First off I to make it clear that all other threads about Pound V discussion will be closed (Video discussion or whatever is fine. Talking Soley about the payout issue stuff). While I recognize that it is important people have a place to talk about what happened, there only needs to be one thread for that. It is too difficult to follow, too difficult to moderator, and clutters the boards (this is smashboards not poundboards afterall) otherwise.
So we wanted to take a minute in an official smashboards capacity to acknowledge what happened and talk about things going forward.
This will be the only thread and this thread will be moderated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but keep it civil, and follow forum rules.
So anyway, what happened is unfortunate. Ive known plank for awhile, and even though I cannot say for certain, I do not think he had bad intentions or was trying to scam the community (if people feel otherwise you are free to discuss that, but again, keep it civil). That however does not put him in the right, or absolve him of this. No matter how good intentions you may have as a TO you have a responsibility to the community to make good decisions in terms of running and organizing your tournament. And not signing yourself into something that could leave players out to dry is part of that. And at very least if you are going to try to ballpark numbers you need absolutely communicate that with players. $6000 is being put up for the venue, if enough people do not come we wont have enough and there might not be a prize pool. Before players spend their money and time to travel to an event they deserve to be told this.
This is not the first time players have suffered. Throughout the years of smashboards there have been everything from outright scams to miscalculations or poor judgement that have resulted in players not being paid.
We are, and will continue to be, discussing ideas to help prevent these types of things from happening in the future. Already, we will be starting a black listed TO thread (located here ) and we will also be assigning an official role from the BBR and MBR. Someones whos job it is to spend some time going through the tournaments out there, talking to TOs, seeing how their venue fees are being accounted for and trying to make sure what is happening, the tournaments we are featuring, are in the best interest of the community. Those that have red flags will not receive stickies, and might even contain warnings within them from the BBR/MBR official. I do not expect this will stop it from ever happening again. Its just not reasonable. But hopefully we can take steps to at least minimize it. And if anyone has some ideas to this ends we would be happy to hear them.
Back to Pound V. At this point it seems likely that players are not going to be paid from the event. Because of this we will be taking official donations. If everyone can just contribute a couple dollars I think we can go a long way towards getting the players what they earned. I will keep a list of everyone that donated, how much, and edit that into the OP. There will be transparency and everyones donations will be accounted for. No one player is more deserving of donations than another player. They all traveled, worked their way through the tournament, towards earning a certain place. All the donations received will be divided up according to the percentage of the total prize pool we receive. Donating parties will be credited within the OP so everything is transparent
So lets say the Ally was supposed to get 12% of the total prize pool based on his singles and doubles placements. He will then get 12% of all the donations we receive. I will hold the donations for roughly two weeks. If anything happens between now and then where the players end up being paid I will refund everyones donations. List will be updated every few days.
Donations:
The paypal account is jv3x3@hotmail.com . Please try use the personal transfer option so no fees are taken out and include your smashboards username in the thread so I can give you credit in the OP.
I realize some players have already been getting donations. I hope they will be honest with the amount when it comes to this or put those donations back in the prize pool. If you have donated to a player I would appreciate you pm to let me know. So I can make sure everyone receives the right percentage from the communities contributions.
Thanks all and hopefully this can be a wake up call to everyone (be it a TO, Player, or Smashboards Staff member) and we all can make better decisions going forward. It also gives us a chance to come together as a community and come back stronger.
Dontations
MLG_JV - $20
vVv ChiboSempai - $5
Super Smash Land (4nace) - $15
hungrybox - $5
adumbrodeus - $10
Cook - $5
smakis - 5 EUR
Dazwa - $20
Axe - $5
dimitris - $25
ToS (Chibo & Talwind) - $20
So we wanted to take a minute in an official smashboards capacity to acknowledge what happened and talk about things going forward.
This will be the only thread and this thread will be moderated. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but keep it civil, and follow forum rules.
So anyway, what happened is unfortunate. Ive known plank for awhile, and even though I cannot say for certain, I do not think he had bad intentions or was trying to scam the community (if people feel otherwise you are free to discuss that, but again, keep it civil). That however does not put him in the right, or absolve him of this. No matter how good intentions you may have as a TO you have a responsibility to the community to make good decisions in terms of running and organizing your tournament. And not signing yourself into something that could leave players out to dry is part of that. And at very least if you are going to try to ballpark numbers you need absolutely communicate that with players. $6000 is being put up for the venue, if enough people do not come we wont have enough and there might not be a prize pool. Before players spend their money and time to travel to an event they deserve to be told this.
This is not the first time players have suffered. Throughout the years of smashboards there have been everything from outright scams to miscalculations or poor judgement that have resulted in players not being paid.
We are, and will continue to be, discussing ideas to help prevent these types of things from happening in the future. Already, we will be starting a black listed TO thread (located here ) and we will also be assigning an official role from the BBR and MBR. Someones whos job it is to spend some time going through the tournaments out there, talking to TOs, seeing how their venue fees are being accounted for and trying to make sure what is happening, the tournaments we are featuring, are in the best interest of the community. Those that have red flags will not receive stickies, and might even contain warnings within them from the BBR/MBR official. I do not expect this will stop it from ever happening again. Its just not reasonable. But hopefully we can take steps to at least minimize it. And if anyone has some ideas to this ends we would be happy to hear them.
Back to Pound V. At this point it seems likely that players are not going to be paid from the event. Because of this we will be taking official donations. If everyone can just contribute a couple dollars I think we can go a long way towards getting the players what they earned. I will keep a list of everyone that donated, how much, and edit that into the OP. There will be transparency and everyones donations will be accounted for. No one player is more deserving of donations than another player. They all traveled, worked their way through the tournament, towards earning a certain place. All the donations received will be divided up according to the percentage of the total prize pool we receive. Donating parties will be credited within the OP so everything is transparent
So lets say the Ally was supposed to get 12% of the total prize pool based on his singles and doubles placements. He will then get 12% of all the donations we receive. I will hold the donations for roughly two weeks. If anything happens between now and then where the players end up being paid I will refund everyones donations. List will be updated every few days.
Donations:
The paypal account is jv3x3@hotmail.com . Please try use the personal transfer option so no fees are taken out and include your smashboards username in the thread so I can give you credit in the OP.
I realize some players have already been getting donations. I hope they will be honest with the amount when it comes to this or put those donations back in the prize pool. If you have donated to a player I would appreciate you pm to let me know. So I can make sure everyone receives the right percentage from the communities contributions.
Thanks all and hopefully this can be a wake up call to everyone (be it a TO, Player, or Smashboards Staff member) and we all can make better decisions going forward. It also gives us a chance to come together as a community and come back stronger.
Dontations
MLG_JV - $20
vVv ChiboSempai - $5
Super Smash Land (4nace) - $15
hungrybox - $5
adumbrodeus - $10
Cook - $5
smakis - 5 EUR
Dazwa - $20
Axe - $5
dimitris - $25
ToS (Chibo & Talwind) - $20