Originally posted by coquette
sometimes a player has a serious illness or accident; sometimes a player may be called off to a military posting or a civilian posting in a foreign location where internet access is unavailable for a time. in those instances, it's possible for an otherwise steady player to go through a major time out period. this happened to marko krale - second in all time ...[text shortened]... uld anyone challenge his record of steady play? let's just drop this one in the bin and move on.

Originally posted by stevemcc
If a person is going to be absent for a period of time due to circumstance, (s)he can resign their games with an explanation.

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
From a hospital bed, unconscious?

Instead of playing with ratings, I think it is tournaments that could to be changed. Why not make Consistent Ratings Tournaments, tournaments that can only be entered by players with ratings near or above their rating mean and Inconsistent Ratings Tournaments for all others? I think with these, there would be a very strong drive to consistent ratings as well as a reduction in nefarious inconsistent ratings.

Originally posted by JerryH
Instead of playing with ratings, I think it is tournaments that could to be changed. Why not make Consistent Ratings Tournaments, tournaments that can only be entered by players with ratings near or above their rating mean and Inconsistent Ratings Tournaments for all others? I think with these, there would be a very strong drive to consistent ratings as well as a reduction in nefarious inconsistent ratings.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
That punishes people who take on a lot of games, as their rating will fluctuate more than most.

Originally posted by JerryH
Why punishes? They still have a valid mean rating and a reasonable and fair definition of "near mean", should be possible.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Because they can't enter a tourney if they're not near enough to their mean rating.