Okay, so this isn't exactly about the game, but it's a pressing issue nonetheless. I've heard a
lot of reports about the tournament chatroom being unstable when it counts, so it seems natural to me to improve that since it can have really bad consequences. I've had to skip one tournament myself, once, when it kicked me out and didn't let me back in.
It's easily solved, however: just host the tournament chatroom on IRC. I can recommend
http://chatspike.net/ as it is a network of medium size and the most stable I have ever been on. I am also Staff there and can therefore assist in matters regarding the network as well as general matters about IRC.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Internet Relay Chat, it's a chat protocol as old as I am (22 years), and it allows for very extensive user configuration. Ideally, users download a proper client to access it, but ChatSpike also has a webchat for users who don't want to do that.
The infrastructure of IRC consists of networks hosted on private servers and run by a Staff, and channels on those networks which users can talk in, run by the channel Operators and Owner (Staff do not interfere in channel business). In the case of ChatSpike, they are dedicated and well-tested servers in use by professionals. If anyone wants to know more about IRC, feel free to ask away.
