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Unified rules: aspiration vs. reality in the USA

Posted By: TarHeelFan
Date: Friday, 18 August 2017, at 1:15 a.m.

In Response To: Unified rules: aspiration vs. reality in the USA (Bill Riles)

Just my opinion here. I was excited when the 2016 rules came out. I had been anticipating this, and felt like we might finally have a new rule set that could eliminate a lot of the inconsistency in US tournament backgammon. I envisioned something that built on the work that Phil and Chuck and myself had done, as well as the great work that has been done by federations around the world.

Then I read the document. I was absolutely appalled. I felt nauseous. What I read did not seem consistent at all with the rules that had come before. Sure, most of the rules themselves were the same. But the writing was horrific. Ambiguity was rampant. There were long sections that were totally unnecessary and had nothing to do with rules. It seemed that half the words were superfluous. In short, the document was an unmitigated disaster.

This is what the USBGF spent two years producing?!? My wife and son could verify that I paced around the house ranting about them for hours. I would read sections to my son, a linguist by training, and his response was frequently along the lines of "What is the intent of that sentence? What are they trying to say?"

I tried several times to write up what my issues were and to make suggestions for improvements. But every time I worked with the document for any length of time, I got so pissed off I had to set it aside again. Even typing up this post, my blood pressure is up.

I didn't want to go into this in public, but when I hear Bill Riles saying the 2016 rules would have been accepted, I have to set the record straight:

That. Was. Never. Going. To. Happen.

Yes, the length was an issue. But I think that was just the easiest thing to grab onto as an excuse. Nobody seems to want to say it, but the true bottom line is that the document was BAD.

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