Online Disclosure of Methods
It often happens that opponents are slow to disclose methods. My concern is with serial offenders who, I believe, seek to gain and advantage by not disclosing methods even when asked repeatedly. For example: A particular opponent annoyed my partner and I by not disclosing - no conv card, no details on profile and no response when asked, they simply ignored all questions. I complained to director and I understand that the offenders were instructed to be careful to disclose in future. Guess what .. today I come up against the same opponents and again no disclosure. After repeated requests opponents said SAYC as the director was arriving at table. Once director was there a fuller explanation was extracted. Naturally my partner lost concentration and we had a bad board. It seems to me this is a systemic problem - I am fine with novices and newcomers being slow to disclose but this offender calls himself an expert and I have little doubt that his non disclosure gives him a persistent small advantage at the table.
What can be done about this behaviour. The director reasonably said to me that since, when pushed, he gave reasonable disclosure, there was little to be done unless we claimed we were disadvantaged and if he agreed then he could adjust score. I am less concerned with getting such an adjustment and more concerned with how directors can create a level playing field in such situations.
Comments
There can also be technical issues, particularly with using iPads/tablets and players not even seeing the chat.
I have played online for 9 years and use a laptop; I have no problem with self-alerting etc. I give brief descriptions and if necessary chat to the ops only.
Other people struggle with just saying 'Hi'.
I am also used to online gaming and I type quickly. I can chat and bid and play, no probs.
Others need to focus much more...
It does mean that those players should have a description of their system in their profile and possibly convention cards filled out.
Perhaps the director should 'suggest' this to them and provide a link to instructions. Then next time some small penalty would be in order?
If you use an IPAD and there are problems seeing chat then a. you should be aware of that b. it does not stop you from saying at the start of a round "Hi. We are Fred & Doris. We play..........." That's just good manners. you can post a system card but not really practical if it is a casual partnership.
I'm not sure it is that simple... people have very different skill levels when it comes to technology.
I know of a pair that joined us a couple of weeks ago and they are both so struggling with the mechanics of using the system for bidding/playing cards, that they cannot divert any attention away for fear of misclicking and whatnot. So they have not managed to say hello yet and they are certainly not trying it on to gain some advantage.
Yes I agree sometimes it is difficulty with the technology and I am ok with that. In my particular example I was concerned with someone I regard as serial offenders taking advantage of these issues - and I think the director was on-board with the issue in their case. I didn't want to push my advantage by naming them :)