[wank]

Can someone official comment on why a player's star would be removed? I'm not expecting you to comment on an individual case.

thanks

[inquiry]

I am in no way involved in the awarding or removing of gold stars. So this will be an educated guess....

Probably the main reason a star is removed would be at the request of the person with the star. A gold star attracts a lot of attention, which can often be obtrusive. I know a few gold stars who primarily use a secondary nicknames that do not have gold star because of this.

The other reason would be conduct unbecoming a gold star. Since gold stars attract kibitzers and the BBO advertize (more or less) these "good players" for people to kibitz, a gold star belittling other players, using profanity and any number or similiar bad behavors might result in the star being removed.

As a rule I would not try to speculate why one was removed.

With that speculation, I anticipate the need to lock this thread shortly, since extensive discussion of this topic is unlikely to go well.

[hotShot]

Ages ago, there was a post from Fred explaining who gets a star, what behavior is expected by stars and what could cause a star to be withdrawn.

[Bbradley62]

uday, on 2009-November-26, 08:11, said:

We would remove an existing star under some circumstances - basically, if the star becomes someone we're not comfortable stating is worth kibbing. Reasons we've removed stars in the past include:

- discovery of impersonation
- name/country removed from profile
- abusive public chat
- repeated use of obscenities in public chat
etc.

[Bbradley62]

I thought this was interesting in the same thread...

fred, on 2009-November-27, 11:22, said:

Perceived skill does not enter into the equation for either awarding or removing stars.

The star symbol should be seen as an indication of experience or accomplishment. It is not necessarily an indication of skill.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[mr1303]

Could poor results/play lead to removal of a star?

[Bbradley62]

mr1303, on 2011-February-17, 17:15, said:

Could poor results/play lead to removal of a star?

Sorry, my bad there... Fred's above comment was in direct response to this:

peachy, on 2009-November-27, 10:40, said:

I hope consistent demonstration of terribly bad bridge would be one. But how do you find out, or do you rely on reports (with examples?) from kibitzers??

So, if I understand this correctly, a star might be given to a celebrity who is not a particularly good bridge player, simply because BBO members might be interested in watching him/her play. As long as this celebrity doesn't object to drawing kibitzing crowds, there would be reason to remove the star.

[fred]

Bbradley62, on 2011-February-17, 17:25, said:

So, if I understand this correctly, a star might be given to a celebrity who is not a particularly good bridge player, simply because BBO members might be interested in watching him/her play.

Sorry but I don't think you understand correctly (or maybe I don't understand what you are suggesting).

The scenario I think you are describing could happen only if the bridge accomplishments of the celebrity in question qualified him or her for stardom according to our rules. If Paris Hilton joined BBO she would not get a star unless she won certain ACBL National Events, played in certain World Championship Events, etc, just like any other BBO member (celebrity or not).

Of course there is a correlation between bridge skill and bridge accomplishment, but it is possible to achieve some significant bridge accomplishments without a great deal of bridge skill. As a result, you should not expect the play of all BBO stars to be especially stellar.

The star symbol is a recognition of accomplishment that we deem to be significant. We do not get involved in attempting to measure skill.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com