People ruining tournaments

[Matt Weiner]

Hi, quizbowl. Here are some suggestions of general interest that we've all heard before but apparently need to be repeated:

-Do not leave tournaments early. Stay until the TD says the tournament is over. People pay a lot of money and invest a lot of time in getting to events and they want to play as many rounds as possible. If you have the luxury of dropping $100 or more and one or two days of your time on an event and then leaving 2/3 of the way through, that's great, but don't rub it in and don't use your privileged position to deprive those of us who value our time and money of our scheduled games.

-Do not intentionally destroy tournaments because you think you are entitled to dictate their location less than a week in advance, especially when host bidding for said tournaments was open to anyone and you did not bid.

Thanks for your cooperation!

[nobthehobbit]

Some other behaviours that should be avoided in tournaments to make them an enjoyable experience for all concerned:

-Do not act like a jackass just because you're better than most everyone else at the tournament. Pretty well everyone there already knows you're good and those who don't will find out soon enough anyway.

-Do not act like a jackass for any other reason. Maybe that's the only reason you attend, but there are actually people there who want to play quizbowl and have fun, and their enjoyment is seriously limited by your constant insults, belittlings and putdowns.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I'm sure we've all had experiences with players like this.

[Mr. Kwalter]

Hey, avoision rears its ugly head again. If you want to call Weiner a jackass, just do it, although while he is many things I personally don't see him being guilty of any of the things of which you spoke. Point is: stop being a douche.

edit: apparently you weren't at the mid-atlantic site. My point stands though. If you want to make an accusation, don't couch it in hypotheticals and such.

[Matt Weiner]

Yeah, I have to assume the real subject of that post was notorious Canadian quizbowl evildoer Fred Sheppard. While my jackassery is well known, belittlings, insults, and putdowns towards teams I'm playing have never been part of my repertoire.

[EverlastingWrane]

EDIT: CHRIS HACKS PEOPLES PROFILES BAN HIM PLEASE

[DumbJaques]

Please ignore the previous post, I was logged in under the wrong freaking name. I suck at computers. Anyway, this is what I said:

I concur. It's fairly obvious to me who matt was talking about (and I was in another time zone this weekend), whereas I have no idea who you're talking about. The idea that you aren't referring to one or two specific people is fairly ridiculous given the language of your post.

Also, I dub this the hating thread. Please feel free to hate on everything. I will start by hating on myself, for previously mocking Matt Morisson's music when in fact it is quite entertaining. I'm a douchebag. I would also very much like to see him donate some CDs to be used as individual prizes at various nationals this year.

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

Some other behaviours that should be avoided in tournaments to make them an enjoyable experience for all concerned:

-Do not act like a jackass just because you're better than most everyone else at the tournament. Pretty well everyone there already knows you're good and those who don't will find out soon enough anyway.

-Do not act like a jackass for any other reason. Maybe that's the only reason you attend, but there are actually people there who want to play quizbowl and have fun, and their enjoyment is seriously limited by your constant insults, belittlings and putdowns.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I'm sure we've all had experiences with players like this.

You forgot this one:

-If you, even when playing with Sorice, can't beat Chris Borglum, you shouldn't brag about your ability to do so on the internet.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I'm sure we've all had experiences with players like this.

[nobthehobbit]

Hey, avoision rears its ugly head again. If you want to call Weiner a jackass, just do it, although while he is many things I personally don't see him being guilty of any of the things of which you spoke. Point is: stop being a douche.

edit: apparently you weren't at the mid-atlantic site. My point stands though. If you want to make an accusation, don't couch it in hypotheticals and such.

I am not calling Weiner a jackass. I felt that the two things I mentioned were ways in which people ruin tournaments, which was the general subject of Weiner's post ("People ruining tournaments"). I have no personal knowledge of whether Matt Weiner acts in the way I described, although I know players who do (and admittedly, I have done so myself at times). My statement was, as I said, not directed at anyone in particular, so please do not assume that just because it was in a post replying to one of Weiner's and that he is a very good player and has or has had (from what I hear) a reputation for being a jackass, that I was therefore directing my comments at him, despite what I said to the contrary.

I am not accusing Matt Weiner or any other specific player of being guilty of those things I mentioned; I merely have observed these behaviours at tournaments and find that, for me, they tend to lower my enjoyment of those tournaments.

Lastly, even though I was not at the Mid-Atlantic site, I agree with Matt (from what I've read about what happened) and I hope that sort of thing doesn't happen again. (I didn't play ACF Regionals at all, but I do enjoy ACF tournaments, and I wish there had been one in my region. If there had, though, we might've had 3 teams at the most, IMO.)

I hope that clears things up.

[Matt Weiner]

-If you, even when playing with Sorice, can't beat Chris Borglum, you shouldn't brag about your ability to do so on the internet.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but I'm sure we've all had experiences with players like this.

I heartily endorse this advice.

[LKos]

I've already written about the facts of the decision to go to Brandeis over Maryland in another thread, but I do want to make a general comment about Matt's snide comment to

"not intentionally destroy tournaments because you think you are entitled to dictate their location less than a week in advance, especially when host bidding for said tournaments was open to anyone and you did not bid."

which is obviously addressed at Princeton.

I think it's very unfortunate when a person who is upset at someone else, immediately imputes the worst motives to that someone else and then makes his insinuations public to try to besmirch their good name.

No attempt was made to find out why we went to Brandeis. No evidence was offered that we had any intention to "destroy" or "dictate" anything. Nor was it explained why we would want to "punish" Maryland or Matt or anyone else for ACF's reasonable decision to keep the tournament at Maryland. Instead, Matt just decided to take out his frustration by insulting us in public and making it an issue of bad faith (as opposed to bad luck). I hold no ill will toward him for this, but I do wish that he would have been more honest in his posts instead of throwing out unsubstantiated and false accusations in public in order to vent his frustration.