Campaign Introduction, "Next Round" & "Next Tournament" Announcements

[panther3485]

Hi once again members, and a warm welcome to what I think is probably our very first "full-on" warships campaign.

This new campaign begins with #1 of at least 4 planned tournaments, which is the minimum number I think we'll need to cover all eras of the warship, from the ancient right up to World War 2.

There are 32 candidates starting in Round 1 of the tournament, pitted against each other in pairs.
This will give us 5 rounds (32, 16, 8, 4 and 2 candidates respectively).
I have no idea which two warship types will be facing off against each other by the time we get to the Final.

Please be aware that we are covering a very large swathe of human history with this first tournament; from Ancient to Medieval; over 2,000 years worth.
This was just about inevitable, given that I wanted to cover these older periods and the relative dearth of truly different types that I could get reasonable information for.
You will find that as we progress through later eras, there will be a greater variety of types and sub-types about which, also, information is much more plentiful.
This will be especially true for the 19th and 20th Centuries. I have to say, I'm really looking forward to those periods.

This time around, I'm not insisting purely on most significant/influential as the basis for our assessment criteria.
Essentially, you will be asked which of each pair of warship types had the most merit in your opinion.
This can include significant/influential but also any other criteria for merit that each member deems appropriate.

It's possible you may experience a headache or two with some of the pairings, when trying to decide which of two types is of the greatest merit.
This will be especially challenging when you end up assessing warship types from differing eras!
I'll leave it up to each of you guys to decide exactly how you'll do that.
Speaking for myself, I'll be trying to balance the merit of each type both for its own era and for any influence it may have had on subsequent eras.
Bit of a juggling act, but there it is!

Through all of this, don't forget this whole campaign is supposed to be fun too. So it doesn't do to get too serious about any of it.
If the going gets a tad heavy between the ears just relax, bump yourself down a gear or two and go with what feels right for you!

The intention is that there will be a ribbon for this Campaign; if not for each separate tournament. Still thinking about that.
Of course, this depends on the award of ribbons still being available to us after our forum upgrade, which I hope and trust will be the case.

As usual, there will be a certain minimum requirement to earn the ribbon or ribbons.
The exact level of participation required is still under discussion but the membership will be advised ASAP.
Any appeals based on extenuating circumstances will be considered strictly on a case-by-case basis.
In all such cases, the Staff decision will be final.

Enjoy!

Best to all,
panther3485

[Arthwys]

Looking forward to it!

[Mountain Man]

Hopefully, the notification of the actual start will go more smoothly this time.

[panther3485]

Update:


Hi everyone,

This update is somewhat overdue and my apologies for that.
I am still progressing with the third tournament (T3) in our Warships Campaign.
It has not been forgotten or abandoned.

The main reasons for the delay are twofold:

(1) Helping my wife sort out a deceased estate in the family, which included extensive renovations and repairs to my Father-in-Laws house. These went on for longer, and cost more, than originally estimated. We've been doing much of the work ourselves over the last few months. That work is now finished.
(2) I've also been under considerably greater pressure in my working life, as I'm in a very small team of 5 people and we had a member on long-term sick leave, with nobody to stand in for him. He is now back at work and things are gradually returning to normal there too.

In the meantime, I've continued with my reading on warships for the T3 period - as and when time permitted - and I've been adding to my list of potential candidates. The list is now rather greater than the 64 candidates we are going to need for the tournament, so right now I'm checking them all out and deciding which warships are to be culled.
Once that is completed, it's a case of assembling and editing images and doing the write-ups for each of the 64 types. The 32 polls for Round 1 can then be completed, ready for the launching of T3.

So, bottom line: How long?
Based on the amount of spare time I'm likely to have available, I'm conservatively estimating to be ready for launch by the end of July, give or take a week.



Sincere apologies for this delay, as I had been working towards a launch by June but I'm still some way short and it's 9 June already!


Best to all,
Paul

[Arthwys]

I think that is fair.

[slick24]

[panther3485]

Sounds reasonable to me, FWIW

Thanks for that feedback.

I've been thinking about this quite a lot.
Many of the members who participated in T1 don't appear to be around much anymore, if at all.
Some others are obviously still around but they seem to visit ACG far less frequently than they used to.
So to me, it would seem to make some sense to keep the polls of each Tournament open considerably longer; especially given the substantial time gap between these Tournaments, when not a lot else is happening anyway.

On the other hand, waiting too long between rounds would be unfair to those who are engaging in a relatively timely fashion.
I reckon setting each round's polling decisions - and hence progression to the next round - for no longer than 2 weeks is about right? Otherwise, if I drag it out too long, some of the members who DO engage promptly and enthusiastically may start to lose interest?

Therefore, those taking longer than 2 weeks to vote will not be contributing to the actual poll outcomes. However, they will still be able to offer their comments and opinions; and if they vote in enough of the polls they will still be eligible for the ribbon/Roll of Honor.

[slick24]

Amendment:

Given that T3 is still at least a couple of months away, I've decided to leave T2 open until, say perhaps, a week before T3 is ready. Therefore, members who wish to vote and/or post comments in T2 will still be able to do so right up until that time.
Obviously, as all of the T2 Rounds have already been concluded, Round outcomes will not change but latecomers will still be eligible for the ribbon/Roll of Honor if they have voted in at least 32 of the 63 pairings.

I'm thinking of also applying this idea to T3. If so, that means members will still be able to vote in T3 after conclusion of all Rounds, until the week before T4 opens. T4 would then stay open for a similar overall length of time.

If this way of doing things is well received by the membership, then going forward I might use it as my template for any future tournaments?

Sounds reasonable to me, FWIW

[panther3485]

<SNIP> ... I have now re-opened all 63 of the T2 poll threads; just in case you or any other members want to say something about the ships, to go along with your votes.
I'll leave them open until the end of this extension; i.e. one month hence; which will be 10 March.

Amendment:

Given that T3 is still at least a couple of months away, I've decided to leave T2 open until, say perhaps, a week before T3 is ready. Therefore, members who wish to vote and/or post comments in T2 will still be able to do so right up until that time.
Obviously, as all of the T2 Rounds have already been concluded, Round outcomes will not change but latecomers will still be eligible for the ribbon/Roll of Honor if they have voted in at least 32 of the 63 pairings.

I'm thinking of also applying this idea to T3. If so, that means members will still be able to vote in T3 after conclusion of all Rounds, until the week before T4 opens. T4 would then stay open for a similar overall length of time.

If this way of doing things is well received by the membership, then going forward I might use it as my template for any future tournaments?

[panther3485]

Edit (for Mountain Man and any other interested members) regarding the above post:

I have now re-opened all 63 of the T2 poll threads; just in case you or any other members want to say something about the ships, to go along with your votes.
I'll leave them open until the end of this extension; i.e. one month hence; which will be 10 March.

[panther3485]

I'm not sure how to proceed to complete T2.

OK, to get where you are now, you would have done this:

1. On the main page, scroll down until you find the "Armchair Attacks!" section.
2. Near the top left, select "Warships Campaign 2017-2018".
3. Click on Sticky: Campaign Introduction, "Next Round" & "Next Tournament" Announcements

When you got to step 2, below "Sticky: Warships Campaign - Questions, Comments and Concerns", you would have seen the beginning of the list of T2 matches. The first one reads, Closed: T2, R6, Prng 94 (Final): British Ship of the Line vs American Heavy Frigate .

Now, here comes the interesting bit:
They all start with the word, "Closed". And yes, when I closed them, nobody was able to post any comments after that. However, there is some sort of software glitch that allowed the actual polls themselves to remain open. I was unable to close them, and ACG members were still able to vote in them. Quite a few did exactly that!
So, as far as I know, this is still the case right now. Unless the glitch has somehow been fixed, you should still be able to vote in all of these polls if you want to. (BTW, please let me know if you can't. If so, it would mean the glitch has somehow been resolved. Let's hope that hasn't happened yet!)

Anyway, assuming the glitch is still in place and you are able to vote, there are 63 polls. They are spread across 7 pages (the last 3 being on page 7) and to qualify for the ribbon, you would need to vote in at least 32 of them.

Good luck, and please let me know if you run into any problems.
The above also applies to any other members who wish to vote, or add to the votes they've made already. (We have one member who voted in 31 polls, so I hope he's reading this and votes in at least one more!)


Regards,
Paul

[Mountain Man]

No problem my friend; and you are not being offered any preferential treatment here.
All members who missed out on T2, or participated briefly but were unable to meet the minimum requirement for the ribbon - regardless of the reason - have exactly the same opportunity as you are being offered.
However, I think it's reasonable to keep the offer open for one more month only?
I would think that anyone who hasn't done it by then surely doesn't want to anyway?

To any ACG members who may be interested:
If you are not completely sure how to proceed or are unsure of the minimum participation needed to qualify for the T2 ribbon, please either ask right here or, if you prefer, message me.


Best regards to all,
Paul

I'm not sure how to proceed to complete T2.

[panther3485]

Thank you for your response. I am not asking for any preferential treatment, merely a chance to start at the beginning with everyone else.

No problem my friend; and you are not being offered any preferential treatment here.
All members who missed out on T2, or participated briefly but were unable to meet the minimum requirement for the ribbon - regardless of the reason - have exactly the same opportunity as you are being offered.
However, I think it's reasonable to keep the offer open for one more month only?
I would think that anyone who hasn't done it by then surely doesn't want to anyway?

To any ACG members who may be interested:
If you are not completely sure how to proceed or are unsure of the minimum participation needed to qualify for the T2 ribbon, please either ask right here or, if you prefer, message me.


Best regards to all,
Paul

[Mountain Man]

There were a couple of mitigating factors that contributed to the initial confusion; BUT rather than try to explain those, here's what I'll put on the table for you:

MM, up to and including T1 you were one of the most consistent and enthusiastic participants in my tournaments. So, my answer is item #1 below. (Item #2 is an optional extra):

(1) In recognition of your previous consistent participation and for anyone else who might have shared a similar experience, I promise to make extra efforts to avoid the potential for confusion in all forthcoming tournaments.

(2) I shall further extend the deadline for acceptance of "late votes" in the recent T2.
This extension was set to expire just a few days ago (31 January). It is now extended to the end of February.
Voting in a sufficient number of the T1 and T2 pairings (you're already good in T1), and doing the same in the forthcoming T3 and T4, will also enable qualification for an additional special campaign ribbon, which is to be awarded to all those who participate to the required level in all four tournaments of the Warships Campaign.
Obviously, late votes cannot change poll outcomes but if you vote in the required number of T2 pairings your name will of course be added to the T2 Roll of Honor.
This same offer applies to anyone else who qualified in T1 but either missed out on T2, or didn't vote in enough of the T2 pairings.

Any questions, feel free to ask; either here or by PM.

Thank you for your response. I am not asking for any preferential treatment, merely a chance to start at the beginning with everyone else.

[panther3485]

Will the actual start be clearly and properly announced this time?

There were a couple of mitigating factors that contributed to the initial confusion; BUT rather than try to explain those, here's what I'll put on the table for you:

MM, up to and including T1 you were one of the most consistent and enthusiastic participants in my tournaments. So, my answer is item #1 below. (Item #2 is an optional extra):

(1) In recognition of your previous consistent participation and for anyone else who might have shared a similar experience, I promise to make extra efforts to avoid the potential for confusion in all forthcoming tournaments.

(2) I shall further extend the deadline for acceptance of "late votes" in the recent T2.
This extension was set to expire just a few days ago (31 January). It is now extended to the end of February.
Voting in a sufficient number of the T1 and T2 pairings (you're already good in T1), and doing the same in the forthcoming T3 and T4, will also enable qualification for an additional special campaign ribbon, which is to be awarded to all those who participate to the required level in all four tournaments of the Warships Campaign.
Obviously, late votes cannot change poll outcomes but if you vote in the required number of T2 pairings your name will of course be added to the T2 Roll of Honor.
This same offer applies to anyone else who qualified in T1 but either missed out on T2, or didn't vote in enough of the T2 pairings.

Any questions, feel free to ask; either here or by PM.