Frequently Asked Questions About the Code of Conduct
| How worried about this do I need to be? | For the overwhelming majority of people, not at all. You can summarise this entire thing through “try to be friendly and cool”, and you’ll be totally fine. We’re an extremely chill and friendly group, so unless you’re trying to be a pest, you’re fine. The Code exists for the extreme minority of people who are doing that. |
| Why should I be afraid? | Penalty is either forfeiting your game, expulsion from the tournament, being thrown out of the club meeting, being suspended from play for one or more weeks, or being thrown out of Queensland go entirely. (Yes, the president can suspend or unsuspend you like a yo-yo, and you get no say. He thinks that kind of thing is funny. No, he can’t just expel you for extra entertainment value. An extremely annoyed general meeting who had to stop playing go to deal with you will vote on that.) |
| My opponent is giving me grief. Who do I get to make them stop bugging me? | The tournament has a director. Get their attention, either by yelling out (between rounds) or, believe it or not, sticking your hand up and waving (during a round, because quieter). Tell them what is going on, and/or show them the blood. They’ll take it from there. |
| This …person at the club meeting is giving me grief. How do I get them to stop? | The club is a chapter of the Queensland Go Society and so there’s a convenor somewhere. They’re either around, or they’ve deputised someone because they’re not here today. Find them, tell them what is going on and/or show them the blood. They’ll take it from there. |
| I’m not a player. You can’t make me abide by these rules, right? | People come along and watch go or interact with the players, yes. NPCs like this have to abide by the rules, too, and may get a friendly warning or instruction on what we’d like you to not do. Only, because you’re not a player, we skip straight to throwing you out and/or calling the police, and the player you’re griefing gets the benefit of the doubt. Remember, you decided to come and visit us. Private gathering. If you are sometimes also a player, see above. |
| But I was only joking!? | Ha. Ha. Ha. Nope. |
| Everybody does it? | Ha. Ha. Ha. Nope. |
| Freeze peach? | Only so long as it doesn’t get in the way of the go. After that, we classify you as a troll and drop the hammer. Note: people are a veritable rainbow of special snowflakes. Sometimes what you are saying freaks them out or squicks them or otherwise pulls their mind away from the go and on to how to escape you. Don’t aim for this effect, in fact stop if you see you’re doing it. Stop faster if it’s someone vulnerable like a kid or handicapped or autistic. Not cool. |
| They thought or said or believed a Bad Thing. Can I be offended at their existence and demand you hammer them for me now? | Hah, hah, aha. No. The convenor/director will make the call about when they’re over the line to trolling. The other player? They are supposed to keep it down and not get in people’s faces such that everybody is yelling instead of playing go. The flip side of that social contract is: you have to tolerate their existence as a polite go-playing person next to you. |
| Buuuuut. Baaaaaaad Thiiiiiing……? | Here is a safe place for playing go. Here we sanction bad behaviour, not thoughts or words. If we had to read everybody’s mind that played go in Queensland, we would never have time to get any go done. You don’t want that. We’d also have to read yours. |
| Rules are for the weak. I defy you, puny go society? | If you can’t be civil here, play elsewhere and take your drama with you. Various online go servers await. We look forward to your achieving eighth dan rank and coming back to gloat. Not holding our breath, though. |
| Isn’t this a cool loophole? | Well. It was a cool loophole. Well done. Alas, the general secretary can change the code of conduct at will, and retroactively, to erase your loophole from the timestream, and you’ve just come to his attention. |
| This is wrong. How do I appeal? | You can appeal a decision of: a club convenor’s delegate to the convenor; a volunteer tournament organiser to the tournament director; a tournament director or club convenor to the general secretary of the Queensland Go Society; the general secretary to the state council of the Queensland Go Society or a general meeting; the state council to a general meeting of the Queensland Go Society, who will hear you out and vote on it and you’re done. Purely go decisions usually get adjudicated by the tournament umpire or the nearest senior player of the club. You could push that all the way through (see list above). But why on earth would you want to? And who would play with you afterwards? Just accept the ruling and move on to the next game. |
| Wait! This go group is also part of some other organisation as well! I am beyond your power! | This happens. Griffith Go Club is angling to be affiliated with the Griffith University student union, and the USQ go players are more or less defined as those members of the Bun Bu Ryo Do who play the ancient oriental game of go. That doesn’t mean you have less rules. It means you have their rules, and ours. They may also have different ideas about acceptable speech and conduct, in which case you get the worst of both worlds. Your chapter convenor will advise how this works in practice. |
| These are all hypotheticals, right? You’re writing these rules down as an exercise in overblown rigid paranoia? Right? Right? | Oh, how we we wish. Over the decades of go in Queensland, just about everything has happened at least once. For a lot of things, once was more than enough. Relax, and play good clean go, and be nice, and you won’t be one of the stories told to future generations of go players here. Sound good? |
| Due process? | We’re unincorporated. This is the due process. When we get enough people to be less laissez-faire, this will change. |