Look, Cleary, you are a recreational-level player who does not fit with the vast majority of the field at the Turning Stone event, a major event that usually has a few international superstars, a bunch of national-class players, and many top regional players.
You have never entered it, before or now, have never entered the smaller tour events, and I see no evidence you enter other open events in your area.
Yet you somehow have bewildered friends baffled by your sitting this one out, and that is your springboard to start a major public dissing with "rip off" in the title and phrases like "super shady."
Then it seems anyone here who DOES go to the event or the smaller stops and DOES live in the area the tour serves seems to support the character of the organizer, whether they agree with every decision or not.
And anybody can see the tour has been going on for 20 years and has 22 5-star reviews and 1 4-star review on facebook.
And when anybody challenges your "super shady" judgment, you label THEM super shady.
I think President Trump would label you a grandstander
In any case many might agree with your quote above.
The bold means absolutely nothing.
I've never played in a Joss event. While I've been to a few (including one event at Turning Stone), it's something I'm looking forward to entering down the road
when my schedule permits me to do so. And I want to test my mettle against the higher echelon players in a tournament setting.
Eventually I'll sign up and give MZ my $150 or $200, or whatever the amount is (I'll call it $150 for the remainder of my post), to save my seat, with the understanding that, if I have to back out (the reason is irrelevant), then I forfeit my entry fee.
I get that, and when I hand over my money, I agree to those terms. I have no business expecting that my entry fee comes back to me if I do have to back out.
Where I would question is where
that money goes. I've got no problem accepting the 'no refund' terms, I agreed to them when I handed over my money. On the same note, I would also expect that money to go toward the tournament itself, and not for any sort of administrative costs and/or overhead.
On that same note, why does that X amount of money (my $150) go to 'the Diamond people' or whoever else has been mentioned in this thread ? Any sort of costs (or donations by Diamond and others) are already factored in. Meaning that, in this case, Diamond
has no expectation of getting compensation of any form.
Maybe a more direct question, why doesn't that forfeited money go back to the players and/or prize fund ?