EPTSomething that wastes sooo much time and irks me greatly is the 'click here and sign up through this thread' when entering a new tournament.
Here are the reasons why:
Poor websites:
Hard to navigate, confusing layouts, slow design, etc.
Even if you think you have the most idiot proof website, It's still as foreign as anything else and people will be lost. This causes headaches and wastes time for both organizers and participants.
Creating an account:
You have to have an email, so you also need to login to that in order to confirm you registration. That is of course if you even manage to get that far without throwing your keyboard.
The create account process often includes the dreaded captchas, or unknown requirements that if not met will reset your entire registration form (or some of the blanks at least). Password and name requirements often need numbers and letters, or just letters or just numbers, or minimum 8 characters, or whatever. This makes it impossible to just use one name/pass for every damned site that you register for.
Sorry SpoR was taken, try again. Password too short, retype everything, Password must contain alphanumeric characters only, retype everything, MRI scan of your brain required, retype everything.
Sites don't remember you:
Sometimes, for whatever reason the site/firefox doesn't remember the login info (maybe the site/page changed, who knows). So you go to check your email and they haven't even sent you the information originally. So what can you do?
Hunt down the little bit of text wherever it may be that says "Forgot login/password?". You click it. Sometimes you just need an email (that is, if you can remember which trash email you used to sign up for the tourney in the first place to prevent spam), sometimes you need login name, sometimes there is a riddle, secret question, or captcha. If by chance you make it passed this step, they don't send you an email with your name and pass, they just send you a random string of bullshit for a password reset. So now you have to go back to the site and find the fucking account editing and change your password or even login so that you can hope to remember it later.
System:
Some of these leagues or ladders also have some kind of system in place to run their events. This can be in the form of some program you need to install and run or some buttons or crap you need to click on their website to report games or whatever during events. This is overall just added hassle and confusion.
On top of the technicality aspect of it there are things like these:
Bad organization:
The hosts of these websites/tournies are often new to everything. So it can be a little frustrating when things aren't clearly written on; times, dates, checkins, how many matches per round, how to contact admins/opponents, what maps you play, how the brackets will be, if people are invited and seeded, what some rules are on other little specific things. Some of these tournies also require you to play multiple days when they could just as easily be a 1 or 2 day event.
Also, some of these events don't even have a related TL thread if they just did a hit n run on the tourney tracker.
Timing:
Another huge problem is they don't take the time to check when other events are already planned/running or take into account of time zones. This wouldn't be a problem if they just took a look at, and used themselves- the TL Tracker, which is trying desperately to have some semblance of organization.
Hastily prepared tournaments:
I already touched on this issue a little, but it is further amplified by events that post/change only days or hours in advance. How can we mark our calendars or play in their events if we have other arrangements. If a tourney is serious/professional it shouldn't be a spur of the moment thing.
Way too many tournaments:
WHAT?!
Yes, I said it. A huge problem is that there are just too damn many tournaments. If some of these smaller events would collaborate and combine efforts they would much better off. The prize pools would be greater, the turnouts would be greater, the organizers and players would be much happier, TL would be less cluttered. Not only that but they can build relationships and network with each other. Learn from each other, help each other, create great things together. After all SC/TL are build on community
I have to check 2 places just about every day to make sure I don't miss anything because there is so much stuff.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/index.php?show_part=36
http://www.teamliquid.net/tournaments/
Tournament Tracker:
USE IT. Also, make an accompanying thread to go along and link with it in case people want to ask questions or discuss things about the event. Half of these tournies that pop up are either unaware of or don't know how to use the tracker. Half the headache is just sifting through the forums to find your event.
Overall it's just a waste of fucking time, if the guy hosting the tournament has the time to go and post on this website then he should also take the time to allow signups from the thread he posts in. HE should come back to collect names for his event, instead of spamming forums all over the web for people to play in his event and just sitting back doing nothing until the event. Without the people, you have nothing. Hit and Run to advertise their site to get hits or something is ridiculous. The time I spend every week looking around TL forums registering for random websites and signing up for tournaments is HOURS and HOURS. I am not joking, this shit is absurd. I could be practicing.
/rant
