Ask the Judge, 06/30/2006: Feature Friday
Hello, and welcome back to Feature Friday. I alluded to the subject of this week's column in Lee's column last week. It's something that gets mentioned regularly around here and elsewhere, and many of you are already aware of it, but I wanted to write something that I could link
back to down the road, so here we go:
Way too much information about #mtgjudge
IRC in a Nutshell
IRC, or Internet Relay Chat, is one of the oldest and most-widely used forms of Internet-based multiuser chat. It as old as the hills, in Internet time, anyway, dating back to 1988. Like many excellent things (Linux, Level 3 supercouple Pasi and Johanna Virtanen, Tommi Hovi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and salmiak vodka, to name a few...) it's a Finnish export. It's text-based, which means it doesn't have the modern acoutrements of your AIM, or your MSN Messenger, or whatever you kids use these days, but there are more clients out there than PTR has Unsporting Conduct warnings.
There are a number of different IRC networks out there. Each network is comprised of a set of servers (sometimes a handful, sometimes dozens) which are all talking with each other in real time. Currently, some of the major networks are EFnet, Undernet, Freenode, and Slashnet. When you tell your client which network you want to use, you'll actually be specifying the name of a machine. If there's a server that works well for you, you can make a point of connecting to it directly. Most of the networks also have a generic address, which will connect you to a random machine.
The channels we'll be talking about today are on EFnet, which has historically been the largest network, both in terms of servers (also called "nodes") and users. You can connect to EFnet by pointing your IRC client at irc.efnet.net. There's a strong likelihood that your client already has that addressed tucked away somewhere.
Once you establish a connection to a server, you can join one or more channels. Established channels have names that don't change. They have administrators, called "ops" in the IRC idiom. They will generally have a userbase that evolves slowly over time. Cultural mores for a channel also evolve fairly slowly, and involve things like: how much off-topic chat is acceptable; how new users are tolerated and assimilated; and so on. Channel names always start with the pound symbol, like so: #mtg, #wisedraft, #scg, #etc.
Magic on the net... the EFnet
Magic chats on IRC have been around a long time. I've alternated between being a regular and semi-regular user in #mtgjudge for close to three years, and IRC had been a well-established part of the Magic community for quite some time back then. As far as I know, #mtg was the earliest long-term Magic channel. #wisedraft was a private channel for pros to discuss draft strategies and card valuations. It's still around, but my understanding is that there's considerably less Magic talk there than in years past.
I'm not here today to talk about Gary Wise chats, though. I'm here to talk about judges. And the place to be, if you're a judge, or you want to chat with a judge, #mtgjudge is it.
Some of you may not want to talk to judges, I know. Why you're reading Ask the Judge right now is a mystery to me, but I'll let it go.
#mtgjudge was started on a Friday in early 2002 by Level 5 judge Jaap Brouwer. If #mtgjudge were an airplane, and it went down in the ocean, the judge program would take a huge hit. One can regularly see over half of the current L4s and L5s in the judge program; a large swath of the L3s, and a comparable number of L1s and L2s. Ask the Judge would need serious restocking, as Chris, Johanna, Nick, Lee, and I are all
regulars. Former managing editor Ted Knutson is a regular. Wizards Organized Play guru Scott Larabee pops in from time to time, and Pro Tour scorekeeper Cari Foreman is also often there. It's a busy place.
What's it all about, then?
For a player who wants a quick, accurate rules answer, there is probably no better place on or off the Internet to get it than #mtgjudge. Other forums work well; if you have a question that takes a lot of words to explain, you may have better luck on a messageboard somewhere... but for the most part, you will get an answer that is accurate and close to real time in IRC. Lee Sharpe is a Wizards of the Coast NetRep for #mtgjudge, so if you're asking the question while he's around, you'll get the benefit of an answer that is Official (Sheldon Menery and Scott Marshall, also regulars, are also NetReps, but their NetRep duties are assigned elsewhere).
How do you tap into this resource? Join the channel, introduce yourself, and ask away. It's that simple. Being polite will get you faster answers. It's sensible to wait a bit (a minute or so after someone first answers your question) to make sure that the rest of the channel agrees with the answer. Generally, this will be indicated by silence. If someone gets it wrongwhich does happen from time to timeyou'll usually see people chiming in almost immediately with corrections. There are enough knowledgeable eyes in channel to catch errors at almost any time of day.
For up-and-coming judges, the utility of the channel is almost unbounded. We have players (and other judges) asking rules questions, which you can try to answer for practice. We have (spirited, at times) discussions on policy and judging theory. Almost anything that you want to talk about that involves judging is fair game, and the people participating in the conversation will span almost every experience level, as well as covering the globe. It's like spending every day at the Pro Tour, chatting with your team. Only the team is much larger, and most of them don't have sore feet.
Every judge, from Level 0 to Level 5, who hangs out in the channel is (directly or indirectly) adding value to the entire judge program. One of the biggest concerns about Organized Play is how to keep the people who run tournaments in the loop about policy and philosophy, which is constantly evolving and adapting. This is, in part, why Wizards flies judges to the Pro Tour from all around the world. It's also one of the major functions of the judge's mailing list, but a lot of the most nuanced aspects of judging are much easier to explain interactively. Every conversation we have about policy is valuable, and the more people participating, or even just watching, who can take those conversations and spread them around, the more valuable it is.
I've made this point before, in this column, but I'll say it again: it's better to speak up, and be wrong, in these discussions, than it is to say nothing. You will learn more quickly, and more thoroughly, from your mistakes when they are visible and in front of you. Further, any number of people may share your misconception, and they may not recognize it until you help point it out to them. Get in there, speak up, and learn!
Don't go there!
As I said earlier, there is a persistent culture in every IRC channel, and #mtgjudge is no exception. There are two big rules, and a few minor ones. The minor ones can be quickly summarized by: don't be a jerk. Mostly that's not a problem, particularly with the judges in channel, but I would advise every judge who hangs out with us to pretend that you're wearing your judge uniform (stripes, staff shirt, etc) when you're answering questions. People come looking for answers, and it's important not to belittle them or mock them, even if the questions are simple or poorly worded. You are representing the judge community. Take it seriously.
The first big rule is actually DCI policy: don't talk about active investigations. The DCI investigates every disqualification issued at a tournament, and until that investigation is complete, we do not discuss the details of the DQ. Simple rule, easy to follow, and if you start to go into dangerous territory, you'll probably get a gentle reminder.
The other big rule is that #mtgjudge does not discuss cards until the spoiler for the set they are in is released. Violations will generally lead to a short-term exclusion from the channel.
Off topic chats are generally tolerated as long as they don't go on too long, and don't drown out legitimate rule and policy conversations.
The other stuff
One of the useful resources of #mtgjudge is our bot Datatog, who is run by StarCityGames photoshop wizards (and #mtgjudge regular, naturally) Yawgatog. Datatog will helpfully supply you with Oracle and rules text, among other things. Level 2 and higher judges can ask Datatog to deliver these nuggets to the whole channel; the rest of you have to settle for private messages. Type "/msg Datatog help" to get started. The most generally useful command is "/msg Datatog what is cardname"; the bot will reply with the Oracle text and rulings for that card.
Lastly, no discussion of #mtgjudge would be complete without a mention of letter chains. Letter chaining (which I recognize as a slightly bowdlerized version of Ghost) tends to happen when the channel is quiet for a long period of time. It involves several members of the channel spelling one or more words, one letter at a time. It's collaborative, non-competitive, and a little silly, but it's part of the character of the place. Feel free to contribute a letter, but don't chime in more than once per chain; don't send non alphabetical characters; and don't break the chain. If you don't get it, it's best to just watch when you see people sending messages that are a single letter at a time.
That's it for now; hopefully that's everything you need to know to get started with one of the absolute best judging resources around. If I've left anything out, drop a note in the forums. I intend to link to this article in the future whenever #mtgjudge comes up, so I'd like it to be reasonably complete.
Until next time, keep shufflin'.
--
Seamus
conform in #mtgjudge
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