WCA Regulations 2012

[MaeLSTRoM]

Updated the wiki page with the current discussions, is there any way we could implement a progress chart or similar so people can see how the discussions of proposals are going, or is nothing happening until the WRC is fully set up?

 

[uriel rubik]

I commented this with Tyson, and I think it is important that I comment this here. I don't know if there should be a penalty, or not. But this has to be clarified in the regulations.

Maybe it has already happened in competition. In the ones I've delegated not, but it's not like imposible that it happens.

What should be done if a non-visible inner piece of a cube pops out? Like in a 4x4 x-cube, or ss, or even on a 6x6. If they don't put it back, it should be DNF? Or doesn't have a penalization. Or, what happens if the piece pops out when you do your last move, and you stop the timer with the cube like that.

What do you guys think?

 

[Goosly]

@uriel rubik

There's a regulation that says you do not need to repair popping "non-functional" pieces. So if a 3x3 center cap falls off, you can leave it and you won't get a penalty. Inner pieces don't affect the solved state of the puzzle, so no penalty.

EDIT:
5b5) If, after the solve, non functional parts of the puzzle are still defect (like a centre cap of a cube) or not fully rotated (like a 5x5x5 centre piece twisted in its spot), but the puzzle is otherwise unambiguously solved, the puzzle is considered solved. (discretion of the main judge)

 

[uriel rubik]

Ohh, so it is covered there? Then, it would be the same for an inner pop of a 2x2?

Thanks

 

[hcfong]

I'm not so sure that it's not a penalty. Non-visible doesn't necessarily mean non-funtional. If an inner piece of the cube pops, the internal structure of the cube, which in my opinion is definitely functional, is compromised and I assume therefore that it should be repaired before stopping the timer to avoid DNF.

 

[Ranzha]

Even though it sucks, I've counted them as DNF. If it's popped out, it's a DNF, even if the sides of the puzzle are all solid.

 

[Dene]

@Ranzha I actually already brought this up on the WCA forum in response to a post made by Shelley, and I also mentioned it at the delegates meeting at WCs. I would DNF it as it seem to be a functional piece. Personally I am of the opinion that we should not distinguish between functional and non-functional pieces to remove ambiguity and rogue cases, and treat all as DNF. It is the competitors fault if their caps always fall off - use paper or glue them in.;

 

[Ranzha]

@Ranzha I actually already brought this up on the WCA forum in response to a post made by Shelley, and I also mentioned it at the delegates meeting at WCs. I would DNF it as it seem to be a functional piece. Personally I am of the opinion that we should not distinguish between functional and non-functional pieces to remove ambiguity and rogue cases, and treat all as DNF. It is the competitors fault if their caps always fall off - use paper or glue them in.;

Yeah, I agree. All the pieces comprise the puzzle. In order for the puzzle to work properly and correctly and be suitable for competition solving, all the pieces must be present. For instance, if one tried giving a 3x3 missing a centre cap to be scrambled, it wouldn't be accepted. If caps fall off, it's the competitor's fault because they're handling the cube and it's their responsibility.
This point really ought to be clarified in the regs.

 

[jonlin]

There's a flaw in regulation that has to be verified.
A4b) The competitor must place his hands flat on the elevated sensor area of the Stackmat, with his fingers touching the sensors and with palms down. Penalty: 2 seconds.
There are people who's hands aren't like... right, like Emerson.
So maybe change it to:
A4b: The competitor must place his fingers on the elevated sensor area of the Stack mat, palms down, unless you have a disability prohibiting you to do so. Penalty: 2 seconds.

 

[drewsopchak]

There's a flaw in regulation that has to be verified.
A4b) The competitor must place his hands flat on the elevated sensor area of the Stackmat, with his fingers touching the sensors and with palms down. Penalty: 2 seconds.
There are people who's hands aren't like... right, like Emerson.
So maybe change it to:
A4b: The competitor must place his fingers on the elevated sensor area of the Stack mat, palms down, unless you have a disability prohibiting you to do so. Penalty: 2 seconds.

There are no special privileges in cubing.

 

[hcfong]

There's a flaw in regulation that has to be verified.
A4b) The competitor must place his hands flat on the elevated sensor area of the Stackmat, with his fingers touching the sensors and with palms down. Penalty: 2 seconds.
There are people who's hands aren't like... right, like Emerson.
So maybe change it to:
A4b: The competitor must place his fingers on the elevated sensor area of the Stack mat, palms down, unless you have a disability prohibiting you to do so. Penalty: 2 seconds.

2s2) For competitors with physical disabilities, judges may give help with starting and stopping the timer.

11d) If the WCA regulations are not fully clear or if the incident is not covered by the WCA regulations, then the main judge must make his decision based on fair sportsmanship, after consulting the WCA delegate.

I think this should cover this. As fo 11d, I know this is not really an incident, but it is something that's not specifically addressed in the regulations, but the idea is the same. There is a WCA delegate, who can be consulted in such cases and can use his discretion to make a fair decision to allow such people to compete.

 

[shelley]

We shouldn't have to rewrite every regulation to cover every possible disability or unusual circumstance. In cases like these we rely on the judge/delegate's reasonable judgement.

 

[Yuxuibbs]

How does WCA define nationality?

I want to change my country to USA but depending on which delegate I talk to the definition changes enough to have the country alternate between China and USA almost every single time. I'm sure if it's by citizenship a couple hundred/thousand people would have to change their country.

 

[hcfong]

How does WCA define nationality?

I want to change my country to USA but depending on which delegate I talk to the definition changes enough to have the country alternate between China and USA almost every single time. I'm sure if it's by citizenship a couple hundred/thousand people would have to change their country.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I think this might answer your question.

2e) Competitors must be able to show a passport/id-card during registration at the location to prove their identity.
2e1) Competitors may represent the country that they have the nationality of.
2e1a) The eligible countries are defined by Wikipedia List of sovereign states ("Internationally recognized sovereign states" and "Other states").
2e2) Competitors with more than one nationality may change representing a country in their first competition of a calendar year.

But what do you mean by that "if it's by citizenship a couple hundred/thousand people would have to change their country"? Can you give examples (without using people's names)?

 

[JasonK]

But what do you mean by that "if it's by citizenship a couple hundred/thousand people would have to change their country"? Can you give examples (without using people's names)?

I'll give the example of myself. I live in Australia and have done for quite some time now. I'm a permanent resident of Australia, with the intention to become a citizen in the near future. I've competed as an Australian in WCA competitions. But I am still technically only a citizen of the United Kingdom. The word 'nationality' isn't very well-defined, so I decided to register myself under the country I live in. If it was by citizenship only, I'd have to change my registration.

I agree that this rule needs clarification - there are plenty of people who do not have citizenship of the country they reside in.

 

[Bob]

I'll give the example of myself. I live in Australia and have done for quite some time now. I'm a permanent resident of Australia, with the intention to become a citizen in the near future. I've competed as an Australian in WCA competitions. But I am still technically only a citizen of the United Kingdom. The word 'nationality' isn't very well-defined, so I decided to register myself under the country I live in. If it was by citizenship only, I'd have to change my registration.

I agree that this rule needs clarification - there are plenty of people who do not have citizenship of the country they reside in.

In general, what we do here in the US is to just assume all competitors at our competitions are USA. If somebody wants to represent a country other than USA, they need to prove citizenship of that country--usually by presenting a passport. Yeah, this does mean that there are perhaps quite a few people representing USA that do not have citizenship, but it would be overly tedious and demand too much time to verify that every competitor at every competition has citizenship. And what if a competitor didn't have proof of citizenship on them? Would we turn them away and not let them compete? Of course not. In general, most people have citizenship of the country in which they are living. And if they don't, they can either keep their mouth shut and claim citizenship anyway or show us that they are indeed a citizen of a different country.

 

[hcfong]

In general, what we do here in the US is to just assume all competitors at our competitions are USA. If somebody wants to represent a country other than USA, they need to prove citizenship of that country--usually by presenting a passport. Yeah, this does mean that there are perhaps quite a few people representing USA that do not have citizenship, but it would be overly tedious and demand too much time to verify that every competitor at every competition has citizenship. And what if a competitor didn't have proof of citizenship on them? Would we turn them away and not let them compete? Of course not. In general, most people have citizenship of the country in which they are living. And if they don't, they can either keep their mouth shut and claim citizenship anyway or show us that they are indeed a citizen of a different country.

So, even if someone declares him/herself as a citizen of another country than the USA on the registration form, you will still register him on the WCA database as USA if he can't show a passport? (assuming it's his/her first competition and doesn't have a WCA profile yet(

 

[Sebastien]

Wow, before reading this post I have never thought that some people could not understand "nationality" as "citizenship". I'm pretty sure that people need to enter their nationality according to their passport/id-card.

There was a case in Germany a year ago where it was revealed, that a competitor who had always competed with German nationality had never had a German passport but an Italian one. So his nationality in the WCA Database was changed and his record history got retroactively changed as well.

@WTF2L?: If you have no Australian passport/id-card, then you should have for sure registered for UK.

@Bob: This is a terrible attitude! You should always check passport/id-cards (which also give information about nationality) of newcomers to make sure, they are registered correctly. The are supposed to have this with them, as it is clearly within the WCA regs.

 

[DrKorbin]

Wow, before reading this post I have never thought that some people could not understand "nationality" as "citizenship".

In Russian language, "nationality" means exactly "membership of a nation in the sense of ethnic group". Probably in some other languages too.

 

[Sebastien]

I see, this needs to be clarified.