Is it a mistake?

[2muchcoffeeman]

The dialogue is with the judges of the night. The scores still won't be released to the judging community at large, only the ones that scored them that night.

Thanks. Two things:

1. That seems to be a critical bit of info missing from the article.

2. This seems pretty ineffectual given that judging panels feature a new mix of people most nights, and that judges eventually evaluate all corps multiple times -- meaning that, eventually, they all will know how others are scoring them anyway. Does DCI intend to administer an amnesia syrum after each critique?

Edited June 23, 2016 by 2muchcoffeeman

[N.E. Brigand]

2. This seems pretty ineffectual given that judging panels feature a new mix of people most nights, and that judges eventually evaluate all corps multiple times -- meaning that, eventually, they all will know how others are scoring them anyway. Does DCI intend to administer an amnesia syrum after each critique?

Either that or they've perfected the Men in Black neuralyzer.

[ShortAndFast]

This seems like one of the worst ideas to come out of DCI in a long time. Admittedly I'm someone who has enjoyed tracking judges and scores, and then seeing if I can use them to predict results. So I'm personally guaranteed to hate it.

But here's my predictions of what's actually going to happen:

1. The recaps will not be secrets. If staffers at corps know the recaps, then friends of staffers are going to know the recaps. And then inevitably they're going to be posted on here or reddit or facebook, maybe just as rumor ("my friend at Corps X said they were 2nd in drums last night") but I'd bet we also see some photos of the recap sheets.

2. The top judges work many times in a season, and the championship judges will certainly have done a regional or two. If they hand out a number or placement out of line with others, they are still going to hear about it in critique. By championships, a judge would have to be extraordinarily thick to not know how others have ranked the top corps in their caption, even if they've made zero effort to seek out the info.

3. Fans will hate it. If your favorite corps isn't doing so hot, but has a killer drum line placing ahead of the rest of the group, you'll justifiably celebrate it. No more - "they're in 8th place in music. no, you can't know why. no, you can't know where they're strong and weak. no, you can't know if they have a chance of moving up. we said 8th place already, just shut up and buy more tickets". Few people are going to like that message, even if they don't particularly care about recaps.

4. It will have about the same effect as Cesario's big rewrite of the sheets a few years back: zero. There won't be any more volatility in placements. There won't be any more movement between Atlanta and Indy. It won't change anything about what gets rewarded and not rewarded.

5. It'll be gone next January.

[Jeff Ream]

IMO a key factor in if it comes back has nothing to do with the actual on field results:

web hits. those views that make DCI money with all of the ads. you can see DCI post scores on Facebook and twitter. Drumscores. other places.. it'll drive less traffic to the site....which means less views for the people buying space on DCI's site

[flammaster]

IMO a key factor in if it comes back has nothing to do with the actual on field results:

web hits. those views that make DCI money with all of the ads. you can see DCI post scores on Facebook and twitter. Drumscores. other places.. it'll drive less traffic to the site....which means less views for the people buying space on DCI's site

Thanks for the info! Screw them where it hurts the most. I will no longer go to DCI site anymore. knowing who is doing how and where is half the fun of drum corps. I love the stats!

[garfield]

Again, IMO this is designed to cut web traffic to sites that compete against DCI's web presence, such that it is. Remember last season when the scores were released before they were announced at the actual show? Instead of improving their own site, IMO DCI is trying to squelch others by controlling the data.

Just follow the money or, in this case, the eyeballs.

[cixelsyd]

The estimable Mr. Boo has posted a story at the DCI website promising "the scoop" on the hidden recaps. Yet I am left more perplexed than before.

To begin, here is Michael Cesario's explanation for the new rule:

“The corps directors initiated this practice to better allow the judges to respond to each presentation, with no holdover from previous viewings or scores. It also allows each corps a ‘fresh start’ with every performance, with less concern about being slotted into a specific placement during the season."

So far, so good. But then, there is this:

At the end of each contest, each competing group will receive a full paper recap of all the corps that performed in that particular event. The recap will include all the scores from each caption for each corps in the show, just as it always has. This is so the staff members can have an appropriate dialogue with the judges in the post-show critiques.

Oh... my... God. This is so stupid, I had to check DCI.org this morning to make sure it had not already been retracted.

So, how does this result in the effect that Cesario says is intended? If all corps and all judges know all caption scores, how exactly is the 'holdover effect' avoided?

The only change from previous years, the article says, is that DCI not share the complete-data recaps with the public.

Otherwise, as far as I can tell from the article, there is no change whatsoever in the way DCI will handle scores. All corps will see all captions for all corps. All judges will see all captions for all corps. The only difference is the ability of the public to see them.

Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake lo these many pages into this thread, but I fail to understand how this changes anything. Are we to believe that public perception alone has created the dreaded 'holdover effect'? It is us, and not the judges, who are responsible for slotting? I would be most interested to see any evidence DCI has to offer indicating judges had been susceptible to public pressure.

I suppose it is possible that DCI had no issue with the judging, and that their only objective was to prevent fans from having immediate reactions to the scores of individual judges.

[cixelsyd]

The dialogue is with the judges of the night. The scores still won't be released to the judging community at large, only the ones that scored them that night.

Then why does the article say this?

“We are asking the corps and judges not to share the recaps with other corps and judges, to avoid second-guessing the entire season based on the results of several separate contests,” Cesario said.

If they are asking judges not to share recaps, then apparently, judges will still be getting recaps.

[wesleyrp]

That's what I said all along.... Judges and Staff see recaps, fans don't. No archive to to look at may keep judges more fresh, but this about the fans staying out of it. No social media to have speak about judges etc...

Wes P

[chaddyt]

They will still be releasing the total caption scores (GE, Visual, Music), so I guess that's something.