Feet is officially unofficial

[Underwatercuber]

Removing official status for 3x3x3 With Feet | World Cube Association

The World Cube Association governs competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as 'twisty puzzles'. The most famous of these puzzles is the Rubik's Cube, invented by professor Rubik from Hungary. A selection of these puzzles are chosen as...

www.worldcubeassociation.org

 

[KingCanyon]

Wow, I never got to officially compete in this event. Hopefully they will had another event in the foreseeable future.

 

[Deadloxz]

May it rest in socks.

 

[wearephamily1719]

RIP

 

[Hazel]

I disagree with the decision, but I don't think there's much we can do about it now... the decision seems pretty set in stone.
If there's still enough people willing to fight the change, it might be possible to get it reversed. Otherwise, I think the best next steps would be to try and get a new event added in its place (cough cough curvy copter).

 

[abunickabhi]

This is very sad yo. My association with Feet has been quite less, with me competing in it in 2015 to complete all 18 events, and then participating it in 2019 since it was going to be last year of this event. To be honest, I found feet a good experience and it was the only cubing event in much I enjoyed speedcubing in general (Like experiencing the solving process, finding the joy in completing the cube). Events like pyraminx, 2x2 and Skewb finish in a few seconds not giving the speedcubing joy, and all other events were where I was constantly trying to improve. Blind events are my main events so I have tremendous respect for these events especially 5BLD and MBLD. The event that I enjoyed the least is the Rubik's clock to be honest. I competed in it only once, and I have never bought a clock puzzle in my 11 years of association with speedcubing.

It feels a bit awkward to have only 17 events in the WCA now, and I hope the next event with least amount of competitor participation does not get removed. The next twisty puzzle to get introduced should be chosen in a more democratic and transparent way since our community is very listening and selfless.

 

[Cubinwitdapizza]

RIP FEET
~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~
Very short life, may you Rest In Peace in cubing heaven.

 

[One Wheel]

I’ll repost what I posted on the Github thread:

So having a community-wide survey, or at least a new survey of all delegates and organizers, was discussed, but as soon as it became clear that only a vocal minority wanted Feet removed that idea was canned? Way to listen to community input.

This will go down as one of the worst decisions that the WCA has ever made, both in terms of the process and in terms of the content. I am very disappointed that the WCA has chosen to eliminate one of my favorite events and even more disappointed that an organization that has historically done a lot of good popularizing and standardizing a really fun activity has allowed itself to be highjacked by killjoys.

Moving forward, I would love to be involved, but I don’t think I can do it alone, in setting up a parallel organization to the WCA that would ratify Feet solves done as unofficial events at WCA competitions until the WCA decided to re-recognize feet and absorb the side organization and recognize those previously unofficial results.

 

[ImmolatedMarmoset]

I’ll repost what I posted on the Github thread:



Moving forward, I would love to be involved, but I don’t think I can do it alone, in setting up a parallel organization to the WCA that would ratify Feet solves done as unofficial events at WCA competitions until the WCA decided to re-recognize feet and absorb the side organization and recognize those previously unofficial results.

I’d support such a movement, but I don’t think I am particularly qualified to do more than organize competitions here and there.

 

[TipsterTrickster]

This whole process was really stupid.

 

[icarneiro]

expected

 

[GenTheSnail]

I definitely feel like this was the wrong choice.

Well, the upside is that if I can get into the top 100 again, I can stay there forever. I think that might be the only positive.

 

[dodecicosidodecahedron]

At my last comp I've had to do the scrambles for feet solvers. They gave me gloves, luckily, but I will never forget that smell. Not to mention that one of the cubes had a piece of skin on it...

I am completely for the removal of feet, and not only for the sake of competition organizers, but it's an event that is regarded as disgusting by many, thus mildly ruining the image of the WCA. I have no clue why feet was added in the first place, but it is for the better that it is removed. There are simply too many events now, and feet must go.

 

[PugCuber]

Spoiler: <NerdRant>

Honestly, they’re getting rid of so much progress, that happened so recently. Back in April or May 2018, feet was my least favorite event. Now, it’s my third favorite—Only behind 3x3 in 1st and OH in 2nd—and plus, my official feet single is 2nd in Texas. (I have a 38.26. Only behind Mahith Bandi’s 23.32) I feel like the main reason this decision turned out the way it was is because there’s so much unfair bias against feet. It seems like the majority of the cubing community just preemptively decides they don’t like feet just by popular opinion and even though they haven’t even tried it. Only one member of the WCA Board actually competes in feet regularly. Of the rest, half have competed, but not in years, and the other have have never competed in it; probably never even tried it. It’s just so unfair.

Edit:

Spoiler: Another thing

One thing I forgot to mention, my dad has also said removing feet is a bad idea, because this will prevent people that have hand issues or can’t use their hands from being open to competing. Some people take the fact that we have the ability to use our hands for granted. The truth is, removing feet discourages those people from competing since the only event they could compete in is feet since they can’t use their hands. I really don’t think the WCA Board really sees how badly this will affect the disabled in the cubing community.

 

[One Wheel]

At my last comp I've had to do the scrambles for feet solvers. They gave me gloves, luckily, but I will never forget that smell. Not to mention that one of the cubes had a piece of skin on it...

I am completely for the removal of feet, and not only for the sake of competition organizers, but it's an event that is regarded as disgusting by many, thus mildly ruining the image of the WCA. I have no clue why feet was added in the first place, but it is for the better that it is removed. There are simply too many events now, and feet must go.

As a competition organizer myself, this argument is bunk.

 

[dodecicosidodecahedron]

As a competition organizer myself, this argument is bunk.

I recently competed and helped judge at the Malaysia Cube Championship, and not a single scrambler was willing to do the feet scrambles. As this was my first comp, I hesitantly agreed to do the scrambling to see what it was like to be behind the stage. I believe it is a completely valid argument, alongside hygiene issues. Maybe you would be alright with all the downsides of feet, but the majority of other organizers disagree.

 

[ImmolatedMarmoset]

I recently competed and helped judge at the Malaysia Cube Championship, and not a single scrambler was willing to do the feet scrambles. As this was my first comp, I hesitantly agreed to do the scrambling to see what it was like to be behind the stage. I believe it is a completely valid argument, alongside hygiene issues. Maybe you would be alright with all the downsides of feet, but the majority of other organizers disagree.

That’s the organizers fault. You need to make sure that people are willing to scramble feet before having it at a championship. You shouldn’t need to have to have it at a championship if you don’t want to, and if there is not a way to properly hold it, then don’t. It’s as simple as that.

 

[dodecicosidodecahedron]

That’s the organizers fault. You need to make sure that people are willing to scramble feet before having it at a championship. You shouldn’t need to have to have it at a championship if you don’t want to, and if there is not a way to properly hold it, then don’t. It’s as simple as that.

Then why not just remove feet altogether? The argument you're making here only proves my point. Feet is by far the most unpopular event in the WCA, which is why it was removed in the first place. The organizers did have scramblers on hand prior to the competition, but it says a lot about the event with the reluctance for people to scramble/judge the event.

 

[ImmolatedMarmoset]

Then why not just remove feet altogether? The argument you're making here only proves my point. Feet is by far the most unpopular event in the WCA, which is why it was removed in the first place. The organizers did have scramblers on hand prior to the competition, but it says a lot about the event with the reluctance for people to scramble/judge the event.

It’s certainly possible that in different parts of the world feet has differing popularities, but I know that in a lot of the parts of the US (and europe, and asia for that matter) feet is enjoyed. Speak for yourself, but there is no real reason to remove it, and I will stand by that claim.

 

[dodecicosidodecahedron]

It’s certainly possible that in different parts of the world feet has differing popularities, but I know that in a lot of the parts of the US (and europe, and asia for that matter) feet is enjoyed.

I'm sorry, but your claims are not even remotely true. Instead of speaking randomly without presenting any reinforcements for the claims, I'm going to start off with a 413-response survey done on r/Cubers (Reddit is dominated by the U.S., for one). For the question regarding which events should be removed, the only triple-digit votes were casted for Clock (at 150) and Feet (at 148). Right off the bat, it is already an extremely unpopular event.

Additionally, the WCA itself claimed that the event was the least popular by a significant margin in their most recent post on the WCA homepage, just in case the 400+ survey wasn't enough.

Speak for yourself, but there is no real reason to remove it, and I will stand by that claim.

You clearly haven't read anything in this thread. Let's go over the reasons again.

1) Hygienic reasons: Feet is the only event that requires the use of a body part different to the hand (unless you write in pencil with your feet for FMC...), and in comparison, the foot is always in a closed environment beneath socks and a shoe, while the hands are out in the open and are frequently washed. There is a reason why "smelly feet" is a significantly more common phrase than "smelly hands". That being said, when it comes to the actual solving there are many issues right off the bat. From an aesthetic stance, there is already a noticeable stench filling the room as competitors remove their shoes and begin touching the cube with their feet. It is also not pleasing from the scramblers' perspectives. From a more real stance, the foot is more prone to dermatological issues than the hands, which likely explains why I had to scramble a cube with a piece of skin on it...

2) Public image: 3x3 With Feet is viewed as a disgusting event by the public. Plain and simple. Along with Clock, the two events are commonly made fun of throughout the cubing community, and for an understandable reason. Again, as stated by the WCA and confirmed by one of many surveys, it is a highly unpopular event. Period.

If you still think that there are no real reasons to remove feet, then debating you is honestly hopeless.