Guys, this is the second set of forced pauses in this series and the 2nd player from the initial list that has left. When the games were created, certain criterion were offered regarding the players participating, not to mention the complete anonymity of the players in this series... as of now with the two players leaving and due to threads we pretty much know every single player in those games.

I suggest we cancel all 3 as all the games have been tainted by two out of the 7 players having now left.

A player being banned does not mean a pause. I never voted pause in any of those three games and they are sitting there paused. I am looking for an explanation.

"due to threads we pretty much know every single player in those games."

This is not true Babak. You were the only person who specified anonymity - and your anonymity has been held in tact by me until now at your own hands. To suggest otherwise is wrong and unfair.

"all the games have been tainted by two out of the 7 players having now left."

Only 1 of the 7 original players left, President Eden. Mr.Crispy was called in to replace Eden and I accepted - he had a fairly good record and was plays in other well-respected games. He has now been banned. There was no way for me to know this would happen. I am of course sorry it has happened but I don't think that is a reason to cancel the games.

The reason the games were paused is because the mods thought it best to pause the games after banning Mr.Crispy so that I could decide how to proceed. I have been at work all day and only just now got back, seen the email I received about this, and am now writing this message.

I appreciate this is extremely annoying. My preference would be to find an upstanding replacement player as quickly as possible and continue. However, I understand why people might not want to for reasons of heavy disruption - although I disagree with Babak outing himself as problem connected to the Series, that to me is simply intentional aiming to cause further disruption.

Please raise your voice if you do not want me to find a replacement and want the games to be cancelled. If a majority of the players want to cancel the series, then I will happily vote to cancel. If, on the other hand, people accept my apologies for this unforeseen and uncontrollable disruption and allow me to get a replacement quickly, then we can carry on with what so far have been a very excellent high-quality set of games.

I have voted for the cancel as well, not only out of frustration for the continued disruptions, but also because in one of the games (leaving out the specifics), I do believe that PE leaving and getting a replacement lost me my established history in that game, and having his countries replaced for the second time will only further throw away the work I put in in previous moves.

Sarg, my point regarding identity of players was due not only to this thread but also the thread where PE announced his retirement. As for only one player having left, I had no way of knowing mr. crispy was PE's replacements, so apologies.

I mean no disrespect for your great efforts to get a wonderful gunboat series off the ground - I'll join any future ones you set up... but in my own humble opinion the three games in this series have been hurt by the events of the past few weeks and the best course of action in my opinion is to re-start the series.

Also note that as of this writing 4 out of the remaining 6 players have already voted Cancel in the games.

Please try and find a replacement player. I would prefer to not cancel the games.

And since I never voted pause and nobody seems to be voting unpause will the moderators be reversing the pause they applied to the game any time soon?

I will vote unpause. I also will vote cancel. I personally am happy to keep going but I understand why some players might feel that the disruptions have ruined the games.

Ok. So far we only have 1 player who has come out saying they want to cancel, 3 players saying they want to keep going, and 1 player saying he is happy either way.

I have a respectable high quality player lined up to replace President Eden. Seeing as the majority has already spoken, I will have the replacement made and, as Series Director, ask the mods to force unpause.

I am also looking for someone to replace mr crispy in the Second Series of the Informal Gunboat Tournament and hope someone will come forward for this as well. The games of which are as follows:

http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=74008
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=74009
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=74010

Two separate points that I want to address:

@Uclabb: I don't think we should get any further into specifics beyond this comment I am making, but I too have been severely and directly affected by Eden's replacements - however, I am carrying on because I believe the games have been good and worthwhile and believe the replacement players will have the vision to respect previous alliances as presented on the board, etc. I want you to know I do appreciate your concerns on this issue and share them.

@Babak: Thanks for your message here and in private - I appreciate what you've said and your support. I didn't take any offense - I was shocked to see all these developments when I came on to check WebDip and any firmness in my first response was not directed at any one, only trying to offer a strong statement on the proceedings and what I felt the situation was - which I didn't want to be misrepresented or misunderstood.

Thanks everyone again for your understanding.

It seems to me that there are 4 votes for a cancel, so, excepting you Sarg, Lando is the only one who has come out in support of playing on, so to say you are going with the majority is misleading at best.

Having said that, I certainly am not going to be "that guy" that holds the game hostage for a cancel, so I have voted for the unpause.

uclabb only you and Babak have come forward and asked for a cancel. And as far as I am concerned only you have a legitimate concern. I would prefer to play on but likewise do not want to be only one person enforcing his will on the rest. There are two people who have given no opinion.

Do we even have a replacement? Maybe Jimbozig will want to join

"It seems to me that there are 4 votes for a cancel, so, excepting you Sarg, Lando is the only one who has come out in support of playing on, so to say you are going with the majority is misleading at best."

My statement on the majority regarded people voicing their concerns in this thread, uclabb. I'm not taking the in-game votes into account - most people have also voted for the draw option yet that hasn't been raised here, so basing your results on the in-game votes is a slightly skewed approach.

Actually, Babak sent me a private message where he said he was on the fence on the issue and happy to swing with the majority. As such, that leaves uclabb as the only one wholly in favour of cancelling. Lando, Frank, and myself, are the three players who favour continuing. My math is sound here.

"Having said that, I certainly am not going to be "that guy" that holds the game hostage for a cancel, so I have voted for the unpause."

No one is making you that - which is why I avoided names in my previous message. :)

@Lando: "There are two people who have given no opinion."

Actually only one person left to give an opinion. I think Mr.Crispy is forfeited his right give opinions on this Series now.

I just noticed this threat. I have been surprised by all the "activity" in game membership, and I support cancelling the games (and a restart, if feasible).

I'm genuinely sorry, Gobba. That still gives a majority in favour of continuing.

I have, actually, found a replacement player who I'm absolutely sure you will all agree is a worthy and reliable competitor.

Sarg, that is not accurate. I stated I would like a cancel that makes 3 players (uclabb, me, Gobba) asking for cancel and re-start with Frank as vote #4 for canceling by stating "I understand why some players might feel that the disruptions have ruined the games."

I too have voted unpause, but I think 4 out of 6 is a clear majority to cancel and re-start.

Like uclabb, I'll keep playing and wont be 'that guy' but at this point it seems only you and Lando want to keep going as is without remedy.

I just wanted to make sure things were clear on the counts.

If we cancel I would prefer not to restart until after the New Year.

I'd be happy with a restart after the New Year.

I don't get it. Cancel or play. Seems obvious to me.

There is now also a player who has voted the cancel in the game he/she is doing badly but not the others (for a total of 6/7 cancel votes in that game), which I find disingenuous and an improper use of the cancel. If you want to cancel one, you want to cancel all of them. Period.

After New Year's is fine with me.

I noticed that too uclabb. It is way shameful.

Babak, your selective quoting of Frank is amazing, you should be a politician. Yes he did say "I understand why some players might feel that the disruptions have ruined the games." but he also said directly before that, "I personally am happy to keep going but".

As far as I see it, the votes are as follows:
Lando, Frank, Sargmacher = Continue to play.
Uclabb, Gobba, Babak = Stop playing
The Czech = undecided.

"There is now also a player who has voted the cancel in the game he/she is doing badly but not the others"

That is bad - I don't know who that would be though, I can't imagine any one of us would do that intentionally.

I dunno, Sarg. It looks to me that in one of the games you are the only hold out and in the others Lando is the only person who hasn't voted for the cancel. I thought that you were going to go with the majority of the votes, but I guess that was just you posturing to try to seem more flexible than you actually are (which is fine, if slightly disingenuous).

Not at all uclabb. Please can you stop with the personal insults?

I said right from the beginning I wanted to base the decision on the outcome of discussion here. The discussion here in this thread has shown that the votes are as follows:
Lando, Frank, Sargmacher = Continue to play.
Uclabb, Gobba, Babak = Stop playing
The Czech = undecided.