OK, here's an actual suggestion...

for improvement, as opposed to randomly complaining. I've always heard, "If you can't help, at least don't hinder." So here goes...

It seems to me there's a really obvious way to handle the freeroll crush. Set a reasonable limit on the number of participants (say, 500) and release the password on Friday or Saturday instead of a few hours prior to the start of the tournament. The tournament fills up well in advance, the door closes, and the site isn't shut down for hours by a last-minute flood of registrants. Is that too easy, or am I missing something here?

Oh, and this "early password release to loyal members"? Yeah, it should probably stop. The long-time members with the most clout know they're getting in regardless, so what do they care if nobody else does? Hence, there's no peer pressure exerted to clean up the forum's act. It only prolongs the problem when the stock answer is, "Shut up and quit whining!" Hey, these freerolls exist to attract new members and promote the site. So, when the newbies get here, they not only find they can't play, but they're being shouted down for reasonably wanting to know what the heck is going on! It would actually be pretty funny if it weren't so absurd.

I say everybody eats the same or nobody eats at all. If not, private emails should become the exclusive source for freeroll passwords. Prove your worth to the forum over an extended period of time and you'll be forwarded the password. Show up once a week looking for freerolls, and you're out of luck. If the newbies aren't interested in sticking around and contributing, they shouldn't be allowed to play for CC cash anyway. My two cents, and it's probably worth less than that.

What? How would that help? People would just come the 1 or 2 days earlier and have the same problem..


Yeah..that made absolutely..no sense.

You're being contradictory again..

Thanks for the constructive feedback - it is more useful than complaints.

Loyalers will always have early access to the passwords. That is a well-deserved benefit that will continue for them.

The problem with releasing the password too early is that there are a lot of sit-outs. Though that is not being dismissed completely - or the private email idea.

Changes are coming soon....

Yes, rest assured we are working on a viable solution. The problem with early password release is that there is a very big problem with password sharing and of course, the amount of sitouts would pile up. But the load on the server is getting to be too much, so obviously we need to change gears.

The thing about this situation is, not a lot can be done about it. If you send emails, there will be thousands of emails needed to be sent. You cant really change the time the password is released, for the above reason. The way it is right now is probably the best way. The only reason people are all torn up is because the server crashed. Half of those people which probably wouldnt have gotten in anyways, due to whatever reason. Just leave the system as is, it works 95% of the time

Dewmz, that was an absolutely masterful job of taking statements out of context. The "contradictions" are two completely different proposals. Either you open up the freeroll doors to everyone, but in a more controlled manner with an adequate cushion prior to the event, or you revert back to earned entry through forum contributions. Only someone spoiling for an argument would have interpreted otherwise. But you're certainly in good company.

Anyway, it's obvious the current mood isn't conducive to productive dialogue, so I'm not going to foolishly burn any more of my day here than I already have. You guys have fun hashing things out for whatever you feel it's worth. My part in the debate permanently concludes here. I could not frankly care less one way or the other.

I will only say that if today is any indication, the six months I've spent completely away from a computer have seen an influx to CardsChat of ill-mannered, obnoxious, intolerant, elitist jerks. I used to enjoy conversing with a friendly community of poker enthusiasts, but it appears that the loudmouths and railhacks have staged a successful coup. I've made two posts which were as tactful as possible, and they were both savaged.

No worries. Enjoy your site. I leave it with you. Just know that CardsChat 2008 is a pale, crude, joyless shadow of its former self. Sad.

Why can't you release the password on monday's and then inform FullTilt not to open regestration untill 1 or 2 hrs before the tourney starts. That way you can pick up the password anytime and the overload would be at FullTilt which they can handle.

I call it how I see it. As I read it, that's what I got from it. I didn't come across anything like 'this way or that way' - just separated by different paragraphs.

Wasn't looking for an argument, just came off as contradictory :P

Very good idea, if people were not evil lol. It would be full in less than 30 seconds, no one wants that. And 90% wouldn't even be CC members, might as well not have the freeroll at all....

No, it can't.

A minimum should be at least to post their Full Tilt name or whatever site it is played in a thread then we can see if duplicate names are real people or just duplicate accounts. Then maybe send a player list of all people entitled to play to the site.

Irrespective if the requirements are 1 post 5 or 50 at least genuine members who have registered would be allowed to play instead of one person registering getting the password then posting it on a different forum or PM'ing all their friends who in turn send it off to their friends.

If poker sites dont have player lists then a database of poker aliases could be collated and then a Mass PM to all that have posted their name could receive it

Just screw over the frw's imo by releasing the password 5 minutes before the start of the tourny. That should keep them alert and provide some entertainment. Noone really cares about the frw's, the whole system works fine as it is, it attracts the new members as its supposed to.

Although i say reduce the prize money down to 200 and randomly give out the other 200 to members of the forum who keep it alive and thereby not rewarding the frw's. Or just remove all but 100 of the prize money and put the other 300 in the buyin as a few of the regulars who play it have called for.

Ironically this made me laugh

Cardschat has plenty of joy and loads of great people.

Cardschat has lots to give to those who want to take part.

You get back what you give in life.

Keep it civil folks or this gets locked like the other thread.

Yes changes can and probably will be made to the freerolls, but every solution has it's own set of potential issues, there is no perfect answer that suits everyone.

Love, kisses and joy to all,

Rex

"God bless us every one!"

Only if I am this "every one" guy!

Just leave things as they are right now, today was a freak incident

i was too lazt to read this but dont you think this should be put or made in the suggestions forum of the site?? sry just thought you would know since your a regular and all

I concur with Switch and would like to offer one more idea. Set aside the extra $300 for a while and reinvest that money in a bigger server or any other equipment CC may need to help the site grow.

Take Ultimatebet for example, their $50 freerolls almost always fills with 5000 people. $100 is sufficient to attract new members, while $400 attracts a lot of vermin. (you all know what I mean, no sense in re-hashing that topic)

The problem with giving out password too early, is often you have too many people sitting out.

Perhaps having more freerolls more often but for less money might be better to avoid the bottle necks.

I would like the password to be given out at the last minute, but the sad reality is that it would cause an even worse hit on the server than with the system that we currently have. The mods have indicated that they will be trying something new, so let's wait and see what happens...

I have a suggestion:

Create a rule that new members must wait 3 days before being allowed to enter freerolls. On Sunday, email the password to all current members who registered 3 or more days prior to the event.

Let's see what's happened in this thread before you made that statement.

- You made some suggestions.

- Someone (albeit mistakenly) points out a few contradictions.

- Someone says thanks for the constructive feedback.

- Someone says that we're working on a viable solution.

- Someone says unfortunately there's not a lot can be done.

- You launch into the aforermentioned rant about how terrible everyone is.

Quite how you can judge from this that Cardschat has become some kind of soulless void I don't quite know, especially considering that you yourself admit you've hardly been here for the past six months.

I'd put it to you that the only person being hostile in this thread is actually you. Regardless, at least two good suggestions have come of this thread (I really like cracker's idea), so let's have more of that and less of the ranting plzkthx?

One more thing I need to point out - the password is not going to be distributed by e-mail, so please don't suggest anything involving this. The whole point of the system at the moment is that new members are attracted to and attracted to come back to the forum, something the FT FR system is unfortunately doing too well at the moment.

The way I see it, CC has two main problems on Sunday:

a. Too many new users registering for the sole purpose of freeroll access.
b. Too many members hitting refresh on the freeroll thread.

To solve the first one, I would be careful to not discourage new user registration, but simply give an incentive for early registration. In order to participate in the freeroll, one must be a member for at least 3 days. If they come in on Sunday looking for a freeroll, they will not be disappointed in this too much, for in just a few days a new one will begin, and they will likely come back in anticipation for it.

To solve the second problem, I think a thread based password release is obsolete. The intense traffic on the freeroll thread, coupled with the need to edit that same thread while hundreds of people click refresh creates a huge load on the server. But I also understand your point, Dorkus Malorkus, about the need for forum involvement. What if instead the password is sent to each member's private messages inbox? Having members check their messages rather than crowding a thread would reduce the gridlock while still achieving the forum participation you speak of.

I'm not sure about this because my knowledge of server encumbrance is somewhat limited, but I'd imagine that unfortunately the server load caused by (a) hundred of people being on and (b) sending thousands of PMs at the same time would be just as bad if not worse than the server load caused by hundreds of people trying to view a FR password thread.

Take this with a pinch of salt, though.

I, for one, will miss your posts RAMM.
I have wondered why you have stopped posting here as often as you had in the past.

I don't know if you can't see what RAMM is saying or if you choose to ignore it, but there are a few members here that are quite negative in their responses which I have noticed as of late, especially responses to newbie questions or ideas.

Here's my 2 cents. I tried to log in yesterday, (not realizing there was a freeroll coming up) and saw the system problem.....For a second I thought it was my computer! Thank God it wasn't.
Anyway, I'm a new member and really like this site. I think the people are really friendly and l've found lots of good info here.
This is the way I understand it, and please correct me if I'm wrong.
You have to have a certain number of posts to get the password. I don't know how many or what constitutes an "acceptable post" to count toward your quota. I just get on here and talk.
I think the 3 day membership would be nice to get a password for a freeroll. My opinion is once people join and look around, they'll enjoy the site and info even if they don't post as much as others.

You know I saw it Shine, so leave out the sarcasm please

I chose not to respond directly to what is a really negative post with holes in it you could drive a bus through.


My response pointed out that CC has many postives which people looking for reasons to complain often willfully ignore.

ok heres my idea. its probably a bit far-fetched but i think it may encompass alot of what cardschat want to do with providing freerolls.

1 - CC wants to get new members and get them to participate or at least stick around if they like the place and what they read.
2 - They dont want the server to be overloaded


Firstly, i think that the password SHOULD be given to loyalers early - they deserve it- they have been participating and contributing to the forum and have earned that privilege.


My idea is this.

Hide the password in one of the strategy posts/hand analysis posts.

For example, lets use Chuckts recent post on pot control as an example. in the middle of the post he inserts a line or a mod does it saying FT freeroll password can be found in "a thread started by DM on 19/01/2008" or "in the WA/WB thread" or "in the strategy article on pot odds". You get my drift. i.e - A treasure hunt for the password with the password in a recent hand analysis post and being linked to another previous thread - maybe in the Golden Archive or somewhere.


If there was some way of staggering the line or preventing an easy search using the search function then this would benefit the idea.

I think if this was coupled with crackers idea earlier about full tilt only allowing registration 1-2 hours b4 FR then it might work and could be released anytime leading up to the FT freeroll.

Benefits
(1) i think is that it would cause/force people to READ some of the stuff on here and may encourage participation in future.
(2) Wouldnt overload the server unduly as people would have to read through different articles/posts to find the password.
(3) It only needs two edits by mods and can happen at anytime days before the FR.

Anyway sorry for the long rant and if the idea is mad please tell me.

OMG no!That would just be absolute carnage.

1,000's of people visited the site Sunday, with one sole purpose. To get the Full Tilt Freeroll password. There is zero interest in any of the other threads, no interest at all in signing up for another site through one of our links to actually pay something back.

I was on the site more than 4 hours before the freeroll yesterday. There were 35 people sitting on the freeroll password thread waiting for it to be updated (at any time in the next 4 hours).

Sorry Rob. It was just an idea. Was just trying to get people to read stuff on here. but you probably right - the 1000+ people interested in the FRs do not want to read the articles etc.

Just some thoughts.....
the attraction to the freeroll is the payout...players see the $400 payout and want a piece of it vs the typical $100 freeroll. This is why there is a mad rush to get in it.

if the goal of the freeroll is to attract new players to CC, then to me the solution is simple: Lower the freeroll amount and have more freeroll tournaments OR just continue to have one on Sunday with a lower payout (maybe $150 instead of $400.)

The $400 Sunday freeroll has accomplished its goal - many new players are now aware of the CC website and have joined. Now the focus can be on continuing to attract more players with the Freeroll(s) and keeping loyalers involved and active.

If you want to reward loyalers, use different tactics - not freerolls. For example, with the unused payout from the former $400 Sunday freeroll, take the $250 and have a loyalers only tourney based on activity for a certain period (examples: activity for the past week or month). No freeroll rush - passwords could be emailed.

I must admit, I do enjoy this site very much and visit when I can, but I do not post comments as often as I should. I think everyone involved in building and maintaining this site should be commended - it is one of the best out there!

Yes, an epic suggestion. Please do this, challenge the frw's. Think it would be quite entertaining. Also might possibly be a fun game to race other members to find the password. If this is not done, we should still start up some sort of treasure hunt, where you have to look for something each week, treasure hunts are great fun