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Re: MPJ

On Thu, 3 Apr 1997  Matthew Brandon Shaffstall <mbs0004@jove.acs.unt.edu>
writes:

>Croasmun post seems like a reasonable post but it 
>is easily answered.       

The context was a discussion of "bad judging" rather than a discussion of
preferential judging assignments.  The various arguments for and against
MPJ were tossed around a year ago, and can be found in the CEDA-L
archives.  Here I was not arguing for OR against it.  My own humble and
unsolicited opinions on the subject:

(1) it is a bad idea for most tournaments, since the goal is supposed to
be educational;

(2) it is possibly a good idea for National Championship tournaments,
since the goal is deciding who is "best;"

(3) it does nothing about supposed "bad judging," except perhaps to
allocate the "bad" judges differently;

(4) except for Nationals, there is no reasonable rationale for giving
some pairings preferential assignments (such as sticking the 2-5 teams
with mutual C judges because the 4-3 teams or the 7-0 teams get first
shot at mutual A judges);

(5) in elim rounds and NDT district tournaments, the "strike-down" method
is better than the pre-tournament A-B-C-X preference sheets.  The pairing
is set, and then each team gets a list of judges.  They alternate strikes
until the list is down to a mutually agreeable panel.  You make your
preferences for that round, knowing the opponent and the side;

and (6) if preferential judging is used at all, maybe it should be done
by pooling individual team rankings into "community preferences" for the
entire tournament.  If you want "good" judges in the break rounds at
Nationals, why not assign judges that the whole tournament considers good
rather than simply satisfying the strategic preferences of the two teams
in the round?

Just my easily answered opinions.
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