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Aachen Summer Open 2012

Sebastien said:
Do you think people should get their money back if they cancel? To me this attitude is pure selfishness.
...
Giving back half of the money if people cancel soon enough is a very good compromise. Compare this to similar stuff: Concert tickets, flights, holidays, etc. You would never get your money back after you got a spot.
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I disagree, plus I don't agree it's a good comparison. Speedcubing, where a big part of the competitors is under 18, is definitely not the same as a concert or booking a flight. And yes, if a competitor wants to come and wants to unregister a month before the competition I think it's fair to give him back all the money. Sometimes competitions are announced only a few weeks on forehand, switching competitions is not possible without loss of money now.

Sebastien said:
No, this is the past. The registration of German Open for example was open all the way until the competition. Another benefit of this system.
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So you might end up with a waiting list of lets say 30 people, all paying lets say 10 euros and have to trust you in giving it back? I trust you on this, but if I don't know the organizer personally I think twice before putting the money out there. (this adds up to the threshold doyle4761 was talking about)

Sebastien said:
Well, to my mind this is a terrible idea, because it splits all competitors into 2 classes without having a real benefit. No benefit because:

- white sheeps are supposed to come any pay anyway, so they can just pay beforehand. The only difference is, when a white sheep doesn't show up (and thus turns into a black sheep, yay...)
- for black sheeps and newcomers there is no difference.
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Having a 'risk list' in combination with the possibility to pay at the venue (those who pay in advance get a discount) would be an excellent way to better calculate the risk of some people not coming. The discount system is being used for years and years now in chess without any problems: those who don't like online or pre-payment can just pay at the venue. Key is that at registration you say which way you want to pay.

Competitors who frequently cancel or not come should/can be punished by the WCA anyway, if a risklist would exist and be maintained in combination with automatic punishments for those misbehaving there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
 
hcfong said:
Of course, I don't know how easy it is to abuse someone's bank details, but I would think that there are some measures banks have in place to prevent abuse.
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For paying at Amazon for example, you just need the bank data to pay via direct debit.

Erik said:
So you might end up with a waiting list of lets say 30 people, all paying lets say 10 euros and have to trust you in giving it back? I trust you on this, but if I don't know the organizer personally I think twice before putting the money out there. (this adds up to the threshold doyle4761 was talking about)
Click to expand...

There was also no waiting list at German Open and I expect none for future comps as well.

Erik said:
Having a 'risk list' ...
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Would you put newcomers on that list?

Erik said:
those who don't like online or pre-payment can just pay at the venue
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Or just not show up without any direct consequences.

Erik said:
Competitors who frequently cancel or not come should/can be punished by the WCA anyway, if a risklist would exist and be maintained in combination with automatic punishments for those misbehaving there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.
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They should definitely!
 
mycube said:
The german Competitions are announced long time before. at least 2 months.
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That doesn't mean the others are announced like that. Lets say someone from Spain registers for one of your competitions and one month later a competition in Spain is registered. He can't unregister without losing money.

Sebastien said:
Or just not show up without any direct consequences.
Click to expand...

First of all: there would be way less competitors paying cash if you get a discount online, remember you have to choose the way you pay at registration in my proposal. This way the problem is already solved for at least 80%. At chess tournaments only a handfull pays cash.
Secondly, direct consequences? Maybe not, but if not showing up will mean they can't compete in the future, or get some other punishment, this will not happen anymore.

Sebastien said:
They should definitely!
Click to expand...

I hope they will start doing this soon, so the problem you're trying to solve wouldn't be a problem in the first place and make this new system uneccesary.
 
Weeze Airport is a bit away from everything (well, itÄs a ryanair airport so this is a common problem).
There is a bus going from Weeze Airport to "Kevelaer Bahnhof" or "Weeze Bahnhof". From there you can take a train to Krefeld and then another train to Aachen. The train station you should get out at in Aachen is "Aachen West".
 
Okay my take on this.

Having people pay before makes their commitment more meaningful. I don't think anyone disputes this. The issue here is that some people don't want to pay online for some reason.

You should be able to pay at the competition. The price of registration should rise as you get closer to the competition, so if your competition is on May 1, maybe it's 10 Euros online until April 15, and then after April 15, you have to register at the competition for 20 Euros, but at least you can pay cash.

OR, you could mail a check to the person in charge.

Please be mindful that this is an organization run by volunteers, and the idea of keeping a database of people who don't show up after registering, and then trying to enforce penalties on people who don't show up after registering is not only difficult to implement, but time consuming for organizers and delegates.
 
Sebastien said:
Weeze Airport is a bit away from everything (well, itÄs a ryanair airport so this is a common problem).
There is a bus going from Weeze Airport to "Kevelaer Bahnhof" or "Weeze Bahnhof". From there you can take a train to Krefeld and then another train to Aachen. The train station you should get out at in Aachen is "Aachen West".
Click to expand...
Is it worth buying tickets now or later or personally?
 
For the trains you mean? this makes no difference when you buy the tickets, I would just buy them as soon as you arrive.

Pitzu said:
Hi Guys,

Is there any preferred hostel for the competition?! Like last year http://www.hostel-aachen.de/index_en.html
As I remember last year it was 18€/night/person which is quite OK. Do they know about the competition? As I would like to book only 1 bed but then I would ask them to put me among cubers instead of unknown people.
Click to expand...

Well, this hostel will be the prefered hostel as it is the only hostel directly linked on our website. We did not contact them as it made no difference last time, but I guess others have already reserved their beds there, so they will probably know about the competition.
 
Last edited:
Will be lots of fun!

If anyone has a cubesmith semi-bright or bright sticker set (3x3). I would like to buy it. Because the competition is in less than 2 weeks and since i dont have any stickers left, bu t i do want to put on some new stickers on saturday. Ofcourse i will pay for it!
 
well, it will likely be neither cold nor warm and will probably be raining at some point. I would advice to pack in normal jeans and a light rain-proof jacket.
 
Just got to Aachen, and checked in to the hostel. Looks like the 4 of us staying here who said we're cubers have a room together; right now it's just me by myself.

I assume not many people are in Aachen right now, but let me know if you are.
 
well, all people from Aachen are in Aachen ;)

Where is your hostel located? If you're interested in meeting this evening for eating, beer and cubing just cantact me via PM :)
 
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