BPC and Overswarm are both making incredibly valid points here, and it's important to recognize that.
First of all, Overswarm hit the nail on the head about being able to call out Alex on perceived mistakes. For whatever reason, there seems to be an incredible double-standard going on here in terms of when it's OK to complain about a TO's decision-making process. Do all of you, after all, have such short memories that you don't remember when the Unity Ruleset was first released? At the same time as it's announcement, we were informed that a number of large-scale tournaments would be using the ruleset. In context, the Unity Ruleset thread was nothing more than a master thread announcing the ruleset decisions of a number of TOs, at the time.
And it was a cluster**** for a while. People were complaining often about decision after decision. But not once did anyone post "hey, guys, the ruleset and how to run the tournament is the TO's decision, so stop criticizing them". No, back then, it was perfectly OK to complain about a TO's decision-making process.
Why not now? Because Alex is making a ruleset that the people defending him agree with, most likely. Personal bias, in other words.
It's never OK to stifle debate just because you agree with the last argument put in the public space. Alex has made a decision, and he has made it publicly. That means that the fallout will also be public, and he has to deal with that. If that makes his namesearching over the next few weeks particularly painful, well, those are the consequences of the decisions he's made. But, under no circumstances is he to be absolved from those consequences entirely just because he's a TO. If anything, that just heightens his responsibility to accept them.
As for BPC, he also makes a very valid point. Alex has made a decision to change his ruleset to accomplish A, B, and C. If A == "removing stages that unfairly affect battle", then removing PS2 is counterproductive, and demonstrably so; I know it is because it's been demonstrated before in a variety of post by BPC and others from the Stage Forum crew who have cited match videos, discussion threads, game theory, etc. Alex can make whatever decisions he wants to, but he should also be honest in qualifying them. A PS2 ban (as well as RC and Brinstar) is a subjectively based ban, to be sure, and it would be better for Alex if he just came out and said it. He's still the TO; his word is still law. It's just less disingenuous if he doesn't lie about his intentions. Remember: in the words of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts". Just because Alex thinks PS2 (RC / Brinstar) has Quality X, Y, or Z, that doesn't make it true, and it's his job as TO to prove his decisions more than any of us do, by the very nature of his position of power.
