[thepossum]

Dear all

I'm putting this here since I'm a beginner at the BBO clubs (not bridge or clubs) and jumping in and out of tables with no discussion or agreement on conventions. I was recently discussing a few bids with a partner who plays a different system to me and an op got the huff that I didn't bid quickly enough stormed off and sent a very rude private message. This was in the relaxed club.

Surely as in any bridge club you are entitled to agree a convention with your partner or at least a few important calls before hand. Surely on something like BBO after a hand you are entitled to discuss a misunderstanding from the previous hand openly with partner in front of ops. And also to take a bit more time between hands.

How on earth do all these people play with each other without agreement on bids and/or getting upset with ops discussing their convention. BBO seems to be full of silent angry people with no social skills, even in the relaxed club. It's hard to find relaxed casual people.

Thanks
The Possum

PS Whatever happened to introductions, saying typ, gl, wpp, wpo etc. What is wrong with the world now

[The_Badger]

You're absolutely right, possum, especially so in the Relaxed Club where chit-chat and discussion should be encouraged. Given that many Australian and new Zealand players still play Acol (which I see from your profile that you do) why don't you given The Acol Bridge Club (Public) on BBO a go. I have no idea if it busy in the evening on your side of the world, but it has quite a few tables operating during evening hours in the UK.

[pescetom]

There are two main issues here, one with the players and one with BBO itself.

The players nowadays are mainly silent and otherwise you wish they were, which is a shame and to their discredit.

But if courteous exchanges and civilised behaviour have gone out of the window, much of the blame must lie with BBO and the mechanisms it does (and does not) provide. In particular, nothing has been done to limit capricious abuse of hosting privileges or to offer adequate automatic hosting. Nor is there any decent mechanism to describe the systems one can play or to match players, let alone to negotiate the system one will actually play with the current partner.

Nevertheless you have to live with this situation and be realistic, in particular I don't think it makes much sense to seek explanations in table chat from a random partner: at most you can offer them yourself, or ask politely later in the day if you suspect you are missing something.

[akwoo]

The truth is that most partnerships on BBO last about 4 hands, and the average player on BBO knows only one bidding system (and can't adapt on the fly to another one).

Hence, if you insist on discussing system with your partners, first most people find they can't play with you, and second, you spend more time discussing system than playing.

You're better off table hopping until you find someone who plays similarly enough to you to not be a problem. Profiles help a bit.

Either that or don't play except with people you already know.

It's not really possible to have serious bridge on BBO without prior arrangement (but it IS possible with prior arrangement).

[pescetom]

akwoo, on 2018-October-20, 21:11, said:

It's not really possible to have serious bridge on BBO without prior arrangement (but it IS possible with prior arrangement).

I agree, but I think this is more BBO's fault than inevitable.
I don't expect other people to be able to play my systems by sheer coincidence, but I am capable of following almost any CC formalised by BBO and I would be happy playing with others capable of the same. I don't think that is asking the moon.