1) My tournaments: I'll start them back up soon - I've just been behind in many of my games & other stuff I decided to take a short break in making them. I should be making them by the first of the year.

2) Auto-vacation - This is a good rule which may get abused by a few people. The only 2 rules I would like to see applied to auto-vacations are:

• Some tournament set to allow no vacation days
  
• Limit to 5 autovacation days at one time (giving a player a week to be able to get back on-line to set normal vacation days if needed)
  

Madmonkeys 'Gammon' Stakes (4) tournament

Congratulation to:

lovelysharon on winning Crowded Backgammon

ellieoop winning the Nackgammon

Red Squirrel's Hungover Nuts

Have u put ur tourney set up on hold tell next year? Or can we look for some soon?

at least :)

does that make 259 wins for Arpa now? LOL

Red Squirrel Bunched Nuts ~ Alquerque : Bobes

Red Squirrel Grouped Nuts ~ Anti Reversi : Sarok

Red Squirrel Smashed Nuts ~ Halma 8x8 :arpa

Some good points pgt....

something that hasnt been brought up, as far as I know, is that in a true emergency for anyone, any games that they do happen to time out in, because they couldnt get on to set a vacation or whatevr, I am sure these games can be restored. It is not something that happens so frequently that it would be a burden to restore those games at no penalty to anyone. And I am sure that any reasonable player would not have a problem waiting to play a move for someone who has had a true emergency, or having that game reinstated because it timed out for some emergency.

There was never any suggestion that the rules had been broken - just that the rules were ridiculous. If somebody wants to play 700 games concurrently that's fine, but by my calculations that's about 11 1/2 hours per day to make one move in each game - if it takes 1 minute per move. I agree with Grenv - I'm happy playing 20-30 games, remembering the thread of the game and any accompanying chat, and maintaining some semblence of "interactive sociability."

When I sign up for a tournament I like to feel that it will be played reasonably quickly - which is why I sign up for "fast start - 3 day" tournaments. I'd like to know that when a tournament starts it has a chance of finishing within a reasonable time.

I have no particular axe to grind about Arpa's general play, and have found him to play quickly - when we are both on line simultaneously. I suspect that he orders his VAST array of games to be played by selecting "next game with an on-line player", which means that should he be playing somebody on the other side of the world who only logs on for an hour a day, the chances of finding the opponent on line are very slim, and so the game never gets started.

I'd be more than happy to sign up for tournaments with the following characteristics, and wonder whether there are others out there in BK land who think these suggestions might have merit:

1. 1 or 2, or perhaps a maximum of 3 days per move. (excluding vacation and weekend)
2. No automatic vacation days.
3. No vacation days of any type allowed in the first 30 running days of ANY tournament.
4. Vacation days Cancelled for tournaments if the player has played ANY move in ANY game on the day in question.
5. No vacation days AT ALL in some tournaments - such as those limited to 5 players.

(Exceptions for BK breakdown, family emergency, ISP problems, Power cut etc to be granted by the game-owner on a case by case basis.)

People who want to play in a zillion tournaments concurrently can still do so under the existing tournament structure.

Ok enough please! Take feature suggestions (auto-vaca etc) to the feature request board. It seems that a dead horse is being beaten here ok? Thanks :)

Being on vacation is fine. I dont think anyone has a problem with that. It is using auto vacation to keep you from timing out on games that you do not want to play, even though you are on site, that upsets people.

I think if you are on site then auto vacation should not be activated for you that day. You should have to set a vacation day if you want to. Since those will be used up even if you decide to play and have nothing that is to time out on you.

Lets all just pray.... thats what we do when we have no control over our own destiny.

what next, so and so this blocking me in 4 or 5 of my games and I can't move in them. And the auto vac, if u lived where the power went out because of storms this year u would be glad that this site has it. Or if u or some1 in ur family had to go into hospital out of town and u had no way of finding a put again u would like it. Y over and over again this goes on an on. With no end in site. So guess now u can put me on the list cause I have put the rest of the year on vacation. So lets play some games and try an have fun doing it.
:o{P

well..now there is auto-vac ..and even if there werent i dont think he should time out..he is too smart for that :)

if there was no auto-vac then he would time out.

Here is how it should work in my opinion: If you play a move that day then auto-vac does not kick in. Only if you play no moves at all. How can you be on vacation for some games and not others?

And further, some of us only want to play 20-30 games at a time. That way we actully remember what the hell we were doing last time we moved. I don't think joining more tournaments is the answer.

I just checked Arpa's profile. He has 258 tournament wins so i dont think he has timed out in so many games :)
The only problem i've had with him is that he wins most of the times :)

To "attack" him doesnt seem fair to me.

i dont think Arpa has done anything wrong. as he stated he is playing within the guidelines of the tournament, and if he times out then its your win. if its only a 2 day tourney as you say pgt, he will time out! I say sign up for more tourneys then you wont notice one or two that are waiting!

Nice one Grenv.

<Joke>DO we need "Drug" (addiction) tests like the Olympics? Say, if you can't name all the Tournaments you're currently playing, you get banned!!</Joke>

Arpa, can you at least answer why you joined a tournament then chose not to play? I think the question is not one of rules but courtesy. After all if you're playing 700 games, why play more when you clearly don't have time to play them? Sounds like an addiction to me.

where is that list

So, it is the consensus that a person who signs up for a tournament with no intention of making timley moves or is planning on a recent vacation is a proper thing to do?

I guess its "play at your own risk" motto in here.

I dont think having a tournament with no vacation days allowed is a fair solution. Since most tournamnets last far too long to expect anyone to not be able to take a vacation. Ie if the tournament last a year, am I expected not to take a vacation in a years time?

I know it gets friustrating. But once you become a rook, you can start your own tournaments and keep out any player you wish. There is also a list of notorious slow players to avoid playing against if you are new, and dont know who some of these people are :)

PGT ,it says fast start but that is all , which means it will start as soon as enough members has joined the tourney .

1) the tournament previews 3 days every move. Before enrolling itself to a tournament you can to read this!
2) look this:
Fast Start - First 5 to sign - Backgammon #484
or
Fast Start - First 5 to sign - Nackgammon #159
AND MANY MANY MORE!!!! (Some started beyond 7-8 month)
I do not cry for this, if you do not have patience, perhaps this is not your site.
3) I pay my BRAIN ROOK and, like from regulations, I can make all the games that I want.
4) you can wait for that I lose for my past due time :D

That's all!
Best regards
Paolo

pgt you are not Brain Rook yet and I do not care if the tournament says one day or fifty, they will still take a long time with the weekends and vac. days....... If you have a problem with it just do not play in tournaments, play with people you know are real fast players on the weekends and week days.

Ive not tended to have a problem with Arpa's play either. He also had most moves in a day also a month or 2 ago

SunFire, if you read my original post, you will see that yesterday I moved up to Brain Rook effective 1st Jan - not a lot of point before then as I will be on vacation (Really :-) - which is one of the reasons I would have liked the tournament to be completed in the first place.
I only sign up for games and tournaments with MAX 3 day moves - that way I feel am playing games, and not just being a robot. And I'm very happy playing 20 to 30 games at a time. I moved up to Brain Rook to climb on this soap box. As a Brain Rook I feel as strongly about it as I ever did as a Brain Knight.

I agree red

Arpa is Italian. Does he speak English?

I've played arpa many times and this is totally out of character for him.

PGT, I just looked at your game page, you are not even playing him!

The principle of it is in some tourey games that are say slated for 2 days per move and some should have started 2 weeks ago but there are games still not started yet. Or the tourneys that started in the summer that are held up and cant go on to the next round cuz one person is still on auto vac with 650 games to play. It litterally ceases tourneys from continuing on to the next round.

In the first instance I sent him a polite note asking him if there was a problem which prevented him playing.

He HAS subsequentlty managed to complete the game against me. But unlesss he starts and plays his OTHER three games, the tournament will never end, and he has certainly been signed on and playing games during the period in question.

If you do not like the way he plays the games, try not to play against him.
You will ALWAYS find slow players in here, I just do not see what the big deal is unless you need to move up to Brain Rook so you can play more then 50 games or more then one tournament at a time.

Only thing I can think of is to make sure the person has not had a problem in their real life. some tragedy or something. Or did you say that they were moving in other games?

I quote: "In Arpa's defence, I have played a hundred or so games with him and find his play to be timely, he moves at least once a day."

But there are AT LEAST 3 games which were started more than 14 days ago in which not a single move has been played!!

Is there room for me to stand on Grenv's soapbox?

but dont read any sad books or they will make you cry as well....

You do not have to get more games, read a book and stop crying

I get really annoyed when people say..." go get more games" why should we?

<soapbox>the best question was: why enter if you're not going to play? Wait until you do want to play and then enter, there are plenty of tournaments.</soapbox>


:)

That's how I look at it too, Sunfire

I do not care how long it takes for a player to make their move, I just join more games and that player will make their move someday...... If you got plenty of games going you should not even notice a couple of games going slow.

In Arpa's defence, I have played a hundred or so games with him and find his play to be timely, he moves at least once a day.

WTG PGT!!! thank you for supporting our site! As a rook,you can now join as many tournaments as you like,and when the "slow"players do finally move,it will be a pleasent surprise.

Fencer - when you do have it possible to have tournaments/games with no vacation days allowed - hopefully they will show up on the game sheet a little differently, or able to sort no vacation games a little differently in case you do plan to take a vacation, you can try to hurry and play those game quickly. :-)

I have created the New Year Janus Chess Open for all players!
The best games of this tournement will be published in the German chess journal "Rochade Europa"!

Fencer, I think that that would be a GREAT idea - or maybe even restrict vacation days to 3,4 or 5 days for the ENTIRE tournament. But what I still don't understand is why anybody would want to sign up for a tournament and then not take part for three weeks. I think that's just completely inconsiderate.

It can be solved by introducing tournaments where no vacation days can be used.

I agree, people are indeed playing within the current rules. But the rules need to be changed. And yes, the idea has been discussed before, but I thought my idea (about limiting the length of vacation time to double the length of the move limit) was original and deserved mentioning.

I'm aware of the RULES. This country has some bloody stupid laws, too, but just because they are laws is no reason to lie down and accept them. They need to challenged if they are not the RIGHT rules.

Sorry pgt and Thad u feel this way. but it has been brought up by lots of people. Again sorry more then not they r just using up their vacation time they have left. But when they put on this site an auto vacation, I truely think the BIG BOSS or head people for this site did not think that somepeople would use it to take the fun out of the tourneys.

This is a turn base site and after u become a rook member u get 30 days vacation. And there is no rule that says that u can't use them all in a row.

And if u read the rules they can take the full time they have to make there moves. Yes lots of us don't think it is very sporting for people to do this but, they r not breaking any rules.

WoW been a long time for me to write this much at 1 time. Sorry moderators this is off topic but just thought they would like to know that it has been talked about over and over again.

Back to my corner I go to hide out poof.
:o{P

I agree that something needs to be done. Perhaps limiting vacation between moves to twice the length of the move limit. For example, in your case, there is a 3 day limit per move, so vacation time between moves could be limited to 3 extra days (6 days total).