Winter Potpurri

[badqoph]

I don't normally like speaking out like this, because it usually ruffles feathers and does little to exact change. It definitely wouldn't on CGP, and I wonder if on here, it's preaching to the choir. But with the recent debate about money I'm only privy to because of some comments on blogs elsewhere, I'm reconsidering that. That, and there's the

Comments

[wantonhalo]

Are you planning to send this to people, or have you already, or what

[badqoph]

Hey, thanks for the reply

[wantonhalo]

Your welcome!

I'd have to agree with you--a lot people don't take it very seriously.

[ar_raqis]

Me neither.

[badqoph]

I said socialism, I meant communism. Like I said, those metaphors aren't my forte, but I think this one fits. There is this disturbing mindset in certain places in the Scrabble community that everyone should be provided for equally despite the level of work they put into an effort. That leads to effed up prize distributions such as this:

http://cross-tables.com/tourney.php?tourneyid=7285&div=

But, it could be worse. It could be as bad as this:

http://cross-tables.com/tourney.php?t=6137

[lotting]

Maybe the word is egalitarianism.

My pet peeve is the automatic assumption that lower division players don't put in the same amount of effort studying as division 1 players. Don't assume that! It all depends on the person. Some of us "sub-experts" devote ridiculous amounts of time studying with the goal of catching up to you-all someday.

That being said, I agree with you about the Asheville situation and the uneven division sizes that resulted in wacky payouts.

[tolarjev]

I think this letter is excellent. Very clear, very tactful, completely rational, & persuasive (but then I am part of the choir). I hope the Ashville directors implement your suggestions.

[njdevil44]

Because of the lack of depth in the expert pool in our region, it's crazy not to have D1 for multi-days be 1500, at highest, and offering unlimited play-ups is a must. I don't understand why you wouldn't allow somebody to play up if they want to; it's their entry fee, let them spend it as they see fit.

The situation that you allude to was doubly awful, because those 2 players were originally in D1 to make it 8 (keeping their double RR active), then unceremoniously bumped down once they filled in the gaps with 2 other >1600 players.

You're right in that posting here is preaching to the choir, and sadly nothing constructive gets done on CGP. Perhaps posting to naspa-pro could be useful, it tends to be more level-headed on there, but again it's a limited audience.