Why is Plank still allowed to go to tournaments?

[Strife]

Plank, the guy who stole over 10,000$ from the smash community after Pound 5. I've noticed that he is still allowed to go to tournaments, and I don't understand why. Shouldn't he be banned from all smash-related things from now on?

 

[Nike.]

dis goin be good

 

[Cherished Doll]

Which tourney did he go to?

 

[Strife]

He was at an Atlantic North SypherPhoenix's Boosted Biweeklies tournament, he claims to have attended a lot more too. I'm just amazed that the smash community is allowing this to happen.

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?p=12998305#post12998305

 

[Smashjin]

I need a drink

 

[professor mgw]

Im a noob, how did he steal all that $$$? (I'm assing he didn't give all the payouts or something?)

 

[Mike G]

And the smash community were really hard on pb&j and DJ nintendo for alot less money too.


hmmm..

 

[LLDL]

Plank, the guy who stole over 10,000$ from the smash community after Pound 5. I've noticed that he is still allowed to go to tournaments, and I don't understand why. Shouldn't he be banned from all smash-related things from now on?

Not every Tournament Host has a problem with plank.

 

[Smashjin]

Im a noob, how did he steal all that $$$? (I'm assing he didn't give all the payouts or something?)

The word on the street is the hotel (the venue for pound 5) took it from him for the venue fee, originally they were supposed to get it from everyone staying in the hotel rooms, but they didn't get as much as they were supposed to due to room cancellations, room crowding etc.

So it was either he pays out the winners and gets ***** by the hotel and their lawyers, or he doesn't get to pay out a few unfortunate people.

At least that's what I remember hearing was his side of the story.

 

[Pi]

ITT: ignorance
hosted P5 with implied payouts, no contract signed or anything binding, but as we're all used too tournaments generally do pay out to the winners though no specific prize amounts were layed out

not enough people came to the event, and worse the people who did came crowded in rooms

plank booked an overpriced hotel, and due to people crowding rooms and not coming to the event he wasn't able to pay the hotel & the winners, so he paid the hotel

****storm ensues, people talk about suing and **** and a whole bunch of other bull**** they know nothing about, people start funds for players who placed high, armada got paid, pp i think got paid too though he said w/e he had fun

etc. etc.

take that for what it is, not stealing in my eyes. a poor decision, ambitious, but poor.

 

[Strife]

ITT: ignorance
hosted P5 with implied payouts, no contract signed or anything binding, but as we're all used too tournaments generally do pay out to the winners though no specific prize amounts were layed out

not enough people came to the event, and worse the people who did came crowded in rooms

plank booked an overpriced hotel, and due to people crowding rooms and not coming to the event he wasn't able to pay the hotel & the winners, so he paid the hotel

****storm ensues, people talk about suing and **** and a whole bunch of other bull**** they know nothing about, people start funds for players who placed high, armada got paid, pp i think got paid too though he said w/e he had fun

etc. etc.

take that for what it is, not stealing in my eyes. a poor decision, ambitious, but poor.

Legal contract or not, it wasn't his money to give away. He got himself in debt and he used the community's money to pay it off. You can make excuses and justifications for it all you want, but it's still theft, and accordingly he should be punished for it.

Also iirc neither Armada, PP or anyone got paid out from this tournament.

 

[popsofctown]

Eh. If everyone payed a 1 time fee, it's kind of implied that that's a venue/pot combo for me. And you have to pay the venue, then put what's left over in the pot.

It definitely depends on what was said or implied and such of course.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Not every Tournament Host has a problem with plank.

^ Most likely this. So the winners didn't get paid, or at least didn't get paid what was promised. Couldn't Plank write an IOU or something? Either way, I doubt people (except you, Strife) remember it. Is it really that big a deal?

 

[RT]

People saying it doesn't matter that a few people didn't get paid out...but if you were one of the people that didn't get paid, you *probably* wouldn't feel the same way...

 

[Smashjin]

Legal contract or not, it wasn't his money to give away. He got himself in debt and he used the community's money to pay it off. You can make excuses and justifications for it all you want, but it's still theft, and accordingly he should be punished for it.

Also iirc neither Armada, PP or anyone got paid out from this tournament.

You probably would have done the same thing, it sucks but his choices really were limited. You also act like it's all his fault, if the people who were booked actually showed up or didn't crowd the rooms the venue would have gotten it's money. When hosting a tournament the responsibility of making sure the venue gets paid is there just as much as the players.

I believe for a little time he wanted to host locals in hopes of putting a portion of the pot to the players who didn't get paid at PoundV, but I suppose that never worked out.

He ran the Pound series FOR the community, not for himself.

Were you even there? What does it matter to you at this point?

This thread should probably be closed anyway.

 

[TP]

Were you even there? What does it matter to you at this point?

This attitude is why these things happen in the first place.

 

[Pink Reaper]

Better question: Why is DJN still allowed to go to tournaments?

 

[Smashjin]

This attitude is why these things happen in the first place.

So we need to ***** and moan about things that didn't (and don't) effect us, attempt to discuss and make a big deal out of things that we don't even know the full and true story about, over and over, to prevent them from happening in the first place?

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

Why is everyone bashing Strife? He has a good point.
Why are people defending Plank? He's dog **** as far as im concerned

imo Plank should be banned from all smash events and possibly the boards

I can't believe people actually try and use the argument that it wasnt legally binding so he didnt have to pay out the winners WTF.... and yeah there was a poor turnout BUT plank foresaw this with low numbers in the hotel bookings. did he warn anyone beforehand? NO.... did he say anything to anyone implying that this tournament was going to be less than Amazing??? NO... he stole all the money AND just disappeared without any excuse...


EDIT: OH YEAH

and if you read the Apex thread you'll see that Plank actually tried to attend it, but thankfully Alex Strife politely asked that he not show up.

"You would have done the same thing in his shoes"

Yeah probably, but he has some nerve to try and show up to nationals INSTEAD of using that money to pay the people from POUND V

 

[Smashjin]

Why is everyone bashing Strife? He has a good point.
Why are people defending Plank? He's dog **** as far as im concerned

imo Plank should be banned from all smash events and possibly the boards

I can't believe people actually try and use the argument that it wasnt legally binding so he didnt have to pay out the winners WTF.... and yeah there was a poor turnout BUT plank foresaw this with low numbers in the hotel bookings. did he warn anyone beforehand? NO.... did he say anything to anyone implying that this tournament was going to be less than Amazing??? NO... he stole all the money AND just disappeared without any excuse...

Again what would you have done in his situation? Do you even understand what happened? He DIDN'T steal the money and he DIDN'T disappear as he made numerous apologies and explanations. Again he had the intentions of trying to pay the winners back through hosting more locals and having a small % go to a fund.

For anyone who didn't get screwed over by not receiving their payouts and was actually there... was the tournament an amazing experience for everyone else or was it not?

This thread is stupid either way.

 

[Tugnus]

As someone who plays high level tennis and plays tournaments any type of legitimate organization would have banned him immediately.

However, this is the SMASH community. You have to remember perspective. Plank isn't some large business corporation who is setting up these tournaments, just another broke smasher like the rest of us who also likes to set up events for us to enjoy. The smash community is shrinking, not growing, so it makes perfect sense that most tournament organizers do not want to ban people from their already small tournaments. Obviously it's horrible what happened at Pound 5 and their are very few legit excuses, but sadly it should be somewhat expected when run and set up by a single person.

 

[Deleted member]

And the smash community were really hard on pb&j and DJ nintendo for alot less money too.


hmmm..

because plank's thing was an accounting error, not theft.

accidents happen. there are a lot worse things you can do than lose some money in your life.

pound 5 was still a hugely successful event as far as smash goes. if the people that actually lost out on money can move past it, the non-winners can too. let that **** go.

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

again what would you have done in his situation? Do you even understand what happened? He didn't steal the money and he didn't disappear as he made numerous apologies and explanations. Again he had the intentions of trying to pay the winners back through hosting more locals and having a small % go to a fund.

For anyone who didn't get screwed over by not receiving their payouts and was actually there... Was the tournament an amazing experience for everyone else or was it not?

This thread is stupid either way.

why is everyone bashing strife? He has a good point.
Why are people defending plank? He's dog **** as far as im concerned

imo plank should be banned from all smash events and possibly the boards

i can't believe people actually try and use the argument that it wasnt legally binding so he didnt have to pay out the winners wtf.... And yeah there was a poor turnout but plank foresaw this with low numbers in the hotel bookings. Did he warn anyone beforehand? No.... Did he say anything to anyone implying that this tournament was going to be less than amazing??? No... He stole all the money and just disappeared without any excuse...


Edit: Oh yeah

and if you read the apex thread you'll see that plank actually tried to attend it, but thankfully alex strife politely asked that he not show up.

"you would have done the same thing in his shoes"

yeah probably, but he has some nerve to try and show up to nationals instead of using that money to pay the people from pound v

read my edit homeboy

 

[Palpi]

Plank REALLY ****ed up, in almost every aspect concerning the the ordeal (before and after)...maybe it wasn't his fault, but whatever...he isn't a thief, and the people from MD/VA (and im sure others) realize that. I know I do.

 

[Mike G]

because plank's thing was an accounting error, not theft.

accidents happen. there are a lot worse things you can do than lose some money in your life.

lol Oh, I knew what happened. I was just trying to be silly by implying a racial joke. Don't mind me lol

 

[Mr.Jackpot]

It's alright if the TO allows it. Now don't bring this topic up ever again.

 

[Mr-R]

I'm still amazed at the fact that he's using his money to go to tourney instead of saving up and pay back as much as possible

 

[Kal]

Would anyone actually bother working to slowly pay back a debt that massive? I would guess most people would just be grateful they got out scot-free and go on as though it didn't happen.

Anyway, Plank is allowed at tournaments if the TO allows it. There's no Smash authority to tell us who we can allow at out tournaments.

And, to make a point: if MBR or any "Smash authority" tried to ban a player, for any reason at all, I would immediately make special mention that he's allowed at my tournaments. Not because I necessarily disagree with the decision, but because it's inherently wrong for any group to try and assert that sort of authority.

 

[Strife]

You probably would have done the same thing, it sucks but his choices really were limited. You also act like it's all his fault, if the people who were booked actually showed up or didn't crowd the rooms the venue would have gotten it's money. When hosting a tournament the responsibility of making sure the venue gets paid is there just as much as the players.

I believe for a little time he wanted to host locals in hopes of putting a portion of the pot to the players who didn't get paid at PoundV, but I suppose that never worked out.

He ran the Pound series FOR the community, not for himself.

Were you even there? What does it matter to you at this point?

This thread should probably be closed anyway.

Idiocy like this annoys me. It is in fact all his fault.

it's not up to the players to help run the event, that is solely the responsibility of the TO unless the TO states otherwise. The attendants responsibility is to pay the venue and entry fee, and that's the end of it. All of the players could have stayed friends' houses instead of the hotel, so saying that it's their fault for not coming to the hotel is absolutely ********. The fact that Plank did nothing to prevent this or warned the community about it, just shows that he always intended to steal the money from the community in case not enough money was raised, and that's bull****!

I was at Pound 5, but even if I wasn't that wouldn't make a difference. Plank stole from the community. WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG, and that is reason enough for em to take issue with it. I don't believe this is something that should be overlooked. If we ignore this it's essentially saying his behavior is ok, and it will encourage more TOs to do the same. Take the whole attempted theft with Zelgadis at Genesis 2 as example.

I'm still amazed at the fact that he's using his money to go to tourney instead of saving up and pay back as much as possible

Me too honestly, it's people like him that make the rest of the community look bad. He'd probably buy himself a new Wi and copy of Smash bros, before paying back anyone in the community. I think it's a big insult to the entire community and especially the people who were owed money, if we allow him to continue entering tournaments.

 

[MasterShake]

I believe when Plank ran the numbers and planned it out, he expected that he indeed would have enough. The irresponsible room crowding he pleaded people not to do, and oops guess what smashers didn't give a ****. Now he has to pay off a bunch of rooms or be faced with jail time, since he did have a legally binding contract with the hotel. So jail time vs get flamed by a bunch of smash players over the internet...hmmmmmm.

Yes it was a stupid gamble. Probably avoidable if everyone was on the same page. Only shady part I remember is that he never gave any proof of payment or showed what happened to the money and I think Chibo ran some hypothetical numbers and it didn't add up.

 

[Theftz22]

IIRC Chibo demanded that he show his budget and he never responded.

 

[Mew2King]

im owed like 1.4k from that tourney

but im also owed over 1000 from SNES, over 2000 from Activegamers, and over 1,500 from Winterfest, and one more big tourney that I forget the name of

=/

I will be gone from most of smash soon anyways though



btw guys, for reference, plank IS a bad person

I'd like you guys to read this blog from Pound4 to what he did to me and Jman. I explain it in great detail, and warriorknight backs me up because he was right there - http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=53105

 

[Sinji]

Plank needs to conserve. lol

 

[Mew2King]

actually I'll just copy paste it. This is what Plank did to me and Jman last year at pound4

EVERYONE READ THIS

http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=53105

so if you haven't heard and this is UNACCEPTABLE, my teammate Jman was 10 minutes late for a winners finals team match because his car wouldn't start from the venue so he got there a bit late, and Plank DISQUALIFIED US FROM THE WHOLE TOURNAMENT. Both winners bracket AND losers. His logic was that it was unfair to the people in loser's bracket that they have to play Mew2King and Jman so he DQed us from the whole tournament.

Warrior Knight, who CAME with Jman, was allowed to enter with his teammate.

And on top of THAT, Doll wanted to forfeit his teams match to us anyway so we could go on and win the tourney, and Plank wouldn't let them do that.

It's ****ing bull**** and unacceptable. Me and PC arrived late for Pound2 so we were put in losers bracket but we still came back and won. Everyone I asked and told the whole story/situation to agreed with us as well that it's extremely unfair. Being DQed from winners AND losers?? NOT ALLOWING OPPOSING TEAM TO FORFEIT WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD. ALLOWING Warrior Knight to enter but not me and Jman. It's COMPLETELY UNFAIR. I practiced Sheik a lot for that tourney and teams with Jman only to get DQed because Jman arrived late and Plank was an *******. 700 dollars down the drain for no reason at all.

edit - it might have been more than 10 min late, but Jman ARRIVED before doll and savedge played their next match and it wasn't that much more than 10 min nowhere CLOSE to an hour guys. Letting warrior knight go on, DQing us from losers, and not allowing a forfeit is ALL bull****. None of that is fair (especially not to me, who practiced really hard for this all FOR NOTHING)

so yeah Plank is definitely a bad person. There was one more really **** thing he did to me before, but I don't remember it off the top of my memory.

 

[Smashjin]

Idiocy like this annoys me. It is in fact all his fault.

it's not up to the players to help run the event, that is solely the responsibility of the TO unless the TO states otherwise. The attendants responsibility is to pay the venue and entry fee, and that's the end of it. All of the players could have stayed friends' houses instead of the hotel, so saying that it's their fault for not coming to the hotel is absolutely ********. The fact that Plank did nothing to prevent this or warned the community about it, just shows that he always intended to steal the money from the community in case not enough money was raised, and that's bull****!

MasterShake pretty much said what I wanted.

I believe when Plank ran the numbers and planned it out, he expected that he indeed would have enough. The irresponsible room crowding he pleaded people not to do, and oops guess what smashers didn't give a ****. Now he has to pay off a bunch of rooms or be faced with jail time, since he did have a legally binding contract with the hotel. So jail time vs get flamed by a bunch of smash players over the internet...hmmmmmm.

read my edit homeboy

Hombre that was definitely a ninja edit. And I was definitely taking forever writing my reply.

 

[the_CAM_factor]

well he screwed up hosting a tournament and would have taken a massive debt or jail when he was doing something for the community. i believe he did post his credit card showing his debt from it. so its a complicated issue and he should have worked something out with the winners.
and he did gay m2k/jman kinda hard the previous tourney.

 

[Pinkie Pie]

Let's not forget that TO'ing is hard ****ing work. Since Melee is such a grassroots community, single individuals are responsible for booking hotels, coordinating venue, ensuring adequate setups, promoting their tourney, and much much more.

While I do believe Plank could have handled the situation much differently, he did what he thought was best. So you can hate on him all you want and say he should be banned from Smash for life, or you can try to be thankful for everything he's done and for the fact that he has run some of the largest Smash tournaments of all time.

 

[kevo]

because plank's thing was an accounting error, not theft.

You lose your CPA and face censure for accounting errors, too, btw.

To be honest, I feel bad for Plank, just not sympathetic. He made a mistake and lost lots of money, and he used the pot to pay off that money. Money that isn't the venue fee isn't yours. If the cashier at the grocery store pocketed the cash you paid for eggs because she has bills to pay, that's not very legit.

I also don't want to hear "being a TO is hard work". It is, obviously. That's not an excuse for the gross misplanning that happened at Pound V. That's why random joe-schmoes don't run nationals; we expect a level of experience and expertise from Plank.

Remember when Zelgadis stole the $6000 from Genesis 2 and the DBR people started pulling money out of their pockets to make up for it? They were willing to take the hit for the smash community. That's the standard of a truly dedicated and kick*** TO.

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

well he screwed up hosting a tournament and would have taken a massive debt or jail when he was doing something for the community. i believe he did post his credit card showing his debt from it. so its a complicated issue and he should have worked something out with the winners.
and he did gay m2k/jman kinda hard the previous tourney.

even so...

idk if this is 100% true, but ive seen Ally post multiple times saying that Plank bought himself a car ....

if what he's saying is true then that ***** doesnt deserve any pity

ALLYKNIGHT please confirm or deny this statement

 

[unknown522]

I knew this thread was going to come up.

That is all