Courtesy on BBO
I directed my first BBO session yesterday (having never played on it).
I couldn't believe how rude people were:
"What does that bid mean?" "I just felt like it"
Or even worse:
Player A: Are you two a married couple?
Player A: How come the very long delays?
Opponent 1: whats that got to do with it ?
Opponent 2: working it out
Player A: Sorry the undue delays whilst bidding Blackwood are unaccountable
Opponent 1: it happens all the time!
Player A: I’m sure whist (sic) sat in the same room?
Opponent 2: What has married got to do with anything?
Is all of BBO like this or was I just unlucky?
Comments
I suppose it depends on the calibre of those participating?
I have not come across anything like that in the 30+ sessions I have directed for my club, but I have experienced stupidity in the casual acol room a number of times.
My wife and I, sat in the same room at home and at the same casual table were accused of cheating. However, we were playing against each other, not with!
I suspect that in club restricted events that the attitudes will be better, as people know each other? In the more random EBU events there may be that element of relative anonymity that can embolden the idiots to spout bile more freely?
I should say that most people on BBO are courteous, civil and rarely any trouble. I think you probably had a bad day at the office there.
There's often a few problem players, sadly. There's two issues there that do seem to recur quite frequently, so it's worth having rehearsed responses, poor disclosure and suspicion of cheating.
Most of the time when I have the discussion about suspicions cheating there's little if anything really suspicious about the hand, quite often it's obvious to you looking at the whole hand why a particular action was indicated, or just a pair is playing an unusual system and they've not read the description (this has happened to me twice). Sometimes you just have to explain patiently to the aggrieved pair. On the issue of slow play it's worth noting a lot of things can cause this online, including connection lag. And of course some players always seem to find something to think about, even if an action seems obvious to the other side.
If they're casting aspersions of cheating publicly rather than to the director, that's another matter entirely, the above two cases would be at least an immediate warning, probably in the region of instant disciplinary penalties. I'd note there is a BBO rules of etiquette you can quote at players, as well as the EBU best behaviour at bridge.
Disclosure? More patient conversations I'm afraid. It's sometimes worth checking the logs as to exactly what was said.
This is the conversation I had with the accuser:
Him: Have a look at my boards 7 & 8. The married couple had some amazing bidding/play plus some pause
Me: What calls do you think were suspicious?
Him: Both hands 7 and 8 didn’t feel quite right with some unacceptable delays
Me: As directors we don't look for suspicious behaviour. What we do is act on concerns raised by players.
Me: Slow bidding or play in itself is not evidence of malfeasance, just of the presence of UI.
Him: Ty keep an eye please
Me: If you wish to query any particular call (or combination of calls) you can do so, but you need to identify the call(s) and state what you think is suspicious about them.