From: "Stouten, Pieter [R&D/0467]" PHARMACIA COM> Date: 12 nov 2002 Subject: FESA bylaws and rules committee (was: A cultural difference?) On Tue 12 Nov 2002 19:35 +0300, Alexander Nosovsky G23 RELCOM RU> wrote: >Pieter write that I was not correct about Baylos Draft. >I have understand that incorrect. My message was not >about FESA and Baylows at all, I just write my opinion >about Cultural Differences and problems which arise >regular in real Tournaments. And don't want to insult >Pieter and Martin. Sorry. > Thanks for your mail, Alexander. I am not easily offended. I don't think Martin was offended either. At this very moment, FESA is working hard at establishing its bylaws (and I thank Alexander for initiating this important effort). The issue as to whether FESA will have a permanent Rules Committee has not been settled yet, but we do regard establishing rules for European tournaments as an important task. So, we will have either an ad-hoc or a permanent Rules Committee to write up those rules. As to cultural differences, I think in the West we do not defer to authority easily. Japanese amateur tournaments often have a visiting professional, who rules when there is a dispute, and I doubt anybody would challenge his authority. Even expressing disagreement may be considered bad form. Westerners (and mind sports players more than others, it seems) tend to challenge any and all authority. Some major European tournaments have addressed the issue of disputes by having a board of appeal consisting of a few tournament participants that represent different countries. This has worked well so far, but is not ideal as not all rules may be known to all players upfront and the members of the board of appeal may not be impartial. Many organizers announce the most important rules at the beginning of a tournament, but of course they cannot cover all contingencies, nor can one expect all players to remember exactly what was said. The need for written rules is clear and FESA will be producing such rules. The goal is not to impose these rules on tournament organizers, but to provide a standard that reflects practices already common and that organizers may use as they see fit. All the best, Pieter