| |
BGonline.org Forums
Rules...
Posted By: Rich Munitz In Response To: Rules... (Chuck Bower)
Date: Friday, 23 October 2009, at 6:50 p.m.
"The Tournament Rules and Procedures cannot and should not regulate all possible situations that may arise during a match."
Chuck, I agree with everything you said except for one minor difference. While it is obvious that the rules CANNOT regulate all possible situations (there will always be new situations nobody has though of), I do not agree with the SHOULD NOT part. In my opinion, as gaps are discovered, and as it becomes clear that further clarifications are needed, there should be a continuous evolution of the rules and procedures to give direction in these areas. I reject the idea that because it is not possible to cover everything that it should cover nothing. The goal should be to cover everything. Reaching the goal may be impossible, but that should not change the goal. I work in software development. The goal is to create a software product that is free of bugs. We know that for anything sufficiently large and complex that is not possible (or at least we will never be sure there are no more bugs). But imagine taking the position of why bother to fix bugs that are discovered, because no matter how much we fix, there will always be other bugs not yet discovered - so why bother fixing any of them. Taking such a position in software is laughable. Backgammon is no different.
What is key and essential is the second part of the rule:
"No set of rules should deprive the Director of his freedom of judgment or prevent him from finding the solution dictated by fairness and compatible with the circumstances of a particular case. "
The director must always have the ability to judge that THIS CASE IS DIFFERENT from what is already covered and the stated intents of what is already covered. And if so, the director must be empowered to make the right decision based on the situation and fairness. But what's wrong with then taking this new situation and adding a new guideline to the book so that next time if the same situation occurs, it will no longer be new and different; rather it will be known and covered, and therefore more likely to be ruled in a consistent manner in the future, and so that players can look at the book, see that it is exactly the situation that just occurred and how it should be handled and not feel slighted.
And having such complete and clear guidelines will help with situations where new or less knowledgable directors run tournaments and are simply unsure what to do. Knowledgable players can open the book, point the director to the relevant topic and let them figure out if it is applicable to the given situation and if so, know exactly what to do.
Make the collective wisdom of the brightest, fairest, and most experienced minds in backgammon available to everyone by writing it down.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.