Deep Breath Everyone

drheaton wrote:I think I

drheaton wrote:

I think I speak for everyone enrique when I say that I’ve stopped reading your essays.

Brevity is a virtue and you’d have much greater success at getting your point across with concise arguments and short, to the point posts.

Actually Dr I for one not only read Enriques entire post but actually found it quite pleasant and an honest light hearted comparison between a real world financial company who are actually governed by rules and regs and road.cc who aren’t , his comparisons around what could have happened and what has actually happened are quite accurate and also to an impartial viewer quiet enlightening on how this has been governed and handled …

Let’s give him credit where it’s due

it’s not going to be
it’s not going to be considered cheating, and it’s not going to be reversed.

you have three options:

1) carry on
2) have a £10 refund
3) keep on posting in this thread if you think it’ll make a difference.

northstar wrote:Dave Atkinson

northstar wrote:

Dave Atkinson wrote:

northstar wrote:

So when is the cheating going to reversed?

i refer you to my reply in the first thread. it’s right at the bottom.

Which is not addressing the problem at all, when is the cheating going to reversed?.

Dave Atkinson wrote:

2) No, we won’t be docking any points for the stage. No rules were broken. If you want to be angry at someone, you can be angry at me.

I think that pretty much covers it in full. Just because it’s not the answer you wanted doesn’t mean it hasn’t been addressed.

The ‘cheating’ will not be reversed, that is the stated position and won’t change. If this is a problem for you then take your £10 and stop playing the game.

Dave Atkinson wrote:northstar

Dave Atkinson wrote:

northstar wrote:

So when is the cheating going to reversed?

i refer you to my reply in the first thread. it’s right at the bottom.

Which is not addressing the problem at all, when is the cheating going to reversed?.

enrique wrote:…nor was it

enrique wrote:

…nor was it the intention of the competition organizer that the competition be held with that type of an advantage available to some users…

northstar wrote:

I beg to differ.

I am in a marked disagreement from your assertion. I, myself, beg to differ as well… 😕

How shall I put this?.. 😕

Ok, let’s take the investment analogy just a little bit further, if you will…

Let’s suppose there’s a financial investment firm called Road.cc.

Now let’s suppose Road.cc has an office boy whom we shall call Mr. Gregory Campbell 😉 Now, mind you, Mr. Gregory Campbell is not an employee of the company, he’s just an ordinary office boy who helps out at the office, organizes the inventory, takes out the trash and gets to hang out at the office. One of the perks of being an office boy at Road.cc is that Mr. Campbell gets to play with the office computers and hang around the traders, which, of course, he is very proud of! 😀 His dream, of course, as well as mine, is to one day, be one of those traders! 😀 I digress… 😀

At any rate, one day Mr. Campbell is at one of the computers when he realizes that the window to conduct trades on the company computer network has not closed, which is strange, because the normal trading hours are, usually, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Of course, you can place an order 24 hours a day, but the actual trades have to occur between the hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm because of some silly financial institution regulations with which Mr. Campbell is not very familiar with nor interested in, 😉 .

While he’s at the office, the news are on the television and the anchor for the Financial News Program discusses a new company called Catalunya Breakaway and reveals that this company intends to compete in their market with a stated strategy of getting their products to market faster than their competition! 😉

Now Mr. Campbell thinks to himself ‘What a grand opportunity!’. The trading window is still open! I stand to make a killing!’ 😀 He then proceeds to invest his own assets in Catalunya Breakaway in hopes of making a killing in a currency known as ‘Fantasy Cycling Points’, which, apparently, are very valuable in certain parts of the world! 🙂

Then, in a fit of pride and exuberance at his feat, Mr. Campbell decides to post his triumphant and excellent transaction to the company bulletin board, 😉 , ‘I have invested in the ‘Catalunya Breakaway Company’!’

Firm clients respond ‘How? I thought trading windows were closed at this time?’ to which Mr. Campbell responds, ‘Nay, not so, there was apparently an error in the server clocks and the trading window was still open!’ 😀

Of course, firm clients are upset! Some believe ‘Waitaminnut! :W I missed out on an opportunity to make a killing myself (!)!’, ‘I, too, should have and would (!) have invested in Catalunya Breakaway if I’d had the chance (!)!’

😀

Where do we go from here?… :W

Well, let’s take the analogy a little further…

If Road.cc were truly an investment company several things could happen…

First, when the office managers found out what Mr. Campbell did, they would have to decide how to manage the situation.

Then, if they were truly a professional financial services company, and they were thinking of their relationship with their clients they might realize ‘Wow. Some of my clients might be upset at the way we manage our business!’

If it were truly a professional investment firm, they might have to conduct an investigation and, of course, deal with their clients inquiries as to how this happened, whether the trades will stand, and deal with their now persistent doubts as to why would an office boy be potentially ‘playing around with the company network’, and their doubts, did (?) the office boy tamper with the server clock or was this a programming oversight?… why does an office boy, an unpaid employee, have access to the firm’s computer network, other doubts like, ‘are my funds safe with this office boy around?’ … and ‘who am I trusting with my funds?’… ‘what kind of a firm is this?’ … ‘who are (?) these people?’, etc..

Bear with me… I have to laugh out loud for a minnut! 😉

Let us continue! 🙂

At any rate!… In the real world I can imagine several scenarios…

In one, the firm puts out a public relations communication distancing their firm from the office boy… ‘We discovered that Mr. Campbell placed some trades whereupon he traded his own assets to make an investment in Catalunya Breakaway… The trades were, we acknowledge, effected after normal hours of operation… blah, blah, blah…’

There may have been a news conference and during the news conference Road.cc maybe would have said something like ‘The balance of our clients’ accounts were not affected. The gains made by Mr. Campbell in his transaction did not affect our clients, etc…’

But, well, how shall I put this? 😕

Well, this isn’t (!) a professional financial investment company, so (!) 😉 as a private company, well, Road.cc, well, can manage its business as they please (!)…

They can, as they have:

1. Offer an explanation:

Dave Atkinson wrote:

… it’s not ideal that the deadline was after the start….We try not to make mistakes, but sometimes we make mistakes.

2. Clarify the firm’s stance on the ‘out-of the ordinary’ trades. In this case, state that they will not void the trades placed on Catalunya Breakaway, in spite of the trades having been conducted outside normal trading window hours. After all, the trading hours in this industry are not (!) regulated or monitored, mind you… though maybe they should (!) 😕

Dave Atkinson wrote:

… [W]e won’t be docking any points for the stage. [We consider that]No rules were broken….

3. Offer an apology:

Dave Atkinson wrote:

… [A]pologies for the mix up….Sorry.

4. Offer a refund:

Dave Atkinson wrote:

… I’ll be happy to refund your £10…

Now I can imagine that in many an office the office boy would be brought in, and, maybe, talked to… 😕 I can imagine someone saying ‘Mr. Campbell, we like you very much, and you’re very loyal to the firm and are excellent, I say, at removing the trash and organizing our stock room, however, you must understand that our clients view you as part of our firm and that therefore, should you continue to utilize our computer network, we expect a different behavior from you…’

Well then, what then about the accounts of other clients, or traders, that noticed that the window had not closed because of a system clock error yet failed to act and place trades, be it for moral reasons, total disinterest or ignorance, or lack of an aggressive ‘killer instnct’ ? Well, in the real world, those trades would be nullified… But of course, which is of little consequence, you could still trade in Catalunya Break during the next day’s trading, but (!) most of us know that that information would probably be useless by then 😀

Anyways… Whew! That was fun!… Anyways… Who am I to bring all this to light, huh? Just a fan who loves the game… But, I’ll tell you the truth… If I was Dave, what would I do? Probably what he did, probably. This is game, after all. 😀

But if this were a financial investment company, I’d escort the office boy out of the office, or at least suspend him, and I’d get rid of my clients that took full advantage of the system error… I just wouldn’t want clients like that… they make my other clients feel uneasy… But, crap *tongue in cheek* there’s a huge (!) difference between running an investment firm and running a fantasy Cycling site… and in my mind, well, this is a well run site… Given all that, I admire your persistence and courage in the face of these of these insurmountable odds and joyfully await, please do not disappoint me, your coming response:

northstar wrote:

When is the cheating going to be reversed?

I have to admit. You’re my kind of guy! 🙂

northstar wrote:So when is

northstar wrote:

So when is the cheating going to reversed?

i refer you to my reply in the first thread. it’s right at the bottom.

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