Tuesday, September 13, 2016

In which we ponder e-ballots and judges who are too cool for the room

Over the last weekend Kaz and I spent a lot of time talking about e-ballots, specifically e-ballots at Princeton. It’s an interesting discussion, and there were events at Byram Hills that could impact the ultimate decision.

Last year at the Tiggers we were in 7 different buildings on Friday, and 6 on Saturday.  A half hour before the scheduled time of each round, we had a judge call and distributed paper ballots. Although we were lenient on Friday, as people were finding their way, we were ruthless after that, levying fines to anyone who didn’t show up to pick up a ballot. Given that there was a two hour break between rounds on Saturday, there was no conceivable excuse not to show up on time. Nor, for that matter, were there too many people who didn’t. The tournament ran totally on time. (By the way, we also had a way of texting results, which took the pressure off if someone was way far away.)

My main objection to e-b’s at the Tigs is based on the fact that there are simply too many judges too cool to hit the start button in the world at large. Needless to say, there are also noobs who may or may not be prepared to submit e-ballots, but they can be trained; we did that at Byram Hills (and plenty of other places in the past). It’s the too-cool contingent that is the bothersome one. In a e-b situation, the only way the tab room knows that things are operating smoothly is when we can see on our screens that a round has started. At a tournament with a single building, like Bronx, if someone hasn’t hit start, we have a dozen myrmidons posted throughout the building to quickly assess the situation. At Pton, with 7 buildings, we will need myrmidons in every single building to assess the situation. There are a number of reasons why a round doesn’t start. Not enough debaters? Well, we can solve that a variety of ways. Judge not in the room? We can solve that a number of ways. Judge too cool to hit the start button? Well, we can solve that too, but what a waste of time. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve had people make strong arguments to me that I’m an idiot for not doing e-ballots, and those people have been the same ones who notoriously don’t hit start. Great judges on a certain level, absolute non-professionals on another level. They just don’t get it. Every time we chase down a judge who is in a room judging is time we could have been spending solving a real problem. Multiplied by 7 buildings? Oy. (And I'm not even going to get started on the judges who hit start the minute they get an assignment, when for all they know both their teams have been devoured by hungry dragons on the way to the round.)

At Byram, a couple of our highest ranked judges were simply incapable of officially starting a round. There is no excuse for this. The wireless worked fine. It is simply unprofessional behavior on their part. I was feeling vindictive and thinking about punishing those judges with down-4 pairings, but I didn’t, because that would be more punishing to the debaters who needed those highly preffed judges in their bubble rounds.

Aaargh.

CP claims that we simply need to educate the world for e-b’s, and that my not using them delays that education. I think he’s right about that, as far as it goes. But all the too-cools are beyond education. They know the ropes. They are being, consciously or unconsciously, obdurate. They’re the bigger problem.


Anyhow, we’ve sent feelers to the Tigs presenting the problem of the many buildings, and asking if they have staff that can be in place in all of them. Kaz also suggests a mandatory opening judge meeting, which is fine, but she agrees that the too-cools never attend a judge meeting because, well, they’re too cool for that. Honestly, we’ve had other too-cool problems in the past at the Tigs, where the best and most highly preferred judges saw their stints in NJ as hireds as a weekend vacation and not a judging gig. So I’m worried. Will we try it? Probably. Will it work? Your guess is as good as mine.


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