In which we are judged as not quite judge material

Yesterday’s meeting of the NDCA to discuss virtual judging didn’t really accomplish much. In fact, much of it was déjà vu all over again. I remember back about 15 years ago when we had this one judge who appeared out of the mists and creeped everyone out for a while until he was escorted from a tournament in manacles by your friendly neighborhood fibbies. This started a whole discussion of things like creating shared lists of do-not-hires and tournament ombudspersons and all manner of things that seemed ultimately impossible to solve. And, well, we didn’t solve them. Most of what we said back then was said again yesterday, and, well, we didn’t solve anything yesterday either. I don’t think we will. I mean, if you had a do-not-hire list, how would you determine the criteria? Criminal history as a child molester would be easy enough. Questionable responses to identity arguments, as in possibly a racist? Not so easy. Discovering one is on such a list would not lead to happiness, and could lead to severe repercussions. Even having a shared list of do-hires is problematic, if exclusion from the list excludes one from getting hired. 

In other words, it’s all a mug’s game. 

Some tangential things were discussed, like fee schedules and things like that. It was suggested that paying by the round makes sense, as compared to IRL where you’re there for the day whether or not you judge so you should get paid for the day. That’s questionable. You’re still on the hook for the day, and available. Once you were hired, is it your fault you don’t fit in any rounds? The idea of paying a kill fee for rounds not judged and a full fee for judged rounds was floated, and maybe that’s the solution. I don’t know. No one else seemed to either. 

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that the Tournament Director’s Toolkit, which I’ve been gently updating over the last few weeks, needs some less-than-gentle updating on the virtual side. I started working on that today. Tis a bit of a biggie, but when it’s done it will give me something to fall back on when we start getting serious next fall.