[blml] Categories of rule-breaker

[Nigel]

[Matthias Berghaus]
You do not remain a spectator for the rest of your life, do you? Even 
if  you remain a spectator while recycling used drinks (which is not 
clear to me, but let us say so for arguments sake), there comes the time 
when  the segment or the mach or the tournament ends, and without doubt 
you are no longer a spectator, a player, a director. So anyone is free 
to  talk to anyone else, even if that would have violated a law while 
the  tournament was in progress. And even if you did: Law 76 is about 
not giving someone an advantage or disadvantage because some kibitzer 
couldn`t keep his mouth shut, it is not about cheating. So what`s the 
problem with telling a director that you think someone cheats? Do you 
want to tell me that cheating may never be uncovered by a spectator? Be 
serious. Any TD will do whatever his SO calls for, and no comittee or 
governing body will say otherwise. I do not care for anything that can 
be read into the laws if you are willing to bend the language far 
enough. I care about what the rules are intended for, and I maintain 
that this intention can be determined with a little bit of common sense 
in at least 99% of cases, and the rest can be seen when one applies some 
logic. We all wish for clearer wording of TFLB, but we can manage quite 
well  with what we have.

[TFLB L76B]
A spectator may not call attention to any irregularity or mistake, nor
speak on any question of fact or law except by request of the Director.

[nige1]

I confess I read this to mean what it says. If I misinterpret the 
law-maker's intentions, I'm delighted. My mistake illustrates how easy 
the laws are to misinterpret even when you do your best to understand them.
Nevertheless, I feel that law-makers should change the law rather than 
expect us to stretch language.
 
Mathias (and others) say that cheating is a kind of irregularity to 
which law 76B does not apply, I worry that {a] if the spectator waits 
until after the match has ended, that that may be too late to stop a 
cheating team from winning. (b) The problem with immediately reporting 
the infraction is that most law-breakers are *not* cheats. Its often 
hard to distinguish cheating from ordinary law-breaking unless you are a 
mind-reader. When people become emotionally involved, they may interpret 
an infraction as cheating (even in BLML).

A previous example from BLML still haunts me. Apparently a man was being 
loudly abnoxious to his opponents. A player at a neighbouring table 
complained to the director "It's none of my business but can't you do 
something about that?" "You are right --- it is none of your business!" 
replied the director and walked away.