[jillybean]

Can someone tell me, are the "WBF Women's Festival" tournaments in any way associated with the "World Bridge Federation" or is the WBF "Women's Bridge
Festival"?

[diana_eva]

They are a WBF event:

http://www.worldbrid...ne/Online11.asp

[jillybean]

Thanks. I'm surprised and disappointed to see the WBF running a game that bans psyches, undo's and forces a person who makes a misbid to advise their opponents, in private, of the mistake.

[wank]

if i were a woman i would feel a trifle patronised for them to have a set of rules treating women akin to beginners.

[diana_eva]

From the organizers:

The Rules have been set by the WBF Womens Committee together with BBO Italia (who are responsible for organizing the event on BBO). When they made these rules they felt such a decision is more appropriate for the online environment and it would help create a friendly atmosphere.

[paulg]

I made a similar comment to jb's to the organisers last year. They said then that they would examine the rules for the future, so now it seems that this is really what they want.

[hrothgar]

diana_eva, on 2011-April-14, 09:16, said:

From the organizers:

The Rules have been set by the WBF Womens Committee together with BBO Italia (who are responsible for organizing the event on BBO). When they made these rules they felt such a decision is more appropriate for the online environment and it would help create a friendly atmosphere.

As I recall, the Italian Bridge Federation bans pysches in face-2-face play...

[vincenzo]

Yes,

I confirm that Italian Bridge Federation bans psyches at bridge club tourneys. Main reason is to "protect" average players from experts. During national championships psyches are admitted.

For condition of context of Women Club tourneys:

http://www.wbfwomens...ticipation.html

Rules & Regulations

that I agree with WBF Womens Committee 3 years ago.

Offcorse every thing can change, we can think to make next year the festival more "competitive" and less "friendly", but is this the right formula ?

For sure it has not been this our intention 3 years ago

Vincenzo

[blackshoe]

vincenzo, on 2011-April-14, 10:33, said:

Yes,

I confirm that Italian Bridge Federation bans psyches at bridge club tourneys. Main reason is to "protect" average players from experts. During national championships psyches are admitted.

This regulation directly conflicts with Law 40C1 and hence violates Law 80B2f, so it's illegal. That said, I'm sure the IBF doesn't give a damn about my opinion.

[barmar]

Why should ACBL be the only RA that flagrantly ignores the Laws?

[Gerardo]

Still feels wrong to have to inform opponents when you misbid. Just the TD would be fairer.

[gnasher]

wank, on 2011-April-14, 08:58, said:

if i were a woman i would feel a trifle patronised for them to have a set of rules treating women akin to beginners.

If you were a woman, wouldn't you feel a trifle patronised by the existence of this event?

[onoway]

gnasher, on 2014-November-16, 17:40, said:

If you were a woman, wouldn't you feel a trifle patronised by the existence of this event?

nope
What I do wonder though, is why all the tourneys are short. The ACBL special events were 10 boards, these ones only 10 boards...all paid for events. Trying to get more events into the time available? Do more people play if the tourney is short? Trying to appeal to a different group of players? It would be interesting to know the rationale, since there are still free tourneys available, it would seem that at least some paid events should be matching them in terms of numbers of boards.

[Vampyr]

onoway, on 2014-November-17, 09:02, said:

nope
What I do wonder though, is why all the tourneys are short. The ACBL special events were 10 boards, these ones only 10 boards...all paid for events. Trying to get more events into the time available? Do more people play if the tourney is short? Trying to appeal to a different group of players? It would be interesting to know the rationale, since there are still free tourneys available, it would seem that at least some paid events should be matching them in terms of numbers of boards.

Probably that more people play if it is short. Playing online is not like going out for an evening's duplicate; people's time commitment is much more variable. The relatively few boards would for the same reason result in fewer people dropping out.

Anyway it seems to be a winning formula, otherwise why would people pay for tournaments when there are free ones available.

[barmar]

Long tournaments on BBO have never done well.

[barmar]

gnasher, on 2014-November-16, 17:40, said:

If you were a woman, wouldn't you feel a trifle patronised by the existence of this event?

I suspect the logic is this: there are lots of women who play social bridge, but not duplicate, and they're trying to attract them. So they made the rules conservative to avoid putting them off.

It's not that women, as a gender, need to be coddled, but that people not accustomed to tournament bridge would be more comfortable.

[helene_t]

gnasher, on 2014-November-16, 17:40, said:

If you were a woman, wouldn't you feel a trifle patronised by the existence of this event?

I don't. Presumably the existence of this event hints that the organizers think that some women for whatever reason would like occasinaly to try a woman-only event.

There could be all kind of reasons for that. For example, sometimes I got so fed up with partners that asked me about my breast size after the event that I would be inclined to play a straight-women-and-gay-men-only tourney next time.

But even if I drew the conclusion that the reason must be that the organizers think that gender profiling is an efficient way of identifying players who would like a low-level, nonserious, chatty and psyche-free environment, I still wouldn't patronized because:
- There are billions of sexists out there. What else is new. Why would I be surprised, or care, if a few of them happen to organize online bridge?
- If someone states that the average woman/Dane/Statistician/whatnot is a lousy bridge players with smelly socks, why should I take it personally? They didn't say that I am a bad bridge player with smelly socks.

[GreenMan]

helene_t, on 2014-November-18, 04:30, said:

There could be all kind of reasons for that. For example, sometimes I got so fed up with partners that asked me about my breast size after the event that I would be inclined to play a straight-women-and-gay-men-only tourney next time.

Would there be any point to reporting this kind of harassment?

[barmar]

helene_t, on 2014-November-18, 04:30, said:

There could be all kind of reasons for that. For example, sometimes I got so fed up with partners that asked me about my breast size after the event that I would be inclined to play a straight-women-and-gay-men-only tourney next time.

What kinds of neanderthals attend your bridge tournaments? I can't imagine anyone making such comments in any venue these days, short of a pickup bar.

[diana_eva]

barmar, on 2014-November-19, 10:47, said:

What kinds of neanderthals attend your bridge tournaments? I can't imagine anyone making such comments in any venue these days, short of a pickup bar.

Or an online website.

Can't believe people don't realize how much sexist stuff and comments anyone with a vaguely female username is subjected to on the internet, without provoking it in ANY way, simply for being online.