all informations as seen in the profile including the notes and categories. Is it planned to implement that sooner or later? I think this is not only a benefit for the players themselves but one for the TD too especially in the beginning of a tourney, when a lot of players need to be replaced. When 20 % find their own sub this will help to make a better job.



OT:
Does anybody know how to disable the autocorrection or change the related language in the BBF Editor? Obviously when I write there is a German autocorrection working that adds mistakes to English text.

[barmar]

scarletv, on 2014-April-29, 02:36, said:

OT:
Does anybody know how to disable the autocorrection or change the related language in the BBF Editor? Obviously when I write there is a German autocorrection working that adds mistakes to English text.

AFAIK there's no auto-correction in the forum software. That's being done by your browser.

[scarletv]

barmar, on 2014-April-29, 08:42, said:

AFAIK there's no auto-correction in the forum software. That's being done by your browser.

Thanks good hint - found the checkbox in the IE setup (add ons).

[1eyedjack]

barmar, on 2014-February-08, 14:54, said:

Re timing: If the tournament is clocked, there's no flexibility in the schedule -- all tables change to the new round when the clock runs out. Time is often short because it may take a minute or so before the players realize that the other player is stuck and isn't coming back, so they call the TD to request a sub. If it's a speedball, there often isn't much time to begin with, and this detracts from it significantly.

The inability of a new player to review what has happened so far in the hand is the reason we implemented temporary robot replacements in the main bridge club when a player drops out in the middle of a hand. I think it's more likely we'll go that way in tourneys (at the option of the tourney host), at least until we implement a way for players to review the card play.

Speedballs may be a special case. As are the rare tourneys that run with no TD. But in other cases TDs have the power to extend the round clock when subbing takes place and in my experience many do implement this policy.