Kyle, I don't think that you will find many yo-yo forums (I am guessing none) that are more respectful and rational than this forum. We discuss things openly, everyone gives his or her opinion without telling people to shut up. We try to find what works best for the top community. I don't think we have ever whined to the yo-yo contest organizers. On the contrary, I make sure I always thank them when I go to a contest. And we try to help in what we can. What you call whining are discussions among ourselves about things we do not like or could be improved from our stand point. We have been considering for several years the possibility of splitting from yo-yoing but the decision has been made to the contrary so far, after reviewing the pros and cons. We will continue reviewing our best moves in the future.
Complaints about how things are a "rip off" is a complaint, period. Especially when paired with exactly no helpful input.
Not a few bucks. Not everyone would have gone to the official hotel or flown. I remember players sleeping under the stage at the Rosen or in cars in the parking lot. I am certain that many people will be discouraged of going (for a great many, competing is a big part of going). I know for a fact that we are going to lose spintop bona fide competitors because of the early deadlines.
One or two people sleeping under a stage in the history of the event, not exactly a significant figure. Most reports of it were people who were either too tired or too drunk to make it back to their rooms.. which they had. Registration fees to attend are very small, competition is and SHOULD be reserved for serious competitors able to compete at a world level. This isn't a local club contest, it's a WORLD championship.
I said it was a nice idea. I did not say it shouldn't be done. I just said that it was not going to be very effective in getting many long term players.
So your plan is.... oh, nothing? more whining about how small the community is? How's that going so far?
What I heard in Tokyo was that it cost between 200 and 250 k. They had three floors in a corner building in a prime spot in Tokyo, with an open first floor to a major avenue, with more foot traffic in an hour than all Cleveland downtown gets in a week. It lasted one more day than Cleveland. They had shows by a professional popular group every day, etc. I cannot see Cleveland costing as much. But Tokyo was fully organized by the Japanese association (a non profit) while I imagine Steve gets some profit if things go well (and he deserves it) and could lose money if things go bad.
That's the right range, and no, Cleveland probably won't be 'as' expensive.. but even the cheapest Rosen contests were insanely expensive. Also do NOT confuse "non profit" with "not paid".. those are no the same thing. I can assure you that people made money on doing it, as they should after spending -thousands- of hours organizing it.
Kyo,
It seems that you are very passionate about the topic of contests. That passion seems to fuel a need to have all people agree with you.
As a business owner I too have had folks tell me all sorts of stuff about our prices and business practices. We have been told that our prices are everything from reasonable to exorbitant and our practices are either difficult to deal with or customer service centric. What is the difference? It is in the perspective of the individual. Some folks will become clients of ours. Some will understand our positions, yet not become clients. (usually for reasons of price)
May I respectfully suggest that vitriolic prose is unlikely to bring about widespread agreement on any topic. (far less so the topic of money) You have clearly thought a great deal about these topics. Perhaps some of your perspectives and insight can be useful to many of us. I am reminded of the old saying, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."
Now that passions have been vented, I hope that the time has come to end the flame war and move on to things that spin.
Thanks
Kirk
I'm passionate about not spitting at people when they do all the work for you. I don't particularly care if anybody 'agrees' with me, I'm not actually trying to convince anybody of anything. I do however, take offense at the constant barrage of complaints that come up here before basically every world or national contest.. it has been happening for years. They tend to range from 'we aren't being taken seriously' to 'why aren't we getting more time' to 'why are we being charged for things' to 'why aren't they more excited about helping us'. All of those are the same thing.. people complaining about getting work done for them.
I've been heavily involved in the world yoyo contest for many years now, from 2005-20013 I ran all the workshops and directly helped organize and work the contest.. this year I'm running and organizing the maker space. I'm also a Gold Level sponsor of the event. During all that time, I fought hard to get spintops attention, to get them stage time, to get them promoted. I had literal arguments where I was being yelled at trying to convince the people in charge to make sure the spin top contest remained on the main stage during worlds despite having awful (<10 people) turnout and virtually no audience attention. So yea, I take offense when people who do nothing to organize the event sit behind a computer screen and whine about it.. especially when it's the same people that are supposedly trying to grow the community.
Also, you've never tried catching flies.. vinegar works WAY better than honey
Kyle
