Boycott people who drop out before 10 moves

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aclarke
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 9:32 pm
Location: London,UK

Boycott people who drop out before 10 moves

Post by aclarke » Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:41 am

Every mini-tournament I play in, at least one player times out all his/her games before move 10. Maybe some players get locked out of this site. Maybe some of them go on expeditions into the rainforest outside web access. Possibly some of them die. The rest of them have NO EXCUSE.

I propose to start a list of players who time out before 10 moves. If we are signed up for a match and one of these time-wasters joins, I suggest that we all unjoin before the match starts. Hopefully this will reduce the number of time outs.

If I understand the grading system correctly, the wasters by timing out prevent the rest of us from gaining grading points for victory, but get penalised for the loss. So they aren't even gaining an advantage, simply being obstructive.

If the wasters want to come onto this forum and explain that they changed jobs/went on a rainforest expedition/had the phone disconnected etc and they will try not to timed out again, then we can give them another chance.

If you have been on the receiving end of a deliberate timed out in less than 10 moves, post the name of your opponent on this thread. I promise to boycott these wasters. I hope some of you will join me.

tellymetwise
Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 3:48 pm

Post by tellymetwise » Sun Nov 14, 2004 8:08 am

People who dropout under 10 moves normally quit playing on this site.
Mentioning their names would just be plain useless, unless you want to hold a farewell party for them.

With internet, there are a lot of people who are searching for ways to entertain themselfs. Playing a game for a long stretch of time will only entertain those who actualy love the game. Those who enjoy playing it only once in a while all discover this on some level of understanding. Unfortunatly, those hardly had time to know the people and say farewell.
If they did, they would actualy spam/clog this whole forum with goodbyes.
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aclarke
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2002 9:32 pm
Location: London,UK

Ramesis is a possible candidate for boycott

Post by aclarke » Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:58 am

http://www.net-chess.com/~netchess/user ... me=ramesis

Ramesis has defaulted over 600 times. He is likely to default twice against me in the next 48 hours having played less than 10 moves in both games.
I think this would qualify for a candidate for boycott.

If he defaults, then whenever I see his name on the game sign up list, I shall contact all the other players and warn them of ramesis's record, suggesting that they quit the game and leave him alone.

Obviously a newbie who forgets his/her password or drops out after a couple of moves is not the same issue.

tellymetwise
Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 3:48 pm

Post by tellymetwise » Wed Nov 17, 2004 1:14 pm

In the database of archived games, I found ramesis with over 500 games played with only 50 drop outs over a period of 2 years, (2001-2003)

currently he has about 400 active games.
Instead of boycotting him, why don't you start wondering what his motive was to try to achive the impossible.

He might have:
1. accidently joined 2 or more games without thinking that 15 people will be playing 6 games against each.
2. tried to see his limits playing huge matches, and now has loads of timeouts
3. he might have some burnout and suddenly changed from a normal player into ... something else.


In all of these cases, you won't gain any rating points.

Your "white Knight" proposal to better the world, might end up with you being a black raven, if you don't think things through.

Why don't you use it as a starting line for a conversation, maybe you can find out if he got bumped, drunk and did something stupid, or if he is just the kind of person you think he is.
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aclarke
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Location: London,UK

ramesis is first boycottee

Post by aclarke » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:12 pm

I have sent an email to a slowchess.com player warning him that ramesis has a habit of dropping out of games before 10 moves, and denying his opponent of grading points for a win. I enclose the text:
I notice that you have challenged ramesis on slowchess.com.

You may be aware that ramesis has a history of allowing himself to time out within ten moves, which prevents you from gaining grading points for winning.

I am starting a boycott of players who frequently time out within 10 moves. If you so wish, I would suggest that you remove your challenge and withdraw from any matches where ramesis enters, unless he shows signs of resigning games within 10 moves, or playing on.

You are of course free to take part in a boycott or ignore it as you wish.

Good luck in your future games on slowchess.com

aclarke
(London)
If anyone would like to propose additions, just leave a username and at least two game numbers where he or she has dropped out within 10 moves.

tellymetwise
Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 3:48 pm

Post by tellymetwise » Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:28 pm

Maybe you know the phrase "Tanstaafl". Some times, you might encounter drop outs, just forget those and go for the games which are worth paying attention to.

That seems more worth spending your energy in, then "Tanstaafl".


For those who haven't read "the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" where "Tanstaafl" comes from, it's worth reading it, more, its worth reading it over again.
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tellymetwise
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Post by tellymetwise » Fri Nov 19, 2004 9:11 pm

It seems I enjoyed the humor of the hitchhikers guide to much, and have rushed into a misstatement... :?
Tanstaafl of coarse comes from Robert Heinlein's classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"

Now to introspect why humor came easier to mind then harsh mistress.
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aclarke
Posts: 6
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Location: London,UK

TANSTAAFL!

Post by aclarke » Sat Nov 20, 2004 4:17 am

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch actually comes from Robert A Heinlein's 1964 novel "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress".

I don't see the relevance of your point. It is true that if players were charged 5 dollars per game, there wold be fewer frivolous time wasters (or greg miller would make some tidy sums of cash!).

I choose to inform players that a known time waster has signed up for a match in the hope that they will boycott.

For the record ramesis has now defaulted in 12 games in match m109730700 without playing 10 moves in any of the 22 games he has entered. I don't believe this is incompetence: he had ample time to remove himself from the player list before the match started.

tellymetwise
Posts: 360
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 3:48 pm

Post by tellymetwise » Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:11 am

Clarke, there is a much simpler way to do things sometimes. In this case, you could ask Greg to remove Ramesis floor.
This way, Ramesis has to avoid timing out or drop to something like 800 or lower.

It's less time consuming, and it gets the message right where you want it.
And most important, its acceptable whatever the story as to why accept way to much games at once. Even if that player, Ramesis in this case, was a normal player for 2 years prior.

This way you can save a boycot for harsher inflictions, but even then you can ask Greg for help with your situation. No doubt Greg Miller has a much easier way to solve the realy nasty things permantly and quickly.
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