To be completely honest, I strongly beleive that rules' flexibilty in a very popular league (such as OLFSL) does more "bad" than "good" in the legaue's reputation and its smooth operation.
The reason being that flexibility establishes a certain status-quo every time it is applied, thus increasing dramatically the chance of more members wanting to be treated with flexibility in similar situations in the future. It also makes more members feel pissed-off because they weren't treated with the same flexibility in similar situations in the past. The whole thing can easily go out of control, even resulting in total chaos, with complains, appeals and long arguments fly all over the place.
Russ, I fully understand you did what you felt was right for the racer who got disconnected, thinking of the situation as your fault, but I beleive overall fairness to all members is a more important issue. And it's better for the prestige of the league as a whole,if rules' flexibility is kept on the absolute minimum level.
In legaues such as OLFS we don't deal with people of a certain profile, but with people from all over the globe, with many educational, social, cultural (etc, etc) differneces. What looks logical and harmless to some may look ilogical and unfair to others. That's why the writen rules should be followed as closed as possible.
Of course all the above is just my humble opinion
The reason being that flexibility establishes a certain status-quo every time it is applied, thus increasing dramatically the chance of more members wanting to be treated with flexibility in similar situations in the future. It also makes more members feel pissed-off because they weren't treated with the same flexibility in similar situations in the past. The whole thing can easily go out of control, even resulting in total chaos, with complains, appeals and long arguments fly all over the place.
Russ, I fully understand you did what you felt was right for the racer who got disconnected, thinking of the situation as your fault, but I beleive overall fairness to all members is a more important issue. And it's better for the prestige of the league as a whole,if rules' flexibility is kept on the absolute minimum level.
In legaues such as OLFS we don't deal with people of a certain profile, but with people from all over the globe, with many educational, social, cultural (etc, etc) differneces. What looks logical and harmless to some may look ilogical and unfair to others. That's why the writen rules should be followed as closed as possible.
Of course all the above is just my humble opinion