[LinusO]

BBO changing time when you cannot start free tournaments from 19.00 to 17.00 CEST by editing the time in that link.
Would be nice if BBO had advertised this change better and give us time to adjust before making the changes.

https://blog.bridgeb...b=web&v3v=5.4.0

[VikingMags]

BBO this is bad.

You change, you do not tell us properly in advance, and you do not bother to inform the TD's that organize tourneys.
You had two hours to send us a message, but did you?

[barmar]

Sorry, this was handled poorly, we'll be fixing it soon.

We can't really give much warning about changes like this, we have to react quickly to changes in usage.

[pescetom]

barmar, on 2020-April-23, 11:00, said:

Sorry, this was handled poorly, we'll be fixing it soon.

We can't really give much warning about changes like this, we have to react quickly to changes in usage.

I am confused.
The message apparently from 9 April that is linked here says that the start limit is 11am Eastern Time, which I think is 5pm CEST.
The current effective limit is (was) 4pm CEST.
But the title of this post says changing from 7pm to 5pm CEST.

Could you please spell out what the new start time limit is in Eastern Time and CEST?

[julp]

Question:
If free tournaments are unavailable are there any way to pay and have a tournament organized during this time?
"Free tournament creation is temporarily unavailable between 11 AM and 4 PM US Eastern Time."
We are a small club and we use to pay a small fee every time we where playing live. I am sure we could pass on this to BBO somehow.
It's not big, but every small thing helps if we find a mechanism to pay for the tournament, let's say fixed X$ for up to 10tables, Y$ for up to 20 tables etc.

[paulg]

julp, on 2020-April-24, 01:01, said:

Question:
If free tournaments are unavailable are there any way to pay and have a tournament organized during this time?
"Free tournament creation is temporarily unavailable between 11 AM and 4 PM US Eastern Time."
We are a small club and we use to pay a small fee every time we where playing live. I am sure we could pass on this to BBO somehow.
It's not big, but every small thing helps if we find a mechanism to pay for the tournament, let's say fixed X$ for up to 10tables, Y$ for up to 20 tables etc.

Contact your NBO. The ACBL, EBU, FFB and others are facilitating this.

[jandrew]

pescetom, on 2020-April-23, 15:07, said:

I am confused.
The message apparently from 9 April that is linked here says that the start limit is 11am Eastern Time, which I think is 5pm CEST.
The current effective limit is (was) 4pm CEST.
But the title of this post says changing from 7pm to 5pm CEST.

Could you please spell out what the new start time limit is in Eastern Time and CEST?

Better still - use GMT. Almost everybody knows how far in front (or behind) they are off GMT - call it UTC if you like.
This announcement was in "Eastern Time" :

• East of where?
  What Country?
  Is Daylight saving in effect there?
  Is Eastern Time a "summer time"?

[gordontd]

julp, on 2020-April-24, 01:01, said:

Question:
If free tournaments are unavailable are there any way to pay and have a tournament organized during this time?
"Free tournament creation is temporarily unavailable between 11 AM and 4 PM US Eastern Time."
We are a small club and we use to pay a small fee every time we where playing live. I am sure we could pass on this to BBO somehow.
It's not big, but every small thing helps if we find a mechanism to pay for the tournament, let's say fixed X$ for up to 10tables, Y$ for up to 20 tables etc.

All EBU clubs and counties have been sent information about how to become "virtual clubs".

[barmar]

jandrew, on 2020-April-24, 02:35, said:

Better still - use GMT. Almost everybody knows how far in front (or behind) they are off GMT

Most Americans (I'd guess 90%) don't.

We should probably use both.

[jandrew]

barmar, on 2020-April-24, 07:38, said:

Most Americans (I'd guess 90%) don't.

We should probably use both.

WOW !!!

[pescetom]

barmar, on 2020-April-24, 07:38, said:

Most Americans (I'd guess 90%) don't.

We should probably use both.

There is also UTC which was supposed to replace GMT as a reference.
But it's probably better to keep things at a level that the average modern head of state could understand and just link something like this

I still haven't understood if the specified time of 11am Eastern (Daylight) Time is correct and now in force.
If so, it would seem to concede an extra hour in which to start free tournaments (cutoff at 5pm CEST instead of 4pm).

[fromageGB]

jandrew, on 2020-April-24, 08:31, said:

WOW !!!

Well, if you live in Yorkshire I would expect you would know what time it is in Greenwich.

[julp]

paulg, on 2020-April-24, 01:12, said:

Contact your NBO. The ACBL, EBU, FFB and others are facilitating this.

Well.....This is Africa, Mozambique.....no NBO or whatever
We (half a dozen of ppl) are keeping Bridge alive for the last 20+ years by self organizing and self financing.
We are the only active club in the country with about 25-30 current members.
I will appreciate if someone could contact me or give me a person I can contact in order to clarify the situation and maybe find a solution.
Thank you!

[jandrew]

barmar, on 2020-April-24, 07:38, said:

Most Americans (I'd guess 90%) don't.

We should probably use both.

We really need both.

I have in the last few minutes asked people in the UK and in the US and I have received three different answers as to the difference between US Eastern Time and current local UK time.

Is US Eastern Time a daylight saving time - usually called EDT? OR is it EST? Or is it a different time zone altogether (does the US have 2 Eastern zones, with or without daylight saving)?

In fact, I can hardly find anybody who thinks that they have a clear idea of what is meant by US Eastern Time - or, indeed, what the current time was (at the time of asking) quoted in US Eastern Time.

It is, no doubt, clear to you. So please make it clear to us non-Americans - we are usually well able to work out our local time from GMT (UTC).

It will also be good if you will explicitly tell us what the current times are (in GMT + your choice) for the denial of free tournament starts.

This will reduce the current high levels of confusion.

Thanks

[pescetom]

jandrew, on 2020-April-25, 13:42, said:

We really need both.

I have in the last few minutes asked people in the UK and in the US and I have received three different answers as to the difference between US Eastern Time and current local UK time.

Is US Eastern Time a daylight saving time - usually called EDT? OR is it EST? Or is it a different time zone altogether (does the US have 2 Eastern zones, with or without daylight saving)?

In fact, I can hardly find anybody who thinks that they have a clear idea of what is meant by US Eastern Time - or, indeed, what the current time was (at the time of asking) quoted in US Eastern Time.

It is, no doubt, clear to you. So please make it clear to us non-Americans - we are usually well able to work out our local time from GMT (UTC).

It will also be good if you will explicitly tell us what the current times are (in GMT + your choice) for the denial of free tournament starts.

This will reduce the current high levels of confusion.

Thanks

I agree that specifying times in UMT would greatly reduce confusion.
But let's not make things more complicated than they are.
Right now "Eastern Time" is 5 hours behind London and 6 hours behind Berlin.
So 11am Eastern Time is 4pm in London and 5pm in most of mainland Europe.

The real question I think is rather do BBO really mean 11am Eastern Time?
Because that is an hour later than the previous effective limit and in three days of this thread BBO have not yet confirmed or denied this.

[hrothgar]

jandrew, on 2020-April-25, 13:42, said:

We really need both.

Is US Eastern Time a daylight saving time - usually called EDT? OR is it EST? Or is it a different time zone altogether (does the US have 2 Eastern zones, with or without daylight saving)?

Eastern Standard Time applies during the winter
Eastern Daylight Time is used when daylight savings time comes into effect

[julp]

gordontd, on 2020-April-24, 05:32, said:

All EBU clubs and counties have been sent information about how to become "virtual clubs".

As I said in a previous reply: We have no NBO or any organization/institution in the country.
What can we do? Is there anyone that we can contact or talk to in order to try and find a solution?

[gordontd]

julp, on 2020-April-25, 23:31, said:

As I said in a previous reply: We have no NBO or any organization/institution in the country.
What can we do? Is there anyone that we can contact or talk to in order to try and find a solution?

You said it after my reply. Have you tried talking to the SABF to see what they are doing and whether you might join in with them?

[jandrew]

pescetom, on 2020-April-25, 14:03, said:

The real question I think is rather do BBO really mean 11am Eastern Time?
Because that is an hour later than the previous effective limit and in three days of this thread BBO have not yet confirmed or denied this simple but important fact.

That is precisely why I raised the request (3rd from last paragraph). If BBO will give us an update of the times expressed in GMT and some other recognisable time frame we could see an end to the current high level of confusion and frustration.

Setting a restricted period for free tournaments does not help - all the free tournaments then crowd into the remaining period making it very likely that BBO will run out of capacity.
When a tournament is collapsed at its start time, we cannot tell whether it is lack of capacity or confusion about the times during which free tournaments are allowed.
Some clarity will be very welcome.


And anyway :
North America generally is in the daylight saving time. So are we talking EST, which is not currently in use, when EDT is what the clock on the wall is using? Why are we calling it US Eastern Time? I don't set out to confuse - it is the announcement which raises so many unanswered questions.
But I don't seek an answer to the riddle - just a simple announcement -

Will BBO please explicitly tell us what the current times are (in GMT + their choice) for the denial of free tournaments.

[julp]

gordontd, on 2020-April-25, 23:51, said:

You said it after my reply. Have you tried talking to the SABF to see what they are doing and whether you might join in with them?

Thx for the reply!
I checked SABF web site and it looks like they don't have anything on BBO except some private clubs like https://www.linksbri...ub.com/bbo.html
I am curious how are they allowed to organize paid tournaments on BBO (they charge about 1.3$/pp). Maybe they are paying something to BBO? This kind of arrangement could be a solution for us. We could easily find some funds to pay for the privilege to be allowed to make a tournament once or twice a week during peak hours.