[luke warm]

there's a rumor going around that one of the founders of the abalucy bridge club, mike lucy, is ready to move on... i sincerely hope this isn't true, and i hope all his friends will ask him here and in emails and even in person to reconsider

mike, you're a leader in this community and we need leaders... please rethink your decision... you have a lot of friends, all of whom would miss you

say it ain't so

[rdittman]

Michael, I want you to know that I appreciate all you have done for the Abalucy bridge club these last months. Thanks to your efforts we have enjoyed a high quality bridge game with the highest level of comaraderie and ethics. Please reconsider your decision to shut down Abalucy. You have worked so hard to create such a good thing and it will be sorely missed. I believe the vast majority of members feel as I do and would greatly appreciate your efforts to revive the Abalucy club. In any case, thanks for all you have done for us.

[dogsbreath]

Michael, I hope this 'rumour' is unfounded.. if not I would like to add my support for you to remain within the BBO community & express my thanks for your work to date, esp as regards the Abalucy club. I hope this has nothing to do with the recent unpleasantness that led to two other well-known BBO members to consider leaving. I asked them to reconsider but would be greatly upset if this was interpreted as 'taking sides' .. BBO can ill-afford to lose respected players & contributors like yourself and I extend the same support to you .. Thanks, Dog

[doofik]

Dog,

Why do you feel compelled to explain your position in these trying times? Do you think there might be a retribution if you champion both clubs? And I agree with you, all us would suffer a great loss if Aba or Mike would leave or if AbaLucy were to close down, never to be resurrected. However, as a person I'm very fond of has said on several occasions "JFK got replaced in 37 minutes, do you think there's anyone who's irreplaceable?" And I tend to agree with her.

If your info is correct, I don't think it's a matter of begging Mike to come back. I think that he needs a day or two to reconsider and come to an honest, unbiased decision.

Jola

[dogsbreath]

dear doofik..
i was offsite for 2 weeks and returned to find a serious dispute in progress. I didnt & still dont know what it was about, but was concerned that ANY of these valued BBO members should be considering quitting. ..and what 'retribution' can there be for letting these individuals know that we would all be worse off without them?
My 'position' is that we'd all be better off getting rid of abusers of TD's, mid-hand leavers etc .. not those that contribute significantly to the site.
Regards, Dog.

[doofik]

Dog,

After someone read my post in this thread, the person said to me "you're tough" - I'm still not sure that it was a complement:-)

I guess what I'm trying to achieve is to give a break to moderators of this site, to give Mike time to think things over, and for everyone to regain some perspective.

Hope you have not taken any offense to my previous post. If you did, I apologize.

Jola

[inquiry]

I hope the rumors about MALUCY abandoning the BBO are untrue. For those of you who know Mike, you will know why I would feel this way. Mike has been good to for the BBO, good for its members, and good for me in particular. For those of you who don't know Mike, let me share why I feel this way.

First, after many years’ hiatus, after meeting Mike on-line, he dragged me kicking and screaming back into playing in ACBL tournaments again. After playing two sessions with me in one day, perhpas it was Mike doing the kicking and screaming.

Second, Mike has helped me understand several aspects of non-competitive bidding that I had never grasped on my own in more than 40 years of playing bridge (I was forced to play at a very young age, because I made up the ready foursome of my parents and my much older sister).

Third, Mike, along with his co-conspirator, created a great on line tournament environment within his on-line club, AbaLucy.

Fourth, he pointed me to Kantar Roman Keycard Blackwood and got me hooked on it. Well, maybe that isn't something to be grateful for... :-)

Fifth, Mike has been a very significant poster on this forum. Out of the nearly 18,000 post on this site, and I have read nearly all of them, I find several of Mike’s post to be among the very best here, and obviously among my favorites (Mike post here under the nickname Yzerman). Some of his really good ones are (all these links are active, click on each to launch Best of Mike:

Requirements for Rebids After (1M-1N), which is tour de force for anyone thinking about playing 2/1 and wants to know how to bid over forcing 1NT responses. And for good measure, throw in the thread 6 card Majors after 1NT forcing?, a similar and related must read.

Declarer Problem A really nice declarer problem. Interestingly, he didn't see the solution I found when he posted it, but is was a great problem and great fun to discuss.

*BART His Bart thread reminded me how much I liked Bart and spurred me to talk my regular online partners to pick it up.

His passionate defense of both Flannery (The Utility of Flannery and weak 1NT (Weak NT is Superior, Why? Are well worth a read. I thought Flannery should be dead and buried until I saw how mike and kurt played it. They really make great use of Flannery. As for Weak NT, I have long been an advocate for playing those, having cut my teeth on KS a long, long time ago.

His introduction to me of the way he plays 1♥-1♠-2♥-2♠ auctions. It was an eye opener to me, and I adopted it immediately into my bidding system. 1H-1S-2H Auctions

And finally, his long, and well reasoned potential solution to the problem of online cheating is by far the most comprehensive and shows real thought about the problem (I will not provide a link, because that is more a recommendation to BBO power than anything useful currently for current players).

Of all the players I have met here, including my good friend Misho who gives me new bidding material constantly, Mike has had the most profound effect on the way I think about the game. So if for no other than the selfish reason that I have not prefected my own bidding, etc, I would hate to see mike go. I have a lot of work left to do to get my bidding right.

So Mike, if you are reading this... and you have decide to leave the BBO, please know that the ENTIRE BBO community will be worse off for you leaving, because great bridge minds are too few and far between.

Your friend,
Ben

[doofik]

Yo Cute Stuff:

Now it's my turn to make you blush, because you deserve it:-) I'm not very eloquent so to the point:

I miss your "why??????????????????? why why why???????????????"

I miss your "arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

And it feels like something's missing when I log on and "malucy" is missing. And no one else will ever call me "goofy doofy" and I miss it.

With affection, Jola

[flytoox]

If the rumor is true, I hope Mike reconsider his decision too. I learn a lot from BBO, especially from mike and ben. I really like abalucy and appreciate mike and abadaba's efforts, though I could not attend too much games organized by abalucy, due to my study and time difference.
FLy

[EricN]

Mike, it would be a shame when someone like you would decide to leave BBO - for whatever reason.

Eric

[farfie]

i agree with eric : Mike must stay on BBO for BBO needs him.Friendly, Farfie

[mishovnbg]

Hi Mike! You are nice talanted young man who help a lot to BOO. People here like and respect you - you probably notice how many kibitzers you have without "star". You are founder of first in BBO club for top bridge and it attract a lot of people to join to BBO. Temporary missunderstandings and conflicts between people in any community is unavoidable, like mistakes in bridge. Please don't leave us friend!
Misho