New mamer manager help file

This file contains portions of server help files(written by Friar) and
mamer help files(written by mlong) relevant to new mamer managers.  toddmf 
merged these files, updated out of date information, added some new
things, and removed some contradictions, hopefully resulting in a file
useful for new mamer managers.  With the release of mamer 2.0, much of
this document has been rewritten by toddmf.  Send questions, comments,
suggestions, etc. to toddmf.

Introduction and general server considerations
----------------------------------------------

  Congratulations on becoming a mamer manager!  You have earned this
position through your high level of maturity and interest in FICS
chess(tournaments in particular).  Less than 1% of FICS users have been
given the honor of being a TM. That being said, being a TM is also a
responsibility.  It is essential that you continue to maintain a higher
standard of maturity than most users for several reasons.  The most
obvious situations are problems in tourneys.  Users often get angry or
impatient for several reasons during a tourney.  For example: User has
just been given chaos points, user is angry because he was flagged in a
drawn game, user strongly disagrees with mamer policy, etc.  In these
situations, it is necessary for you to stay calm, be competent, and keep
channel 49 and/or the tourney under control without reacting too harshly.
Another reason is that TMs are often mistaken for admins, especially by
new/intermediate users.  Please kindly help them if possible, but refer
them to an admin if one really is necessary.

Expectations
------------

  Apart from staying out of trouble on FICS, the only requirement that you
must meet in order to remain a mamer manager is to meet a monthly quota
for tourneys managed.  Currently, it is 5 tourneys per month.  This is
only a minimum, though. Feel free to manage as many as you like.  This is 
fun, remember? :)  This quota does not apply to admins, several of whom
only manage when there is a need for a tourney and no other TMs are
online. The quota is in place in order to keep the manager staff active.
If you are unable to remain active as a manager temporarily, message the
COO(currently toddmf) and explain why.  If you plan on being inactive for
a long period of time(at least 3 months, or longer than summer break for
students), it is probably best if you step down as TM(if you've done well
as a TM you would probably be able to return as TM when you return to
FICS).

Mamer's user commands
---------------------

  Before you get to the the details of manager commands and how to manage
a tourney, you should first make sure you are well equipped to deal with
users' questions about how to use mamer.  If you are unfamiliar with any
of these commands, you should try them.

 Command            Alias       Level  Basic info
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 finger           | finger     |   0 | Displays the stats for a user.
 information      | vars       |   0 | Displays the tournament variables.
 join             | join       |   0 | Request to enter a tourney.
 listmanagers     | lm         |   0 | Displays the Managers list.
 listplayers      | lp         |   0 | Displays the players in the tourney.
 listrank         | rank       |   0 | Displays player rank.
 listtourneys     | lt         |   0 | Displays the tournament list.
 listtourneygames | games      |   0 | Displays the tournament games.
 listtourneyvars  | lv         |   0 | Displays the tournament variables.
 players          | who        |   0 | Displays the players in the tourney.
 setsilence       | silence    |   0 | Sets your silence variable
 showcommands     | showcommands |   0 | List commands and descripts.
 showhelpfile     | help       |   0 | Shows a help file.
 tourneytell      | tt         |   0 | Tells all the players in a tourney.
 standings        | grid       |   0 | Displays the players in the tourney.
 withdraw         | withdraw   |   0 | Remove yourself from a tourney.
 version          | version    |   0 | Print mamer version.

User commands notes:
 The "finger" command shows your statistics by default.  You can see other
 players' stats by "mam finger name".

 The old commands "grid" and "standings" are now all neatly packaged in
 the "who" command.  The players are listed in rank order.

 The "upset points" in the "who" listing are temporary points(they are
 deleted when the tourney is deleted).  They are calculated like this: If 
 you beat a higher rated player, you get the difference in rating in upset
 points.  If you draw a higher rated player, you get half the difference
 in rating points, rounded down.  For example, a 2000 who beats a 2101
 gets 101 upset points.  If he had drawn, the 2000 would have gained 50
 upset points.  Ratings from when the players join the tourney are used.

 The "Perfrm" (performance rating) in the "who" listing is a measure of
 what the player's USCF(and several other similar systems) rating would be
 if this was the only tourney he played in.  Again, the ratings from when
 the players join the tourney are used.  Here is the formula:

         Perf. Rating = Avg. opp. rating + 400 * ((wins-losses)/rounds)  

 Most commands now require you to specify the tourney number!  Remember 
 this when giving help.

 Players very often ask about how to find out who is in a tourney, how to
 see the standings, how to see a grid, how to see which games are in 
 progress, and how to see tourney variables.  It is useful to have an 
 alias for telling 49  something along the lines of "Please use the
 commands 'mam games #',  'mam vars #', and 'mam who #' for information
 about the tourney."

Introduction to managing tourneys
---------------------------------

  The first thing you should do after becoming a manager is to join
channel 48.  You can ask for the advice of more experienced TMs in the
channel if you run in to any problems while managing.  Channel 48 is also
used to discuss other mamer issues, and it is just as often used for
friendly chat among TMs.  Here is a tutorial on how to manage a typical
tourney. 

The first thing you need to know is that you will be sending a lot of
tells to mamer while managing.  To save yourself some typing, you should
either use the server alias "mam"(short for xtell mamer) or create an even
shorter alias like m.  In the tutorial you're about to read, I will use
"mam".

Running your first tourney, step by step
----------------------------------------

I strongly recommend that you follow the directions here exactly for your
first tourney, and at least keep this open for your first few tourneys
until you get used to running them.

 Step 1: Create a tourney
 ------------------------

 To create a new tourney, type "mam create". You should get the following
 response:
 
 mamer(TD) tells you: Created tourney number:  6

 Contact the COO if mamer tells you that "you do not have permission". If
 you did create the tourney successfully, all you need to remember is the
 tourney number. In this tutorial, we'll continue managing tourney number
 6.

 Step 2: Select the tournament variable settings
 -----------------------------------------------

 Assuming you are now the manager for tourney 6, type "mam vars 6".
 You get back a listing of the current tournament variable settings:

:           (T)ime:     3
:      (I)ncrement:     0
:         (R)ounds:     0
:    Max (P)layers:    16
:           (M)ode:     r (r)ated or (u)nrated
:          (S)tyle:     s (s)wiss, (r)ound robin, (k)nock out,
:                         or (d)ouble round robin
:        (V)ariant:     w (w)ild, (r)egular, (b)ug, (s)uicide, or
(c)razyhouse
:      (W)ild Type:    10 (0), (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (8), (9)8a, (10)fr
:     Rating (L)ow:     0
:    Rating (H)igh:  9999
:         
:          Manager:  toddmf

 The characters enclosed in () are shortcuts that you can use to change
 the values of the variables.

 Here is what the variables mean:

    Time         -- Same as always: minutes to start the game with
    Increment    -- Same as always: additional seconds per move
    Rounds       -- Number of rounds in the tourney.  If you leave this at
                    0, mamer will choose an optimal number of rounds.
    Max Players  -- The tourney will automatically close when this many
                    players have joined.
    Mode         -- Will the tourney games be rated or unrated?
    Style        -- Round Robin(everyone plays everyone), double round
                    robin(everyone plays everyone twice- one game with
                    each color), Swiss System(system where, generally
                    speaking, players play opponents with the same score
                    in the tourney each round), or knockout(single
                    elimination)?
    Variant      -- What type of game is being played?  Regular is used
                    for blitz, standard, and lightning.
    Wild Type    -- This only appears when Variant is set to Wild.  Use
                    this to set which wild type will be played.
    Rating Low   -- Players with a rating lower than this cannot join.
    Rating High  -- Players with a rating higher than this cannot join.
 
 You can change these variables before the tourney opens by using "mam
stv <var> <value> <tourney number>".  For example, "mam stv t 1 6" would 
change the time variable to 1.
 
 Once the tourney has opened and after it is closed, you can only change
the Rounds, Max Players, Mode, and Style variants, and once it has
started, you cannot change any variables!

 Step 3: Beginning the tournament
 --------------------------------

 After you have set the variables, you need to open the tournament so that 
 players may join.  To do so, type "mam open #" ("mam open 6" in our
 case).
 
 At this point, mamer will announce the tourney in channel 49 and with a
 cshout.  You can duplicate the announcements in channel 49 by using the
 "mam announce #" command to announce tourney number #.  Please use 
 announce reasonably(somewhere around once per 30-60 seconds is 
 reasonable).  Mamer will only cshout the announcment if at least 4
 minutes have passed since the last cshout.

 When you have enough players, you can close and start the tournament.  To
 close it, "mam close #".  If you'd like to reopen the tourney for some
 reason (perhaps someone joined at the last second, giving you an odd 
 number of players), use the "mam open #" command again.  When you're 
 ready to start, type "mam start #". 

 If you are unable to find enough players(a minimum of 4 is needed for 
 mamer to run a tourney) in a reasonable amount of time, you should
 delete the tourney by using "mam delete #" where # is the tourney number.

 Step 4: Running the tournament itself
 -------------------------------------

 If nobody leaves the tournament, there should be no problems.  Mamer
 should take care of itself.  If someone leaves the tourney or logs off of
 FICS, you may have some work to do.  After managing several tourneys, you
 will have a good sense of how long to wait for someone to return before 
 taking action.  The commands you're going to need are "forfeit" and
 "setres".  "mam forfeit handle #" forfeits a player from tourney number 
 #.  Use the forfeit command if a player has left, you don't expect him
 back, and there is at least another round left in the tourney.  "mam 
 setres white black 1/=/0 #" sets the result of white vs black in tourney
 # to a win for white/draw/win for black.  Use this if you are late in the
 tourney so that the player doesn't have to forfeit his previous points. 
 Also use setres if you simply want to keep the tourney moving but expect 
 the player to be back(this is useful for tourneys at very fast time
 controls).  

 Step 5: The tournament ends
 ---------------------------

 Mamer will usually end the tournament automatically and post the final
 results.  If it does not, type "mam games #" to see any uncompleted
 games.  Check if those players are logged in(a fast way to do this is "in
 handle"), and use forfeit/setres accordingly.

 If there are any problems with the data of the tourney then "message
 mlong" the correct values and let the players know that the results will 
 be corrected.  Points in the tourneys are not recorded; what is important
 is wins, losses, and placement in the final tourney standings.  

 If you have just managed a scheduled tourney(see "help motd" for a list
 of them), please message the COO the names of the winner(s) and anyone 
 else who may have managed the tourney, so that he can create a news item
 each week.  Also, please "mam keep 1 #" to set tourney #'s keep variable
 to 1.  This allows people to view the scheduled tourney's standings days
 after the tourney.

Chaos points
------------

  As a TM, you will soon have the power to penalize tourney abuse by
giving someone chaos points.  This is done by typing "mam addchaos handle
# <reason>", where # is the number of chaos points(use a negative number 
to remove chaos points) and <reason> is why you gave(or took away) the
points.  When someone has 100 chaos points, mamer will censor him, thus 
preventing him from playing in tourneys.  

Firstly, let's talk about when you should not give someone chaos points.
If you forfeit someone or they withdraw before the  tourney ends, mamer
will automatically give that person 10 chaos points per round missed.  
Chaos points should be given out for non tourney games, profanity, and
other distractions(such as telling 49 "hi mamer" repeatedly after being
warned about overuse of it).  Use good judgement.  If a player is playing
a non tourney game that will end in 30 seconds, maybe you should not act.
However, if he is in a standard game and ignores your request to end it
and start the tourney, chaos points are warranted.  You should probably
give somewhere between 10 and 20 chaos points per disruption.  If you find
yourself wanting to give out less than 10, you should consider giving a
warning instead.  If you find yourself wanting to give more than 20, you
should probably contact an admin because you are dealing with some serious
abuse.  

In any case, whenever you add chaos points, please send them a message 
explaining how many points were given, why you did so, and note that
decisions can be appealed to the COO.  If you don't send a message, the
player may never knew he did anything wrong, repeat his actions, and soon 
find himself censored by mamer.  By sending a message, the player has a 
better chance of not repeating his actions, and it also necessitates 
having a good reason for adding the points.

Manager commands
----------------

  Here is a summary of all the manager commands.

 Command            Alias       Level  Basic info
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 addchaos         | chaos      |  25 | Adds (or subs) chaos points.
 addcomment       | ac         |  25 | Adds a comment to player's comment 
                                       file
 addtotourney     | att        |  50 | Add a user to a tourney.
 announce         | announce   |  10 | Announce the tournament to the
                                       working channel.
 close            | close      |  10 | Closes a tournament.
 create           | create     |  10 | Creates a new tournament.
 delete           | delete     |  10 | Deletes a tournament.
 forfeit          | forfeit    |  10 | Remove a user from a tourney.
 keep             | keep       |  10 | Keep a tourney in memory.
 loadedusers      | lu         |  25 | Displays the loaded users.
 messman          | mm         |  50 | Message all of the Managers.
 open             | open       |  10 | Opens the tournament to players.
 setcommandlevel  | setcl      |  50 | Set level required to use a
                                       command.
 setinfo          | setinfo    |  50 | Set a user's finger info.
 setmanagerlevel  | sml        |  50 | Sets manager's level.
 setres           | sr         |  10 | Sets the result of a game.
 setstat          | ss         |  50 | Sets a specific finger stat.
 settourneyvar    | stv        |  10 | Sets a Tourney's Variables.
 showcomments     | sc         |  10 | Show player comment file
 shutdown         | sd         |  50 | Shuts down Mamer.
 start            | start      |  10 | Starts a tournament.

All of the level 10 and 25 commands have been covered except for
"addcomment", "loadedusers", and "showcomment".

"loadedusers" is simply a list of players in mamer's "memory", and it is
pretty much useless for most of you.

"addcomment <handle> <comment>" allows you to leave a comment about a user
that all the other TM's can view with "showcomment <handle>".  This is
useful to document cases of exceptionally good or poor behavior or 
anything else you may find worth noting (but please keep it tourney 
related).

A note on "delete": Tourneys that aren't "kept"(using keep) are
automatically deleted after two hours.  Please don't delete them before
this!  Keeping tourney standings available for some time after the tourney
ends was a feature requested by many users, so please don't negate it by
deleting the tourneys prematurely.  Please only use delete to abort a
tourney that not enough players have joined unless you have a very good
reason!



Historical information about mamer
----------------------------------

  Users sometimes ask about this information.  You may also find it 
interesting. The following is a cleaned up and up-to-date version of mamer
1.x's "mam help about".

|   "Mamer is an automated tournament director for use on FICS only.
| Fred Baumgarten originally wrote this code because there was a need and 
| Chevrier Joel, the creator of Tomato(another TD program), would not 
| share the code.  Fred gave me(mlong) the code in mid 1995 with the 
| stipulation I not release it to anyone.  I have modified and (I hope) 
| improved mame (now mamer).
     
|     Mamer stands for "manage me". Plus the -r- for the
| differentiation between mame (Fred's) code and mamer (mlong's) code.

|     Fred's words follow: The intention to write this tournament director
| program came out of the need to have such a program. Tomato - used at
| FICS and written by darkside was not released to the public. Darkside
| even did not want to accept a non disclosure agreement - so I decided
| to write such a program myself. (Tomato was sold to ICC shortly after
| and has been used there ever since - toddmf).
| The program is written in C and will support a bunch of new features
| soon.  It is beta state since Version 0.5 but there _are_ bugs.
| Fred Baumgarten <dc6iq@adacom.org>. Have fun !!!

| Mamer is maintained and coded here on FICS by mlong.  PLEASE! FOR BUGS
| PERTAINING TO MAMER TALK TO mlong."

  mlong has always maintained the mamer code.  He also was in control of
mamer's day to day operations at first.  GBPacker soon took over this
position, and fpawn followed.  toddmf currently holds this position.

  Mamer's largest(in terms of number of players) tourneys occurred shortly
after games in the 1997 Deep Blue-Kasparov rematch.  A few of these
tourneys drew over 50 players. The largest of them was a 62 player, 7
round swiss tourney directed by Kossy.  This record was broken on
October 2, 1998, when a 3 0 knockout tourney with a 1st prize of $40
drew 64 players.  The longest tourney(in terms of number of rounds) was
probably a 15 round, 16 player 1 0 RR tourney held in early 1998(again,
please tell me if this is not accurate).

See also: every other help file

[Last modified: March 10, 1999 -- toddmf]
