Vacation?

I've just got back from my first vacation and I think that there's a couple of simple changes that could be made to help to deter people from using it as a cheating mechanism.  It wouldn't eliminate the problem, but would make it much more difficult to use vacation to stretch your time:

• Only allow users to turn their vacation on when they have no moves left to make
• Make the position unviewable by either party when the game is in vacation mode (i.e., once it is the vacationing player's turn)

This would force cheaters to take a screen shot or set up the position on a board prior to their oppenent making their move, and would not allow the cheater to see their opponent's move until they turn their vacation back off (after which they'd be forced to move before they could turn it back on).

Thoughts?

"Only allow users to turn their vacation on when they have no moves left to make"

Erik already tried this and it worked out badly. Imagine a player with 25 open games who suddenly needs to take a business trip. Worse, seven of his opponents are online and constantly adding new moves. A few people have suggested a more workable refinement: a player must make at least one move in all games between vacations. 

"the cheater"

Someone who suddenly decides to go on vacation when you have a mate in one is a poor sport, perhaps a loser, but not a cheater. They haven't broken any rules and they will still lose, sooner or later, unless you forfeit the game.

Hmm, good point -- if I could suggest a refinement then:

• You can set your vacation status, and then make your moves (your time still counts down until you do).  In this case, as soon as your opponent responds the game goes into vacation mode and the position becomes unviewable.

This should allow those users who have multiple games to avoid having their ability to set vacation blocked by an on-line user.  For those who have 25 games on the go and suddenly have to go into vacation mode, if they're not getting enough notice to manage this (within the revised process) before leaving then perhaps they need to reduce thier game-load or choose games with longer turn limits.

Also, it's not the poor sport who makes you wait to win that I was considering a cheater, it's the player who needs more time to analyse a position and uses the vacation feature to get an "extension" which is why I've suggested that the screen be blanked out.

Patience is something lots of Americans lack. I just start a new game when one is postponed by vacation abuse.

Vacations are usually planned ahead of time. Why not have planned days set up before the game starts? So if player X is going on vacation from May 20 to August 20, then the other player is aware of the situation and can decide to decline the offer to play the game. If the game is played, and once the vacation time begins, all actions are halted for that game until the end of the vacation. Alert notifications would be sent once the game resumes. Once resumed, the players are given their full time for moves.

For emergencies, i think an extension can be given, but only if the opponent agrees to give an extension. I think this option can be used in conjunction with vacation days or by itself.

Point adjustments for winning or losing a game should be made before the game begins. The points are added or deducted after the game has finished, but the point adjustment is set for the players that started with rating x and rating y. I think this would fix the problem of those who attempt to wait for the opponent to finish a different game in order to get a better (or worse) score. 

Sunshiny> Vacations are usually planned ahead of time. For emergencies, i think an extension can be given, but only if the opponent agrees to give an extension.

Such a scheme wouldn't work for many players here, myself included, who from time to time take unplanned business trips, leave on family business, or even happen upon a last-minute vacation opportunity. That's why there is "vacation time". At least, I hope most people here find time to go on a vacation one in awhile.  :)

Why the fuss about vacation abuse?

 Really can someone provide me with stats about how many people are doing that? 

Lets define "vacation abuse".

1) I assume that it is when they are "clearly" losing either with significant material imbalance (>3 pawns or promotion is 100% unavoidable) or to be checkmated (100% x moves to be mated.) 

2) If they take just a few days thats not abuse, if they take a significant amount of days say 21 days or more then it is abuse.

 How many of your opponents do that? Do not give their names but give the number of games out of x the total games played by you that fit this definition.

 Do remember once they use vacation abuse they can't do so for the current year. I believe it is a poor strategy and the numbers that do so do not reflect the noise created !

Dear Erik,

Please  do not change the vacation setting. Leave it as it is. There are better things to focus your attention on.

 You should say dear Erik's staff i think,their the ones more likely to change it. I would like to be able to go on a last minute vacation, and have 3 days per move in every game, but as it is now Ill play 5 days per move or more. Wish they'd change it so you could go on vacation after making a move in all your games within an hour, but Ill have to live with it, until i can afford a membership or find a other site that's got a better system

boy, it is cold in the office.  there is an ice-storm outside. nasty weather. walked to work today to avoid driving on ice. only me and the boss showed up today. everybody else couldn't make it because of the weather. you know, school's out or something. i really need to go somewhere sunny and warm.  it's been winter for so long here. i forget what the beach is like.

oh ... uh... different vacation topic..  hmm... yeah...well.

I approve of the current chess vacation settings.