Originally posted by MemoryShock

Originally posted by OzWeatherman
Is there still time for me to join?

Way to bait your challenger pool...

Haha

I do know a thing or two about baiting, you've seen my anti chemtrail threads right

I've been on a bit of a losing streak recently, but I did threaten to enter the first tournament of 2009, so here I am.

Do we have any estimations on when this tournament will begin?

...hello...?

helloooooooooooo?

Is this thing on?

testing 1-2-3...testing......

Ah. There we are.

I think I might have a few spare minutes here and there that I could throw at this.

I'm kinda new to the concept (its soooo American!) and not a very good writer though, so bear with me please

So...room for a little one at the back?

Well thanks for the welcome

Playin possum? Not really. I've read a few of the debates and you guys are good...and seriously I've never done anything like this before so I rank myself at the bottom of the food chain. Will be a very interesting experience indeed I think.

do you get to sign up for a certain topic, or is it given at the time of the match?

Originally posted by one_man24
do you get to sign up for a certain topic, or is it given at the time of the match?

It is given at the time of the match...at least in tournaments...

When do we find out who exactly is i the tournament cause i wanna be i it sooo much now

i posted in the second page so i hope im in a good position to get in

It looks like there may be something of a "playoff race" before this tournament!


At least 18 ranked fighters have joined so far (possibly 20- semperfortis and gaotu789 haven't explicitly said whether or not they are in yet).

There are several unheard from as of yet who may appear also.

It is HIGHLY advisable that those of you who wish to participate in the tournament pair up for challenge matches soon so that you can become ranked. A ranking of at least 2 (earned by winning one match) will probably be enough to get anyone in who wants in.

If there is space for new fighters, it's first come, first serve, and the order of entry so far has been:

Group 1: IF nobody else joins or gains ranking, these members will be able to get in without ranking.
Doomsday2029
questioningall
antar
branh03

Group 2: IF nobody else joins or gains ranking, AND IF semperfortis and GAOTU are not in, these members will be able to get in without ranking.
TheMythLives
Anti - Government

Group 3: These members will have to gain ranking, or else will need for someone else to drop out.
neformore
one_man24

These are the present rankings of the experienced fighters who have joined. If a lot of people gain ranking or several more experienced fighters join, a rank race could develop for entry to the tournament, so those of you who are new, or have 2 or less rank points, should probably keep careful tabs on the situation.

(Semperfortis?) 24
skyfloating 18
The Vagabond 18 (previously said 15 in error)
TruthWithin 14
chissler 13
Ian McLean 12
(gaotu789) 11
Maxmars 8
americandingbat 6
Heike 6
maria_stardust 4
AshleyD 4
whatukno 4
44soulslayer 4
nyk537 4
orange-light 3
Schrodingers dog 2
enjoies05 2
TheWayISeeIt 2
OzWeatherman 2

[edit on Fri Jan 30 2009 by The Vagabond]

Attention



MemoryShock and I have been discussing the high level of interest in this tournament and how to handle this many people, and several options are before us. We'd like to get some input from all of you who intend to participate.


The initial plan was a 24 person tournament- a 16 person "wild card round" and 8 more with first round byes. Meaning there would be 8 matches in the first round, 8 matches in the second, then 4 matches, 2 matches, and finally one match for the championship.

But if we do it that way, the bracket is already full and then some- we will almost certainly end up with only ranked fighters in the tournament in that case.


The other option is to have a championship tournament and a lesser tournament.

In case, we would hold a 16 bracket tournament for members with rankings of 4 or higher, and another 16 bracket tournament for members with rankings of under 4, including new fighters.


If we take that second option, we can include more people, and lower ranked fighters will be afforded a chance to gain more experience and rack up significant boosts to their ranking (tournaments are seeded, so if we only have one tournament, the lowest ranked fighters will face the highest ranked ones in the first two rounds), which I think makes for a generally more competitive Debate Forum. We also wouldn't have to award first round byes if we did it that way.

The drawback to that option is that the members in the lower ranked tournament would not have any chance of winning the championship because they wouldn't be in the championship tournament. So if you are ranked less than 4 and you want to be in the championship tournament, that would mean that you'd have to challenge somebody and beat them out of their spot.


If we do two tournaments, we will probably have different ranking values for each tournament.
The championship tournament would be worth 2 points a round, while the lower tournament would be worth 3 points a round.

Thus the winner of the championship tournament will gain 10 points and the winner of the lower tournament will gain 15. This means that if an underdog won the championship, the winner of the lower tournament might be able to get a title shot almost right away. It would also create several other reasonably well ranked newcomers who could stir some more competition at the lower end of the ladder.


So, which way should we go?